Iffy Inc. Digital Films, Games and Animation

Third Year College Blog

2011-09-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here is my new blog dedicated to my third year studies of Digital Films, Games and Animationshttp://ifrazmohammedl6.blogspot.com/

Negotiated Study Week11:Castle Game Environment

2011-06-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

The project is complete but not without disappointment as i feel i could have accomplished more and now that i can look back there is alot i would do different, listen to the tutors feedback, texture size, animations, character design and the quantity that i expected, although i am okay with the outcome i am disappointed in not achieving what i set out for.

Unity Web Player - Ifraz Mohammed Castle Game Environment Web Player

Created with Unity »

Negotiated Study Week11:Last Minute Touches

2011-06-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to focus too much on sounds for my character but wanted to mainly have sounds to set the mood and also wanted to involve some sort of background music specifically dramatic as the gamers character is storylined to be returning to an empty castle. So i found that the main source of sound i would have would be for the water and involve sound that represents their are waves and generally set the light mood. For the general background music i found two pieces of orchestral music which would fit prefectly with the game environment mood that i had been going for but decided on the final sound displayed below which i felt was dramatic enough to set the mood and general notion of the game.

I had left my animations till last as they weren't huge tasks to do and so i was able to get my character into my game environment and get the animations working and reacting after having trouble with baking the animations as the animations themselves hadn't appeared within the Unity assets but all became resolved. The animations of the character had gotten set and the next bit of animations had been the drawbridge which i had the animations connected and working until i had the problem of the drawbridge opening and closing in a weird fashion to which i later realised that it had been because of the mesh collider box which was set as the trigger for the aniamtion to be played and once that had been set right i was able have a respawn point to allow any drop offs from the castle to go back to the beginning of the game environment.

Negotiated Study Week10:Extras

2011-05-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have completed the setting of the game environment and re-texturing and decided to being to fill in more of a certain area of the castle. Deciding to fill in the ground floor area i started to model bits and pieces of background objects such as cloth for the walls, pots, shields, cups and candle holders. I started to focus on the ground floor and tried to introduce more objects to give a presence of living, modelling a large medieval pot to take up much of the spacing within the castle and modelling the pot had been simple because i used a tool which had been introduced to me from the very first year of the course, the CV curve tool which allows the user to create a outline of half the image to which will then be rotated and formed to a 3D mesh.

The next model that i had created was the chalice, very basic and using the same technique as the medieval pot process and using a basic texture, with a sample of shine and also i wanted to add a sign of living so added a model of spilt wine. After modelling the medieval pot and chalice i started to model a long draping cloth which i felt the castle needed to allow the cloth to cover the disappointing texture of the castle walls. I used a light crimson colour and applied a cloth texture to seem like the cloth is wrapped in places and placed the vertexes of the cloth so it would seem more like a cloth.

The final model that i could develop within the time that i had available was the candle holder which i developed as a basic model, thin which wouldn't take up much room and look like its placed upon the wall. After completing various models to add in the ground floor i started to bring them within Unity and place them around such as the cloth on the walls, shield and cup on the floor to seem like a sign of trouble and the medieval pot in places which the character shouldn't be able to access.

I placed the candle holders on areas of the wall which seem like suitable areas that would cover the area with light because i used the Unity standard assets of fire and placed the fire along with the candle holder which gave a more accepting idea that light is coming from the candles as well as the sun light. Also i added the drawbridge animation which worked fine until i went back into game mode and triggered the animation which started to be jittery and the drawbridge went backwards and forwards so i was shown that the trigger box had been too small and that the trigger had stopped once the gamer was out of the area, so i had solved the problem by expanding the trigger box.

From Dust Tech Demo

2011-05-27T13:39:00.001-07:00

Negotiated Study Week9:Re-Touching Textures

2011-05-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Now that i have completed the overall positioning and development of the game environment i started to go back to the texture of the castle and begin to re-texture the texture by adding a much simpler depth of the bump mapping and also add detail to the textures. The first two images are showing how disappointing the texture had been done with the bulky depth that showed how the game will come across as unrealistic. Also you can see how the textures are showing various stages of contrast which make the castle stand out to the point in which it seems fake and out of place.

So as you can see from the last two images i had re-done the textures to the point where the textures contrast is similar and not seem out of place by changing the contrast and brightness to match the surrounding textures. Another piece of the overall castle texture that i had re-done was the brick layout as from the before texture of the castle had been scaled differently and needed to match the brick layout as the surrounding layout.

Creative Industries Level 5:Games Can Hurt People Too

2011-05-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

When playing games most gamers don't tend to feel threatened unless your into the game your playing but no one expects to get hurt playing an unreal world, well games can still hurt people as a former Navy Fighter Pilot gained a seizure afer playing Oblivion:The Elder Scrolls IV and is suing Sony, Bethesda and Zenimax for the incident. Here is the full article from gaming news site Kotaku:

A former U.S. Navy F-18 fighter pilot is suing Sony, Bethesda and Zenimax claiming that the Playstation 3 version of Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV gave him a grand mal seizure, breaking his shoulder and permanently grounding him.

In the suit, John Ryan McLaughlin says that on March 28, 2010 he was playing the game on the PS3 when he experienced a grand mal seizure, the first in his life. The seizure was so severe he broke a bone in his shoulder, and injured his ribs, according to the suit. He was later diagnosed with a seizure disorder, something he blames directly on the game

McLaughlin also claims that the seizures resulted in the United States Navy taking away his flight privileges as an F-18 pilot.

Link to the article:http://uk.kotaku.com/5800745/video-game-gave-me-seizures-says-grounded-navy-fighter-pilot

Creative Industries Level 5:Sony's Playstation Phone-'Xperia Play'

2011-05-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

With Sony being known as a gaming company it would only seem natural that they would use all forms of technology for gamers to game and when phone were able to play games you believed it would only be a matter o ftime when Sony stepped up and made their own gameplaying phone. Now Sony will release the Sony Xperia Play a smartphone which allows gaming to be played, being a phone and playing games on the move Sony seeks to branch out through more of technology for gaming, with Playstation Certified gamesand here are the specifics beind the Xperia Play:

The device will come in black or white, and work on a surprisingly large list of cell networks, according to the release. The 4-inch screen is a 16,777,216 colour TFT with capacitive multi-touch and 480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA). THe device will ship with a battery, stereo portable handsfree headset, 8GB microSD memory card, charger, micro USB cable for charging synching and file transfer and the user manual.

Battery life, right next to price, is one of the more important things we love to know about a new bit of gadgetry when it hits.

Here's what Sony Ericsson is saying about the Xperia Play:

*Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*

*Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*

*Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*

*Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*

*Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*

*Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*

*Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*

*MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*

Here's a run down of the rest of the specs:

Camera

5.1 megapixel camera

Auto focus

Flash / Photo light

Geo tagging

Image stabiliser

Send to web

Touch focus

Video light

Video recording

Video blogging

Music

Album art

Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)

Google™ Music Player

Music tones (MP3/AAC)

PlayNow™ service*

Sony Ericsson Music player

Stereo speakers

TrackID™ music recognition application

Internet

Android Market™*

Bookmarks

Google™ search*

Google™ Voice Search*

Pan & zoom

Web browser (Webkit)

Communication

Call list

Conference calls

Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)

Google™ Talk*

Noise Shield

Polyphonic ringtones

Speakerphone

Sony Ericsson Timescape™***

Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)

Vibrating alert

Messaging

Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)

Conversations

Email

Google Mail™*

Instant messaging

Picture messaging (MMS)

Predictive text input

Sound recorder

Text messaging (SMS)

Design

Auto rotate

Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)

Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)

Picture wallpaper

Touchscreen

Wallpaper animation

Entertainment

3D games

Dedicated gaming keys

Flash Lite™

Gesture gaming

Motion gaming

Video streaming

YouTube™

Organiser

Alarm clock

Calculator

Calendar

Document editors

Document readers

E-Manual

Flight mode

Google Calendar™

Google Gallery 3D™

Infinite button

Phone book

Set-up Wizard

Widget manager

Connectivity

3.5 mm audio jack

aGPS

Bluetooth™ technology

DLNA Certified

Google Latitude™

Google Location Service

Google Maps™ with Street View

Media Transfer Protocol support

Micro USB Connector

Modem

Synchronisation via Facebook™**

Synchronisation via Google Sync™

Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®

Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync

USB 2.0 high speed support

Wi-Fi™

Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality

* The service is not available in all markets.

** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.

Google™ services*

* These services may not be available in every market Android Market™ Client

Gmail™

Google Calendar™

Google Gallery 3D™

Google Latitude™

Google Maps™ with Street View

Google Media Uploader

Google Music Player™

Google Phone-top Search

Google Search widget

Google Sync™

Google Talk™

Google Voice Search

Set-up Wizard

YouTube™

Facts

Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm

Weight: 175 grams

Phone memory: 400 MB

Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB

Memory card included: 8GB microSD™

Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7

Creative Industries Level 5:Possible Companies to Work For

2011-05-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

After looking at games companies based in the U.K. to aim for i also looked at games companies around the world to see if i could get a better development from and so i looked at various companies based on the games I've played from their artwork.

Santa Monica Studios-Based on the level of detail and artwork and overall presentation of the God of War series i would like to work for Santa Monica Studios as i purchased the God of War 1 and 2 combo and they have behind the scenes videos of the production from their ideas through development and release date. From that i saw how friendly and connected the work environment was and i think that the studio is another company which focuses on their artwork also as their focus with story, game play and the overall game.

Ubisoft-From my repetitive liking of the Prince of Persia series and artwork, i believe Ubisoft particularly Ubisoft Montreal the creators of Prince of Persia and Assassins Creed as many other games can offer me a greater development of skill and utilize my skill. As you've seen the artwork that is created for their games is so incredibly fluid, using shading rather than black lines around their character and environments so i truly see Ubisoft (Montreal) and attraction from games companies.

Visceral Games-Judging from the Dead Space games and Dante's Inferno game the level of detail and environmental usage attracted me to this company and after looking at the concept art for their games you can see how the mood of the game has transpired from the artwork.

Namco Bandai Games Inc.-Is another games company based off the Dark Souls game i would like to work for as they are a Japanese based company and knowing how Japanese cultures artwork is very vivid in getting the feel, look and visuals of the scene.

Another Japan based company is Capcom and basing this off the Street Fighter series i would like to work for them because their colour ad use of artwork in Street Fighter IV was pretty nice to see in a fighting game.

Creative Industries Level 5:Craig Shoji-Thor Movie Concept Artist

2011-05-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

After getting replied by concept artist Mike "Daarken" Lim i thought i'd various other artists and i did but when i saw a link via @ConceptArtWorld's twitter for Marvels Thor film concept artist, Craif Shoji's work i took a look at the artwork and tried to find a means contacting him to give possible feedback. Going back and checking my e-mail i found that he said he would take look at the my concepts of my castle and give me feedback when he has time, so asking professional concept artists is gaining me more information about improving my art. Here is the e-mail he had sent me and i have replied back with images of my castle concept art and hoping for a reply from Craig Shoji in coming days.

Link to artwork:http://conceptartworld.com/?p=7285

> Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 11:34:49 -0700

> From: craig@pensketch.com

> To: Iffy_02@hotmail.com

> Subject: Re: Form Submission - Contact

>

> hey ifraz,

>

> i'm a bit busy at the moment but feel free to send me any work you'd

> like me to look at and i'll do my best to give you some comments in a

> timely manner. best of luck with your studies!

>

> cheers-

>

> craig

>

> On 5/11/2011 7:07 PM, Squarespace Services wrote:

> > This email was transmitted via pensketch.com.

> >

> >

> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------

> >

> >

> > Your Name: Ifraz Mohammed

> > Your Email: Iffy_02@hotmail.com

> > Subject: Concep art

> > Message: Hi Craig Shoji

> >

> > I am ifraz and currently studying digital films games and animations at Leeds college of art in the U.K.. and was wondering if you could possibly help me with taking a look at my concept for my game environment of a castle and tell me what I could do to improve this or work on or anything that can help me in becoming a concept artist.

> >

> > Thank you

> > Ifraz Mohammed

Creative Industries Level 5:CryEngine3

2011-05-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

After recently taking a look at the Unreal Engine 3 i wanted to see if there others maybe ones that were even more impressive than the Unreal Engine and i found another one which isn't but, just as impressive as the Unreal Engine 3. That engine is the CryEngine 3 which showcases textures and lighting as well as fine detail, gaming physics and sandbox options and this engine stands out alot more to me as environments are always the visual backdrop for the game to play within and this engine suits that and that is showcased through Crysis 2, with the gameplay, environments and overall visuals of the game.

Creative Industries Level 5:Unreal Engine 3 Environment Features

2011-05-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

After seeing the incredible video of the Unreal Engine 3 i sought out more related videos to the Unreal Engine 3 and again i am loving the amount of things this engine can accomplish because i believe that i have only scratched the surface of game engines through Unity but seeing that there are advanced engines that are impressive makes me think that i could learn so much more. Liking the initial concepts of games and the visuals this engines truly can capture those concepts, particularly the environments and after seeing this video i realise where i can be at fault when creating my game environment.

Creative Industries Level 5:Assasins Creed Revelations

2011-05-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Being a fan of the Assassin's Creed series and the artwork and overall connection of the Assasin's Creed Franchise learning that there would another game released before the official Assasin's Creed 3 game was exciting as Revelations allows gamers to finish Ezio's story with Revelations being part of Ezio's trilogy and through Ezio playing as Altair once again.

But as well the actual game i look forward to the artwork, environment and scenes that Assasin's Creed Revelations will bring as this is something that will inspire and alow me to reach that potential of visuals. Looking at Assasin's Creeds visuals is what i want to reach as standard, visuals and professionilism and knowing that Ubisoft Montreal are the creators of the Assasin's Creed series is a plus as i know that this is a potential company to work for as they have also created the popular Prince of Persia series which also has visuals that i aspire to.

Here is the info from computer and video games website:

Following a fair bit of teasing, Ubisoft has finally announced Assassin's Creed Revelations.

Labelled "the final chapter in the Ezio trilogy", the game's set for release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in November. It would be nice to see the PC edition release on time alongside the console versions for once, so here's hoping. You can see the first screenshot below.

As well as concluding the Ezio trilogy, Revelations will see the return of the franchise's highly regarded multiplayer component, which has been "refined and expanded" and features "more modes".

Here's the full press release:

Today, Ubisoft announced the development of Assassin's Creed Revelations, the fourth installment in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular video game franchise. Developed and led by Ubisoft Montreal with the support and expertise of Ubisoft studios Annecy, Massive Entertainment, Quebec, Singapore and Bucharest, Assassin's Creed Revelations presents the most immersive experience available in the series to date and the culmination of Ezio's adventure. The game is set to release on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC this November.

Initially launched in 2007, the first three Assassin's Creed games have sold more than 28 million units worldwide, and the franchise is now established as one of the best-selling series on next generation consoles. Recognized for having some of the richest, most engrossing storytelling in the industry, Assassin's Creed has transcended video games, branching out into other entertainment experiences such as comic books, Facebook, novels, short films and more.

In Assassin's Creed Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Altaïr, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path - one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region.

In addition to Ezio's award-winning story, the acclaimed online multiplayer experience returns, refined and expanded, with more modes, more maps and more characters that allow players to test their assassin skills against others from around the world. The latest chapter in the Assassin's Creed saga also includes revolutionary gameplay, allowing players to manipulate the construct of Desmond's memories and the Animus to decipher the mysteries of his past and gain insight into the future.

"Delivering the final chapter of the Ezio trilogy is an important milestone in the Assassin's Creed franchise for us and for our fans," said Alexandre Amancio, Creative Director at Ubisoft Montreal. "Assassin's Creed Revelations includes lots of new features and some significant surprises. We can't wait to show our fans what we have in store at E3 this year."

Link to the article:http://www.computerandvideogames.com/300294/news/assassins-creed-revelations-officially-announced-first-screenshot-released/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS

Noting that the PSN is down and stating that this is why creators shouldn't focus too much on the online aspect of their game, Assasin's Creed has started to bring online gaming into their series from their Assasin's Creed Brotherhood game and with Revelations carrying on the online mode i don't see this as downside for Revelations as i did enjoy Brotherhoods online mode as it had a storyline and Ubisoft were still able to have the main game as the focus and Revelations doesn't seem like it will neither as online story will be produced more and the main offline storymode will be bigger than the previous game.

Creative Industries Level 5:The Bitmap Brothers way into the games industry

2011-05-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Looking at The Bitmap Brothers site i came across their way of getting into the games industry and although it seemed to focus on becoming a games developer but later down the page there is a mention how artists can get into the games company and mentions certain software's which i have been introduced to during my tenure at Leeds College of Art.

