John Haddock's DMU Game Blog : Year 3

My New F.M.P. Blog. . .

2011-02-20T18:11:00.000Z

I've finally got around to creating a new Blog for my F.M.P. Been very busy doing the work as you will see from the renders, more things will be uploaded soon such as videos and such but please click on the link below and track of my progress, and feel free to follow me too.

9000 Tri Car Project - Presentation renders...

2010-12-14T15:37:00.001Z

9000 Tri Car Project Updated Update to the Update. . .

2010-12-14T15:34:00.003Z

Here's the 'Abandoned version' of my 1981 DeLorean DMC-12. Needs some more finishing touches but as it stands at the moment im pretty happy with it, and need to sort out some of the texture stretching of course.

9000 Tri Car Project Updated Update. . .

2010-12-10T12:31:00.003Z

Textured versionof my 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 with 2x 1024 x 1024 texture maps. Need to add gloss and shine but here it is at the textured stage. (sorry about the long tower of images, they changed the upload thing and now i cant bunch the images together like the previous posts.) arrrrgh....

Edit: fixed the image issue by going into the HTML so it looks a bit more presentable.

9000 Tri Car Project Update. . .

2010-12-02T20:57:00.000Z

Here is the finished, but untextured, model of a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12. It finished up at 8999 Tri's, 1 shy of the total. Now ideally I would have liked to have finished at least 1000 or more short just to try and push myself a bit more but I found that I wasn't willing to sacrifice the finish of the model for the sake of that. I wanted to make sure the shape was exactly what it should be, as smooth as possible on the wheels and such, the interior does have some evidence of boxiness but overall i tried my hardest to avoid that from happening, just wanted it to look right. Anyway, kinda rambling so here's some screenshots :

9000 Tri Car Project . . .

2010-11-19T23:36:00.000Z

Just a small progress update on my car project. I'm doing a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, (yes the car from 'Back to the Future') I've still got the interior to do and some other tweeks but this is it at 5990 Tri's.

GameArt VLog - Episode 2 - Guest Speakers...

2010-11-18T13:36:00.000Z

Today I'm talking about the Guest Lecturers we have had recently and in the past at DeMontfort University here in Leicester. Just going through the notes and tips that these industry professionals have given us in the aim of helping us one day getting into the games industry at a professional level.

Here is the scan for the presentation we had from Rare Games, they made some really good points and gave some great advice.

GameArt VLog - Episode 1 - Ummm Intro....

2010-11-16T05:56:00.000Z

This is the first video entry for my 3rd Year GameArt Blog page for my course at De Montfort University in Leicester. Its pretty basic but after all its only the Ummmmmm.... Intro..

My Uni Art here : http://nanahra.deviantart.com/
You can also follow me on twitter here : http://twitter.com/Nanahra

Looking to the Future...

2010-04-30T20:05:00.000+01:00

Another year passes us by and it’s time to start planning ahead for the future once again. What are my goals? What do I hope to achieve and how do I plan to better myself in preparation for the all important 3rd year? My main plan over these coming summer months is to improve my skills in using and understanding 3D Studio Max to the high standard that I should be at this point in time. I have found it a difficult and often frustrating program to use at times and at least in my experience have slowed my learning process of the program by too much for where I should be right now. But after doing the group project my execution of Asset creation and texturing have vastly improved so I look to improve my High-Poly modelling over the summer with particular attention to character modelling and hand modelling, both things I have had major issues within the past but feel now more ready to be able to create a more suitable model. I’m hoping I can practice a lot over the summer so I can also become a lot faster as one issue I have at the moment is that my pace can sometimes be too slow and this has a knock-on effect when I’m trying to do other work, getting faster will defiantly free up more time for me to do more work.

Art wise I want to practice more with colour on traditional media such as paints and pastels as I have spent most of my life drawing this year working with charcoal and graphite sticks. I have no issues with using colours but just wanted improve my charcoal rendering as it’s not something I’ve had a lot of experience with in the past. I will try to draw some location scenes with paint and such over the summer for practice as well as a bit of still life work in preparation for the 3^rd year. The masterpiece project we did in Photoshop really helped in my understanding in the layering of colours and the directions of lines to achieve different effects so I aim to try and emulate this in my work as it as a lot more free and spontaneous than my current stiff and technical style. I have made big improvements in what I used to be like with my drawing but I do feel it needs loosening up further.

Above all I hope I am able to get into the 3^rd year to be able to put all this work into practice. After the issues I’ve had over the past 12 months and the setbacks that have jumped my way being able to come back for the 3^rd and final year with a clean slate will be a great reward. I have some time over the summer to be able to get myself together and come back with a renewed focus and stronger determination to better myself and achieve the best I can so I can get into the position to be able to get a job in the industry I love. It hasn’t and won’t be an easy road but I look forward to every step that gets me there. In closing I just want to thank the Tutors and some of you out there that have helped me and guided me through a very difficult time in my life and given me the motivation to keep myself moving forward, Your help and advice won’t be forgotten. Good Luck to you all.

Something to feed you brain's...

2010-04-30T19:33:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to share a couple of links with you on here to some interesting articles I found while online. The first is an article called "Videogames and the Philosophy of Art" by Roger Ebert, He comments about video games and their potential as art. To view the article click here.

The Second article is the age old discussion of "Death and Ethical Violence in Videogames". Rather than just being another article shouting how its harming our children and such, it try's to explain how it is used in some cases to deepen stories and even make you empathise more with a character in a given situation. So give this one a try too, To view the article click here.

Oh and just as an extra, Here's a link to "Half Life 2: Raising the Bar" BUY IT!! Its something that everyone should read regardless if you have played the games of not, its like a bible for game artists and modelers on how the whole design process from start to finish should be carried out, Plus its Mike approved. Its a bit pricey now but I urge everyone to get it. Click Here.

Group Project : Team Shock!Horror! UPDATE

2010-04-28T20:16:00.000+01:00

Well it's all done and presented but that's not really the end of the tale. What I learned from this project will defiantly have far reaching effects on my future work and understanding of what goes into producing and designing assets for a working game model. It was a great experience and has defiantly opened up my thoughts on doing a group project for my F.M.P next year, I wouldn't say its what I'm going to choose off the bat but it is defiantly a choice now as long as the right people are open to do it. The biggest things I can take out of this aside from the group aspect is my understanding of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), how to use it, how to import assets and how to build rooms for playable levels. I had never used the program at any point before this project but I managed to get to grips with it surprisingly fast and I do still find some elements of it confusing such as remembering the codes you have to type in to take in-engine screen shots and such, but this can be fixed with practice as experience has taught me with 3D Studio Max but other than that I'm happy with what I can do in the program thus far and look forward to using it again in the future. Anyway, Here's just some updated pictures of some extra in-assets and some UDK renders of my room with most of my imported assets.

3D Studio Max Asset Renders

Unreal In-Game Engine Asset Renders

My favorite gaming memories while growing up...

2010-04-16T13:09:00.000+01:00

Growing up before and during the gaming boom of the 1990's and witnessing firsthand the battle between Sega and Nintendo for console supremacy there were moments that I can remember that stood out as I was growing up. Moments in games or just moments in time that were game related and for those who were too young to remember these times I'm just going to give you a quick run through of what stands out when I look into the dark recesses of my brain.

- My first Console -

The first console we ever had in my house hold was the ZX Spectrum +2. For those of you who have no idea what this was it was an all in one keyboard and tap deck unit that ran tape games such as 'SuperGran' or 'Hungry Horace' Needless to say the games were basic as hell and sometimes you would have to wait up to 20-30 minutes for the game to load and during that time you were entertained by a loading sound that sounded like an electric synthesizer mimicking the sound of nails down a blackboard... over and over again... it was hell. But I must admit that some of the games still entertain me today and at the time it blew my world away. I'm pretty sure that I have this console, that was released in 1986, to thank for what has become a lifelong interest in video games.

- "You've got to use your hands???" -

Aside from the nicely placed 'Back to the Future' quote there I am talking about a moment that cemented me as a lover of videogames. On September 28th 1990 me, my brother and my father stood in the queue of our local electronics shop for the launch or the original GameBoy. When I look back at my child hood it is constantly scattered with memories of playing this hand held wonder. From games such as Tetris, WarioWorld and Bart vs. the Juggernaughts my childhood is full of fun memories of playing these wonderful games and we abused the fact we could take it anywhere. Any day trip, holiday or even picnic we were there with our 8 bits of green and black awesome playing away linked up with our link cables and battling each other over and over. They took one hell of a battering but I still own my original GameBoy, I still have the box and it still works and I think that's a great testament to the handheld that showed and still shows to this day just how enduring and fun the handheld can be.

