Innovation

Next gen has been around for a fair bit; I did watch the reveal conferences around a year back and was a little underwhelmed. Yeah the graphics looked great but the jump in visual quality was nowhere near as drastic as the PlaySation2 to PS3. This was probably made worse by the fact that I have been a PC gamer for around a year and was used to on par if not better graphics. Microsoft tried to innovate a little by adding multi-functionality to the Xbox One but gamers accused them of focussing more on that and ignoring their gaming audience. That doesn't mean the games industry is without innovation, from kick-starter’s Oculus Rift to Epics Unreal 4 Engine, lots of people are trying to further the games industry in different ways.

For example, The Astronauts, a small dev company are currently working with photogrammetry to create amazingly realistic game assets the likes of which we haven’t seen in games before. The idea behind it is you take hundreds of photographs of the object or building you wish to model and put it in to the software and it will generate a base mesh for you. Obviously it’s far from perfect and requires artists to go over it fixing any errors with the topology and texturing it. As you can see below the asset looks incredibly realistic and detailed.

By the looks of it, it’s not just taking a few photographs and you are done. There is a considerable amount of work put in to these, I mean just look at that UDK material flow chart(see below); looking at that as someone that has just picked up UDK is beyond confusing. But from the looks of the assets the whole process seems very much worth it. Each individual crack, crevice, the wear and tear  and the dirt look perfect on the finished rocks below; It looks so real mainly because it is so real, it’s taken from life.

The Oculus Rift is another innovative product that’s all the rage at the minute although it’s currently a bit of a controversial topic as it was originally a kick-starter product but was brought by Facebook so the company have more money to help develop the product. I was always a little wary of the Oculus, it seemed to be a good idea when I heard about it back in the day but the more I saw the worse it looked to me; like many other products (*cough*xboxKinect*cough*) the concept was good but the actual execution is a little lacking. Recently I attended the Gadget Show convention and I got to have a go on the Oculus Rift and as I expected It wasn't an enjoyable experience, I found myself feeling a little nauseous after just under 30 seconds of using it due to the lens’ used and it felt very uncomfortable ; at the end of the day  it’s a product that is very much in its early days, it feels like it wouldn't

really add anything to your gaming experience other than inconvenience and you look like a bit of a moron whilst wearing it.

Software used to create games is always updated with new features to ensure the production process is smooth and up to date with the latest game technologies. The Unreal 4 Engine is an example of this; in fact it’s currently updated every month. The subscription fee they offer is actually for the updates, if you cancel your subscription you can keep the software but you don’t get future updates. The first time I saw this engine I was amazed at how good it looked, I saw it again at the Gadget Show convention but last years. There was a competition on between 4 teams of university students to produce a game in so many days and the people at the convention would judge which is the best game and the winner received a license for Unreal 4 which wasn't released at the time. I'm not going to list the vast array of new features in Unreal 4 as there are just too many but I aim to pick it up over the summer as it is rather cheap and I will probably do a more in depth review of it then.

It is good to see companies try to do something new, even if it completely fails, the games industry will probably be better for it. I look forward to picking up The Vanishing of Ethan Carter made by The Astronauts just to see how they pull such realistic assets in to the game space and I also look forward to using Unreal 4 as it looks really powerful. I am still on the fence as to whether or not I get a next gen console mainly because the games aren’t really any different from last gen, they just have a slight graphical improvement. If I was to get one now however it would probably be the PS4 as it is more powerful meaning it has more potential.

References:

http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/03/visual-revolution-vanishing-ethan-carter/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry

http://www.theastronauts.com/#about-us

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift

https://www.unrealengine.com/register

http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/24/5647550/unreal-engine-4-ps4-xbox-one-linux-steamos-support

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_7awHM-pr0

Progress so far

It’s been a while since I have done one of these posts, a fair bit has happened since the last; lots of work and lots of stress. I definitely feel like I have made major progress over the past 2 terms and I feel a lot more confident in most areas of the course, especially 3D at the moment I feel like I know the software a lot better and I have actually started to integrate some new software in to my workflow. I do wish I could say the same about putting my models in to UDK, I have had so many problems with it (mainly with light mapping) but I do feel like I have learnt a lot more about the software from these issues as I have fixed them.