Utilities like Dark Basic (3D Games Maker - http://www.darkbasic.com/) are not used in the professional computing world, but do help beginners understand the process of creating a game. Individuals carry out each aspect of the creation of a game, e.g. we have artists to work on anything relating to art/graphics, programmers to code the game and designers (level and game designers) to create the levels and design the game. These types of utilities put everything into one and make things much simpler, but are limited. You would need to have in-depth knowledge and would need to be either fluent in at least one programming language like C/C++, be able to use software packages such as 3DStudio Max, Maya, Photoshop, etc., to be able to use programs such as Steinberg's Cubase VST for creating music or have used and created levels of such games like Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, etc. with their respective editors. Good Game Designers have all-round knowledge and perhaps have concentrated heavily on one area, e.g art. There's also the Internet or mobile aspect of gaming to think about. These are getting more and more important all the time so any skills or knowledge you have relating this is can be beneficial.

Going straight into artists, programmers, musicians or designers roles is harder and generally most companies (developers) in the games industry look for experienced people or people with high levels of qualifications, so for example, we generally look for people who have already worked on programming projects, preferably games, or have a degree, or equivalent, in programming, e.g. in C/C++ and have good demos of games or utilities they've created. Art/Graphic roles are more subjective, so good examples of previous work are very important.

There are more and more university degrees becoming available that are aimed for the computer games industry (programming, art, etc.), so check with them. Included below is a brief list of the courses and links to the university's sites below (taken from Issue 7 in 2001 of Develop (http://www.developmag.com/), an international monthly magazine for game programmers, artists, musicians and producers).

Creative Industries Level 5:Thor: Son of Asgard

2011-05-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

With Apple's being the top selling product recently and Thor being released a week ago, it was a smart choice in utilizing another products popularity for your own as the Thor: Son of Asgard the iPad game will be bought by many due to the success the feature film has and this shows that a franchise being built such as Thor will branch itself out into other medias. The games industry is being used through more medias such as the iPad, Phones, Social Networking so having a game of a popular character seems fit and on the iPad is double joy for gamers and iPad users as you would have to pay around £40 for this type of game but on the iPad and other devices your looking around £3 so games are coming into play much more and heavily being used as marketing for other major products.

Creative Industries Level 5:Potential U.K Based Companies

2011-05-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ninja Theory-After playing both Heavenly Sword and Enslaved:Odyssey To The West i found artwork from both games being brilliant and particularly in Enslaved Ninja Theory let you know that, which is why Ninja Theory's level of artwork is a an attraction to companies level of work.

Splash Damage-Looking at Splash damage as another company who's recent game Brink has visuals at the standards in terms of artwork that i would like to work at. Although being in London i would have to relocate closer to them but being a company who are big from the other companies in the U.K they certainly are a potential company to work for and reading this "We're currently expanding our team and are looking for self-motivated and enthusiastic people with a talent and passion for advancing the medium" makes things interesting as i will be able to work for a company who focus on artwork as much as the game play itself.

Rockstar Leeds-This company had been mentioned a few times during creative industries classes and so i decided to take a look at what job they had available and found they want an environment artist and although i would have tried and wanted to apply i know that my skills are still developing and wouldn't get the job so knowing what they are looking for i will develop my skills then try to see if there is a job available.

The Bitmap Brothers-With being recently revived to create games for the iPhone and iPad systems i think this company could be a potential one to go after as they stated on their website that "Continually striving for originality, attention to detail and new levels of playability" which i think could suit me in terms of wanting to do original stuff and create art that people haven't seen. But also with the company being resurrected only last year and working for iPad and iPhone systems there could be job vacancies available but after checking their were none and so because they create games for the two systems meaning they can start new projects allowing a more coverage of game art.

Gamerholix-Looking at a much closer to myself, games companies i found Gamerholix a company which is still functional and has developed games across all consoles and the iPad and iPhones. Gamerholix is a close based company which has created 200 games over all platformas with serious and not so serious games but showcases that they are company which contributes to the gaming industry with their educational twist from their games.

Another Leeds based company is The Code Monkeys but from their website i didn't get much information but they have worked on iPhone and iPad games and that to me is ok as a job opportunity for concept at as these type of games can produced multiple times with various ideas.

Atomhawk Design is a compay focused on the development of concept art and various games have used their artwork to create games and looking through their artwork on their site they are very impressive and residing in the U.K is a plus.

Creative Industries Level 5:Sony's Playstation Phone-'Xperia Play'

2011-05-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Creative Industries Level 5:Getting Into the Business

2011-05-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

Getting back in contact with the professional concept artist who gave me feedback on my castle concept art to ask him questions on how he had gotten into the games industry was easier than i initially thought as i had sent the e-mail just ten minutes and received a reply in minutes of sending and here is the reply i had gotten from him and below that is what i had asked him adn i have also sent e-mails and messages via twitter to artists and companies on the similar questions.

Ifraz,

The way I got into the game industry is that I have a strong online presence and a website. All of my work has been from either word of mouth or from people finding my website. I haven't actually had to go and apply at any companies, they always just call me for work. You can try sending your portfolio to different companies. Look at sites like gamasutra.com for job openings and just apply. Be sure you have a strong portfolio together and that it is tailored to the company you are applying to. The only way you will improve is through practice. I hope that helps.

Mike "Daarken" Lim

www.daarken.com

-------Original Message-------

From: ifraz mohammed

To: Daarken Art

Subject: (none)

Sent: May 12 '11 11:08am

Hi Mike

I just wanted to know how did you become involved with the games industry? and how can a concept artist get into the games industry and get to the level you are as a concept artist.

Thanks

Ifraz

For more of Daarkens artwork visit www.daarken.com

Creative Industries Level 5:DAPortfolio

2011-05-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last year we learned how to copyright our artwork and we used Deviant Art to do that but as a person wanting to a somewhat professional website to showcase my artwork, a friend and also a concept artist gave the DA Portfolio website where artists can showcase there work without any ads, other artists links without you knowing and just an overall professional website.

So i took up his advice and made a DA Portfolio website and as i was adding a images i became aware that there was a limitation on the amount of images and pages you could have so i felt that this wasn't a suitable site to have as a professional link but was ok for start off point. Perhaps making making your own site would be the best idea however joing upto an art based site where artists are linked by their work which can gain exposure as well as connections so ruling out DA Portfolio type sites isn't good but maybe show a few images and link that portfolio site to your own showcasing all images and information.

Creative Industries Level 5:Craig Shoji-Thor Movie Concept Artist

2011-05-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

Creative Industries Level 5:3DMark 11

2011-05-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

After recently taking a look at the Unreal Engine 3 i wanted to see if there others maybe ones that were even more impressive than the Unreal Engine and i found another one which isn't but, just as impressive as the Unreal Engine 3. That engine is the 3DMark 11 which showcasing textures and lighting as well as fine detail and an available engine which is impressive and being able to use or test it as its available now would be a good choice.

Creative Industries Level 5:Unreal Engine 3 Demo

2011-05-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the use of the Unreal Engine 3 dubbed the next stage of gaming graphics and this trailer proves the statement having textures, lighting that stand out than the average released game but also that the Unreal engine is too advanced for this generation of consoles, so perhaps the Unreal Engine is too advanced but trying to get the software upto t Unreal Engines standards will perhaps take time but if the visuals of textures and lighting and more that the trailer shows us the next generation of consoles will worth the wait.

Creative Industries Level 5:Possible Companies to Work For

2011-05-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

Creative Industries Level 5:Photoshop Touch for iPad

2011-05-17T04:58:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons i wante an iPad was to draw and paint and develop my art skills with no excessive wires and when i found that a Photoshop app wasn't available i had to settle with other apps to make up for that but this article on Adobe Photoshop Touch is the app that perhaps i couldn't find but once i do this app can help me develop my skills and looks like a great app for concept artists. Here is the article from CG Record:

(San Jose, California--May 10, 2011) Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced the immediate availability of the Adobe® Photoshop® Touch apps – Adobe Color Lava, Adobe Eazel and Adobe Nav – for Apple iPad in the Apple App Store. These three apps from Adobe were developed using the Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) to demonstrate the potential for new interaction between Photoshop and tablet devices.

Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop unite the fun and interactive experience of touch devices with the power and precision of Photoshop by enabling users to create custom color swatches, paint directly onscreen and drive popular Photoshop tools from tablet devices.‡ These applications take advantage of the iPad’s touch screen for a truly immersive, tactile, on-the-go experience, and expand upon inroads made by Adobe in the mobile and tablet market initiated with Photoshop Express, Adobe Ideas and Adobe Connect™ Mobile.Photoshop is a part of the recently announced Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 product family, enabling designers and developers to create for popular and emerging smartphone and tablet platforms. Current Photoshop CS5 owners can download a free update to enable new interaction between Photoshop and tablet devices.

Initial industry feedback for the Photoshop Touch applications has been overwhelmingly positive; in a First Look review by Macworld, Lesa Snider says that “By having nothing between you and your artwork, you can focus on creating in the purest sense.” Snider also notes the excitement for the new Photoshop Touch SDK, saying, “I have no doubt developers will be burning the midnight oil to push the envelope of this new technology and create other useful Photoshop integrated apps.”

The Photoshop Touch SDK makes development possible on numerous devices, including iOS®, Android® and BlackBerry® PlayBook®. Utilizing the SDK, developers will have wide access to Photoshop functionality with the freedom to innovate and create new apps or add capabilities to existing ones. Adobe has already engaged with a number of developers to incorporate tablets and other devices into creative workflows that empower Photoshop users in new and groundbreaking ways.

Link to article: http://www.cgrecord.net/2011/05/photoshop-touch-applications-for-ipad.html

Creative Industries Level 5:Possible Companies to Work For

2011-05-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Creative Industries Level 5:Possible Companies to Work For

2011-05-17T04:22:00.000-07:00

Creative Industries Level 5:Concept Art World

2011-05-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

Using social networking, Twitter to be specific i searched for concept artists, looking for potential feedback and contacts and came across a twitter name by Concept Art World and what i thought was true a whole directory, news and other stuff connected with concept art and its artists. Looking at the work publicised on it's website i found many artworks on games, films and other medias which highly professional and the information given with these images are that these are professionals within industries that have created these artworks. This whole site is dedicated to concept art which makes this a sole source of information and artworks on concept artists that can perhaps get in touch and give feedback but this site allows contacts and is a form of marketing for concept artists, such as Jens Holdener's artwork from Dead Space is showcased on the main page. Here is an image from that article:

Creative Industries Level 5:Concept Art World

2011-05-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

Creative Industries Level 5:Relying on Internet

2011-05-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Now i wasn't affected by the PSN Outage but with this 'Blogger Outage' i am, as i had near 38 blogposts for my Creative Industries portion of my Blogger but then ended up having 22 blogposts and so because of that and also learning that fellow classmates had been receiving their lost blogposts back and myself still to receive my missing 15 posts and deadline looming i had to redo near enough all of the posts that were lost.But as i checked back on the Blogger Buzz Blogpost i learned that with blogs that had lost alot of content would end up having to wait much longer for their posts to return and as i had a couple of days to get those posts back and do a few mor eplus report i thought its a best bet to not wait for the posts to come back as Blogger Buzz gives no indication of when they could possibly return and i couldn't risk that so i have wasted a day on doing blogs that took me two days to do, so to have the lost posts return the next day or in the coming days would only aggravate the issue of data being lost and stressing the issue of backing/keeping a copy of the data. Here is the update of lost post:

Update (5/14 5:37 PM PST): We're making progress restoring comments, some blogs with a lot of content are taking a little more time. Thanks for bearing with us.

Update (5/13 7:46PM PST): Nearly all posts since Wednesday are restored, now bringing back comments from last couple days. We expect the comments to be back this weekend or sooner.

What a frustrating day. We’re very sorry that you’ve been unable to publish to Blogger for the past 20.5 hours. We’re nearly back to normal — you can publish again, and in the coming hours posts and comments that were temporarily removed should be restored. Thank you for your patience while we fix this situation. We use Blogger for our own blogs, so we’ve also felt your pain.

Here’s what happened: during scheduled maintenance work Wednesday night, we experienced some data corruption that impacted Blogger’s behavior. Since then, bloggers and readers may have experienced a variety of anomalies including intermittent outages, disappearing posts, and arriving at unintended blogs or error pages. A small subset of Blogger users (we estimate 0.16%) may have encountered additional problems specific to their accounts. Yesterday we returned Blogger to a pre-maintenance state and placed the service in read-only mode while we worked on restoring all content: that’s why you haven’t been able to publish. We rolled back to a version of Blogger as of Wednesday May 11th, so your posts since then were temporarily removed. Those are the posts that we’re in the progress of restoring.

Again, we are very sorry for the impact to our authors and readers. We try hard to ensure Blogger is always available for you to share your thoughts and opinions with the world, and we’ll do our best to prevent this from happening again.

Posted by Eddie Kessler, Tech Lead/Manager, Blogger

Creative Industries Level 5:Kazua Hirai - PSN Relaunch

2011-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Now i'm not obsessed with online gaming as many are but knowing that the services that i was getting with PS3 were available at to use at anytime when i wanted was comforting but during the PSN outage i felt i was missing a part of gaming but not a grand significant one so when seeing this video of a someone of powere actually responging to PS3 users was comforting to know that services will be available when we want them shortly. So not being affected by the PSN outage as other gamers possibly were i feel relaxed to know i will have PSN services available to use when i want and hopefully of possible game demos to tyout before being released.

Shortly after this video this statement was made regarding restoration and the areas the process will begin:

Thank you for your patience and encouragement over the last few weeks. As covered in the post from earlier today, you can now update the firmware on your PS3 and change your password. Kazuo Hirai just announced that we have begun the phased restoration by region of some of the services, starting with online multiplayer functionality.

Please note that these services will take a bit of time to be turned on and rolled out to the whole country. The process has begun and some states are being turned on now, so please be patient as we reach your city and state. We’ll be updating the map below as service comes online in individual states. It will take several hours to restore PSN throughout the entire country, so please keep checking back for the latest updates. In the meantime, now’s a great time to get your PS3’s firmware updated and change your password, both of which are required to get online.

Creative Industries Level 5:Social Gaming?

2011-05-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

Denis Dyack known games designer believes that gaming in the social network will crash as he see no economy within that aspect of gaming, here is the article from Industry Gamers:

Facebook has attracted numerous traditional game developers to "switch sides" to the social games space - a sector that has truly blown up in the last couple years. Zynga, according to some estimates, is worth more than $10 billion. Denis Dyack, founder of Silicon Knights, is not a believer in social games - not personally or commercially. In fact, he thinks social game makers will be in for a very rude awakening in the future when the industry's bubble completely bursts.

We asked Dyack if the rise of social and the migration of traditional talent to the social space is a detriment to the traditional games market. He answered, "It is damaging traditional gaming for sure but... how it’s going to work out is anyone’s guess. The trend that I see is it’s probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry's seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it’s going to crash very hard. I don’t think there’s an economy there."

That would imply that the mighty Zynga and other top social game makers are doomed, but Dyack didn't want to get into specifics. He thinks the amount of money invested in social is foolish, however.

"I don’t know about Zynga – I think that’s a big micro, but I think that the amount of venture that’s being poured in, in general, that's most of the video game industry investment. As far as I know right now, it's going into pure social gaming. It looks like marketing to me. It doesn’t look like real gaming. And maybe it’ll change, I don’t know. It looks very, very dangerous. I think Zynga’s valuated more than some traditional publishers right now that have been in the industry for decades. I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it. It seems imaginary to me... it doesn’t look long term healthy to me," he continued.

"And right now you’re seeing a lot of influx in venture and you’re seeing a lot of excitement and a lot of pie in the sky ideas, but when games actually have to start showing pure revenue and real ‘here’s how much we made and here’s how much it cost’ ...I think that industry is going to not last very long."

Traditional publishers, with the exception of EA (which bought PlayFish), have been slow to jump on the social bandwagon. Activision in particular has been roundly criticized by industry pundits for essentially ignoring social and mobile. Dyack believes that other publishers actually are more aligned with Activision than we think but have been reticent to state their stance on social.

"I think there are a lot of publishers out there that don’t agree with it and they just haven’t spoken about it," he said. "I don’t see Nintendo going into that space, as an example. There are a lot of publishers that I don’t see going into that space. And, you know, EA is one of the few that's [embraced social]. Just to be clear - there’s a difference between experimentation and [committing to the space]. So if Silicon Knights said hey, we’re going to throw 3 or 4 people on a social game and see what happens that’s very different than me saying, ‘hey I think that’s going to be really successful.'

"You know, we may do that in the future but it’s kind of like an experiment versus 'this is our business model.' I tried playing FarmVille, I really did, but it’s not my cup of tea. And I’m not saying that FarmVille’s a bad game but as a gamer who's played games all my life, I know what kinds of games I want to play. I play games every day and I’m always trying new stuff. Our golden rule is we make games that we want to play ourselves and I just look at those [social] games and those are just games I don’t want to play for whatever reason. I just think that they're not a good use of my time versus quality."

Do you think Dyack is on to something? Will the whole social games industry come crumbling down?