- The Game Changer -

If you grew up in the early 1990's you will know what I'm about to talk about. During this time possibly the greatest battle of the consoles happened between the two iconic companies Nintendo and Sega and if you were a kid then it was either a fan of Mario or a fan of sonic. It divided friends and schoolyards and was a huge part of the war the companies had with advertising for each playing on this divide to create very loyal fan bases for each franchise. I must admit I kind of turned on Nintendo the day the Sega Mega-Drive entered my home and I took the side of the Blue Hedgehog, so much so I never played a SNES till some years later and didn’t even own one until I reached my 20's. The MegaDrive, Mega CD and later the 2nd versions of each of these really shaped me in ways outside gaming. For the first time I was able to see brilliant colours and games (especially by Disney) that used to mimic so well the style and look of cartoons. The humour was usually brilliant, the levels well designed and enemies suited the environments they were in. Games such as 'Mickey Mouse in Castle of Illusion' the 'Sonic' titles, Aladdin and Earthworm Jim were visual feasts for the eyes and made such an impression on me at the time and still do now and I have them to thank for boosting my interest in Art.

If I go any further forward this will just become a list of everything I've ever liked and as fun as that that would be I’ll just stick to my childhood memories for now and go on about the '3D era' another time. But for now that’s just a small insight into some of the games and some of the moments that have shaped who I am as a person and a gamer. I was just very lucky to be able to grow up and experience firsthand what really was a golden age in gaming and the birth of a proper gaming culture, I look back at that time and just remember what fun it was to watch all these new icons emerge and become so engrained into the culture and to be honest I would love to experience that again. Games and console these days are more about units sold and graphics than they are about game play and enjoyment, there are some I admit that still hold onto the old ideals and get a good balance of great visuals with compelling story and fun game play, but during that awesome era there were just so many to choose from, It was a beautiful time and it really was a golden era.

Group Project : Team Shock!Horror!

2010-04-15T20:30:00.001+01:00

Time to let the cat out of the bag... or as it is in this case a grimy Resident Evil themed level in UDK. The good thing about this blog is that I can talk about and present my individual contributions to this project, not to take anything away from most of my group who have worked very hard and very efficiently on their given tasks with the work management structure being very effective and without issue. We held together well and there were no big fall outs or shouting matches, we all did our part and we all got on well and were very glad to work with such a nice group of people.

Initially our first idea was to create a 'lab' type area with large experiment test tubes lining the main walkway corridor on the first floor of the Queen's building but were told that might be too big of an undertaking and should find a different location within the building to help scale it down. This was a very wise choice indeed. Our individual skills with 3D work and Unreal meant that we would for the most part be learning new skills and in the case of Unreal a whole new program within a short amount of time and if we had stuck with our initial idea there is no way we would be anywhere near finished by this point.

For my personal contribution in terms of in-game assets thus far I won’t bore you by listing them individually. Below are screenshots of what I have produced thus far and must admit after the past issues I have had with 3D I really feel now more than ever I am getting a good understanding of the program and with plenty of practice of the summer I will be in very good shape to produce some great quality work in an efficient amount of time. Anyway, enjoy these pics :

Motivation and such...

2010-04-13T14:56:00.000+01:00

Motivation can come in many shapes and forms, from fond memories to a talk with a friend or even a smell in the air. It's something I must admit I have been very short of over these past 12 months due to personal circumstances that I won’t go into here or just a run of bad luck like when my hard drive broke and lost a whole semester worth of work. I've gone from the depths of shear depression and not even having the motivation to talk or be around anybody to trying to get myself back to some sense of normality. I have found few things helped me get back on track such as talking to friends and family and incentives, such as if I get up and do a certain amount by a certain time I can reward myself with a treat like chocolate etc. May seem small and silly but if it gets me up and working then it’s worth it. For more long term goals I tend to use dates as a motivation more than anything, for instance if I have a project due 26th I aim to finish it a week before that date where possible that way it give me more free time to relax etc and if I finish even before the earlier date I end up feeling more pleased with myself which in turn boost my confidence. It may not work for some but I'm just talking from personal experience here.

Confidence is something I’ve noticed that some people on the course seem to lack, some for personal issue that can’t be helped and some that stem from talks with our tutors and are left feeling a bit lost and de-motivated. I know I've experienced this and I have feeling it's something that needs to be addressed at some point soon as a group. Something that helps me get motivated to producing more work is working with other people, not necessarily on group work but just having a bunch of friends around you while you’re working, you can tend to talk a lot but if you keep at it I find you can produce more work in one sitting and feel much happier while doing it. Ultimately in my experience I tend to work more effectively when I feel part of a team, Not to say I can’t work on my own by any means but there’s just something about working with other people, sharing and talking through ideas that just seems to enhance the way I work and will probably carry over into the 3rd year when its F.M.P. time. Doing work in this fashion will also pay off later down the line in other ways. Working and getting on with other people in a work environment will help develop trust and respect between one another and this means they will respond to more favourably when if you need help with anything thus aiding you in becoming even more productive while at the same time if someone else needs help you can aid them and the will be in better shape with their work. Everybody wins and it sure as hell beats being all bitchy to one another and creating an environment where nobody wants to work.

Problems can come about in groups if for instance you have an idea in your head and you go about you thought with the "I think this is what we should do and I don’t care what anyone says this is what we're doing" sort of attitude. This isn’t a constructive way of going about your work and will not benefit anyone and I have seen this before in groups during college and the who group suffered as a result because know one was integrating with the plans, and wasn’t appealing to anyone and as a result the grades were low and a lot of people we left unsatisfied knowing that they could have done better but were pushed into one idea with no input given. This will just leave you feeling so un-motivated it's not even funny. The best advice I can give in these sorts of circumstances is to have an open talk where everyone can share their ideas, extract the good points that everyone agrees on and try and reach a common ground that everyone can agree on and enjoy doing. Allowing everyone in a group to be more creative creates a more optimistic environment and can lead to awesome new ideas which in turn can lead to better grades which makes everyone happy.

Another thing that some people actually try and avoid but can actually be a big motivational tool is 'Constructive Criticism'. I used to hate the idea of people looking at my work, picking away at it and telling what is wrong with it but it’s not horrible, you just need to look and think about it in the right way. All the hard work comes into creating the final piece of whatever you happen to be working on, when someone looks at it and tells you that something needs changing and this needs to go there and that needs to be done this way etc don’t just be like "screw it" and walk off in a childish strop. Take the information given to you on board and use it to make your work better. We are in the business of making things that appeal to a wide audience and if you show something to your audience and they don’t like it then change it to meet there expectations and then only good things can happen. It’s not even like you have to go back to the drawing board, if someone gives you good constructive criticism then they pretty much give you an itemised list of what you need to do, there’s no hard work and late nights thinking of new ideas, it’s right there in front of you and if you follow what they said and present it again you will be set. It’s all about learning from your mistakes and self improvement. I does work and its very affective so just learn to take the shot and then just go at it again with your list of improvements and you can’t go wrong. It’s all about not wanting to settle for second best think of it as someone setting a bar for you and then just go at it with a "I won’t just meet your expectations I’ll surpass them" sort of attitude and you'll find you go about your work with a lot more confidence and drive to produce better and better work which in reality is what you should be doing in the first place.

Year 2, New Digi Paintings

2009-10-21T03:36:00.000+01:00

My Favorite bits from Year 1

2009-10-21T03:03:00.000+01:00

E3 2009... The Final Countdown...

2009-05-15T19:54:00.000+01:00

Here's some of the wonderful things we have to look forward to at this year's action packed E3...

BioWare lays out their E3 plans for Mass Effect 2 in this E3 prelude video, giving us an early look at the expansive changes coming to the next chapter in their sci-fi epic.

I'd simply say that the game seems to be shaping up quite nicely, but I'm afraid I don't possess that level of restraint. This quick glimpse at the next installment of Mass Effect left me with happy chills. They seem to address all of the tiny issues I had with the original game, and the new character models look simply amazing.

Heres a preview Trailer :

Ubisoft has big plans for their E3 2009 press conference, with new game announcements, thrilling special guests, and plenty of game demos.

Ubisoft's invitation-only presser at the Los Angeles Theatre kicks off at 1am U.K. time on Monday, June 2nd. There the company will be detailing their 2009 holiday lineup, complete with exclusive reveals of Red Steel 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and a demonstration of Rabbids Go Home, the raving ones' solo debut. There's also mention of other unannounced titles and some recent rumors pointing towards the reemergence of Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Conviction, so we can probably look forward to a couple new games dropping as well. For those of us who wont be able to attend this Ubisoft will be broadcasting the entire event the following morning at Ubi.com.

Capcom has revealed their game lineup for E3 2009, or perhaps it's better to say mostly revealed, with two mystery titles making their debut at the show.

For the most part, Capcom's E3 2009 lineup is made up of games you have either already heard about or even already played. They'll be showing off the PC versions of Bionic Commando and Street Fighter; upcoming sequels like Lost Planet 2, Dead Rising 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (not technically a sequel, I know), and Mega Man Star Force 3; and new titles such as Spyborgs and Fate Unlimited Codes.

Konami's Metal Gear Solid team has kicked off a storm of pre-E3 announcement hype online. Kojima Productions has launched the teaser web site for the developer's next project.

The only other real information is provided via the site's keywords, which include Hideo Kojima, MGS, METAL GEAR, NEXT, game, konami, kojima game, KJP, Kojima Production. The site refers to the product as only Kojima Production NEXT.