After the last progress post, we started by doing lots of storyboard like sketches; just a few minutes per sketch. To begin with I was panicking a little with the quantity asked of us but when I got going with it I really enjoyed it and I am quite proud of the finals I produced for it. I think I could have improved this project by spending a little more time and perhaps doing a couple more finals as I feel some of my finals could have been better. Here is an example of some of the final pieces I produced for this project I'm really happy I managed to capture the scene/person accurately and in proportion but I feel I could have used the water colour a little more effectively.

We have also undergone multiple character projects, the first trying to design an interesting character based upon drawing from life, the latter involved a bit more Imagineering as it was a reef character based loosely on human form. It was nice to be able to implement techniques I have picked up along the course and use them as part of a design process; we also had to them sculpt the characters out of clay too. Here is the final design alongside the final sculpture, whilst the sculpture isn't the best and isn't as accurate as I would like it to be but I really enjoyed doing it; it was good to go back to something so traditional especially after 3D modelling.

We also recently did a project on portraiture, looking at the technical side of drawing a face, to put what we had learnt in to practice we were told to produce a self-portrait. I had done this a couple of times before, the last time I did was probably a couple years ago and it was absolutely terrible in comparison to now. I was never really any good with faces but now I feel like I could produce something similar to the subject.

Some of the more recent bits we have been doing have been about revisiting previously visited locations and drawing there again to show how we have progressed over the past year. The amount someone can progress over the small space of 6 months is incredible, I was really surprised at how confident I felt in drawing what I had struggled to draw before. As you can see below I have improved considerably, the image on the left was from around Christmas and was a re-do of the same piece from around a month before. I feel my rendering abilities along with my sense of scale have vastly improved however I still feel that I need to work on my texturing using pencil as it looks a little flat.

I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by, it’s hard to believe I finish for good in around a months’ time. Before then we have another extra 2D and 3D project, the 2D one being a design project based around 1920s Chicago and a mystery 3D group which I should hopefully hear some details about on Monday. I am looking forward to a summer of furthering my skills and exploring some areas I perhaps don’t have time for in term time as well as catch up on a few games I haven’t had chance to play yet.

Personal History of gaming

Following on from my previous history of gaming posts I have decided to share a little of my own personal gaming history. I have mentioned some of this before in the previous posts but I thought it would be a good idea to elaborate on this, I will discuss how I got in to gaming, the games I like to play, games that inspire me and the future games and consoles I plan to buy; I will also mention some relevant gaming news articles that I find interesting and exciting.

The first game I owned!

I’ve mentioned the first few games I started playing as a kid in previous blog posts, I mostly played games on pc as it was all we had at the time and the occasional game of street fighter on my brothers Sega Mega Drive. However at the age of 5 I received a Gameboy Colour for my birthday along with Pokemon blue, this was my first proper introduction to video games and it was great. The next year we got a PlayStation 1 but it wasn’t until the PlayStation 2 era that I truly started to appreciate games as something more than just fun; Metal Gear Solid 2 was the turning point for me, after playing through it I didn’t understand the ending at all but after playing through it again and again I began to understand the meaning behind it. This game changed my outlook on games completely (partly why I am such a big fan of the series now) and made me much more analytical of the games I choose to play.