Link to the article http://www.industrygamers.com/news/facebook-gaming-will-crash-very-hard-says-dyack/

Creative Industries Level 5:Mike"Daarken" Lim - Way Into the Industry

2011-05-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

After previously getting into contact with Mike "Daarken" Lim about giving me feedback with my concept art and getting a quick response from him i tried again with question on how he had gotten into the games industry with his concept art and again i was given a quick response and also having asked a couple of concept artists for feedback and getting into the industry i have to say there quick replies are good to know as this allows me contact with professionals who are in the industry, here is the response:

Ifraz,

Mike "Daarken" Lim
571.244.8931
www.daarken.com

-------Original Message-------
From: ifraz mohammed
To: Daarken Art
Subject: (none)
Sent: May 12 '11 11:08am

Hi Mike

I just wanted to know how did you become involved with the games industry? and how can a concept artist get into the games industry and get to the level you are as a concept artist.

Thanks

Ifraz

For more of Mike "Daarken" Lim work visit http://daarken.com/

Creative Industries Level 5:Craig Shoji Thor Concept Artist

2011-05-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

After checking through my feed on Twitter i saw that there one of the accounts i am following @ConceptArtWorld had an article on the Thor movie concept artist and from seeing the film and liking the art direction as well as seeing images of the concept art from the film i checked the article out and the artwork was amazing so i checked his website out and sent him a message and asked him for feedback on my castle concept art and this is his reply:

hey ifraz,
 
i'm a bit busy at the moment but feel free to send me any work you'd 
like me to look at and i'll do my best to give you some comments in a 
timely manner. best of luck with your studies!
 
cheers-
 
craig
 
On 5/11/2011 7:07 PM, Squarespace Services wrote:
> This email was transmitted via pensketch.com.
>
> Submitted from address 88-104-182-98.dynamic.dsl.as9105.com/88.104.182.98.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Your Name: Ifraz Mohammed
> Your Email: Iffy_02@hotmail.com
> Subject: Concep art
> Message: Hi Craig Shoji
>
> I am ifraz and currently studying digital films games and animations at Leeds college of art in the U.K.. and was wondering if you could possibly help me with taking a look at my concept for my game environment of a castle and tell me what I could do to improve this or work on or anything that can help me in becoming a concept artist.
>
> Thank you
> Ifraz Mohammed
>

Link to the article: http://conceptartworld.com/?p=7285

Creative Industries Level 5:The Week of Business for Games

2011-05-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here is an article from Kotaku, game website which shows the happenings within the business world of games and i left the links on the information for further reading:

What's happened in the business of video games this past week...

QUOTE | "Extraordinary losses." - Square Enix describes its unfortunate financial state (losses this year to near $200 million) partially due to the Japanese earthquake disaster.

QUOTE | "Or they will lose developers." - PixelJunk creator Dylan Cuthbert warns of developers jumping ship from PSN if Sony doesn't address the lost revenues for partners.

STAT | 13% – The hardware sales growth that Sony is claiming for the PS3 in April, despite the PSN disaster.
QUOTE | "Best E3 ever." - Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter's opinion about E3 2011 being a "win" for gamers because of the wide array of great content in the pipeline.

STAT | 900,000 – The number of Mortal Kombat copies sold in April's fantastic rebound month as the industry saw 20% growth in the U.S.

QUOTE | "Pent-up demand." - THQ CEO Brian Farrell's assessment of the open-world genre at the moment, suggesting that with no GTA, gamers will really be craving Saints Row this fall.

QUOTE | "Probably eclipse the PS2." - Analyst Michael Pachter's belief that the Wii at a new, low price can gain enough momentum to surpass PS2's record lifetime sales.

QUOTE | "Problematic." - Stardock boss Brad Wardell, who recently sold Impulse to GameStop, comments on the lost revenue for PSN developers.

QUOTE | "Blurs the lines." - Rockstar art director Rob Nelson on story and gameplay melding perfectly in LA Noire as the team "moves away from exposition cinematics."

QUOTE | "An aggressive campaign." - Lincoln Hershberger, Senior Director of Marketing on Battlefield 3, describes the extensive marketing already in place to counter Call of Duty.

Link to article: http://uk.kotaku.com/5801765/this-week-in-the-business-extraordinary-losses

Creative Industries Level 5:Jens Holdener - Dead Space Concept Artist

2011-05-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

As i previously looked at Concept Art World and mention Jens Holdener i thought i might as well try to contact him and sure enough he replied my message of generally what could i do to improve and become a concept artist and here was his reply and i have to mention i have asked a couple of questions to concept artists generally similar ones to get different point of views and they have all e-mailed and replied reletively quick.

Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 13:12:04 -0700
From: jensholdener@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Concept Art
To: iffy_02@hotmail.com

Hi Ifraz,

The best way is to develop your drawing and painting skills by practicing as much as possible. Second you should go to school for a formal education in illustration and possibly animation which teaches you the effective communication of story and film fundamentals. Finally they are looking for a creative mind with problem solving skills that enable you to create a believable world that one could imagine themself in. Work very hard because it is very competitive. Good Luck!

-Jens

From: "iffy_02@hotmail.com"
To: jensholdener@yahoo.com
Sent: Thu, May 12, 2011 12:52:01 PM
Subject: Concept Art
Hi Jens Holdener

I am a college student and i want to be a concept artist and i was wondering how would one get into the gaming industry as a concept artist and what are games industry looking for in a concept artist?

Thanks Ifraz

View Jens Holdeners website for more artwork: http://jensholdener.com/

http://www.jensholdener.blogspot.com/

Creative Industries Level 5:Brink Flaw and Bugs

2011-05-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

With Brink having been released in the past few days gamers have been telling Splash Damage that the game has bugs and flaws with their gameplay and online system Splash Damage have responded with apollogising for the problems and offered free Downloadable COntent to gamers, here is the article:

Brink closes its checkered launch week with news of free DLC and promises it's fixing the crippling lag in its multiplayer.

With an update now live, Brink developer Splash Damage is introducing a configuration change for Xbox 360 users (which will also be available for the PS3 when PlayStation Network comes back) that limits Campaign matchmaking to eight human players (default is up to 16). The config change will also be available in most Freeplay modes.

Those who haven't had lag problems can find the 8 vs. 8 setup in something called the "Big Teams" configuration in Freeplay, and also via custom settings in Private matches.

As a token of appreciation for those who've offered feedback on Brink and stuck by it through this first week, the game's first DLC extension will be free. Splash Damage says it's planned for a June release and will offer "additional maps and new content for players."

Creative Industries Level 5:Backing Up

2011-05-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Blogger returned today but not all post where there as we were stated to do near 40-50 posts I have worked through the past couple of days to get near 38 posts and now only have 22 posts hopefully with blogger trying to restore the missing posts I can relax in thinking of using more time on blogposts than creating my game environment, so relying on online servers for work and not backing them up is something I will consider backing up blogposts once and if these missing posts return.

Blogger is back

What a frustrating day. We’re very sorry that you’ve been unable to publish to Blogger for the past 20.5 hours. We’re nearly back to normal — you can publish again, and in the coming hours posts and comments that were temporarily removed should be restored. Thank you for your patience while we fix this situation. We use Blogger for our own blogs, so we’ve also felt your pain.

Here’s what happened: during scheduled maintenance work Wednesday night, we experienced some data corruption that impacted Blogger’s behavior. Since then, bloggers and readers may have experienced a variety of anomalies including intermittent outages, disappearing posts, and arriving at unintended blogs or error pages. A small subset of Blogger users (we estimate 0.16%) may have encountered additional problems specific to their accounts. Yesterday we returned Blogger to a pre-maintenance state and placed the service in read-only mode while we worked on restoring all content: that’s why you haven’t been able to publish. We rolled back to a version of Blogger as of Wednesday May 11th, so your posts since then were temporarily removed. Those are the posts that we’re in the progress of restoring.

Again, we are very sorry for the impact to our authors and readers. We try hard to ensure Blogger is always available for you to share your thoughts and opinions with the world, and we’ll do our best to prevent this from happening again.

Posted by Eddie Kessler, Tech Lead/Manager, Blogger

Negotiated Study Week8:Game Testing

2011-05-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

After placing many mesh colliders within the castle game environment i was able to play the game or better yet move around the area to get an understanding of what could be improved. During the game play i noticed how within certain distance the texture is stretched much further than expected but i plan to rectify the situation by re-texturing once the overall game has been completed. Another problem i found was the height of the main stairs as i tried to climb up but had the trouble of hitting the roof so i had gone back into Maya and lowered the height.

After sorting out the main aspect of the game i went along with the process of creating the surrounding of the game environment by using terrain tools to set up the cliff settings for the castle to be place upon. I realised that i had a large based castle environment after using the terrain tool and trying to change the height to the level of the castle, that i had reached the limit of the height that the terrain can reach so i had to raise the terrain much higher and flattening down the area of the terrain to be the same level as the castle.

I went on to further develop the surrounding of the castle by adding a water a water setting below the castle which didn't really go well with the contrast of the castle so i had changed my approach and placed the night time water near the lower area of the terrain and changed a couple of the settings. The next thing i did was to add a backdrop which would set the mood, so i had added a fog and had the density of that fog to a very minimum as to allow a general overview of the environment and enough fog to cover the spacious are that is visible in the distance.

Creative Industries Level 5:Games Testing

2011-05-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

I read an article on human games testers, testing games that revealed nudity or various graphic and audio that would determine a rating for the game. Reading on about how the tester manually went through the game, practically being payed to play a game and jotting down various gameplay that determined its rating and how the tester wasn't actually good at playing games so now the ERSB uses a computer system to aid in human testing. Here is the article:

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board used to manually assess the content of the games it was awarding a classification to. Now, computers do most of the work. Which must be a bummer to anyone hoping to get a job there.

A story appearing on Slate yesterday, written by Jacob Rubin, outlines his time in a previous life when he worked at the ESRB doing little but playing video games.

Specifically, his role was to play through old games and pick out their questionable content so they could be used for "historical parity". As in, comparing them to contemporary games for context.

Unlike a tester working for a publisher, who must plough through the same sections for days on end in a form of digital salt mining, Rubin just had to play through games and record his progress, occasionally pausing to jot down when and where he saw a panty flash or blood fountain.

That was, until they found out he wasn't actually very good at video games.

The good news for anyone who thinks this is an awesome job is that while the ESRB's new computer system will assist human testers, it won't entirely replace them. Human eyes will always be needed to tell a pastie from a nipple. It's what we do best.

Creative Industries Level 5:The Universal Wrist Gadget Charger

2011-05-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

With so many people needing additional battery power for their phone or other electronic devices, there has always been an idea to have a source of power with you to carry around with no harm or hassle to charge your electronic device and Think Geek has partially solved that problem with the Universal Wrist Gadget Charger allowing more battery life to your phones, handhelds and other gaming devices. Here is the article from gaming news site Kotaku

In the age of smartphones, MP3 players, tablet PCs, and high-quality handheld gaming devices, people need all the electricity they can get their hands on, even if they have to strap it onto their bodies to carry it around.

Now there's an idea...

And where there are nifty gadget ideas, online retailer ThinkGeek is generally not far behind. From the company that brought us My First Bacon and Canned Unicorn Meat comes the Universal Wrist Gadget Charger, a bulky black rubber portable device charger for gadget hounds not afraid to wear their geek at the very edge of their sleeves.

The Basics

The Universal Wrist Gadget Charger is a thick rubber bracelet that hides a powerful secret: A rechargeable rechargeable 5.5 volt, 1,500mAH lithium ion battery. Once charged via USB cable the bracelet can be connected to countless power-hungry electronic devices. A series of four lights on the bracelet indicate how much charge remains. The package includes connectors for the iPhone, Nintendo DS Lite, 3DS, and Sony PSP, Nokia (I and II), LG, Samsung i900, and Sony Ericsson phones, plus a mini USB connector to handle just about everything else.

What We Liked:

A Little Bit Cyberpunk: When there's a blocky hunk of rubber wrapped around your wrist glowing with the light of four LEDs, and a coiled wire snaking from its interface port to your gaming system, smart phone, or MP3 player, you can't help but feel just the tiniest bit like you come from the future, and a rather cool future at that.
Playing with Power: The Universal Wrist Gadget Charger does what it's supposed to do, providing enough extra juice to keep your phone alive when it should be dead, or keep your game going until you get to the next save point. How much power you gain is highly dependent on how much power your device sucks up, however. After a full bracelet charge my dead Nintendo DS Lite played for nearly two hours. My LG Quantum Windows Phone 7 gained a quarter bar of battery life from a full charge, while the much greedier Nintendo 3DS (with networking turned off) ran for a half hour off of the bracelet and died minutes after the final charge LED blinked off. It's in the way that you use it.

What We Didn't Like

Uncomfortable as Charged: As many a fetish model will tell you, black rubber might look sexy, but it doesn't breathe very well. Beneath the thick bracelet my admittedly gigantic wrist was sweating on even the coolest of days. The underside tends to heat up slightly when actively charging, which only adds to the discomfort. This is not a device I would wear every day.

The Bottom Line:

From a purely gaming standpoint, the Universal Wrist Gadget Charger's value depends on how you plan on using it. With the latest gaming technology from Nintendo sucking down power like nobody's business, picking up one of these expecting to significantly prolong your 3DS play time is a losing proposition.
Still, 30 minutes is 30 minutes, and when you take into consideration all of the other devices the bracelet works with it could be a worthy addition to your gadget collection, as long as you can stay cool when the rubber meets your wrist.
The Universal Wrist Gadget Charger was designed and manufactured by ThinkGeek. Released in March 2011. Retails for $39.99. A unit was given to us by the manufacturer for review purposes.

Here is the link:http://uk.kotaku.com/5799265/the-universal-wrist-gadget-charger-arms-your-electronics-with-extra-life/gallery/

Creative Industries Level 5:Video Games Can Hurt People As Well

2011-05-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

Former U.S. Navy fighter pilot is suing SOny, Bethesda and Zenimax after suffering a seizure and broken shoulder after playing Oblivion, here is the article taken from Kotaku, known games site:

A former U.S. Navy F-18 fighter pilot is suing Sony, Bethesda and Zenimax claiming that the Playstation 3 version of Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV gave him a grand mal seizure, breaking his shoulder and permanently grounding him.

In the suit, John Ryan McLaughlin says that on March 28, 2010 he was playing the game on the PS3 when he experienced a grand mal seizure, the first in his life. The seizure was so severe he broke a bone in his shoulder, and injured his ribs, according to the suit. He was later diagnosed with a seizure disorder, something he blames directly on the game

McLaughlin also claims that the seizures resulted in the United States Navy taking away his flight privileges as an F-18 pilot.

Reached Wednesday, Bethesda declined to comment about the litigation.

Link to article: http://kotaku.com/5800745/video-game-gave-me-seizures-says-grounded-navy-fighter-pilot

Creative Industries Level 5:PSN Outage:Online Gaming

2011-05-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Now i know many people have covered the Playstation Network Outage, where online gaming and other Playstation Network connected features went down around April 19th due to being hacked.

But since many have covered the PSN Outage and when it will be back up and other stuff to do with the network, i started to think that over the time that online gaming became big since the first person shooters from the 1990's up to 2011, that over the previous couple of years more and more games have utilised that attraction and added online gaming.

Games such as first person shooters utilise online gaming much more and seem to focus on that aspect of gaming and since the PSN Outage gamers have been unable to play there online shooters. The Call of Duty series is bet known for their online gaming and seem to have been hit with the PSN Outage by losing online gamers and being unable to download the next Downloadable Content (DLC) being released in the coming weeks Activision will surely know they are losing money with the loss of PS3 gamers.

But Call of Duty isn't the only game to have a loss with online gaming as there are many games which use online gaming as an addition to their respective games, such as Brink another First Person Shooter which has keyed online capability to their game as an attraction. Being able to use other gamers through online to play with or against in campaign giving a gamers more of a challenge with the campaign and that attraction has been led into question as with the PSN Outage still ongoing and Brink to be released May 13th you would think that this issue would hit Brink hard but a Bethesda spokesperson told Eurogamer "We're still going ahead with launch this week" and that online gaming will be available but whilst its down Brink still offers single-player and bots, leading many gamers to put off purchasing the game.

So i question that with so many games focusing on online too much particularly First Person Shooters such as teh Call of Duty Series, Brink and Bulletstorm, which i had wanted to get until the splitscreen game mode had been removed for an online gaming capability. With all these games using online gaming i believe that the PSN Outage although being bad in terms of those gamers who used online for the best of things has also been a good thing due to many games using online gaming as an attraction to gamers when the offline gaming should be as important if not more.

Creative Industries Level 5:ID Tech 5

2011-05-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

ID Tech 5was another engine i looked at but was given more of an insight with this video than previous engines and that had been interesting because one of the games designer had given you an in depth analysis of the game environment, there use of textures and how when you move around the certain area and return back the texture changes and the two games that have utilised the engine so far are Doom 4 and Rage.