Whatever the Metal Gear team's next project is, already pledged to be announced at E3, it's almost guaranteed to have clouds. Here's a link to the site :

Kojima Production "NEXT"

I shall be back with more build up information soon, until then here is a link to all of the titles announded thus far that will be shown at this years E3 courtesy of NeoWin.net :

E3 OFFICIAL LIST

End of Year Review...

2009-04-01T00:34:00.000+01:00

Well it's amazing that its arrived so fast but tentatively our first year is over and what a time its been. For me personally this has been one of my favorite years as a student in any of the courses I've attended and I'm not saying that just to butter people up the right way. The previous experiences I've had with great teachers who try there best to teach you in the way they are essential told to do by higher powers have worked to a degree but to be around 3 teachers (and Jack) who know what they teach to such a high degree has been so informative and inspiring. It's the first time in years I've been pushed to this degree and it has helped create such positive results in such a short time e.g. my understanding of tone, perspective, placement and angles as well as the line making skills which has completely unlocked a door I've been trying to get through for longer than I can remember. It seems a shame (without naming names) that some people just don't seem to appreciate the vast amount of knowledge and expertise they have available to them and somehow even thinking they know better than the tutors. (note: when you have someone who has 10+ years experience making actual game content telling you to do something a certain way don't sit there and think you know better, you don't so grow up). The films we've been allowed to watch annually on Wednesday have been a great learning experience too, as I've seen a lot of what we have seen already I was able to sit there and watch them with my student head on and reconstruct them in the way we are supposed to to obviously get the point of why we are watching them in the first place. My understanding and interest of art direction has been greatly increased and have a much better idea as to just how important the process is and its something that I'm going to continue to study in my own time so thank you mike for opening that door. In all I've really enjoyed my first year and I've really got my passion back for drawing and where I want to get in my life which is ultimately down to the great teachers we have and what they have thought us, the one thing that frustrates me is that some people don't seem to share this passion and considering doing a 3 year university course is a big commitment it boggles what other peoples motivations if any are or what they want to do but it doesn't really matter, I enjoy what I do and I look forward to the journey ahead. Thank you Heather, Mike, Chris and Jack, see you in the summer.

Nintendo's GDC Keynote Highlights

2009-03-26T02:23:00.000Z

Here's a round up of all the stories that sprung forth from Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's keynote speech today, which brought us a Wii storage solution and an all new Legend of Zelda DS title.

Having run out of game consoles, Nintendo today launched Virtual Console Arcade, with a variety of classic arcade titles already available for purchase from the Wii Shop Channel.

Gaplus, Star Force, The Tower of Druaga, Mappy and Space Harrier are all available to download and play on your Wii, priced at 500 Wii points a piece with the exception of Gaplus, where the plus apparently translates to 100 more Wii points. Space Harrier and Solvalou named as two additional titles coming soon. Sega, Namco and Taito have all signed on to provide their arcade hits to Wii owners.

Final Fantasy fans will have plenty to download on their Nintendo Wii consoles this year, with two WiiWare titles and the appearance of the original games on the Virtual Console.

Formally announced at Nintendo's keynote, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord is the follow up to last year's My Life as a King, so one would reason it's the same thing, only different. It's joined on WiiWare by Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, a port of the official FFIV sequel released last year for Japanese cell phones.

This year also sees the original Nintendo and Super Nintendo Final Fantasy titles making an appearance on the Wii Virtual Console, beginning with the original and following the natural order of things after that.

Nintendo's keynote ended up bearing Zelda fruit after all, with the announcement of the tentatively titled The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the Nintendo DS.

The new game, which looks to play a bit like The Phantom Hourglass, features dungeon maps on the top screen, gameplay on the bottom screen, and a bit of a fascination with trains. In the trailer Link is seen acting as the engineer for a train with a cannon mounted on the locomotive.

The Old Republic Introduces Bounty Hunters

2009-03-22T20:34:00.000Z

The Old Republic's Web site has put up a bio for the upcoming game's bounty hunter class, giving us all a look at a proto-Fett who activates his jetpack with a wrist-worn laptop or something.

Of course, what would be a Star Wars universe without bounty hunters, whose presence have been felt in all of the movies going back to the original. Pick this class and you'll likely get assignments to take out Jedi. The write-up sheds a little light on the Sith Empire's policy of death markers and the quilted quicker-picker-uppers who collect on them.

Of course, if you want to be the Boba with a heart of gold, SW:TOR should accommodate you. In describing bounty hunter capabilities, they mention their overall efficacy against "force-users," which probably goes for Sith and other baddies.

The site gives you an overview and writeups of "field recon," "outfitting" and "combat tactics" applicable to this class.

Bounty Hunter at Star Wars: The Old Republic - Classes

Being a Video Game Art Director

2009-03-19T16:42:00.000Z

I found this article on gamecareerguide.com entitled "An Artist Grown: Reflections on Being a Video Game Art Director By Robert Chang". It's a very interesting read and gives some good insight on the art direction process from a game makers perspective.

Here is the link : http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/501/an_artist_grown_reflections_on_.php?page=1

The Top 10 Cancalled games...

2009-03-17T22:16:00.000Z

Games get cancelled. Some are good, some are bad. Some are great, some are so great that the mere fact that they were cancelled leaves you crying yourself to sleep every night whimpering their name, This is the Top 10 biggest Cancelled Games.

10. Donkey Kong Racing

That’s right, not Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong. The big bad ape himself had his own racing game, and man did it look a treat. Not only were the power-ups and characters great, you got to ride animals. No longer would you be confined to a kart when you could race on Rambi or Zinger. Unfortunately when Rareware left they took their games with them, so there’s little or no chance of anyone ever playing this.

9. Dead Phoenix

Dead Phoenix was originally announced as one of the “Capcom 5″; a set of five Capcom-developed games originally planned as GameCube exclusives. However it failed to appear at E3 2003 and was suddenly removed from Capcoms Website, gone without a trace. Very little is actually known about the game, as it was cancelled in early stages, but you appear to be a winged-man, flying through what appear to be open ended levels and fighting monsters.

8. Glover 2

In 1998 N64 players were introduced to one of the coolest (by that i mean oddest) videogame characters of all time, Glover. Glover was a four fingered magical glove, who is thrown out of a tower due to an explosion, releasing several crystals that protect the kingdom into the world. Now Glover, being the quick witted glove he is, decided to turn these crystals into into rubber balls so they bounce away. You traverse realms returning the crystals, and the world slowly becomes good again. Glover was received with mixed reviews, and no-one really knew what to think of it. There had been plans to release 'Glover 2' but the idea was scrapped, and there has been no further information on it since then.

7. Shenmue III

Since the release of Shenmue II back in 2001 there has been rumors of a third installment. It’s not like players around the world don’t want one, fans have been clamouring for Shenmue III for years. The game has been announced for development and cancelled at least two times, to much disappointment. Despite all this, a sequel may still be possible because of continued massive fan demand, Suzuki’s insistence that “the story will be finished through games”, and SEGA’s current trend of reviving old franchises, we may get lucky and see Shenmue III in the future.

6. Kirby’s New Adventure

Kirby and the Crystal Shards for the N64 was amazing, seeing Kirby in his own 3D adventure was worthy of any fans dreams and expectations for a true Kirby experience. It played just like a 2D Kirby game, but on a single plane;(2.5D if you want to get technical). The game was announced and screenshots ensued. Everyone expected it to be officially announced for the Gamecube and fan's would get a shiny release date. No such luck. The game was thrown into limbo and is currently rumored to be on its way to the Wii, Kirby fans wait nervously...

5: Winter

Mature games for the Wii are rare, but recently they’ve been emerging quietly, hoping to make a small success. Well the developers at n-space made Winter, and it was one hell of a game. Due to some seriously crap publishers it got canned, they were turning their noses up at the game and thanks to this it never saw the light of day. Originally announced in 2007, it was created in hopes of both reinventing the survival-horror genre and introducing a darker, more mature game to the “family friendly” Wii. One of the game’s biggest focuses early on would be to survive the harsh environments brought on by the mysterious blizzard. Players would have to find buildings in which to take shelter in and warm the main character before succumbing to frostbite or hypothermia. Winter sounds like a fantastic game, and according to n-space they’d love to carry on where they left off.

4. Metroid Dread

Metroid always kept its roots in 2D, even with the release of the Prime series, people would still go back and play the classics. The side scrolling adventure couldn’t be beaten and 2D Metroid reigns supreme. With Super Metroid being the best out of them all. But with such success in 2D why doesn’t Samus backtrack to sidescrolling land? Because it got cancelled that’s why. Metroid Dread, a 2D Metroid adventure for the Nintendo DS. There were cryptic denials that the game never existed, but questions were never fully answered and the general opinion is that it existed, and got canned. Hope emerged in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption where there is a message in the Metroid breeding zone of the Space Pirate Homeworld on a computer panel that if scanned says “Experiment status report update: Metroid project ‘Dread’ is nearing the final stages of completion.” For all we know it could be a joke to the fans but I hope not.