The next milestone was the jump to next gen, the Xbox 360. I was quite an early adopter of the console and the graphics at the time weren’t great, they were considerably better than the PS2 but the scale of the games was what surprised me. I remember playing the first Assassins creed game and being amazing at how detailed the buildings looked and how seamlessly you could climb them, in games in the past it was pretty obvious what was climbable. I’d probably say that Batman Arkham Asylum is my favourite game from this generation, mainly because they captured the visual style of the comic books really well yet kept it realistic and gritty.  I was always a little curious as to how games were made, I did a little research and tried to download Autodesk Maya years ago but struggled to get a free version and my computer at the time was awful so didn’t run it properly. So I decided to focus on my drawing in the hope that I could pick it later in life, I mainly looked at very stylized artists as I grew up reading comic books etc. but realised if I want to be a better artist I must start with realism.

 As of now my main gaming device is a gaming PC, so I have pretty much gone full circle back to PC. Mainly because of the increase in graphics and steam, since starting this university course I can no longer play console games without picking them apart; especially games that have a large scale like GTA5 or Red Dead Redemption. A friend of mine recently lent me his PS3, mainly to play Metal Gear Solid 4 as I never had a chance before; I also picked up The Last of Us as well to see what the hype was all about and I was very surprised at how well made it was and how much better it looks compared to equivalent Xbox titles.

In terms of next gen, I haven’t really seen the need to pick up a PS4 yet but I plan to when some more games come out. I do have my PC for anything like that and I need to catch up on the PS3 titles I have missed. I plan to lay off gaming a bit over summer and really get to grips with 3DS max and maybe an engine, I have wanted to do some higher poly stuff for a while now but I just haven’t had the time. I also aim to get a lot better at Photoshop for next year as well as keeping up on the drawing side of things.

Evolve from the creators of Left 4 Dead one of my favourite games

 In terms of games I am excited about that are coming out later this year, there aren’t really that many. Evolve is shaping up quite nicely and looks quite enjoyable, I actually had a go on this the other week at the gadget show convention and really enjoyed it. The other game this year I am really excited about is probably Batman Arkham Knight, it’s a series I have loved for a while and its back in the hands of the original developers; the visuals look jaw-dropping too. The only other game I am really looking forward to, is probably Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain but that comes out next year so I will probably pick up a PS4 when that is released.

Batman Arkham Knight in-game Screenshot

Image reference:

http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/screenshots/Evolve/evolve_-_goliathvmarkov_fire.jpg

http://images.psu.com/index.php?size=img_full&src=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.psu.com%2Fmedia%2F14-03-05-12-18-35-3815%2F14-03-05-12-18-35-3815-ss-6.png

http://whatanerdgirlsays.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/pokemon_blue_cover_art_by_comunello76-d4xvjro.jpg

Game Art Conference Day

A few weeks back I attended a Game Art conference day, mainly focussing on our blog writing and the feedback we received on our blogs a week prior. We were recommended various classes to attend depending on how we were doing on our blogs, the day consisted of 4 sets of classes each quarter of the day had 3 classes and we could choose which to attend. I decided to go to Word art: using words creatively, shaping your writing, The tools of visual practice and using them in your critical writing and Practical strategies for getting on with it. These were all the ones that were suggested to me along with one I wanted to go to as it sounded interesting to me. I definitely feel like my blog writing could be improved a hell of a lot so I was quite looking forward to the day.

The first class I went to was word art, we worked in groups looking at alternative words we could use in our blog to help make it more interesting and help it to flow a little better. We analysed an image from a particular artist, using lots of descriptive words and our general feelings on the piece; we then went on to try and come up with a title as if we were writing about it for a blog post. Overall I found it to be quite useful, I know try to think a little about the words I am using and the general flow of my sentences however I would of perhaps gotten more out of this class if it was a little more focussed towards game art.

The second class I attended was about shaping your writing, the main focus of this class was to help focus your writing and to make sure we don’t ramble on about nothing as it can get a little dull for the reader.  We were tasked with creating a comic strip, it could be about absolutely anything we wanted but we were limited to only 5 panels so we had to be to the point. This was one of the more useful classes of the day as I feel I can ramble on a little in my writing, in the posts I have written since the conference day I have tried to focus my writing and feel I have done so much more successfully than before.