Creative Industries Level 5:3D Mark 11 Engine

2011-05-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

Another engine i found was the 3D Mark 11 engine which is impressive as well, looking at the videos you see how texture and lighting is used to complete one another and the use of shading and hadowing along with reflectiveness on the textures undersea, this engine knows how to use both lighting and texture to show what the scene was made for.

Creative Industries Level 5:Crytex CryEngine 3 Standalone Patform

2011-05-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

After viewing the video on the CryEngine i wanted to try it out and went looking for some sort of free CryEngine software something similar to a trial software basis and found this article mentioning that Crytex want to make a free to use CryEngine 3 platform for the public to develop and understand similar to Unity. Here is the article:

Crytek wants to release a standalone, free platform, that will be ‘up to speed’ with CE3

Frankfurt-headquartered Crytek may be about to compete with both Unity and Epic Games on the emerging battleground of free-to-use engines.
The global indie outfit told Develop that it wants to release a standalone free engine “that will be up to speed” with the CryEngine 3 platform.

Unreal vendor Epic Games and Unity have both seen their user-bases mushroom overnight since launching versions of their own engines that, while tied to different royalty rates, are completely free to download and operate.
Now the CryEngine 3 group has revealed it wants to tap into this thriving market.
The firm’s CEO Cevat Yerli told Develop that Crytek already gives away a CryEngine 2 editor to the mod community, but explained that Crytek’s expansion strategy stretches beyond.

“We have a very vivid community of users and modders and content creators, and usually that’s a great way of unlocking the engine,” he said.
“That being said, it’s not the same as what Epic or Unity are currently doing, but we are now pushing harder on this area. We did it before already, but we haven’t pushed it that far yet.”
When asked if Crytek’s new platform – the CryEngine 3 – was central to this future strategy, Yerli responded:
“Yes, but – to be frank – not as a mod. So far that’s what we’ve been offering for free, and it’s easy entry into the production environment. [But] we do want to make a standalone free platform that people can run independent of CryEngine that will also be up to speed with the latest engine.”
It remains unclear what kind of tech and licence deal will emerge from this strategy.
Unreal – a close competitor to Crytek – recently stated that the free Unreal Development Kit (UDK) is ‘not watered down in any way’ when compared to the full-priced UE3.
During the UDK’s first week of availability, over 50,000 users installed the platform.
Unity, meanwhile, has thrived from its freemium engine strategy. In October last year the firm made its $200 Unity Indie platform free to use, while also offering a $1500 version of 'Unity Pro'.
In under four months the Californian engine group surpassed 100,000 registered users.

Creative Industries Level 5:CryEngine 3

2011-05-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

After looking at the Unreal Emgine 3 i went and searched for similar or even better engines and found the CryEngine 3 which offered similar and impressive assets with its engine. But what i had been most impressed with was its large open environments, the amount of advanced sandbox editing that can be done as well as viewing the gameplay in real time and of course the physics/environmental destruction that can be shown which would show why the CryEngine 3 has worked so well with the Crysis 2 game.

Creative Industries Level 5:Unreal Engine 3 Features

2011-05-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

In these two videos you will see the improvements and features that the Unreal Engine 3 offers from lighting, texturing to depth terrain editor and apex clothing, reflective surfaces. These two videos show you visually the advancement that the UNreal ENgine 3 is working at:

Creative Industries Level 5:Unreal Engine 3

2011-05-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Stated as the next generation engine as it is too powerful for this generation, the Unreal Engine 3 is impressive in itself with the depth and reality of its use of texturing lightinf reflective surfaces an dmuch more of reality based game. From the trail shown below of the Samaritan demo if the Unreal Engine is the next generation engine then when the next generation comes along this engine will be an after thought as this engine should be available for this generation.

Negotiated Study Week7:Export to Unity

2011-05-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

Before bringing the model into Unity i had to convert the mesh to normals so that i was able to see within the certain area i wouldn't be seeing right through, so i converted the whole mesh into normals and reversed the anomalies. After the normals process had been completed i brought the mesh into Unity via FBX format and started to re-attach the bump maps that had become unattached and started to re-adjust the settings for the castle game environment mesh such as the specular and shading of colours to better suit the overall perspective.

After normals, re-connecting the bump maps had been done i was eager to see how the game environment would look if i were to move freely within it but that would have to wait as i would have to first start to create mesh colliders for the floors and walls to be able to move around but as that was a basic mesh process i felt i should just go ahead and continue so i assigned mesh colliders to the whole of the castle. The addition of multiple mesh colliders was a long process in getting positions right enough to allow access to areas but limit thm at the same time.

Creative Industries Level 5:L.A. Noire Technology

2011-05-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

Rockstar have been known for their work on the Grand Theft Auto Series and recent Red Dead Redemption showcasing their reality based games, their next games loos to impress more people as they publish L.A. Noire developed by Team Bondi. Bringing much reality into gaming Team Bondi have updated the standard of facial recognition and reality that comes into games through its in house tecnology using a 360 degree covered facial recognition. Picking up any facial movement from the actors and actresses from gestures, smirks to simple grins and cheek movements as this technology plays a huge part in the story of L.A. Noire and allowing a sense of realism and thought to gameplay.

Creative Industries Level 5:PSN Outage Timeline of Public Awareness

2011-05-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

So since the Playstation Network had gone done around the April 19th date many people suggested it as a simple fault of Sony or doing some retuning but after a sixth day of waiting for the PSN to be back up and running Sony had publicly announced that they had been hacked and were doing what they can to restore the network as soon as possible but below is mentioned that SOny had known about the PSN Outage six days before they announced what had happened:
According to details from Sony themselves in a letter to congressional subcommittee, Sony was aware that data had been removed from their systems six days before warning customers that accounts had been compromised. All dates and times from Sony's missive to Congress.

April 19, 2011. 4:15PM PDT – Sony Network Entertainment America (SNEA) network team detects unauthorized activity in the network of 130 servers. Specifically, machines were "rebooting when not scheduled to do so." Analysis begins.

April 20, 2011. Early Afternoon – SNEA engineers discover evidence of "unauthorized intrusion" and that data had been removed from PlayStation Network servers. PlayStation Network shut down by engineers, taking 77 million registered PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts offline. Sony retains service of computer security and forensic consulting firm.

April 21, 2011 – Sony retains services of second computer security and forensic consulting firm.

April 22, 2011 – Nine of ten compromised servers are mirrored by Sony and security firms. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) general counsel provides FBI with information about the intrusion. A meeting with the FBI is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th, 2011. Sony acknowledges on their blog that their system had an "external intrusion", but mentions nothing about the loss of data and issues no warning to customers

April 23, 2011. Afternoon – Forensic teams confirm that intruders used "very sophisticated and aggressive techniques to obtain unauthorized access, hide their presence from system administrators, and escalate privileges inside the server."

April 24, 2011. Easter Sunday – Sony retains additional forensic team with "highly specialized skills" to "determine the scope of the data theft".

April 25, 2011 – Teams confirm account details compromised, including name, address, country, email, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login, handle and network ID, but remain unsure if any of the 12.3 million global credit cards stored on the servers were compromised.

April 26, 2011 – Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America provide public notice of the intrusion and alert regulatory authorities in New Jersey, Maryland, and New Hampshire.

April 27, 2011 – SCEA alert regulatory authorities in Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Puerto Rico.

May 3rd, 2011 – Sony Chairman Kaz Hirai sends letter to Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade explaining details of intrusion.

Creative Industries Level 5:Concept Art World

2011-05-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

Looking through my feed on twitter i was following an account named @ConceptArtWorld which based from the name i believed that this is a site that dedicates to concept artists and and the art that they do. So looking at the website i found a lot of very impressive artwork from professionals who use the website to publicise a few of their artwork in an article for the site with a link to the artists main site which is a good way to get your name into the concept art world and contact artists such as Jonathan Bach, Iron Man 2 concept artist.

Negotiated Study Week6:Castle Texturing Complete

2011-04-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

As you can see i completed my texturing of my castle game environment and got the overall contrast done but what was a disappointment was the mount of depth that i had allowed the bump map to take up. I have finished texturing the castle overall and once i have completed the exporting process of the game environment and completing the whole objectives of the game environment i will be going back into texturing the game environment.

Negotiated Study Week6:Castle Texturing

2011-04-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

I completed my textures of my model as i took most of the colours and contrast from the concept art and as you can see i started with various main pieces of the model as oppose to doing main big areas of the castle such as the walls. I started to doing individual parts of the model to get small contrasts of the textures to which will benefit the overall visuals of the game environment.

Negotiated Study Week6:Texture Testing

2011-04-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

I started to do some testing of adding textures and bump mapping as in previous projects i wasn't too familiar with the process so i went into Unity and created a cube to start testing textures on. So i created a basic cube and used a basic texture taken from the Internet and placed it upon the cube and created a duplicate of the texture in the form of a bump map and placed it upon the cube. I went through various options and found the right settings that i will use and tested them with a lighting in place to show how the bump map affects the texture on the cube and found that doing this test and finding the settings that i will use helps in overall process when i start to do my castle textures, bump maps and the settings.

Negotiated Study Week6:Epic Citadel Screenshots

2011-04-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

After mentioning Epic Citadel by Chris Rhodes and being told it would help with seeing how a castle looks, feels and just the overall game play i tried the application out and took a few screenshots which i though would go well in my blog and the fact that i had researched and found that this helps in understanding the level of detail that has gone into this app which was simply made for the iPad. Knowing that i could have accomplished more with the concept of a castle i would have done more in terms of modelling and texturing but knowing how much time i have i am not willing to rick that time in redoing major things such as modelling and texturing but will allow the feedback from Epic Citadel to have some influence on my game environment.

Creative Industries Level 5:Playstation Tablet

2011-04-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

The S1 tablet, which is a Tegra-powered device and is tapered on one end "like holding a magazine", will be the first Sony tablet device to carry the "PlayStation Certified" label, meaning it can play both PS1 games and other Sony-approved titles specifically for mobile platforms. It has a 9-inch screen.

In addition to the first PlayStation tablet device, the S1, Sony has today also unveiled a second, the S2, a tablet that can fold into a DS-like clamshell.

This gives it a slightly different approach to gaming; when folded into its clamshell form, the S2 can operate like a touch-screen DS, with controls on the bottom screen while the "top" screen is free to display nothing but action.

Both the S2's screens are 5.5 inches, with a 1024x480 display.

The S1 and S2 will be available in the Fall, with no word yet as of pricing. In addition to the PlayStation Suite, both devices will aos be compatible with Sony's online music services and its e-book store. Both run on Android 3.0, and have wi-fi, 3G and 4G connectivity.

You can also, if you've got other Sony gear in your living room, use them as remote controls for things like Bravia TV sets.

Creative Industries Level 5:Possible Companies to Work for Outside of the U.K

2011-04-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Namco Bandai-IS a Japanese based company in which worked on the game Dark Souls, which used artwork in a dark manner so elegantly in a way that brought the game to life and gave the game a reference to be able understand ho win game mood should be as well as setting.

Capcom-Is another Japanese based company and again the use of artwork is used really well and you can tell especially through the Street Fighte IV game which is a fighting game and the use of artwork for a fighting game goes really well.

Visceral Games-Is another company that could be great choice as you can tell from the games that they have worked on such as Dead Space and Dantes Inferno, they show how the artwork helps in setting the mood.

Ubisoft, Montreal-From playing the Assasins Creed series and the Prince of Persia series and viewing the artwork i understood how that artwork had influenced the games and i could see how this is the type of games company that would work for me.

Santa Monica Studios-After playing the God of War series which had pushed the PS2 with its game mechanics and was one the outstanding games that had been released upon the PS2 but i had purchased the God of War 1+2 for the PS3 which had behind the scenes footage of the production of the God of War games which showcased how their development had been a joint production in which the developers were a joint team with communication between each area, which i would like to work for as it is a healthy work environment.

Creative Industries Level 5:U.K based Companies to Work for

2011-04-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Rockstar Leeds-Knowing that Rockstar Leeds is in Leeds and they are a Rockstar based company which have produced some big games, going for this company would be a good choice and after looking at their jobs currently available they are looking for and artist in the environment aspect of their games and although i think i need to develop my skills much more but looking at what they were looking for is interesting as they look for some of the skill set that i am currently understanding.

The Code Monkeys-Who make games for iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC would be an interesting choice to go for as their choice of games aren't generally focused too much on the artwork of the game but in this type of market specifically the iPhone and iPad the games that are produced for that market can help to develop skills and artwork through the various game descriptions needed.

Ninja Theory-This is a company that has impressed me the most as its because they focus on the artwork as much as the initial game, as you can tell from Heavenly Sword and Enslaved: Odyssey To The West.

GamerHolix-Looking at this company there website didn't give much information but what i could tell from their site was that they are a leading independant developer across all platforms which is something that would suit the production of multiple games and understanding how much of the artwork would be used throughout all the platforms.

Atomhawk Design-Atomhawk Design is probably the company that i would want to pursue as they are a concept art company who have worked on big games such as the Mortal Kombat 9 game and their artwork is the sole basis of their company.

Creative Industries Level 5:Playstaion Tablet

2011-04-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

Playstation has always been the gaming company and now with the huge success of Apple's iPad Sony have seemingly seen how gaming can utilise this type of device and have developed their own variation of the tablet device and seeking to use gaming as a focal point:

Negotiated Study & Creative Industries Level 5:Professional Feedback

2011-04-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

As this was my final major project i saw it fit to get some professional feedback and asked a few of the concept artists i was following via twitter if they could take a look at my concept art that i am currently working on for the final major project. So after sending requests for feedback i received a reply from Mike "Daarken" Lim, a freelance artist working in the games industry and currently these are listed as his clients and other employed works, saying that sure he would give feedback on my concept art and try to help improve it and gave me his e-mail address to send the artwork over.

Here are the listed works that Mike "Daarken" Lim has done:

Clients
Mind Control Software
Wizards of the Coast
Fantasy Flight Games
Brick Design Group
Breakaway Games
Triad Toys
Widescreen Games
Digital Extremes
Upper Deck
One Ton Ghost
3D Total
Blizzard Entertainment
Bioware Mythic
ImagineFX
Pasozebra Producciones
Big Huge Games
Trion Worlds, Inc.
Honda
Projects

Video Games
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Rift
Highlander
Iron Dukes

Collectible Card Games
A Game of Thrones
Call of Cthulhu
Hecatomb
Magic: The Gathering
World of Warcraft
Warhammer: Invasion

Role Playing Games
Midnight: Star and Shadow
Dungeons & Dragons
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition

Board Games
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Deluxe Edition
Horus Heresy

Magazines and Books
Spectrum 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
2D Artist Magazine
Digital Painting Techniques Vol 1, 2
Digital Art Masters Vol 2, 4
Exotique 5
ImagineFX Magazine
BlueCanvas Magazine

Commercials
Danone Actimel

And here is the reply i had received from him:

Hey Ifraz,

I think it would be beneficial if you did some studies from photos. Take some pictures of castles and try to paint them. Take some time to study perspective and understand how it works. I would also suggest working on your edges. Many of your edges are very soft and wobbly. Take Castle - 1st Floor.jpg for example. The pillars are very soft and crooked. Also doing some still life paintings would help a lot with lighting and how to render objects. I hope that helps.

Mike "Daarken" Lim

-------Original Message-------
From: ifraz mohammed
To: daarkenart@daarken.com
Subject: Feedback for my Concept Art
Sent: Apr 24 '11 9:02am

Hi Daarken,

Thanks for giving me feedback on my concept art and anything to help improve the way i do my concept art is great. So the project i'm doing is self-briefed and i chose to do a castle game environment but want to focus more on the quality and the concept art side of it and so i have attached the concept arts that i have done for the castle environment.

Thanks for taking a look at my work

Ifraz

Mike "Daarken" Lim
Website: daarkenart@daarken.com
Twitter:http://twitter.com/#!/daarkenart
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daarken/45213851359?ref=ts

Negotiated Study Week5:Character Texture and Animations

2011-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

These are the video play blast of my non-playable games character who will be a character who will react once the gamer gets up to a certain distance. The animations that i have done are simple movements to give life to the character such as when visible the animations of the character will be simply look side to side and then when the gamer gets within the certain distance he will react with the hand coming up and waving away the gamer as to not wanting to speak and just waving away the gamer.

The character is textured with basic colours that have been used within the 12th century time period, i used linen for the leg trousers, silk for the tunic below the supertunic and the undertunic and leather for th eboots and gloves as the texture for those specific pieces of clothing. The colours of brown and green were used for peasants of the 12th century time and the undertunic were either white or creame as the time went on and using a just below mid waist skirt-shirt as i felt that this would be easier to model,

Negotiated Study Week5:Character Modelled

2011-04-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here are my character meshes in which the first video has a much higher polycount and then instead i had lowered my polycount and also maintaining my character figure with the low polycount.

Negotiated Study Week5:Character Concept

2011-04-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

The character will be textured with basic colours that have been used within the 12th century time period, i used linen for the leg trousers, silk for the tunic below the super tunic and the under tunic and leather for the boots and gloves as the texture for those specific pieces of clothing.