3. Chrono Break

Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are two of the best RPG’s ever made, and on December 5th 2001, Square-Enix registered the name Chrono Break. Amongst talks of continuing the series Chrono break was considered a serious possibility, it was being talked about, and it could still happen. Fan's hold their breath, the project had not been given the go-ahead yet, so there was a chance it wouldn’t happen. And guess what, it didn’t. Square-Enix dropped the trademark in the U.S and nothing was said. With Chrono Trigger being ported to the DS, its clear Square haven’t given up on the series. But whether we’ll see a brand new game, who knows. The demand is there, and demand = sales, but so far we’ve been given nothing.

2. Starfox 2

Everyone who played the original Starfox on the SNES fell in love with it. The sequel, Star Fox 2, was set to be just as great. The Japanese version of the game was fully completed and pretty much ready to ship. However there was a little problem. Star Fox 2 was binned because the release of the N64 was right around the corner, and Nintendo’s desire to use the most advanced system available for a new Star Fox game was irrefutable. The saddest thing is that somewhere out there that game still exists but we'll never get to play it.

1. Super Mario 128

Super Mario 128 falls into two categories; the first being one of the most wanted games of all time, the second being one of the biggest screw overs in the entire history of gaming. When I think of Mario 128 I hate Nintendo. I want my Mario 64 sequel, I didnt want Mario Sunshine, we all want Mario 128. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto referred to Mario 128 in 1997 as a possible name for a Mario 64 sequel, it was mentioned again at Spaceworld in 2000, along with a video. The game seemed certain. In 2002, Miyamoto confirmed the development of 128. In 2003 fans were told it wouldn’t appear on the Gamecube at all, okay not the end of the world, we’re still getting it though, right? It was once again confirmed at E3 2004. Where the hell was it? Reggie Fils-Aime, stated that Super Mario 128 would be shown at E3 2005. This was the point where most people thought that the game would finally surface. But oh no, it failed to appear. Later that year it was revealed Mario 128 would finally surface on the Wii. However it was in 2006 that Nintendo pulled the biggest switcheroo you’ll ever see, Miyamoto finally confirmed that the project was no more, and that bits and pieces of the concept had evolved into the Wii title Super Mario Galaxy.

After 9 years of being led on, they screwed the fans over. So much for Nintendo being “friendly”. Mario 128 is one of the most hyped cancelled games ever, you can’t hype a game that much then say you scrapped it. That’s just not right... at least Mario Galaxy turned out to be a return to form...

Escape from City 17 : Part 1

2009-03-15T00:34:00.000Z

This is a fan made short movie based on on the events toward the end of Half Life 2, the art direction is spot on, it fells and looks like the actual game and this was made on a budget of just $500, its incredible. I just these few minutes they have achieved a better Video game film that any big budget Hollywood studio have produced. please watch and comment.

Black Mesa Source... My God, It's Amazing!

2009-03-14T20:25:00.000Z

This is a 'FAN-MADE' rebuild of the very first Half Life that was so good that they even managed to get the real voice actors to reprise the respective roles for the game, the final product looks fantastic and has been built using the Half Life 2 : Episode 2 Engine and if that wasn't good enough comes with the Half Life 2 game rebuilt using the newer engine, ones things for sure, these guys are getting jobs. Heres the trailer:

GDC… what am I missing… AGAIN!!!

2009-03-14T20:09:00.000Z

Well it’s that time of year again where my lack of money comes back to bite me in the ass as I miss the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Ever since E3 hit the toilet (although they promised a return to the old E3 this year) it has been the best source of major game news and lectures for the upcoming release quarters or the year as well as a chance to meet face to face game creators, recruiters, studio heads and developers which is a big plus if you want an inside chance to get comments on your work by industry professionals and get to make some inside contacts. But enough of my moaning here’s my picks of the best things happening at this year’s awesome show.

• The legend himself Hideo Kojima is giving a lecture entitled “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible”. First off as a fan of his games its worth every minute of my time and anyone else for that matter, it’s a great chance to hear what the creator of one of the greatest franchises has to say about game design, I can't think of any greater opportunity to hear how “it” should be done.

• Level Design Process of ‘Mass Effect 2’ lecture by Corey Andruko (Project manager) and Dusty Everman (Lead Technical Designer) from BioWare. The session looks at the new level creation process of BioWare’s current project Mass Effect 2 and the improvements they have made from the first game and how they have identified and fixed mistakes that have made in the previous title. As there has only been a short teaser trailer for this game so far and no story links at all this will be the world first in-depth look at this games story and environments so this will be of huge press and fan interest so get there early if you’re going. It must be noted that next to square BioWare have the reputation of making the best story based games in the world and the level design and world construction is second to no one so the wealth of inform you can get from this if you are thinking of going into level or character design it will be worth it so don’t miss it if you have the chance.

• 10 Perspectives on Staying Passionate about Games, The title says it all and it will give people a much better understanding of the structure f the games industry and how things work and helps you identify what truly matters to you about the gaming business and if you are focusing on the right areas to get where you want to go. It will be a good one.

And finally:

• Art Directing Horror and Immersion in DEAD SPACE, this is by far the scariest game of the year and it worked so well because you actually feel isolated and alone in space and everything from lighting, level design to sound made a utterly convincing at terrifying experience and I can’t think anyone better at the event who will tell you more about player emersion and emotion. It’s defiantly worth your time so go along and get scared.

What's the Point?

2009-03-14T19:22:00.001Z

What do I want to do, where do I want to go when these 3 years are over? I want to be a part of a creative team for a games company that will let me express my ideas and create concepts that will go into production in a video game. I know it’s not going to be the easiest road in the world and it’s going to be tough going especially in the current climate but nothing in art is easy and it’s just another step, another obstacle to get to what is ultimately the dream. I love what I do, I love the industry as a whole and I love the fact that something you could create can be scene and enjoyed potential by millions of people around the world. I’ve always looked at the process of making a video games much like creating a piece of art, lots of ideas, influences, materials and time to create a final piece that is presented for view evaluate and enjoy, that’s probably why I’m a big advocator of videos being art. That’s why I want to absorb all I can out of this course so I can improve my own work and gain a greater understanding and respect for what I’m doing and the outcome I’m trying to achieve, that’s why things like art direction are big factors in gaining a better understanding of what I’m doing and why I appreciate the films we get to watch on Wednesdays because it plays such a big part over the overall viewing experience and I’m only just learning how much so but look forward to expanding my understanding of this process. Overall I think it’s just important to use the time I have to absorb all I can from the people who have the practical knowledge and are able to correctly advise what to avoid and what’s really important that way I can become much more creative which will be of use if I want a decent job and this will lead me to become a lot more focused on what needs and should be done which will make me a better artist.

Life Changing or Career Building?

2009-03-14T18:44:00.000Z

I have found that being taught in a ‘liberal arts’ style has been a lot more useful and productive than any other form art education I have previously received. I never noticed before coming here that a lot of education in general is telling you what people think you should know or has been taught out of habit because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. In recent lectures and talks I really have come to understand that being taught and understanding the reason and purpose for being taught something that is actually useful a lot more productive and inspiring. In drawing for instance I’ve always been told to loosen up my work/drawing style to let it flow onto the page but was never told why or the benefits for doing so, that was until Chris demonstrated why and then got us to practise the process by going outside and drawing a quick environment scene, and to me it was like a light being turned on, I finally got it, I finally understood the process I was taught and it all fell into place. Over the years I’ve been taught so many different ways of doing thing or how things should be done but hardly ever why, what is the purpose of doing it that way? Most of the time I would get the answer “because its easier” but why is it? I think it’s much better in the long run to know not only how to draw something correctly but why it should be drawn in that way in the first place, this way you can convey a lot more in what you are producing and it will be of more benefit for the person your producing it for because they will be able to understand to a greater degree what your trying to convey. I think this is why what trained artists from a fine art back ground because they have a higher understanding of creating imagery which tell a story correctly because that’s essentially what video games are, are series of scenes telling a story and this only works if what is proposed is believable in the first place. I think it’s by far the best way to be taught and I think if anyone what’s a better chance to get into the industry it’s something they should pursue. Is it life changing or careerbuilding?, i think its both, i know from what i've learn over the past few months has already given me a better understanding of my own work and i know that the influences on future work will always now be there. Thanks Chris.

Game Technology - Sound for Games

2009-03-14T18:22:00.001Z

Sound in video games is more than just the bleeps and bloops of old, it is now as integral to a game as the characters, story and environments. It has sets the tone of the scene and influences the emotion of the player and the impact of what is taking part in front of them and to me personally I think it can make a game more than it could have been without it. Some game music has such an impact it can make you happy, it can make you cry and even in some case proud. I remember the first time I went to Video Games Live how it certified to me them emotional attachment I have with games and how big a part the music plays in that, the first time I heard the metal gear theme performed I felt so proud to be a gamer because it produced something so impactful and poignant. The same happened later in the evening when they played a medley from the original tomb raider games and actually started crying because it was just beautiful and it those games played such a big part of my life when they came out. The use of big named composer to produce movie like soundtracks is become a larger going trend in video games these days, people such as Harry Gregson-Williams has composed and conducted the music for Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 and 4 as well as the “Twin Snakes” remake of the first game for the Nintendo GameCube which was originally produced by Konami’s in-house audio team.

The impact of the amazing soundtrack that these games had is the major driving force for other games to adopt a similar path with their titles. The best example most recent is the truly terrifying ‘Bioshock’, composed by Garry Schyman, which when played with the soundtrack creates such a intense and scary environment that even the hardened gamer finds themselves jumping in fright.

The biggest composers working in the games industry at present (aside from the two previously mentioned) are Jack Wall (Myst III:Exile , Mass Effect), Jason Hayes (World of Warcraft , StarCraft), Jeremy Soule (Elderscrolls IV : OBLIBION, StarWars: Knights of the Old Republic), Koji Kondo (Mario and Zelda) and Nobuo Uernatsu (Final Fantasy , Lost Odyssey).

All of these men have produced pieces of music for games that have not only become attached to the game but defined them and some of the music has become as well known as the games they were created for, an example of this is if you ask any final fantasy to name a tune from the games almost all of them will say ‘One winged Angel’ from Final Fantasy VII.

Game Technology - Game Engines

2009-03-14T17:32:00.000Z

Video game engines are built up of a variety of components that work in synchronisation to present the complete gaming experience to the player. The engines tackle a variety of tasks that produce the final outcome and these main tasks are usually the Audio, Graphics, Real-World lighting and the physics that govern what happens in the game worlds such as object gravity, jumping physics and weather effects such as rain, snow and wind. Over the past decade the cornerstone of all game engines has been the infamous ‘Unreal’ game engine that has been used to build some of the best games of the last decade and continues to be the backbone to some upcoming Triple-A titles such as Final Fantasy XIII and Mass Effect 2. The reason so many games use unreal rather than making their own is mostly down to time and cost, if all companies developed a new engine for every game they made then release of new titles would slow down greatly and gamers would be waiting even longer for new titles which make it non-cost effective which is never good in the games industry. By using a 3rd party engine to build their games on they can get on with the main task at hand of making the actual games and while this is happening ‘Unreal’ can develop a new and improved engine which will be ready will become available when the companies final they can do all they can with the current technology they have. There are indeed other game engines out there but most of them are used in-house by the makers themselves and are mostly exclusive to the company that developed them. A good example of this is the Virtual Theatre game engine developed and used by Revolution software during the 1990’s for their point and click games ‘Lure of the Temptress’, ‘Beneath A Steel Sky’ and ‘Broken Sword 1 & 2’. I was designed specifically to give all their games a familiar play style to give a framework that fans who had played previous titles would be able to adapt to quickly when playing one of their new titles and thus get down to what made their games important, the story. I must say from my own personal experience that the system is so intuitive I’m able to ply the game without being aware of the controls in using so may concentration is solely on the game and made it much more enjoyable to play, it was so popular in fact that after the games were finally unable to play on modern systems that it was developed into what is now a free downloadable engine called ScummVM that allows players to load and play the games on modern PC’s as long as you owned a disc copy of the game, it was then taken a step further and has now been developed to play games that never used the engine in the first place such as all the original LucusArt games such as ‘Monkey Island’ and the amazingly underrated game ‘The Dig’.

Gaming Cultures

2009-03-14T16:29:00.000Z

Gaming has developed so much in the last 20+ ears and with that has also seen the development of video game fans from simple players to an entire culture that eats at every waking moment of a gamer’s life and has even divided itself into separate entities such as the FPS clans and the RPG/JRPG factions. It has become part of the world culture as Films and TV did in the past, it’s no longer an escape for the few it’s now a voice for the many and is a global phenomenon that influences the everyday lives of over a billion people. If I was to fall into any sort of group I would be half in the RPG and half in the Action adventure group’s I love games with great story but also like suspense and action (games such as Tomb Raider, Broken Sword, Half Life 2 and the Metal Gear franchise being my favorites). Unfortunately I’ve found that I can become quiet hesitant to join in social activities when I get into playing certain games (Not just W.O.W.) and also find that when I go on holiday I can become very easily frustrated with realising it because I’m away from my consoles… I may have an addiction which needs to be checked. Anyway aside from my problems it is such a big part of my life, I check gaming news sites such as Kotaku.com every day without fail to see what’s new in the gaming world and flicking to sites such as IGN.com to get more in-depth previews of specific games and if that’s not enough its over to GameTrailers.com to find a trailer of the game I’m looking forward to. The sites seemed to al be dedicated to games but not the games but in 2006 a site called Screwattack.com changed that where they created original content every day for gamers to watch and it’s a great example of how the culture has influenced to gaming community and the introduced the first online news cast the is dedicated solely to gaming news and telling fans what the need to know with any backlash or constraints from companies as they are separate entity that can tell the facts with bias and general act as the online voice or gamers around the world. The culture has not just be contained to video games, web comics that have direct ties to the news and satire of the video games business have become increasing popular in the gaming community with the biggest being Penny-Arcade.com who’s popularity has even spawn a real world convention called PAX has become one of the biggest events in the gaming convention calendar alongside the likes of E3 and GDC. The culture will only increase as time goes on with features such as XBOXLIVE allowing players to not only play together but talk to one another to and from this develop friendships, form clans and exchange news, ideas and comments from one side of the world to the other. I myself have formed some friendships with people I only know through my console and talk to via Windows messenger and to be honest I think anything that can allows people from every walk of life to join together and have fun and talk can never be a bad thing… unless it’s the guys who just go on Xbox live to swear and shout at kids for not being as good as they are… those guy and girls are just sad.

An introduction to the Game Industry

2009-03-14T15:31:00.000Z

The games industry at present is a bit of a turbulent place with the global recession finally beginning to show its weary head to even the highest earning companies. In the last few weeks we have see the amount of redundancies grow from the hundreds to the thousands and now even those who 12 months ago though they were easily secured in their jobs are now in the firing line. A few independent developers and publishers have sadly closed their doors and some have had the good fortune to have been saved by outside backers or been bought and absorbed into the portfolios of some of the bigger companies such as EA and Activision. Thankfully given the time this is happening it could have been a lot worse as most games companies save their biggest releases for the winter with the prospect of Christmas sales accounting for at least half of their annually sales totals but I have a feeling when we get into the slow period of releases which is usually from late January to early June the future of peoples jobs and companies future will grow more into doubt. Sadly cost cutting measures are having to be taken to ensure company’s survival until this recession blows over and with the new consoles power increasing the production costs and development time up even further the casualties will begin to grow and we may see before 2009 is out some of the bigger names in the games industry closing their doors for the last time. My view is that those who do have security in their jobs for the time being still enjoy what they do and the freedom they have in expressing ideas must be a refreshing feeling. The game industry has always and will always be about the creation and devilment of new ideas that can become franchises that makes the company money and I’ve always wanted to be a part of something where my ideas can help make something great or useful and that one day someone will same that something I came up with was worthwhile in moving a game forward. I may be over romanticizing the business a nit but to be honest I don’t care, I’ve been a fan of the business my whole life, it shaped my childhood and drove my ambitions as a result and even if the best thing I can achieve is just one small credit on a game then it will be all worth it, I think there’s more to games than just the business side, passion will go a long way into shaping the future of the business, Just ask Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto.

Creativity

2009-03-14T15:28:00.000Z

Creativity is the beautiful process of creating and developing new concepts and ideas into constructive and useful mediums, such as a picture, a script a machine or even a movie. It’s creativity that has lead mankind to change the face of the earth into the vibrant but problem filled metropolis is today but as a result every solution creates a new problem so the creative process of finding new and better ways to achieve a set goal whether it be creative or industrial never ends. For my personal stand point my creative process goes into creating images and graphics that try to convey a set scene or idea for a video game property, I have to think about lighting, image placement, environment and many other factors to create a piece the tells the story of the idea I have. All these factors must work together creatively to make my finished piece have depth and meaning and it’s the development of this creative thought process that drives me forward and leads to new and better concepts down the road and it’s the same process that every designer or creative person takes to move their visions forward and the rapid evolution of our culture over the last 15 years shows just how influential this process is to everyday life around the world. Films have become a good example of this evolution in creative thinking, in the last few years the art direction in motion pictures has become as important as the script and story that make the film what it is. The use of colour filters, lenses angles, camera distortions and effect are now taking a greater stance in helping tell the story to the viewer rather than just relying on dialog and sets to convey a set mood or tone to a scene that registers to the viewer as what they should be feeling at this given time. This theme has also seen a great rise to performance in video games over the last few years where now with the power that consoles have at their disposal larger more story heavy games are beginning to center stage once again. Games such as Metal Gear Solid have continued to up the production values and visual presentation in its games over the last few years with ‘MGS4’ being as close to a Hollywood movie in terms of style and presentation we have seen thus far but thankfully this trend is taking hold in and this has caused the overall quality of games to improve and helped develop new graphic technologies that can be implemented to greater effect in future titles which will again lead to quality and presentation to improve further. Games such as ‘Half life’ or more notably ‘Half Life 2’ have pushed the bounders even further with the world itself becoming its own character with every building and landscape conveying a story or the people who remain there and what has happened in the past and with the link of a strong story too it has become one of the centerpieces of video games. The creative process that has gone into creating every little detail from the characters to the landscapes and vehicles is astounding and if any of you have read the aptly named “Raising the Bar” you will know just how deep the development of ideas for this game went and with games such as ‘Heavy Rain’ will show upon its release the boundaries of visual design are becoming less and less constrained by technology and now anything that can be dreamt can indeed finally be created in all the glory that the designer envisioned.