The colours of brown and green were used for peasants of the 12th century time and the under tunic were either white or creamy as the time went on and using a just below mid waist skirt-shirt as i felt that this would be easier to model. I have done some basic designs of how i want the character to look in terms of clothing as i wanted something that i could model and show clothing through the texturing of the model and also through research i found that the male peasant wore long skirt like shirts that covered their whole body underneath another long skirt- shirt but i had just used a smaller variation of that skirt which would go just below the waist of the character to help model and texture the character saving polycount and time.

I used this site to research more into the 12th century clothing which had helped alot in understanding the clothing and understanding why they had worn the materials at that time period, http://www.revivalclothing.com/12th-13thcclothing.aspx.

Creative Industries Level 5:D&AD Results

2011-04-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

After weeks of waiting we finally got our results back via e-mail and although i may not have expected much i was a bit annoyed at given the results of unsuccessful and with the below replied feedbac which states that they had expected a longer animation when the brief states a 30-60 second animation and we had focused more on the development side but although this wasn't a success next time we will seek more detail into the brief and gain an understanding before choosing it.
Hello Ifraz,

I am writing to tell you that the results for the D&AD Student Awards 2011 are now online. Please log in to see how you have fared at http://www.dandad.org/awards/student/entry/studentawardsentry/profile.php

This year’s judging was a very rewarding experience for all involved and the feedback from the jurors has covered a wide variety of areas both positive and negative.

All the juries with the new remote first round of judging appreciated having a longer period of time with the work. However, they also told us that in general it would be easier to judge if students were to produce a moving image presentation lasting between a minute or two accompanied by supporting images to allow for greater in-depth examination of your work. If you are in your second year and may look to enter again next year this would be worth bearing in mind.

Students who did submit a moving image file started each one with the introduction of the brief. As each judge has a copy of the brief and it’s discussed in a group beforehand it was not felt to be the best use of the time in which you can showcase your ideas. If you are looking to enter again it may be worthwhile producing a shorter edit of your presentation without the introduction for submission into the awards.

For the What Else Do You Do? Category the judges were disappointed at the lack of self-initiated projects submitted. Also, those responding to a creative brief did not supply information on the brief they were working to, making it difficult to know whether the response was appropriate or not.

The perennial problem of grammar and spelling was also discussed amongst the juries at great length. The feedback was that if it’s a presentation it should be perfect. Where possible international students should be sharing their work with English speaking colleagues and friends to correct and improve it.

Thank you very much for supporting the D&AD Student Awards, I know many of you will have enjoyed the challenge and although you may not have been successful at this time please don't let that discourage you. You should now have a great piece of work to feature in your portfolio and have developed experience in answering an industry-set brief.

If you’re in your final year you still have the option to apply to attend The Graduate Academy in August. For more information visit: www.dandad.org/talent

Best wishes,

Fergal Kilroy
Student Awards Manager

Negotiated Study Week4:Castle Modelling

2011-04-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Throughout the modelling process i kept reminding myself to stay within the limits of 10,000 polycount as i didn't want the gameplay to lag. So trying to stay basic with the environment modelling i tried to go as much as i can with the designs from the concept art and i from the concept art i wanted to use a block based design so it would be simpler to model in Maya and wouldn't be a factor in the polycount.

As you can see i modelled each floor individually as i see this as a much easier process once i export the models into Unity and as you can see there is a very limited amount of detail gone into modelling as this will help to pile up more detail to be place upon the texturing process o fthe game environment.

Overall i believe the modelling process went well i was able to create the designs and model them of how i wanted it to look and positioning turned out well and also the models will be re-done to fit the textures better, with the remodelling of certain areas of the castle to better positioned and scaled so that the castle as a whole fits nicely together.

Negotiated Study Week4:Castle Floor Plan

2011-04-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here are my floor plans for the dungeon, ground, first, second and top floors which show in contrast of greys the level of acces the gamers will have once i start to model and bring the models into Unity. Alot of the space i have given to the gamer to allow the scale and visuals to come across to the gamer much more as it gives that depth from adistance when seeing textures or height together.

Negotiated Study Week3:Castle Concept Art 3

2011-04-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

I continued with my concept art and started to focus again on the similar textures and contrasting colours as the previous concept arts, i felt that much of the art had to be constant so i continued with the similar colours as before and tried to use contrast to give more detail towards where certain areas of the castle are formed.

I continued to use lighting in my concept art as a continuation from previous concept art but also to show how much they play as a factor for my game environment. The first image i had done is carrying on from the second floor concept art and creating the visuals for the front of the castle where the gamer will come out from and will be able to access the tower and also you can see that i will involve a drawbridge which will be animated and the entrance for the gamer.

The second piece of concept art is the top view of the top area of the castle such as the second and top floors and the tower, this area is shown through the concept art as a very large open space which enables much of a fluid movement around the spaces that are shown. Again i carried on the balcony from the first floor onto the second floor to allow the gamer much more open area to see and you can see that there is more access from various areas of the second floor and the contrastig colours is also continued.

The final two image are of my concept art from the dungeon aspect of my game environment as i wanted a basic layout of a dungeon to represent the story that the gamer is a character who comes back from a war to an empty castle. But carrying on from other concept arts the lighting will be used and shown in the dngeon concept art that it will be a dark dungeon environment which has a limited amount of lighting coming in and use similar textures as previous art pieces to be constant.

Negotiated Study Week3:Castle Concept Art 2

2011-04-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

The next set of images are my concept art of how the areas around my castle game environment will look and be textured and when i started to create these concept arts i wanted to create the overall look and feel of the area once in. The areas such as indoor second and third image show how the mood and setting will be once you enter that area and i feel that lighting will be used much more in this project because i had only done basic stuff in Unity and this would be my chance to do more.

I used mainly rock textures to form the concept art as i want my model as a medieval building and to use much of a stone texture and throughout my concept art i use a few colours of choice such as brown, red, violet, silver, gold and more as they vary in contrast to show shading is used and is a factor when I'm doing my concept art. I wanted to get the overall layout of the castle across through my concept art and didn't really want to show much more of the finer details such as furniture, paintings, and even clothing as that will be shown once i have created the overall castle and the texturing for it.

The first image is of the back of the castle on the ground floor where the gamer wwill be able to come out into a spacious area allowing more of the scenery to be seen by the gamer and to be able to go inside and outside of the castle to the courtyard via the ramp. The second image is of the interior of the castles, ground floor from the bottom of the screen you can see the an entrance to the dungeon where gamers can go in and out of and again this floor is and open area on the right of the concept art there is the entrance to the castle and the open room is the stairs to the front of the castle which allows you to access the tower, but the ground floor will also have a main staircase which will allow the gamer to access tehe first floor. The final image is of the first floor which will have an open balcony to the outside as well as another balcony which centers the room and allow the gamer to look down onto the ground floor, also there are another set of stairs to allow access to the top second flood.

Negotiated Study Week3:Castle Concept Art 1

2011-04-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the concept art pieces i had done first off i had followed my guidelines of what i want this project to be focused on and started to create a game environment conceptually as you can see from the first two art pieces but i felt it lackedin giving me a much larger amount of concept art privileges so i finished the two art images of how i wanted the castle to be.

With doing the first two images i was able to get a rough idea of how i want the castle to look and get the positioning of certain listed areas of the environment, but with those first two images you can see it lacked a bit of singularity that separates it from the various other designs of castles. So i took the design and manipulated it further adding a variation of passageways and open areas to give it that separation factor from the previous design. Adding multiple areas of space and only allowing the gamer into the shown spaces because of the cliff setting which gives the gamer the information about through visuals of the boundaries within the game.

As i continued to develop the concept art i wanted to make sure i got the poing across that the castle is the focus point and going from the start where the cliff to the entrance of the castle is all the way to the end of the courtyard the one to either one is to go through the castle. Going from the setting of the castle to the mood i wanted it to feel unsafe as if something could happen to represent that moment within the game as my synopsis states that you are knight coming back from a battle to find the castle you lived in empty left with no sign of life but mere scraps of life and that would be the start off point for the game to which you find out what had happened.

The colour scheme of the concept art shows much more of a lighter side than that mentioned from the synopsis but this concept art is to mainly represent how i want the castle to be built and how certain areas are joint up for a reason. But going back to the colour scheme there is a much brighter representation because i will use a light source within this project more than previous projects and when it does come to the texturing of the castle much of its colour scheme will be a much darker, mood setting texture to emphasise the specific part of the storyline.

Negotiated Study Week3:Bolton Abbey

2011-04-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here are the images Johnathan Fee had taken when we had gone to Bolton Abbey, these were to aid and be used as reference images towards my project. Throughout the day he had taken images of the Abbeys features that i see myself having similar such as archways, wooden doors and pillars and getting the real life aspect of these object will help in the development of my variation of the designs.

As you can see from the images i can use them as texture samples and allow me to get an understanding of the scale of things such as the height of the pillars. Also the brick formation and layout is a key object of the castle environment and you can see how the contrast of the texture isn't all the same as some areas of the rock has eroded as time went on.

Negotiated Study Week2:Castle Extra Research

2011-04-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the images i will use as refrences to add the final touches for my game environnt to give it the feeling that it has been lived in. the reason i will leave this till last is because i want the overall game environment to be completed first and know that i can add things in once i have tim eavailable.

Once time is available i will be looking at creating pots, chalice's, candle holders, chairs and oter stuff to give a home, castle feel to the synopsis i had mentioned in previous blogs. With that time i wont be focusing on much of the quantity aspect of the extra models coming into play for the setting.

Negotiated Study Week2:Castle Door and Stairways Research

2011-04-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

I also researched into the stairs and doors of various medieval buildings, finding that the stairs shown in these images are wide spread and separated stairways give a larger scale of the room that they are connected to. As well as looking at the stairs for the main rooms i also looked at stairs for the tower and how the stairs would vary from being in a circular or boxed tower.

After looking at what types of stairs i could have and how th epositioning would work in the castle plan i have, i began to look at the medieval doors that would work for my castle. As you can see from the images i looked at mainly wooden doors which use iron for the hinges, bolts, handles and so on this was because of the time period wooden doors were used much more than an iron based door a the material for wood was much cheaper and easier to manufacture.

For my game environment i see myself using a much similar approach to modelling the stairs in terms of a main stairway which will break apart into two separate directions. The door modelling will differ as i see not much of a use of modelling a door as rather using bump mapping and texturing to show a representation of a door rather than adding more faces.

Negotiated Study Week2:Castle Research 3

2011-04-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here is some more information i had found that i believe will help in the midnset for understanding more of the origins of my project as i want my prokect to have some basis of reality but also something that will differentiate from the previous work that has been done similar to mine:

When the words “Medieval castle” are spoken, certain images instantly jump to the forefront of one’s mind. Most involve giant stonewalls with archers behind a stone wall and trebuchets on large towers, while a giant army that seems to stretch on forever attacks seemingly impervious walls. Contrary to this popular daydream image, however, castles were not continuously in a state of siege. In times of peace, the castle would contain the owner's family and servants. The castle would be guarded only during wartime. Once the crisis passed, the garrison would revert to being farmers and peasant laborers once again. While the Romans did build some impressive forts, the earliest concentration to build castles in Europe came after William the Conqueror and his army conquered England in 1066. Immediately after the Battle of Hastings, William ordered castles built at Warwick, Nottingham, York , Lincoln, Cambridge and Huntingdon. These castles had very little to do with tall walls of stone, however. The first Norman castles were hurriedly constructed from earth and timber, and most conformed to a basic plan: the motte and bailey.

The motte was a large conical mound with a flat top. Wherever possible, use was made of natural hillocks or rock outcroppings, but most mottes were raised by digging a deep ditch around the site and heaping up the soil. Often more material was needed to produce the required size and height of a mound and this was obtained elsewhere. Both mound and enclosure were defended by the ditch and a dirt bank behind the ditch, topped with a timber stockade. Sometimes the ditches were filled with water, and in some instances had a raised bank in front, as well as behind. When possible, hedges of thorns and briars would be planted to add yet another natural wall of defense.
Within the stockade of the mound, there would be a timber tower. Tower and motte formed the strongpoint of the castle: the very last defense if attackers managed to overrun the bailey. The tower was also the residence of the castle's owner and had to be large enough to contain his family and their servants. The entrance to the bailey was through a strongly defended gate, usually at the end of a bridge that ran over a ditch.

The main advantage of motte and bailey castles were that they were quick and cheap to erect. Despite how primitive it seems, such a castle was a formidable obstacle to attackers equipped with the weapons of the period. Mottes ranged from 25-30 feet to over 80 feet in height, with the timber tower giving the defenders a further advantage. The bailey could cover anywhere from one to three acres. It was usually designed so that any point on its circumference would be within bowshot of the tower. They may pale to the larger castles that would follow made of stone and brick, but an attacking army would not be laughing at the motte and bailey, nor the terrible battle they faced ahead.

Source: http://www.medieval-period.com/medievalenglishcastles.html

Negotiated Study Week2:Castle Research 2

2011-04-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

The overall idea for the castle is pretty well planned out and knowing what kind of surrounding i want to have i researched how rock/cliff formation is formed around castles and how the castles are surrounded minimal land.

As well as minimal amount of land which basically cushions around the castle, there is alot of greenery which is also around the castles. Seeing that i think i could use that as an example and create my own cushioned amount of land around my castle to which will help in cutting off the amount of area the gamer can reach.

After knowing that i want a minimal amount of land surrounding my castle i looked more at how bits of land are formed around a castle or building and simply thought of a lighthouse. The lighthouse images gave me a good references of what sort of scale and amount of area of land that surrounds buildings but also the fade out and space that is used by rock and greenery texture.

Along with the images of the lighthouse and its land setting i looked at the sky, lighting and the overall visual of t image as it sets me up with how i want my environment to look. Seeing this i see my environment in midday so there isn't much of light and darkness and using the visuals seen in the final image i see a fog or mist which sets the mood which i really like and will see to using.

Negotiated Study Week2:Castle Research 1

2011-04-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Choosing to go with the castle idea and wanting to do three floors, dungeon, courtyard, tower to get a concept art skill set improvement i wanted to get that across through the quality of the game environment. Looking at the many designs that have been graced by the ideas of a castle and as you can see castles are mostly built as a square, block based design but have also varied into the designs of a tall, cylindrical tower.

When it comes to my variation of the castle i will focus on a 12th Century medieval building, using the square, blocked design to seem much more of a castle built within the 12th century rather than a cylindrical design. The textures that are seen from these images are various stone based textures which allows me to use multiple textures on the areas of my castle model. The castles in the images show that throughout the designs of castles they always consist of large, tall towers as their corner points and a joint wall based building as their first line of defense to which their next center focus point of the castle is behind.

I will have a similar approach in terms of the towers ass the corner points but not use that as the whole of the corner and use much more of the joint wall based approach but with the main center point of the castle i will have an open area being able to look down into the castle rather than a center building.

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Level 5 Week 20:Final Cut of Essay?

2011-03-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

So after the feedback i had gotten from Garry Barker and Jay from academic support i was able to redo my essay and follow their feedback and notes and here is the final piece.

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Essay

Throughout the years there have been many creations that have created widespread popularity since the inception of 'The Superhero' from the mid 1930s, involving the most recognized superhero in Superman. Within the past couple of years we see that the film industry has delved into the comic book genre which shows that this once children's form of entertainment has a much deeper root. This essay seeks to enlighten readers through the exploration of the superheroes’ roles within the current culture and to understand why even at an adult age we still have a connection to a media that was from our childhood.

Many children as they grow up are attracted to the concept of a superhero, what they can do and whether they could really become a superhero by radiation, spider bite or simply being born with superpowers. From an early stage in childhood, many children are spoilt by the amount of superheroes that are available. Superman and Batman are the vastly popular characters which originated from the Golden Age of comics (Miller, 1987) where they saved the world and stopped the evil villains and created a wave of momentum for the creation of household names from Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk, Wonder Woman to the Green lantern and many more. Superman and Batman have always been the most beloved characters who graced the pages of newspapers and comics in the 1930s (Morris, 2005) and brought with them widespread media depictions of their characters through movies, radios, T.V. Through these medias, up to recent dates we have been exposed to the worlds of these characters and tie-ins of other characters from the two big comic companies DC and Marvel. From the wide range and forms of characters that we have grown up with, we see a common trait that has been passed on through the periods of superheroes, being either male or female and having powers that extend from themselves to fight for truth, justice and protecting the innocent. Superman has always been engaged with the fight for truth, justice and the protection of the innocent (Morris, 2005) since his earlier stages of his comic book inceptions and thus became an iconic figure, one which was well beloved because he encompassed what all of us wanted to be, a person who was more than what people see us as, someone who was destined for more than being a simple teacher, company worker or the person you were expected to be.

Superman allowed comic book fans to look into a world where the most unexpected people can become heroes, for example Clark Kent through to Superman. Clark Kent allowed fans to escape from the world of pain and suffering into a world full of crisis there will be someone to stand up and save us all. "Without Clark Kent as Superman's alter ego Superman wouldn't have a purpose to save Earth other than the right thing", (Rosenberg, 2008) wrote that because we have Superman and Clark Kent in the comic book series we see that Superman is able to save Earth because of his alter ego Clark Kent being normal. Through Clark Kent, Superman is able to 'mingle' with humans allowing him to have a purpose to save the race of powerless beings. From what the quote mentions besides Superman's reasons for an alter ego we get a means of 'Cinema as a door' (Elsaesser, 2010), from how the readers view Clark Kent as a disguise for Superman but also a springboard to get into the stories that he is in. Transforming from the working class to Superman makes the reader see that this depiction of reality shows how any normal working class can become a hero from their simple jobs. Another understanding of Superman's character from "Clark Kent’s upbringing by his Earth parents have influenced his whole character", (Rosenberg, 2008) this mentions how from Clark Kent's upbringing with his farming parents made him who he is and allowed readers to view the rising hero that becomes Superman and because he is brought up to being a good person he is seen as the hero and encompassing the American colours of red, white and blue as a symbol of protection and hope to the American people during the time of the wars.

However this repetitive notion of what superheroes are classed as being, the saviours of humanity due to their powers, is one that has changed when Batman had risen up, as he was more of the humanly superhero, rather than the superhero with powers. Batman became a hero to many people as "...he is just a 'human' being, even though he is much different than the rest of us", "Devotion of his life to avenge his parents death and other victims, by risking life and limb" (Irwin, 2008), shows that Batman had risen in popular fame to Superman as he was much more than a being that had powers, as he was one that was able to, without powers, use his own strengths to fight off the 'bad guys', all to find his parents' killer. Batman's complexity shows how ordinary human beings can become hero and through the Batman's comics we see how he learns and adapts to the teachings he receives will make up the Batman and how all that teaching leads him to the accomplishments of taking out the bad guys, the enemies and the villains and from the comic readers are able to see through Batman how they can become a superhero.

Batman comics allow the question of "what if we could take matters into our own hands?" and take an event which could occur in reality and making Batman use it as a reminder of what needs to be fixed. With events of sorrow taking place in reality a reader becomes connected with Batman because they may have gone through a similar event and wondered whether you could change it or stop it from happening again and gives the reader an insight of how becoming a hero without superpowers can be and the trials and tribulations he or she faces. Batman is a character who sees his skills as his power, not relying on superpowers to overcome obstacles, "...the reason that the more super an individual might be, the less heroic he or she could possibly be, and the more heroic a person is , the less super they'd have to be", (Morris, 2005) from this you begin to understand why Batman has become as popular as he has. Batman is in essence 'powerless' to the superheroes who have powers and thus makes him that much of a hero all be it that we would love to have superpowers however we understand that having superpowers is a fantasy and isn't capable of happening, which attracts us more towards Batman.

Not depending on having superpowers makes Batman that much of a realistic superhero, one which readers can connect to, compared to Superman and various other heroes that have superpowers who depend on their powers wouldn't be as appealing to their audience if they have no superpowers. Batman on the other hand is what people want to be, achieving his goals through humanly methods and trying to get retribution for the death of his parents. Batman's purpose is to find his parents killer and when he achieves his goal but thinks "...nothing haunts me more than finding out who killed my parents", "...their unsolved murder changed Gotham City", (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, 2005). So many children and adults like to become a superhero, having goals or intentions to that urge and when the goal of the superhero are fulfilled, what is the purpose of carrying on for the children and adults. Batman realises himself as being attached to a bigger picture, "...with great power comes great responsibility" (Spider-Man, 1961) is an influenced quote which applies throughout the superhero world and in Batman's case he realises that once he has achieved the knowledge of his parents killer he may not have a reason to be Batman, to risk his life and keep things in order as he has brought a big difference to Gotham City. But wanting to be a superhero would be to follow the stereotype of doing good, abiding by the laws and helping the innocent and such superhero stereotype had been consistent until Frank Miller had introduced himself to the comic book world of Batman. Although already recognised as one of the names to be accustomed to through his work on the reprise of the fading Daredevil, Frank Miller had switched to Marvels rival company DC Comics (O’Neil, 1987) which wanted to reinvent their most popular characters Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman and Frank Miller had put himself forward to reintroduce the story of Batman through the opportunity of Batman Year One.

Frank Millers take on the Batman story had garnered much success due to his own interpretation of Batman being much different than how readers viewed Superman or Wonder Woman, with the concept of Batman having no power compared to the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman and Frank Miller tackled the idea of having Batman become much darker, involved in adult targeted storylines. Rather than the children based layout that have been used since the creation of Superman, Batman was reinvented in a way in which the character was meant to be, making him that much more of a popular figure whilst Superman had begun to fade in popularity because of the same character doing the same thing and knowing that he will beat the evil villain at the end of each story seems predictable. Where as Frank Miller had made Batman much open to getting the job done,making his motivation towards the identity of his parents killer but in another sense "Gotham's government is Batman's hatred as the state were incapable of maintaining their laws and order" (Irwin, 2008), perhaps gives an understanding that Batman also shares hatred towards the government as well as his parents killer because the government hadn’t kept control of their citizens and sees himself as an enforcement of the law a 'Vigilante'.

Vigilantes are in essence what all superheroes are (Kaveney, 2008), they take matters into their own hands, seeing themselves as the law enforcement even if it means breaking laws to reinforce them and Frank Millers depiction of Batman shows this side of a superhero although the subject wasn't brought up until the creation of Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986) which showed a different perspective of the superhero. Both The Dark Knight and Watchmen were influential in raising awareness and questioning the vengeance that brings vigilantism and through Watchmen you see how some of the superheroes become vigilantes to carry on the name and protect the world. Dr Manhattan however had gained power through his research making him the only hero to have an ability but in the case of Rorschach his vigilantism choice was made because of a common reason to become a superhero to put right that which was wronged. Rorschach's upbringing affected his character (Watchmen, 1986), making him use violence as an extension of his power to fight crime and blaming humanity he bears the in-blot mask which makes his character unique as you don't see the visual expressions through humanly features but rather from the ink which had culminated after being "ashamed for humanity" (Morris, 2005). Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Millers take on Batman changed how comics were perceived as they brought in new perspectives that focused on the bad and good of being a superhero, sinking deeper into how Superman's take on the world being black and white, good and evil and not seeing the view from another side, that is what Watchmen and Batman added to the dynamic of comics, how these characters would react in different situations to a one that would always work out in the end.

From the revamped Batman and the vigilantism Watchmen bring these two comic books changed the perception of how superheroes were looked upon as heroes for doing the right thing, being there when needed but those were from the earlier stages of comics book fantasies which inspired younger kids to be like them. During many childhoods there had become an attachment to beings who had powers which were fantasies, achievements in which children would yearn to want and to change the world, these are what make us feel a sense of jealousy and longing to be more than ordinary. Morris (2005) explains that "...after viewing the Superman comic of being superior in any shape or form to those around you, to stand out and be visible to abide by your own laws" simply put that we lust for power, a catalyst to stand out from our peers and allows us to have a field of superiority over each other, without any limitations. Although this is true, "Part of the appeal of the superheroes is that through them we can live out our dreams and fantasies" (Rosenberg, 2008) which again is a sense of accomplishment that we want to have a lead over others to show we are different from the other people, giving us an edge. From those two perspectives they explain how we want power to prove something, to be 'top of the food chain' or have control to do what we want to but Hopkins (2009) explains that "allow us to imagine riches of life by having enhanced special abilities and extraordinary experiences-wondering what we could do if we weren't so restricted or limited/ordinary". Understanding that perhaps we want something that we know we can't have is what leads us to taking shortcuts by becoming a superhero and having no restrictions in the society we live in from the amount of suffering in the real world we see much more security, surveillance and restriction on certain areas. Many see having abilities such as a superhero allows us to stray away from these restrictions but with power we can lean over the people that are enforcing these restrictions and wanting to get our views across without limitations because of the equipped superpower we become an anti-hero who has his own motives to fulfil at any cost.

As Kaveney (2008) explains, the superheroes appealing nature is important to us as it ascertains to the fact of becoming something we aren’t and accomplishing such storyline based acts, living out fantasies and dreams. In other cases though, (Morris, 2005) there are flaws within the superhero character, (Moore , 1986) graphic novel, Watchmen exposes through their exploration of how superheroes would affect prolific moments in history if they were at that moment in time. In this sense for reality to be played into a world where fantasy is tangled with reality but because of this the portrayal human characteristics are brought into play and this is where jealousy, greed and others would begin to show the level of maturity coming across the comics. With the level of maturity rising due to comics such as Watchmen (1986), to the surprise of this maturity being in comic books it allows escapism into a world where harsh parts of reality are altered. From our addictions of the superhero being a way to escape reality, through Moore’s Watchmen (1986) we see how the appeal is towards an older audience and Morris (2005) states that the relevance of Superman within the reality of kids having to go through metal detectors at school is on which has no relevance to a reality which is more darker than that of a comic book. Although the superhero is a very intriguing and appealing piece of non-fiction we see reality as threat to want to escape it to a world where justice prevails and the bad are always gone near the end.

2647 Words

Bibliography:
Hopkins, P. D. Southworth, J, Kavaldo, J. Dunn, G. Darowski, J. Robichaud, C. Teschner, G. (2009) X-Men and Philosophy:New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Miller, F. Mezzucchelli, D. Miles, R. O'Neil, D. (1987) Batman Year One:New York:DC Comics
William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP,(2008) Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul:New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Tom Morris, Matt Morris,(2005) Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way:Chicago and La Salle, Illinois:Open Court

Roz Kaveney,(2008) Superheroes! Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films:London:I.B. Tauris

Robin S. Rosenberg, Ph.D, Jennifer Canzoneri,(2008) The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration:Dallas, Texas:Benbella Books INC.

Fingeroth, D. (2005) Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. London: Continuum

Negotiated Study Week1:Statement of Intent

2011-03-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

With the statement of intent coming along nicely i finished the whole process and knowing what i want to do, a Castle as this idea allows me to step away froom the futuristic aspect of my ideas and focus on the visuals of the game and here is the finished statement of intent which i believe to reach the expectation and further my skills at both concept art and 3D modelling:
Negotiated Study - OUDF203 Statement of Intent
Name: Ifraz Mohammed

Project Title

A Place in Time

The Brief

Game Synopsis:

'You are a medieval knight, sworn to honor the code of law known as "Chivalry". The time is mid-day and you return to your castle being the only survivor from the draining crusade, to find an empty castle from dungeon to top floor. Finding nothing but an empty, weapon stranded castle you realise that this was the work of no man or army, to leave no signs of struggle nor blood. From this point forward you know that you are alone, with nothing but your weapons, to wander in search of life and solution.'

To develop a game environment with a minimum of 2 floors (ground and top or underground floor), interior and exterior, within a confined amount of space, to focus on developing a building and some surroundings. Using visuals rather than gameplay mechanics to represent a start off place within a game or a setting within the game to reflect on the game synopsis.

Solution:

I plan on doing a 3 floored game environment of a castle, using the ground floor as the entrance to the castle and then allowing the gamer to go deeper into the dungeon as well as above to the top open floor and giving them the freedom to go through each area as well as in and out of the castle. Inside the castle will be bits and pieces such as fallen weapons, swords and shields preferably with option of mangonel and other objects to the limit of polycount. Entirely made of stone and wood allowing texturing of the model to be of substantial benefit of working more on the detail and colour pallete (light stone with eroded and rubble effect and dark wood covered with contrasting markings). Having an unplayable character to perhaps appear as the gameplay furthers to tell the gamer to not venture further on the happening within the castle to leave after telling gamer the warning.

Outside the castle will be the drawbridge open on trigger and the only means of entry as the ground in which the castle wil be built open a small area of land beneath the castle and the gamers start off point will be on another piece of land connected to the castle once the drawbridge lowers. Behing the castle will be another door but this will be from the castle going into an open area limited to the castle and at the edge of the cliff which further down has a waterfall, covering the lower portion of the are of land as well as the window of the dungeon. The waterfall animates down and into the ocean which surrounds the gameplay area as it confines the gamer until the objective is done within the castle to which the gamer leaves the castle and its greenery around the outside and down the land, to the drop in from the start of the game to a small boat which will be a form of transport to the next level.

The Project size will focus more on the castle than its surroundings as it resides on a rocky, cliff setting similar to that of a lighthouse which prohibits the gamer to wander off the created space. Relying more on textures and bump mapping to give detail and depth allows more of a wider scale of modelling so i chose a dungeon and interior of a castle but not to the scale of castles normally seen. The Waterfall idea is just to have it placed under the cliff, behind the castle a smal waterfall which covers one of the dungeons "window" and the main focus of the project is quality. Gameplay is not much of focal point as i would like to focus on the visuals, the concept art and this project gives me a chance to develop my skill at concept more to the poor level of art i have shown in previous work.

Resources Required

Computer
Wacom tablet
Adobe Photoshop
Autodesk Maya
Unity 2.6
Leeds College of Art Studio or Mezzinine
Home Laptop with stated softwares

Self Identified Reading List

Understanding Game Theory By Vassili Kolokoltsov, Oleg A. Malafeyev
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses By Jesse Schell
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals By Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman
Pervasive Games: Theory and Design By Markus Montola, Jaakko Stenros, Annika Waern
Games and Information: An Introduction to Game Theory By Eric Rasmusen
Game Theory at Work By James D. Miller
Game Theory: A Critical Text By Shaun Hargreaves Heap, Yanis Varoufakis
Game Design: Theory & Practice By Richard Rouse, Steve Ogden
Game Design Foundations By Roger E. Pedersen
Video Game Art by Dr. Henry Jenkins
Game Character Development By Antony Ward

Additional Research Opportunities

Ninja Theory (Company)-Visuals of Enslaved Odyssey To The West
Daarken (Concept Artist)-Youtube Tutorials and getting in touch for guides
Kotaku (Online Gaming Website)-For latest gaming news and similar websites
Videogames and Films Companies that have worked on Tron 2, Deus Ex III, Prince of Persia, Assasins' Creed, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Waredevil: Unleash the beast within and so on: Barontieri (Industrial Design and Interior Architecture)-Videogames and Film Concept Art Steambot Studios (Concept Art Company)-Study their images to benefit from
Splash Damage (Game Developer)-Look at the use of modelling and textuing

Luke Wakeford (3D Character artist)-Contact to ask for help or steps to improve modelling
Massive Black (Illustration, Artwork, Animation and 3D assets for the entertainment and advertising industry)
Unity Game Development Essentials Will Goldstone
Photoshop CS5 for Dummies By Peter Bauer
Maya Projects and Game Environment and Props Mike McKinley

Considerations

Target Audience-12+
The polyount should be no more than 10,000 and focus more on detail through texturing and bumped maps
Visuals should be focus point rather than the overall gameplay, to further concept development
Not to spend too much time on final project but the development and planning of game

Deliverables

Research & Development
Game Environment (Minimum of 2 Floors), Interior and Exterior (Web Player and Mac Standalone Versions)
A modelled unplayable character Turnaround (Quicktime Movie HD Format)
　

Negotiated Study Week1:Final Major Project Ideas

2011-03-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here are the ideas that i had come up with and following through these guidelines

Open space
Limited distance of area
Greenery
Interior
Exterior
Visual Importance
Stone texturing
Quality not Quantity
Concept Art is the focus through the game environment

I had many ideas that i could and as you can see from the images i had jotted down the possible ideas under the guidelines i had come up with. At first i felt of doing something similar to the Enslaved:Odyssey to the West game as i had played it and found the quality was so impressive that i could do a Enslaved inspired destruction of Leeds. However knowing that i had done a destroyed environment and wanting to do my own creation rather than a variation of someone else's idea, so i chose to look at many other possible ideas such as

Small island with a building covered with greenery
A 3D based game environment going inside a building to a 2D platform game
Plant life environment
Aztec Buildings
Sci-Fi Building
Island
Floating City
Underwater City
Jungle
Spaceship
Medieval
Mountainous Area
Colosseum
Tower
Tree house with three levels
Buildings change textures as you go in and out of the building
Castle, Courtyard, Tower, Waterfall. Dungeon

After all the various ideas that i could do i went ahead and chose one that i hadn't done before, going with the idea of a castle game environment consisting of a dungeon, Courtyard, Castle with three floors, Tower, placed upon a cliff setting with nothing but a water surrounding. Quality will be the objective with this project and choosing a different type of setting to the regular sci-fi type of setting that i have done before and gone with a medieval environment. I believe that going with a three floored game environment consisting of interior and exterior i will be able focus alot more on concept art having more of a project to cover.

Negotiated Study Week1:Potential Ideas to Look At

2011-03-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

Learning of the final project of the course being a negotiated study i had various possible ideas to do. Knowing that i want to focus on the visuals and concept art for my project i wanted to carry on the production of game making. With the previous game module i had created a cityscape game environment and with that project i had over complicated the situation by focusing much more on the quantity of the project.