Oh dear...

2009-03-14T14:28:00.000Z

I can't believe its been this long since I made a post, I've writing in my note book for ages but I just hate typing on keyboards, I'm slow at it and its just so monotonous. I guess its a double edged sword because now I have to type everything up in one go, Not fun but I guess I should get started.

Metal Gear Crimson: Death of Liberty

2008-12-16T09:45:00.000Z

It's been a while since I last saw this, just got flashback's of when we filmed it at college. It's not the greatest thing in the world but we were just given a camera and told to go film something, and with no previous experience I don't think we did that badly.

Hope you enjoy it.

Gameplay

2008-12-14T20:42:00.000Z

Gameplay is what make the game playable in the context of the games core theme. This sometimes boils down to the control methods used for certain genres of video games, i.e. RTS games like Command & Conquer are mainly mouse and keyboard interfaces for the controls there as fighting games may require a joystick or control pad. This is important for how the game is supposed to be played and how the player is supposed to conduct their playing experience. Mindless button mashing and combo’s are the bread and butter of Beat’um up’s but would not suit an RTS because there are usually lots of thing going on the screen at any one time and too much to take into account when trying to play, although the image of someone going insane at an arcade RTS does make me chuckle. I do think that these divisions of control style between different gaming genres is important as some games just would never work and it keeps the playable experience for different games varied. I doubt anybody would like to keep buying new games only to find the same controls being used on every title again and again. With the advent of the Nintendo Wii we are seeing for the first time on a large scale how the control methods used actually are actually designed specifically for each game. The Wii mote gives us for the first time the real ability to manipulate what we see and do on screen in real time without it just being a set of commands to go left, right, up or down. This new way of playing I’m sure is going to influence other consoles and hardware and the way we play games in the future.

Story and Character

2008-12-14T20:09:00.000Z

A good story makes a great video game but it’s the characters that carry us through the story and in some cases become the most memorable part of the experience. Examples of characters becoming more famous than the story they came from is something relatively new in videogames but it’s something that has happened time and time again in the film industry weather it be from a comedy, drama and even horror. For me, the most memorable is the alien from the film Alien (1979), which may not be most people first choice but bear with me. It was a character designed before the visual effect to carry it off fully did not exist so they came up with a compromise which actually added to the character. If you have ever seen the film you will notice that the alien it’s self is not seen on screen for more than a few moments, this was actually done due to the technology constraint but this actually adds to the tension of the screen. Now this may not mean much to some, but ask your friends about the film and I bet they would each say something different about what they saw in the movie when in actual fact they may not have seen it at happen at all. This is because that the mind will sometimes fill in the blanks to make more scenes of the scene and this creates moments that the person would swear happened but actually never took place. A good example of this fact is in Reservoir Dogs (1992) in the scene where Mr Blonde cuts the police officers ear off. Many people would swear to actually seeing this gruesome scene take place but in actual fact the camera pans to the left at this moment and all you hear are the screams of the victim before the camera cuts back to Mr Blonde holding the ear. In the case of the alien I think this effect of the mind creating its own idea as to what happened enhances the mystery and the darkness of the character, its visual appearance when you seen the creature is very shocking too. With its large head and slimy, scaly body and dark textured skin make it a very intimidating and threatening looking thing. You know just by looking at it that it is very animalistic and can’t be reason with, this and the fact that it reproduces by using humans as unwilling hosts and then burst out of the chest cavity at birth killing the poor person who was infected. Every aspect of the creature seems to point to the fact it’s a remorseless killing machine and we have no hope. The best thing about this creature is that it does not rely on a script or dialogue to make it such a formidable on-screen presence, everything that it is and will do is conveyed by its mere presence on screen, all the other characters fear it and we don’t have to be talked into why that is, because for the brief moments it’s on screen we know why. I think any character that can make such a landmark impact and evoke such strong emotion from the actors and fans of the film is truly something special. Not a single screen icon since the silent movie era has ever made such an impact on viewers until the alien was created and I doubt there has been one since. Its movies like this that I enjoy the most because they make us think about what may happen or we try to piece together what is exactly happening before our eyes, I’ve always found they idea of a villain who can’t be reasoned or bargained with and would kill you without thinking to be the most powerfully you can get on screen as they seem to have been born from your own nightmares. James Cameron’s ‘The Terminator’ (1984) was a perfect example of this idea and it was actually conceived when the director had a nightmare about the machine travelling back in time to kill him and this lead to creation of this iconic film. I suppose in short, the films I like the most are 9ons that take my real fears and emotions and presents them to me and make me empathise with the characters that have to go through these ordeals and make you imagine what if you were in a situation like that; Scary.

Game Technology

2008-12-14T15:50:00.000Z

Over the years I’ve play many different consoles and computers and used many different methods to control the games I’ve played. I think back to the ZX Spectrum I used to play as a child and having to learn keyboard controls for the first time, an experience that put me off pc gaming until just a few years ago. Also with that was a joystick I think was actually meant for an Atari 2600 and a light gun that was identical to the one that came out for the Master-System and Mega-Drive a few years later, the games I played with them were pretty basic as you could imagine but they were cool none the less, but I really remember the first time I used the light gun for the SNES and not playing anything else for a few months, mainly because I was young and shooting stiff on the screen still seemed cool and the other reason was the gun it’s self, whoever decided to design the gun as a shoulder mounted bazooka was a genius.

Other things like the unofficial turbo pad for the Mega-Drive made the games a bit more fun after I’d played them all to death and an official resident evil pad I had for the PSone made the game much more controllable and fun with one half of the pad shaped like a gun handle with trigger making zombie fights a bit faster to react to and the other grip shaped like a door handle… it was an odd thing. Zip forward the Xbox and a game I bought called Steel Battalion which came with the largest game controller ever released for a console, with two giant joysticks, over 40 buttons and switches and a 3 pedalled unit for your feet, it truly was an epic piece of kit and although it wasn’t the easiest thing to set up, it really helped make the playable experience more entertaining as you were literally in control of every aspect of the giant robot/mech you were controlling.

But the best pad I’ve ever used is by far the Xbox360 pad, it feels so nice to hold, like it was molded to fir your hand perfectly. All the buttons are in easy reach and don’t get in the way during game-play, and even attachments like the MSN keyboard fit perfectly to the pad without hindering its use and still be easy to use during game-play. I remember seeing a video before the console came out about how they designed the pad to make it as comfortable as possible and put so much effort into making it the best for the player and now I look at pad’s for the ps3 that is essentially that same design they’ve had for 15 years and I just think to myself they really must not car about how people play as long as they are buying there game. I think anyone who has tried to use the trigger buttons on the ps3 pad knows exactly how poorly designed and rushed it seems.

Consoles themselves have changed greatly just like controllers over the years. The ZX Spectrum was nothing but a keyboard and a tape deck and the only the original NES was… well a box. I remember seeing the Mega-Drive 2 for the first time and thinking how different and cool it looked with its curved shaped and curved control pads that seemed to be the first attempt to make a controller more comfortable to hold as I suppose people were in general playing games for longer amounts of time as they become more mainstream and more a part of everyday life. Then the PSone hits the shelves and it looks like we’ve taken a step back to the box look and then fast forward to the ps2 and it’s even more of a box than the first one. We look at the consoles today and it’s a much different story (except for the Wii), It’s back to the curves and Xbox360 and PS3 are the key examples of this. I like the overall design of the 360, it’s pleasing to the eye and looks nice next to anything on your shelves, the PS3 is good but it does have its drawback, like it being the size of a small house and the fact you will be lucky to fit it on any shelve you may have at home already, and if you do fit it on it will suck every ounce of dust your house has as cover it’s nice shiny surface, mean you have to polish it about one every 20 minutes. I think when they come to design their next console, Sony may take a little more care, but given their track record of doing what they think is right and not listening to the fans about what they think is better I’m not going to hold my breath on that one.

Story Telling in Games

2008-12-14T14:54:00.000Z

For me, story’s in video games are the most important aspect of the playing experience. Of course the game-play mechanics need to be up to par so the person can play without being hindered by awkward controls but if the story is poor then it shouldn’t have been made in the first place. I like to feel a part of what I’m playing, I want to feel shock and awe as I enter a giant temple as the character does on screen (Tomb Raider as an example here). The best playing experience a person can have is if they feel they are being led on a journey and they feel a part of that journey, so many times I’ve seen people buy games and not be satisfied because they picked something generic like a sports title and if they do have anything good to say it’s usually about the graphics or the controls. Now in my opinion I don’t want a game because the controls are good… I want something with substance, depth and emotion that makes me want to play it again because I actually enjoyed myself.