So i began the process of possible ideas with the intention of creating a game environment which is a limited amount of space preventing the gamer from going into areas that they shouldn't be going into and that this environment should consist of interior and exterior. I started by looking at game environments that have been used for certain games such as Crysis 2 to get an understanding of what i could do.

Looking at interior and exterior game environments that have already been made i saw throughout the images that the environment is spaced out with many areas of greenery, alot of stone, ground textures are used and surrounding the buildings is an environment which gives the building a focus point. By looking at the images above i have a rough amount of guidelines for the idea of my negotiated studies brief and that i will follow these guides as i want my game environment to be:

Open space
Limited distance of area
Greenery
Interior
Exterior
Visual Importance
Stone texturing
Quality not Quantity
Concept Art is the focus through the game environment

Creative Industries Level 5:Google Apps Business Assistance

2011-03-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

During the research into business, i came across the Google Apps business assistance. This allows users to manage their business all from one location through Google Apps and with E-mail, video chat, translations, real time updates and more. On the page was a youtube based video which shows off the assets of this Google App:

Here is the link to the page:http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en-GB/business/smbs.html#utm_source=EnterpriseSMEQ111&utm_campaign=en-GB&utm_medium=oa&utm_term=pid_59554392-cid_40503189-aid_235714054

Creative Industries Level 5:Protecting your business interests

2011-03-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

I had found this article on the protection of businesses and why it is so important to protect your own business, particularly in the economy we are currently in and here is the article from the website:

Protecting your business interests

In these days of economic downturn and tough competition it is vital to protect your business interests as best you can.

Unless protection is in place former employees could have a devastating effect on your business. How can you do this? The only enforceable way to protect your business is to incorporate enforceable restrictive covenants into your employee's contracts of employment or (if appropriate) compromise agreement, these are known as Post Termination Restrictive Covenants.

The covenants, if drafted correctly, can be used to prevent former employees from soliciting or dealing with your clients or suppliers, encouraging other key workers to leave and join them or disclosing your trade secrets and competing directly against you.

For any covenant to be enforceable, it must be reasonable, and it must protect a legitimate business interest. For a covenant to be reasonable it must go no further than is necessary to protect the business. If a covenant is viewed as unreasonable then it will be void and unenforceable, therefore great care must be taken at the drafting stage.

You must ensure that the covenant relates only to that type of work carried out by the employee, and you must ensure that it complies with any accepted industry standard. The covenant must be set for a reasonable duration and geographical extent. Generally the covenant may only refer to the area where your company carries on its business. Finally, you must be able to identify an actual or potential harm which would be caused by an employee's breach.

What can you do if the covenant is breached? Provided you can show an actual or prospective harm, then there are various remedies available the most important of which is an injunction. An injunction can be granted at an interim stage to prevent the employee breaching the covenant pending a full trial. This provides the quickest method of protecting your business and in the majority of cases will be sufficient, as a full trial may not take place until the duration of the covenant has expired.

An alternative remedy is damages. If damages are awarded they will be for breach of contract, and therefore seek to put you in the position you would have been had the contract been performed. A third measure of damages is an account of profits, where the profits the employee makes from his breach of covenant must be paid over to the employer. Finally, you could bring a claim against a third party if an employee is threatening to disclose confidential information, or is threatening to take up employment with that third party.

Don't delay check your contracts of employment today and if in doubt seek expert legal advice.

Gillian Markland is head of employment law at Ingrams Solicitors

Link:http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/business/columnists/8135286.Protecting_your_business_interests/?ref=rss

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Level 5 Week 19:Essay Feedback via Academic Support

2011-03-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

After getting feedback from Garry Barker on my draft essay i was told to seek the help of academic support to go through my essay thoroughly. With the academic support scheduled for Tuesday 15th i left my essay for a week after getting feedback from Garry and returned to the essay with the help of academic support, Jay who helped me understand that i needed to give breathing space for my readers. With him we went through near a page and a half of my essay and re-wrote certain bits of text to make sense and so hear is the essay with a page and a half of redoing.

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Essay

Throughout the years there have been many creations that have created widespread popularity since the inception of 'The Superhero' from the mid 1930s, involving the most recognized superhero in Superman. Within the past couple of years we see that the film industry has delved into the comic book genre which shows that this once children's form of entertainment has a much deeper root. This essay seeks to enlighten readers through the exploration of the superheroes’ roles within the current culture and to understand why even at an adult age we still have a connection to a media that was from our childhood.

Many children as they grow up are attracted to the concept of a superhero, what they can do and whether they could really become a superhero by radiation, spider bite or simply being born with superpowers. From an early stage in childhood, many children are spoilt by the amount of superheroes that are available. Superman and Batman are the vastly popular characters which originated from the Golden Age of comics (Miller, 1987) where they saved the world and stopped the evil villains and created a wave of momentum for the creation of household names from Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk, Wonder Woman to the Green lantern and many more. Superman and Batman have always been the most beloved characters who graced the pages of newspapers and comics in the 1930s (Morris, 2005) and brought with them widespread media depictions of their characters through movies, radios, T.V. Through these medias, up to recent dates we have been exposed to the worlds of these characters and tie-ins of other characters from the two big comic companies DC and Marvel. From the wide range and forms of characters that we have grown up with, we see a common trait that has been passed on through the periods of superheroes, being either male or female and having powers that extend from themselves to fight for truth, justice and protecting the innocent. Superman has always been engaged with the fight for truth, justice and the protection of the innocent (Morris, 2005) since his earlier stages of his comic book inceptions and thus became an iconic figure, one which was well beloved because he encompassed what all of us wanted to be, a person who was more than what people see us as, someone who was destined for more than being a simple teacher, company worker or the person you were expected to be.

Superman allowed comic book fans to look into a world where the most unexpected people can become heroes, for example Clark Kent through to Superman. Clark Kent allowed fans to escape from the world of pain and suffering into a world full of crisis there will be someone to stand up and save us all. "Without Clark Kent as Superman's alter ego Superman wouldn't have a purpose to save Earth other than the right thing", (REF QUOTE- HARVARD) The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration (REF THE AUTHOR NOT THE TITLE) write that because we have Superman and Clark Kent in the comic book series we see that Superman is able to save Earth because of his alter ego Clark Kent being normal. Through Clark Kent, Superman is able to 'mingle' with humans allowing him to have a purpose to save the race of powerless beings. From what the quote mentions besides Superman's reasons for an alter ego we get a means of 'Cinema as a door' (REF THE CONCEPT- QUOTE), from how the readers view Clark Kent as a disguise for Superman but also a springboard to get into the stories that he is in. Transforming from the working class to Superman makes the reader see that this depiction of reality shows how any normal working class can become a hero from their simple jobs. Another understanding of Superman's character from "Clark Kent’s upbringing by his Earth parents have influenced his whole character", The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration this mentions how from Clark Kent's upbringing with his farming parents made him who he is and allowed readers to view the rising hero that becomes Superman and because he is brought up to being a good person he is seen as the hero and encompassing the American colours of red, white and blue as a symbol of protection and hope to the American people during the time of the wars.

However this repetitive perceivement of what superheroes are classed as being, the saviours of humanity due to their powers, is one that has changed when Batman had risen up, as he was more of the humanly superhero, rather than the superhero with powers. Batman became a hero to many people as "...he is just a 'human' being, even though he is much different than the rest of us", "Devotion of his life to avenge his parents death and other victims, by risking life and limb" Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul, shows that Batman had risen in popular fame to Superman as he was much more than a being that had powers, as he was one that was able to, without powers, use his own strengths to fight off the 'bad guys', all to find his parents' killer. Batman's complexity shows how ordinary human beings can become hero and through the Batman's comics we see how he learns and adapts to the teachings he receives will make up the Batman and how all that teaching leads him to the accomplishments of taking out the bad guys, the enemies and the villains and from the comic readers are able to see through Batman how they can become a superhero.

Batman comics allow the question of "what if we could take matters into our own hands?" and take an event which could occur in reality and making Batman use it as a reminder of what needs to be fixed and with events of sorrow taking place in reality a reader becomes connected with Batman because they may have gone through a similar event and wondered whether you could change it or stop it from happening again and gives the reader and insight of how becoming a hero without superpowers can be and the trials and tribulations he faces. Batman is a character who sees his skills as his power not relying on superpowers to overcome obstacles, "...the reason that the more super an individual might be, the less heroic he or she could possibly be, and the more heroic a person is , the less super they'd have to be", Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way from this you begin to understand why Batman has become as popular as he has and that is because he is in essence 'powerless' to the superheroes who have powers and thus makes him that much of a hero all be it that we would love to have superpowers but because we understand that having them is a fantasy and isn't capable of happening and which attracts us much more towards Batman.

Not depending on having superpowers makes Batman that much of a realistic superhero one which readers can connect to because Superman and the other heroes that have superpowers depend on their powers and wouldn't be as popular if they didn't have them but Batman is what people want to be and he achieves his goals through humanly tactics. Batman's purpose is to find his parents killer and when he achieves his goal but thinks "...nothing haunts me more than finding out who killed my parents", "...their unsolved murder changed Gotham City", Superman/Batman: Public Enemies(2005) which is a question that would need to be answered when we see ourselves to wanting to become a superhero and is we had our goal achieved when wanting to become a hero then what is our purpose to carry on and that's what Batman sees, himself as attached to a bigger picture, "...with great power comes great responsibility" Spider-Man, was quoted as an influenced quote which applies throughout the superhero world and such to Batman as he himself realises that once he has achieved the knowledge of his parents killer he may not have a reason to be Batman and would see it as a shame as he has brought a big difference to Gotham City and would not have a reason to risk his life. But wanting to be a superhero would be to follow the stereotype of doing good, abiding by the laws and helping the innocent from the wicked and such superhero stereotype had been consistent until Frank Miller had introduced himself to the comic book world of Batman, although already recognised as one of the names to be accustomed to through his work on the reprise of the fading Daredevil, from then Frank Miller had switched to Marvels rival company DC Comics which wanted to reinvent their most popular characters Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman and Frank Miller had put himself forward as to wanting to reintroduce the story of Batman and was given the opportunity through Batman Year One.

Frank Millers take on the Batman story had garnered much success due to his view on Batman being much different than how readers viewed Superman or Wonder Woman, although the concept of Batman having no power such as Superman and Wonder Woman remains Frank Miller tackled the idea of having Batman become much darker and having him involved in adult targeted storylines, rather than the children based layout that have been used since the creation of Superman and Batman. Frank Miller's work on Batman reinvented the way in which the character was meant to be and made him that much more of a popular figure whilst Superman had begun to fade in popularity because of the same character doing the same thing and knowing that he will beat the evil villain at the end of each story seems predictable but Frank Miller had made Batman much open to getting the job done and Batman's motivation is towards finding his parents killer but in another sense "Gotham's government is Batman's hatred as the state were incapable of maintaining their laws and order" Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul, from this understanding Batman shares hatred towards the government as well as his parents killers and sees himself as an enforcement of the law a 'Vigilante'.

Vigilantes are in essence what all superheroes are, they take matters into their own hands and see themselves as the law enforcer even if it means breaking laws to reinforce them and Frank Millers depiction of Batman showed this side of a superhero although the subject wasn't brought up until the creation of Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons which showed a different perspective of the superhero. Both The Dark Knight and Watchmen were influential in raising awareness and question to the vengeance that brings vigilantism as through Watchmen you see how some of the superheroes become vigilantes to carry on the name and protect the world, Dr Manhattan was changed because of his research and gained power but in the case of Rorshach his vigilantism choice was made because of a common reason to become a superhero to put right that which was wronged previously in this case Rorshach's upbringing affected his character and made him use a violence as an extension of his power to fight crime and because of humanity he bears the in-blot mask which makes his character unique as you don't see the visual expressions through humanly features but through the ink which had culminated after becoming "ashamed for humanity" Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way. Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Millers take on Batman changed how comics were perceived as they had brought in a new perspective one which hadn't focused on the greats and goods of being a superhero, sinking deeper into how Superman's take on the world being black and white, good and evil and not seeing the view from another side, that is what Watchmen and Batman brought and how these characters would react in different situations to ones that would always work out in the end.

From the revamped Batman and the vigilantism Watchmen these two comic books changed the perception of how superheroes were looked up as hero for doing the right thing, being there when needed but those were from the earlier stages of comics book fantasies which aspired younger kids to be like them and to follow them through their victories and that is what made kids become attached to this being who had powers which were fantasies, achievements which children would yearn to want and to change the world. These are what make us feel a sense of jealousy and longing to be more than ordinary as in Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way "...after viewing the Superman comic of being superior in any shape or form to those around you, to stand out and be visible to abide by your own laws" which simply says we lust for power, a catalyst to stand out from our peers and allows us to have a field of superiority over each other and not have limits. But although this is true, "Part of the appeal of the superheroes is that through them we can live out our dreams and fantasies" (Rosenberg, 2008, p45) which again is a sense of accomplishment that we want to have a lead over others to show we are different from the other people to give us an edge. From those two perspectives they explain how we want power to prove something, to be 'top of the food chain' or have control to do what we want to do but from X-Men and Philosophy "allow us to imagine riches of life by having enhanced special abilities and extraordinary experiences-wondering what we could do if we weren't so restricted or limited/ordinary" we get an understanding that perhaps we want something that we know we can't have because it would lead to a shortcut and having no restrictions in the society we live in due to the amount of suffering in the world we see much more security and surveillance restriction on certain areas but having abilities lets us stray away from that because we have a power a sense lean over the people that are enforcing these restrictions but if we have the power we would be able to rule the world under our orders trying to make the world a better place, in other word an anti-hero who has his own motives to fulfill at any cost.

We look at how superheroes have affected us through their storylines and character traits and how we yearn to be like them because of their concept of power being heat vision, spider features, Adamantium claws and other powers but having that power we feel we can change things as the setting of Watchmen being around the 1980s and showing how superheroes being a possibility would affect certain moments in history. Our addiction of superheroes could be a way of escaping the harsh reality we currently live in or seeing the good triumph and even to have connection of what we might do in circumstances if we chose the other options as Batman had chosen to become a vigilante and aren't vigilantes a justification of power, they take things into their own hands and that's what attracts us to wanting to be like Batman or because of his parents being killed he wanted to find his parents killer and justify through that goal for his actions of rule breaking and wanting to be above the law.

Try and make this conclusion more academic:

As …. states, the reason Superheroes are important to us is……… However some writers (example) have more recently begun to examine the flaws in the Superhero character, (Moore, date) a graphic novel such as Watchmen (date) has explored how Superheroes would actually affect certain moments in history if they were real. This realistic portrayal though immediately brings into the fictional situation the fact that ordinary human frailties, such as jealousy, greed etc. would begin to operate. This has long been the central feature of the novel, but it is a surprise to see this in a comic book. If our addiction to superheroes could be a way of escaping the harsh reality we currently live in, perhaps new comic book genres such as Moore’s Watchman reflect the fact that the audiences for comic books are now older. This is supported by Morris, 2005, who states that….

2500 Words

Bibliography:
Hopkins, P. D. Southworth, J, Kavaldo, J. Dunn, G. Darowski, J. Robichaud, C. Teschner, G. (2009)
X-Men and Philosophy:New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Miller, F. Mezzucchelli, D. Miles, R. O'Neil, D. (1987) Batman Year One:New York:DC Comics

-William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP,(2008)
'Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul':New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

-Tom Morris, Matt Morris,(2005)
'Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way':Chicago and La Salle, Illinois:Open Court

-Roz Kaveney,(2008)
'Superheroes! Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films' :London:I.B. Tauris

-Robin S. Rosenberg, Ph.D, Jennifer Canzoneri,(2008)
'The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration':Dallas, Texas:Benbella Books INC.

Fingeroth, D. (2005) Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. London: Continuum

Within Text:
-'Quote From Book' (Patrick D. Hopkins, Jason Southworth, Jesse Kavaldo, George A. Dunn, Joseph J. Darowski, Christopher Robichaud, George Teschner, 2009)

-'Quote From Book' (Frank Miller, David Mezzucchelli, Richmond Miles, Danny O'Neil, 1987)

-'Quote From Book' (William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP, 2008)

-'Quote From Book' (Tom Morris, Matt Morris, 2005)

-'Quote From Book' (Roz Kaveney, 2008)

Eventually to cut out

Game Art Design and Animation Week 19:Game Environment Character and Collectable Animation

2011-03-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the animations to my character as he is in the game environment to which he will react to when the gamer comes within a certain area range towards him and finally to beginshooting at the gamer once they trigger the second animation the thrid will play and the other animation is of the game environments collectables, which is a simple spaceship which does a 360 turn in mid air and will be gone once the gamer collides into it.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 19:Game Environment Particle Emitter

2011-03-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

We were told about the particle emitter and had a chance to try to make a particle emitter during one of our tutorials and now was my chance to use that skill and place it into my game environment and even adding water to add a little bit of substance and reflective surface.