Now we get to the trick one... MMO’S. Playable experiences such as Second Life (because it’s not technically a game) don’t have any story; they actually rely on the social aspect of the experience to create its own story between its users. There nothing but empty space and land that players purchase and then go about building their own buildings, shops and landscapes that other player can then visit and experience. This kind of freedom is cool, but with the content being completely generated by the players some things may not be suitable for all audiences. World of Warcraft on the other hand is a world that is built and controlled by Blizzard Entertainment (now Activision/Blizzard) and is a very in-depth world with themes and characters; both NPC’s and User’s, to interact with. It is story based, but the way you go about completing this story and the how long it takes to do it is completely controlled by the player, some don’t even choose the story route and rather use the landscapes to interact with other people much like a social website. (FaceBook come to mind).

Now MMO’s aside, you can look at games like Call of Duty. Now the main single player campaign is set during the second world war (excluding 4 from this) and you as the player must experience all the horrors that this sort of battlefield may contain. Now, is it a war story…? I would say not entirely. Yes its set during the war but each of the games are putting the players in control of a character that must experience the war first hand. I think the story is more about the persons experience during the war rather than just the war itself, Some may not agree but I think that the war was not just between the country’s that fought it, it was about the people involved and their experiences during that time and I think that what the game is trying to convey more than anything.

An Introduction to Art Direction for Games

2008-12-14T00:15:00.000Z

The job of an Art Director isn’t as glamorous as its title perceives it to be but that doesn’t make it any less important. They coordinate all the visual artists from concept artists to 3D modellers and track the process and guides the projects constraints and deadlines. A lot of people would presume that a position such as this would be a basic administrative job but it would be impossible for anyone without art knowledge and experience to do this job. An Art Directors job is not only administrative but it’s also to help and mentor younger artists on the correct ways to produce and finalize their work so it is ready for the next stage in the design process and this would be impossible without an art background to begin with. Some companies have gone as far as to create to separate positions, one of which is the Art Director and the second is what is known as a ‘guru’ who doesn’t deal with all of the management stuff and concentrates only on the artistic mentoring to other artists on the team. If I wanted to become an Art Director in the future I think that some of the key things I would need to improve or better my understanding of would be my organisational skills, a better understanding of team dynamics and my overall knowledge of different genres and styles of art. Although I am not particularly enthusiastic about administrative jobs since I am more of a hands on creative individual who loves to draw as a hobby and not just as a job. I would much prefer to be a guru so then I could pass on and advise others on new ways to do things.

An Introduction to Game Design

2008-12-13T23:44:00.000Z

Unlike the early 80s, video games are no longer the creations of one or two people in their bedrooms programming basic games. These days teams can number in there hundreds and budgets in millions; but the vision of what the game can become and the direction of that vision can still be in the eyes of one person. Hideo Kojima and his Metal Gear series are a good example of this and more recently Cliff Bleszinski with the Gears of War series. Both of these men created strong narrative driven games with stories that actually make you care about the characters and controls which ironically made you feel more in control and apart of the game. Another good point about these games is that the look and feel of both titles are very different from each other but are held together by good narrative and solid game play. This proves that design principles for different gaming genres can vary so long as the story and game play mechanics are strong enough to carry the title in the vision it was originally conceived. There have been many games in the past which have had great promise and stylish presentation but have lacked the fundamental control and story to make it worth playing. (Too Human on Xbox 360 is a good example)

In my opinion, I much prefer story driven compelling games than simple platform titles. I love how narrative based games can draw you in and make you feel more a part of what you’re experiencing as it happens and this makes you feel more a part of the overall experience. The most memorable moments in my gaming life are from games that made me feel a part of the moment that evoked emotion from me; made life and cry, get apprehensive or just plain scared. For me this is what gaming is all about and it’s something that a lot of people seem to have forgotten and would rather buy a game because it has superior graphics than another similar title. I feel sorry for them…

Reviewing Videogames…

2008-12-13T22:59:00.001Z

I think that NGL is good but it can be a double edged sword sometimes, I would much rather listen to someones opinion on a game as to whether it is good or not rather than some in-house employee of the game makers company writing a review statement saying all things to everyone and it just turning out to be rubbish. But the one issue I would have with personal opinions in video games is whether or not the reviewers’ opinion is valid in the first place, by this I mean ‘is this person without objective or biased opinions or is he a ‘fanboy’ saying that the game is better for one certain console and rubbish on the others because that is his/her preference. A good games review for me would be one that lists the key features of the game as well as any issues that it may have and a personal deconstruction of the game itself informing me which elements throughout are good and bad. This would tell me (a) that the person has actually played the game and knows what it actually contains as opposed to relying on guess work and what he may have read in other game press and (b) that the person’s opinion is based on what they have experienced firsthand.
Personally I am not a huge fan of ranking systems, all this ‘8.2, 9.7’ score jargon seems a little bit petty to me; almost like ‘nit-picking’. By this I mean that a product could be seen as less of a game because it didn’t score well when in fact it might be an excellent game, or that a game with a high score (Kane & Lynch springs to mind here) is undeserving (which may lead people to getting fired...)

Out of all of the reviewing styles I far prefer a subjective style, provided it’s done in the right way; an example of this is Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw from ‘Zero Punctuation’. He methodically deconstructs a games good and bad points, its social impacts on players and the gaming community; whilst still keeping his opinion straight forward and precise all with a pinch of humor(you can see an example of whch here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/213-Too-Human ). I think this format appeals to others is proven by the how fast his popularity has risen over the internet and how his ‘Yahtzee’ persona has become such a cult character among gamers.

A History of Videogames : Part 3

2008-12-05T02:34:00.000Z

Now the recent history of videogames has been full of changes, in technology and in console dominance. With the Launch of the PS2 in 2000 Sony continued to push forward their dominance that fought hard to win with the PSone, and they succeeded once again. With new polished visuals and the move to DVD Technology Sony once again showed the future path that future consoles would follow… at least in the most part. This new technology lead to more cinematic titles moving to the forefront of the games industry, and this was lead by “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty”. This game took the Hollywood blockbuster style and showed the world that games could be more engrossing, more powerful and better produced than most movies. This style went on to influence later ‘Interactive Movie’ style games such as “Fahrenheit” and “Max Payne”(although the film could learn a thing or two from the game… like how to be good…). The main that DVD Technology allowed for the first time was the ability to constantly stream large amounts of data rather fast and allow games to present large open worlds for the first time without slowdown or clipping issue. The game that showed us all this was possible was Rockstar’s “Grand Theft Auto 3”. This game revolutionised gaming as we know it giving us for the first time a fully inhabited living city the player could freely roam around and do as they wished outside the constraints of the main story, this came to be known as ‘Sand-Box’ gaming. This premise would culminate with “GTA: San Andreas” where the player was able to move around an entire State at will without any restrictions or boundary’s (excluding the giant ocean that surrounds it). It still holds the record for the largest in game world generated on a console that didn’t require loading times for moving from place to place.

All the fun didn’t just belong to Sony, Microsoft introduced themselves into the console market with the ‘XBOX’ and the stage was set for the third console war. Xbox presented mainstream titles and a new selection of exclusive games that Sony weren’t able to produce and thus were able to reach a new audience. Xbox became known as the gamers console with the Play station focusing on selling any game they could to anyone who would by them (this lead to some of the more horrible games in recent history… Crazy frog racer I’m Pointing at you…) where as Microsoft limited there catalogue and focused on spending more time on making key games for certain demographics and this lead to better quality of games with far better visual presentation. To counter the ‘Metal Gear Solid’ licence that was exclusive to Sony, UbiSoft built “Splinter Cell”, a stealth espionage game that was set in a more realistic setting than metal gear and was enhanced buy real time lighting, amazing enemy AI and movable materials such as curtains and drapes. This was a great showcase for what the Xbox was capable of. The best story based game of this was the now cult classic “Knights of the Old Republic”. It was another great game that helped push the Xbox forward and showed a lot of people that heavy story games were here to stay. Its massive world, great cat of character and fantastic story were praised by fans and critics all over the world even to the point where many consider the game to be the best Star Wars story of its entire expanded universe series of books and comics that have been produced over the Last 30 years. The makers of this game, ‘BioWare’ would later set out to show us that this type of story based game-play would work in a game that didn’t have to rely on the Star Wars fans, this experiment would lead to ‘Mass Effect’ on the Xbox 360.