Within the environment i wanted to take full advantage of the particle emitter and used it for the sparks to show building wires broken apart, fires started and also smoke, all of which come with sound.

From this final image you can see how i wanted atleast one of the building to contain a larger fire which helps to cover up the flaws it had with visuals of textures and building designs.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 18:Game Environment Feedback

2011-03-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

This is the stage i had gotten up to with some additional textures and was ready to show my classmates and receive feedback to tell me if there were any flaws and problems which i could solve.

Here is there feedback:

-Good use of space/Terrain textures(in helping with character)

-Good Development, Nice colours, add some texture to UV map to join aesthetic

-Nice building design, needs collision-detection, though, look at the Ratchet+Clank Series

-Feel the soldier could be bigger

-Like gravity levels-Does oddly feel like being in space

-The buildings have a great feel of a town being built in the middle of nowhere like Los Vegas

-Nice building design, good textures will make them look really alien

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Level 5 Week 18:Essay Feedback

2011-03-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

After completing my essay i was able to have someone read it and give me feedback and here is the essay with its feedback. The red text is the feedback within the essay and after being read the essay had needed improvement with refrencing and cleaning up the sentences so i was told to seek help from academic support. Feedback of the essay is from Garry Barker.

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Essay

There are many creations that have created wide spread of popularity than the inception of 'The Superhero' from the mid 1930s involving the most recognized superhero in Superman. Within the past couple of years we see that the film industry has delved into the comic book genre and shows that this once children's form of entertainment has a much deeper root. This essay seeks to enlighten readers through the exploration of the superheroes roles within the current culture and to understand why even at an adult age we still have a connection to a media that was from our childhood.

Many children as they grow up are attracted to the concept of a superhero, what they can do and whether it was true to become a superhero by radiation, spider bite or simply born with superpowers but from an early stage in my childhood, many children are spoilt in the amount of superheroes that are available. Superman and Batman are the vastly popular characters which originated from the Golden Age of comics (Miller, 1987) where they saved the world and stopped the evil villains and created a wave of momentum for the creations of household names from Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk, Wonder Woman to the Green lantern and many more. Superman and Batman have always been the most beloved characters who graced the pages of newspapers and comics in the 1930s (Morris, 2005) and brought with them wide spread of media depictions of their characters through movies, radios, T.V. and through these medias, up to recent dates we have been exposed through the worlds of these characters and tie-ins of other characters from the two big comic companies DC and Marvel. From the wide range and forms of characters that we have grown up with, we see a common trait that has been passed on through the periods of superheroes, being either male or female and having powers that extend from themselves to fight for truth, justice and protecting the innocent. Superman has always been engaged with the fight for truth, justice and the protection of the innocent (Morris, 2005) since his earlier stages of his comic book inceptions and thus became an icon figure, one which was well beloved because he encompassed what all of us wanted to be, a person who was more than what people see us as, someone who was destined for more than being a simple teacher, company worker or the person you were expected to be.

Superman allowed comic book fans to look into a world where the unexpected of people can become heroes, Clark Kent through to Superman and allowed fans to escape from the world of pain and suffering into world where when there is crisis the will be someone to stand up and save us all. "Without Clark Kent as Superman's alter ego Superman wouldn't have a purpose to save Earth other than the right thing", The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration writes that because we have Superman and Clark Kent in the comic book series we see that Superman's acts of saving Earth is because of his alter ego Clark Kent and through Clark Kent, Superman is able to 'mingle' with humans allowing him to have a purpose to save the race of powerless beings and from what the quote mentions besides Superman's reasons for an alter ego we get a means of 'Cinema as a door', from how the readers view Clark Kent as a disguise for Superman but also a springboard to get into the stories that he is in because from the working class to Superman makes the reader see that this depiction of reality shows how any normal working class can become a hero from their simple jobs. Another understanding of Superman's character from "Clark Kents upbringing by his Earth parents have influenced his whole character", The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration this mentions how from Clark kent's upbringing with his farming parents made him who he is and allowed readers to view the rising hero that becomes Superman and because he is brought up to being a good person he is seen as the hero and encompassing the American colours of red, white and blue as a symbol of protection and hope to the American people during the time of the wars.

However this repetitive perceivement of what superheroes are classed as being, the saviours of humanity due to their powers, is one that has changed when Batman had risen up, as he was more of the humanly superhero, rather than the superhero with powers. Batman became a hero to many people as "...he is just a 'human' being, even though he is much different than the rest of us", "Devotion of his life to avenge his parents death and other victims, by risking life and limb" Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul, shows that Batman had risen in popualr fame to Superman as he was much more than a being that had powers, as he was one that was able to, without powers, use his own strengths to fight off the 'bad guys', all to find his parents' killer. Batman's complexity shows how ordinary human beings can become hero and through the Batman's comics we see how he learns and adapts to the teachings he receives will make up the Batman and how all that teaching leads him to the accomplishments of taking out the bad guys, the enemies and the villains and from the comic readers are able to see through Batman how they can become a superhero.

Batman comics allow the question of "what if we could take matters into our own hands?" and take an event which could occur in reality and making Batman use it as a reminder of what needs to be fixed and with events of sorrow taking place in reality a reader becomes connected with Batman because they may have gone through a similar event and wondered whether you could change it or stop it from happening again and gives the reader and insight of how becoming a hero without superpowers can be and the trials and tribulations he faces. Batman is a character who sees his skills as his power not relying on superpowers to overcome obstacles, "...the reason that the more super an individual might be, the less heroic he or she could possibly be, and the more heroic a person is , the less super they'd have to be", Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way from this you begin to understand why Batman has become as popular as he has and that is because he is in essence 'powerless' to the superheroes who have powers and thus makes him that much of a hero all be it that we would love to have superpowers but because we understand that having them is a fantasy and isn't capable of happening and which attracts us much more towards Batman.

Not depending on having superpowers makes Batman that much of a realistic superhero one which readers can connect to because Superman and the other heroes that have superpowers depend on their powers and wouldn't be as popular if they didn't have them but Batman is what people want to be and he achieves his goals through humanly tactics. Batman's purpose is to find his parents killer and when he achieves his goal but thinks "...nothing haunts me more than finding out who killed my parents", "...their unsolved murder changed Gotham City", Superman/Batman: Public Enemies(2005) which is a question that would need to be answered when we see ourselves to wanting to become a superhero and is we had our goal achieved when wanting to become a hero then what is our purpose to carry on and that's what Batman sees, himself as attached to a bigger picture, "...with great power comes great responsibility" Spider-Man, was quoted as an influenced quote which applies throughout the superhero world and such to Batman as he himself realises that once he has achieved the knowledge of his parents killer he may not have a reason to be Batman and would see it as a shame as he has brought a big difference to Gotham City and would not have a reason to risk his life. But wanting to be a superhero would be to follow the stereotype of doing good, abiding by the laws and helping the innocent from the wicked and such superhero stereotype had been consistent until Frank Miller had introduced himself to the comic book world of Batman, although already recognised as one of the names to be accustomed to through his work on the reprise of the fading Daredevil, from then Frank Miller had switched to Marvels rival company DC Comics which wanted to reinvent their most popular characters Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman and Frank Miller had put himself forward as to wanting to reintroduce the story of Batman and was given the opportunity through Batman Year One.

Frank Millers take on the Batman story had garnered much success due to his view on Batman being much different than how readers viewed Superman or Wonder Woman, although the concept of Batman having no power such as Superman and Wonder Woman remains Frank Miller tackled the idea of having Batman become much darker and having him involved in adult targeted storylines, rather than the children based layout that have been used since the creation of Superman and Batman. Frank Miller's work on Batman reinvented the way in which the character was meant to be and made him that much more of a popular figure whilst Superman had begun to fade in popularity because of the same character doing the same thing and knowing that he will beat the evil villain at the end of each story seems predictable but Frank Miller had made Batman much open to getting the job done and Batman's motivation is towards finding his parents killer but in another sense "Gotham's government is Batman's hatred as the state were incapable of maintaining their laws and order" Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul, from this understanding Batman shares hatred towards the government as well as his parents killers and sees himself as an enforcement of the law a 'Vigilante'.

Vigilantes are in essence what all superheros are, they take matters into their own hands and see themselves as the law enforcer even if it means breaking laws to reinforce them and Frank Millers depiction of Batman showed this side of a superhero although the subject wasn't brought up until the creation of Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons which showed a different perspective of the superhero. Both The Dark Knight and Watchmen were influential in raising awareness and question to the vengeance that brings vigilantism as through Watchmen you see how some of the superheroes become vigilantes to carry on the name and protect the world, Dr Manhattan was changed because of his research and gained power but in the case of Rorshach his vigilantism choice was made because of a common reason to become a superhero to put right that which was wronged previously in this case Rorshach's upbringing affected his character and made him use a violence as an extension of his power to fight crime and because of humanity he bears the in-blot mask which makes his character unique as you don't see the visual expressions through humanly features but through the ink which had culminated after becoming "ashamed for humanity" Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way. Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Millers take on Batman changed how comics were perceived as they had brought in a new perspective one which hadn't focused on the greats and goods of being a superhero, sinking deeper into how Superman's take on the world being black and white, good and evil and not seeing the view from another side, that is what Watchmen and Batman brought and how these characters would react in different situations to ones that would always work out in the end.

From the revamped Batman and the vigilantism Watchmen these two comic books changed the perception of how superheroes were looked up as hero for doing the right thing, being there when needed but those were from the earlier stages of comics book fantasies which aspired younger kids to be like them and to follow them through their victories and that is what made kids become attached to this being who had powers which were fantasies, achievements which children would yearn to want and to change the world. These are what make us feel a sense of jealousy and longing to be more than ordinary as in Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way "...after viewing the Superman comic of being superior in any shape or form to those around you, to stand out and be visible to abide by your own laws" which simply says we lust for power, a catalyst to stand out from our peers and allows us to have a field of superiority over each other and not have limits. But although this is true, "Part of the appeal of the superheroes is that through them we can live out our dreams and fantasies" (Rosenberg, 2008, p45) which again is a sense of accomplishment that we want to have a lead over others to show we are different from the other people to give us an edge. From those two perspectives they explain how we want power to prove something, to be 'top of the food chain' or have control to do what we want to do but from X-Men and Philosophy "allow us to imagine riches of life by having enhanced special abilities and extraordinary experiences-wondering what we could do if we weren't so restricted or limited/ordinary" we get an understanding that peraps we want something that we know we can't have because it would lead to a shortcut and having no restrictions in the society we live in due to the amount of suffering in the world we see much more security and surveillance restriction on certain areas but having abilities lets us stray away from that because we have a power a sense lean over the people that are enforcing these restrictions but if we have the power we would be able to rule the world under our orders trying to make the world a better place, in other word an anti-hero who has his own motives to fullfill at any cost.

We look at how superheroes have affected us through their storylines and character traits and how we yearn to be like them because of their concept of power being heat vision, spider features, adamantium claws and other powers but having that power we feel we can change things as the setting of Watchmen being around the 1980s and showing how superheroes being a possibility would affect certain moments in history. Our addiction of superheroes could be a way of escaping the harsh reality we currently live in or seeing the good triumph and even to have connection of what we might do in circumstances if we chose the other options as Batman had chosen to become a vigilante and aren't vigilantes a justification of power, they take things into their own hands and thats what attracts us to wanting to be like Batman or because of his parents being killed he wanted to find his parents killer and justify through that goal for his actions of rule breaking and wanting to be above the law.

Try and make this conclusion more academic:

As …. states, the reason Superheroes are important to us is……… However some writers (example) have more recently begun to examine the flaws in the Superhero character, (Moore, date) a graphic novel such as Watchmen (date) has explored how Superheroes would actually affect certain moments in history if they were real. This realistic portrayal though immediately brings into the fictional situation the fact that ordinary human frailties, such as jealousy, greed etc. would begin to operate. This has long been the central feature of the novel, but it is a surprise to see this in a comic book. If our addiction to superheroes could be a way of escaping the harsh reality we currently live in, perhaps new comic book genres such as Moore’s Watchman reflect the fact that the audiences for comic books are now older. This is supported by Morris, 2005, who states that….

2500 Words

Bibliography:
Hopkins, P. D. Southworth, J, Kavaldo, J. Dunn, G. Darowski, J. Robichaud, C. Teschner, G. (2009)
X-Men and Philosophy:New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Miller, F. Mezzucchelli, D. Miles, R. O'Neil, D. (1987) Batman Year One:New York:DC Comics

-William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP,(2008)
'Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul':New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

-Tom Morris, Matt Morris,(2005)
'Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way':Chicago and La Salle, Illinois:Open Court

-Roz Kaveney,(2008)
'Superheroes! Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films' :London:I.B. Tauris

-Robin S. Rosenberg, Ph.D, Jennifer Canzoneri,(2008)
'The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration':Dallas, Texas:Benbella Books INC.

Fingeroth, D. (2005) Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. London: Continuum
Within Text:
-'Quote From Book' (Patrick D. Hopkins, Jason Southworth, Jesse Kavaldo, George A. Dunn, Joseph J. Darowski, Christopher Robichaud, George Teschner, 2009)

-'Quote From Book' (Frank Miller, David Mezzucchelli, Richmond Miles, Danny O'Neil, 1987)

-'Quote From Book' (William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP, 2008)

-'Quote From Book' (Tom Morris, Matt Morris, 2005)

-'Quote From Book' (Roz Kaveney, 2008)

Eventually to cut out

Game Art Design and Animation Week 18:Game Environment Bump Mapping and Collectable

2011-03-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

I had brought in the texture for my buildings and found they didn't show the quality i had wanted from them and was told to try bump mapping. So i had gone back into Photoshop and gathered the textures by themselves and placed them in the necessary places and made them into bump maps.

Immediately after applying them onto the buildings i noticed that the quality had risen from showing detail through drawn on texture to bumped on texture.

For my final peice of model and animation from Maya i made a small and quick model of a spaceship to which i will make into the collectable of the game, as this game environment is meant to be a collect the collectables in the certain amount of time bonus round game, similar to a Mario Brothers game.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 18:Game Environment Fog and Sound Placement

2011-03-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

Finding out about Unitys render settings and being able to create and atmosphere i wanted to try it out and so wanted a gritty and dusty atmosphere as if it was a, 'when the dust settles' kind of period. Creating the same colour but having it fade upon the buildings within a certain distance.

Showing the tools and functions available to create the fog i wanted one that covers alot of the environment to an extent in which within the midpoint of camera view, which will be the fade out point to being able to see whats in fron of the gamer.

I started to look around my environment and found this great viewpoint overhead and as if the wind has blown over the fog and dust to cover most of the buildings but leaving enough space to have areas of the buildings visible. After implementing the fog tool into the game i began to insert sound effects to areas of the game create wind, bird and more.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 17:Game Environment Terrain Textures

2011-03-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

Here are all of the textures i had gathered and used for my terrain and some of them are not of the dusty deserted texture i thought that i would need but after i began to see that maybe the odd coloured texture would help to single out certain areas of the terrain.

Many of the textures consist of stone or rubble and pebbles, mainly rock based textures as this is what i feel the terrain needs a stony based underlay and with these textures across the terrain you see that the darker bits of area are much older than the lighter areas as they are recent formations of rock.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 17:Game Environment Terrian Tweak

2011-03-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

I had gotten the placing of the buildings right and went back to the terrain settings and tried to create the distance visuals, making more rock formations and uprisings.

When you look at the over view or top perspective you can see how adding the different texture, differentiates the types of rock formations.

By using the tools and shapes to form the rocks i had trouble with adjusting with the use of diffrent tools to make the formations but after using it longer than a quick knock up of a mountainside the whole software becomes instant.

As you can see from looking from the position behind the buildings how the difference is automatic once the textures and a more detailed back drop comes into play and creates an ideal setting of desertion.

Looking down upon the buildings and how the ground has formed around and onto the buildings making it to show how these buildings were destroyed over time and battles over those periods causing the sand or dirt to foram around them.

Then i took to the further back drop of the skybox and to give the final touch of a space planet, i wanted a skybox image to show that it's space and found this image.

Here is the skybox in play and fits nicely with the overall setting and mood of the game and causes no worries other than the repetition of its image.

Game Art Design and Animation Week 17:Game Environment Maya Modelled Buildings

2011-03-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

This blog post is mainly to show the individual pieces of the game environment i have created and the textures that are place upon them and the left sided images of the building are the complete model where as the right side is of them once they're destroyed. The individual screenshots of the buildings show how there is much more detail than the final image as the final image is from the distant buildings which wouldn't show much detail during game play.

Creative Industries Level 5:D&AD Week 4

2011-03-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

Having basic animations such as walk cycle, idle, turnaround and fall were chosen due to only having four weeks of the brief and focusing on the development stages because the brief didn't state much detail and depth into what they exactly wanted and we found doing a 'Pixar' type animation would only be time consuming.

So here is the animation after its week of production and we will now be handing in the physical as well as digital copies of our answer to the brief.