This for me shows the direction the games industry is heading, back in the eighties and early nineties story based games were the some of the most popular games on the systems as the world could be large and story’s long, but the graphics weren’t up to high standards so they didn’t take up much room on the cartridges they were sold on. As tech advanced, graphics became better but the medium of which to sore this information hadn’t could up so story games visuals got butter but the stories shorter to compensate the medium they were sold on. This lead to companies focusing one simpler games such as sports titles and beat-um ups to carry the people’s desire for more games to play and this lead to story games falling out of favour with audiences. With the advent of DVD and now the key Driving force Blu-Ray, story games can have fantastic visuals but are now also able to be much longer and more in-depth as they used to be. Games such as ‘Metal Gear Solid 4’ and the yet to be released ‘Heavy Rain’ are giving us the long, in-depth playing experiences that a few years ago just weren’t possible, and as a whole will push the industry forward. As budgets grow to their highest levels ever, games companies can I’ll afford to make, simple poor quality games that are too short or have bad game-play as the money they would lose from a poor selling game could devastate them finically. This has been evident recently in the news with ‘Midway’ who had huge success in the nineties being sold off for less than one million pounds after money lost on poor games. I think that this way of making games maybe more risky and time consuming but the quality of the finished product we are getting now is second to none and poor 3rd party titles will disappear into the mist. Where this will take us in the next generation of consoles I’m not sure, I have a feeling as World of Warcraft have showed us and ‘Knights of the Republic’ will show us upon its release is that the future will be online. Xbox have laid the groundwork for making multiplayer online on consoles a main part of the everyday use of a console, along with the interactive services it provides on its dashboard. If this means that in the future if we play the future GTA:5 title, the cities we are driving around in may very well be populated with other players around the world and in war games such as call of duty, rather than having NPC soldiers in you platoon as your enemy, they may be players on the other side of the world fighting with you. I think that the future of games will rely on more on the gamers who play them to inhabit these in-game worlds and create the experiences for each other, either way the new era will be something very special.

A History of Videogames : Part 2

2008-12-05T01:13:00.000Z

The 1980’s saw the games industry as we know it today to begin to take shape; it was an era of massive change with new companies being formed, change in Hardware and the first mascots of videogames being created. One of the first big changes was the way games were made in terms of new features and graphics. “Defender” was the first game to implement a radar system to tell the player what was approaching ahead of them and “BattleZone” became the first ever game to create a 3d world with the use of newly developed wireframe vector graphics.

In 1983’s “Dragon’s Lair” became the first ever game to feature ‘Full-Motion Video’ or FMV’S with the thanks of the large laserdisc it was released on, for which it was also the first. It was a landmark game as for the first time in a videogame there were no animated pixel characters or flat backgrounds, it instead used cartoon animation and ‘Hot Points’ where the player would have to click in time to advance the video or face a grizzly death.

In 1985 the ‘Third Generation’ of consoles began with the introduction or the ‘N.E.S.’ (Nintendo Entertainment System) and the ‘Master-System’ from SEGA. With these new formats game a string of games that would become forever identified with these systems and laid the groundwork for the first franchises in the games industry that still last to this day. The most notable of these new franchises were ‘The Legend of Zelda’, ‘Super Mario Bros.’, ‘Dragon’s Quest’, ‘Final Fantasy’ and the first ever stealth-based game ‘Metal Gear’. The 1980’s would become the decade that Nintendo showed the world that games had truly arrived to the masses and was now an everyday part of life. In 1989 they cemented this fact by releasing the first hand held console, the ‘Game Boy’. It became the best selling hand held unit of all time and gave the world the phenomenon that was ‘Tetris’ which has sold over 33 million copies and is second only to ‘Super Mario Bros.’ which sold 40.2 Million.

The 1990’s saw the games industry explode into a global powerhouse, Budgets became larger, production teams became bigger and Music and Cinema began to work together to create some epic stories and engrossing environments. The ‘Fourth Generation’ of consoles was ushered in by the Sega Mega Drive and the ‘S.N.E.S.’ and the mascot for this new generation was SEGA’S ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’. Design to be a flagship character against Nintendo’s Mario, the new high speed platform style of sonic became a driving force of a heated battle between the two companies. In 1996 Nintendo would re-secure their dominance (all be it for 12 months) with the introduction of the N64 and its flagship Launch Title Mario64, the first full 3D platform game which became a cult classic . Other key N64 titles of this era were ‘GoldenEye 007’, ‘Perfect Dark’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’. With the advent of CD technology being utilised for the first time in dedicated consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation, the stage was set for the biggest game of the 90’s, ‘Final Fantasy VII’. Now a lot of people argue this point and I’m not really a diehard fan of it as most seem to be but I still think it’s important, it opened the gateway for a wave of Japanese games to flow into the us and Europe for the first time and as we see the results today, the Asian influence is very noticeable in today’s society. It also showed how large film type storylines and FMV’s could work together to make an enthralling experience, Although I still prefer the ‘Broken Sword’ type of storytelling in games. It became the game that cemented the PlayStation as the leader in the videogame industry; dominance that would last until the mid 00’s.

Now I seem to have gone on a bit long here so I’ll try and keep this short, for me the best games came in the late 80’s and mid ninety’s, I remember as a child playing a ZX Spectrum when it was brand new and waiting for games such as ‘Fantastic Dizzy’, ‘Hungry Horace’ and ‘The Oracles Cave’ to load on its loud and colourful loading screens for 15 minutes before playing and just enjoying it for just the game it was without the worry of graphic being the selling point of a game, it was just more enjoyable. Queuing up with my dad on the Launch day to be one first people to get a Nintendo GameBoy and playing ‘Tetris’ for hours and never get sick of it, and I still play with the same enjoyment today. And then the mega drive, playing that for the first time and finding I couldn’t understand the language of the games because my parents had gotten a Japanese import and all the writing was in Japanese but still loving every minute of it. Games were so much simpler back then but way more enjoyable, I remember my dad sitting there trying to play Sonic 1 all day and night just so we could see the last level because as children it was a bit of a tall order, I don’t think any parent without much experience with games could sit there for 5 minutes these days and be able to get far in a game because they are so overly complicated. But the highlight for me was getting Broken Sword, this beautifully drawn game with compelling story and fantastic sound and animation was the biggest eye opener for me. I had always been interested in art and to see a game that looked like it had been drawn was the point when I thought that one day my art could get me somewhere, that I could be able to make games like this one day, it’s a possibility I’ve always hung onto and am now able to put into practice.

A History of Videogames : Part 1

2008-11-08T21:48:00.000Z

Gaming dates back further than most people may think and here are some of the key titles that set in motion the birth of the videogame industry. When people think back to the earliest games most people would stop a ‘PONG’ from the 1970’s, but you would be wrong. The origins of gaming actually stretch back to the 1950’s where the first basic game was produced. “Tennis for Two” was a simple as its title, a two player tennis game that was played from a side angle rather than an over the top view. Next up, we move to 1961 where some MIT students developed a the ”Spacewar!”. The player would control a spacecraft that would fire missiles at hazards that were created by a black hole in the centre. It was built into a unit called the DEC PDP-1, very original… it is the size of transit van and the game itself is played on a circle monitor and controlled with a basic keyboard. I had the lucky opportunity to see it in the flesh at the ‘Game-ON’ exhibition in 2006 and it’s amazing how things have changed in 50 years.

The game went on to inspire later efforts like 1969’s “Space Travel” and 1971’s “Galaxy Game” which became the first ever coin-op videogame and was built into a very unique looking cabinet.

Now we come to gaming genesis, in 1972 ‘ATARI’ was founded and its debut effort was “PONG”. The classic over the top format tennis game went on to influence the look of most tennis and sports games all the way up to the mid 80’s. PONG was the stand alone arcade success for most of the 70’s and the cabinet it was built into became the standard design for most arcade machines to this day. I wish I had the opportunity to play it during the height of its popularity rather than many years later on the Atari 2600.

In 1978 Taito’s “Space Invaders” ushered in the “Golden Age” of arcade gaming. ‘Space Invaders’ offered a more complex gaming experience with many objects on the screen at one time and the introduction of a ‘LIVE’s/Credits’ format made the games more competitive especially in bars and arcades where these cabinets were placed and extra features like top scores added to the experience and help people part with their cash. The first colour arcade game “PAC-MAN” added to the popularity of the arcade machines and he became recognised as the first icon or mascot of the games industry and led the way for future titles to adopt mascots to represent their games.

It Begin's...

2008-10-07T21:01:00.000+01:00

Well lady's and gentlemen, I guess it all starts here. My name is John Haddock and this is my blog page. Over the next 3 years it will become my diary of sorts of my work and ideas for projects I am working on as part of my Game Art course at De Montfort University. This is a new experience for me. I have maintained and commented on public/social website before but never had a proper 'blog' that concentrates on my work and experiences on a certain subject that is important to me. I am looking forward to being able to create something i can look back on and for others to look at as regards to how i work and show the progression of projects from start to finish. I know it is mostly going to be work orientated but I'm sure it will become a great tool for me and to others who can look at what I've done and be able to comment and advise on what they think is the best direction to take my ideas. It will allow us all to be able to track each others progress and even help us compare the quality of each others work and push us to improve upon what we have done and create higher standard final products. I do apologize if I have repeated myself a few times, I'm not used to writing like this but I guess thats also a point of doing a blog.. to learn.

I look forward to the work that has yet to come and get started on making this blog full of my ideas and work...

Let the good times roll -