The third class I attended was about the tools of visual practice, I actually really enjoyed this class. It was lead by our usual visual design tutors so was very relevant to the course. The class consisted of developing creative writing skills to analyse images from games, concept art and movie stills, which eventually lead on to us describing a scene of our own for Mitch (one of the tutors) to take away and paint. Initially I was out of my comfort zone, I had never really done this before but I slowly got in to it and eventually got the hang of it; id probably say that the time we had felt quite rushed, i would of preferred a little more time to begin with. I also plan to create a piece of writing describing a scene and then try painting it in my free time.

The fourth class of the day was about practical strategies for getting on with it, I had actually seen this presentation before during employability week a good while ago. It was mainly focussing on time management and planning ahead, which I do struggle a little from time to time so it was a welcome reminder and I felt a little more inspired to go away and plan my time more effectively.

All in all the day was rather useful, I felt like I learnt a fair bit especially in the creative writing session and I look forward to painting from a piece of my own creative writing. As well as implement everything I learnt in to my blog I will plan my time each week to make sure I use my time efficiently.

The Free-To-Play Revoloution

Free to play

Free-to-play, a business model that is taking the games industry by storm, it’s been around for years but why only now has it become so popular? And why is it so successful?

The free to play model has become vastly popular in recent years, however it has been around for a lot longer than one may think. The earliest type of free to play games were mainly aimed at younger and more casual audiences, titles like Runescape and Neopets were around in the late 90s and offered most of the game for free but offered a premium subscription service unlocking extra content and game play elements.  For example in Runescape there are various areas that can only be explored if you are a premium subscription owner.

A major factor in the advancement of free to play games is the advent of mobile phone gaming, portable gaming used to just be on devices produced along side home consoles; they were clumsy, large and you could only really play games on them.  Now you can play them on your mobile phone which you carry around anyway, making it much more convenient. In the early days of mobile gaming, games were often sold as free but after a couple levels you would hit a wall where you cannot continue without “buying a new game”. Nowadays you are faced with in game transaction allowing you to buy extra content get past levels you are stuck on or speeding up certain aspects of the game to continue playing rather than wait a few more hours; this is usually done with in-game currency which can be purchased. This is now the standard model for free to play, depending on how the developers implement it, some are a little more subtle while others are accused of being a pay-to-win game.

An example of the sort of items you can buy in the game DOTA 2

One of the more unique free to play games on the market at the moment is DOTA 2, a free MOBA game made by valve; recently featured in a documentary by valve. This game is more or less completely free, all items you can purchase are simply for aesthetic purposes and the XP boosters don’t add much unless you are good at the game. However steam will put popular player made items on sale through the steam workshop. One of the major pluses for valve is that to play the game you will need to install their online digital distribution software Steam, increasing the chances of sales on other games that are often on offer.

The free to play model on one hand is really good for the consumer as well as the developer, the consumer gets the game for free and the developer gets the game in front of lots of people. Sounds good right? On the other hand, it can be a bit of a pain for the gamer. Whilst you do get to play a game for free, there are a number of problems you can encounter with F2P games such as in game adverts or you might not get the whole game unless if you pay up. That said, many gamers have become used to owning physical copies games and having everything there instead of having to pay to unlock everything.  Therefore, some consumers may get angry. I feel that free to play games are definitely here to stay but I consider them to be a bit of a temporary fix for the economical issues the games industry is struggling through, unless game developers innovate the business model it will fade away and become something we just see in mobile games.

References:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6552/the_design_of_freetoplay_games_.php

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134959/the_design_of_freetoplay_games_.php?print=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-play

http://www.runescape.com/members_benefits

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/trials-frontier-and-the-dangers-of-free-to-play/1100-6419069/

http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/2012/06/01/dota-2-free-to-play-store/

http://blog.dota2.com/2014/02/free-to-play-coming-soon/

http://crackberry.com/talk-mobile/can-mobile-gaming-kill-consoles

http://www.geekazine.com/news/games-news/free-to-play-model-popular/

http://www.e-clubthailand.com/image/wallet/Dota-2-Store.jpg

http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/pub/large/free.jpg

History of Gaming Part 3 - 2000 - Present

The long awaited third instalment of gaming history, this post will cover the history of gaming from 2000 up to now. I will try and keep it relatively condensed; obviously there is a lot to cover as this is the period where gaming becomes a lot more mainstream and popular. This is also the period where I started to really get in to gaming as it was when I grew up so I actually owned a lot of these consoles and had great experiences with them; if I didn’t pick up these consoles and get in to gaming I probably wouldn’t be at university studying game design. The industry advances in leaps and bounds in the years to come, three generations of consoles, massive advances in technology mean for much better graphics and the online revolution really kick-starts with help from Xbox live, PSN and Steam.

The first step towards modern day gaming was the release of the PlayStation 2 in early 2000, this showed a massive leap in graphics compared to the PlayStation 1. The console was home to many great titles that many consider to be classics; games like Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Jak & Daxter, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Kingdom Hearts etc. When Sony officially discontinued the PlayStation 2 in January of 2013, over 5 years later than the game cube and 4 years later than the original Xbox. For over a decade, the console has proven itself a reliable entertainment device and an affordable bridge into gaming for people who couldn’t afford newer consoles and models. As of March 2012, the console has sold over 155 million units. It’s a machine that was home to experimental games, pure titles released for all manner of niche gamer and it bridged many age groups.

A year later Microsoft and Nintendo announce their new consoles within days of each other, Xbox pushing more towards power and Nintendo pushing more towards new forms of interactive gaming. This is also the same year that Sega announces they will no longer be releasing hardware and will instead focus on software due to its Dreamcast failing to sell well due to the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

This decade of gaming also saw the release of the current generation of consoles, well not quite current as next gen has been available for a couple months now but in my opinion that will only become current gen when the Xbox 360 and ps3 become obsolete. 2005 saw the release of the Xbox 360 a whole year before the PS3 and the WII which gave it a massive head start against its opposition however it also means the technology in the PS3 was considerably more powerful.  However the Xbox did considerably better in the early years mainly due to the PS3s price which was a lot more than the Xbox; Sony combatted this by offering free online play and a cheaper optional subscription service that gave you so many games a month for free. These consoles again brought us many fantastic games that defined the decade, Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, The Last of Us, the Halo series, Heavy Rain and many more.

PC gaming has also come a long way, especially toward the latter half of the 00s; this was mainly because of the advent of steam. It was first unveiled at GDC 2002 and when it launched a year later, it was far from the popular sales system that we know it as today. In fact, it was first released as a digital distribution surface whose main purpose was to distribute patches and updates to online games. However steam did get better with age and have slowly snowballed in to the go to online distributer for pc gamers, selling triple A and indie titles alongside each other and making pc modding a breeze with Steam workshop steam has soared in to popularity among many.

As of last year we saw the arrival of the next generation of consoles, the Playstation 4 and the oddly named Xbox One. The consoles have been out for around half a year now and have fluctuated a little bit but with the PlayStation 4 coming out just on top on sales. This is mainly due to it being cheaper and the odd announcement of the Xbox One putting off some of Xbox’s fans. They announced there console at a standalone event just before E3 but focussed on the consoles non-gaming functionality and saying that they will get rid of second hand games. They have however pulled a 180 turn on the second hand games due to fans creating a fuss about it and them not getting enough pre-orders in the first few days. I suppose only time will tell who will come out on top, I know Xbox has better games coming this year in comparison to the PS4 however I can see the Xbox struggling unless the price drops.

References:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/gamestimeline4.html

http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/a-brief-history-of-the-playstation-2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_(sixth_generation)

http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/a-brief-history-of-the-playstation-3/

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/ten-years-of-xbox-a-brief-history-1040866

http://www.wired.com/2013/06/xbox-one-drm/

http://whatisplaystation4.com/the-history-of-playstation/

Images:

http://media.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/files/2013/01/PS2-best-sellers.jpg

http://cloud4.steampowered.com/ugc/506952434831402553/30F9E5053DA7D6C3A8FB854CFB60D1BDAB27AFFE/

http://fmobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/xbox-meme-3.jpg

Art Direction - Heavy Rain

A couple of weeks ago, in critical studies we were instructed to give a short (emphasis on the short) presentation about art direction. The presentation could be about anything you wanted to talk about, a game or film you like or find inspiring or a painting or image you like; as long as the presentation was about its art direction. I decided to give a SHORT talk about the game Heavy Rain as it is one of the games i have finished quite recently and in my opinion has fantastic art direction.

The game itself centres around 4 separate characters, all interwoven and each playing an important role depending on what decisions you make as each. The story is about the origami killer, who kidnaps children and drowns them slowly over so many days giving the fathers of the children various tests, if they pass said tests they get a step closer to finding their child. As you can see the games theme is very dark, this is also quite prevalent in the games visual style too more often than not the overall mood of the scene is summed up by the colour palette, lighting and weather.  This is quite evident in the picture above, the overall tone, weather and colour palette tells the viewer this is a dark and perhaps emotional scene in the game however the lighting highlights a certain area showing a glimmer of hope and drawing your attention to what the character is looking at. It’s also not definite who this character is in this image as it could be either of the 4 you play as throughout the game depending what decisions you make as a player.

As you progress through the game, the mood and atmosphere change vastly. This is shown in many different ways throughout different segments of the game, an example of this is how the start of the game contrasts the later 3/4s of the game. As you can see in the image above the vivid colours are very saturated, bright and generally happy. This portrays the general mood of the current character, he is happy and with his family, the environment is clean and contemporary; this is probably one of the few scenes in the game where this is the case. The sun is out also at this point, this does not fit the title of the game giving the player an overshadowing feeling that this won’t last.

This is a shot from a little later in the game, as you can see it completely contrasts the previous image. The whole colour palette has changed, the weather is the complete opposite now matching the title of the game and the environment looks a lot dimmer and dirtier. I think this is done because this section of the game needs to convey a much bleaker mood in comparison to the start. It also portrays the feeling of sadness the main character (Ethan Mars) feels after losing his son, the weather in the game is very important, it helps build tension and atmosphere and sets the mood of the current situation. The game is very movie inspired, you can see this throughout the game, the framing, Mise en Scene, lighting, script and symbolism; many people refer to Heavy Rain as an interactive movie due to its lack of gameplay elements. The rain can symbolise a number of things, the most obvious of which could be the emotional state of the character, it can also serve as a plot device, help build atmosphere and could show a cleansing. For example in V for Vendetta (on the left) after being captured and tortured for months on end Evie discovers V was the one imprisoning and torturing her to help overcome her fears. She walks out on the roof and stands in the rain. From this moment on, she’s reborn, the rain symbolizes her baptism; a cleansing of her past and a realization of the future.  I think that the fact that the character in Heavy Rain still looks dirty regardless of the cleansing rain shows that the character is too emotionally stained by his past and can’t forgive himself for it.

I only finished this game recently and I would probably say it’s in my top ten video games of all time, what it lacks in gameplay mechanics it definitely makes up for in story, character building and intense atmosphere; it’s like no other game I have played.

I hope Beyond Two Souls, Quantic Dreams next title lives up to the standard they set in Heavy Rain.

References:

http://cinemashock.org/2012/06/09/symbolism-of-rain/

http://apenglishdws.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/its-more-than-just-rain-and-snow-how-to-read-literature/

http://cinephilefix.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/film-analysis-v-for-vendetta/

Image references:

http://www.all-wallpapers.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Movies-Rain-Natalie-Portman.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIO7QQN0ilViJ90jv1Lf8RCEDnvdj8UzHud7rBHvuNZNP6bnKY7mrK_cowHIkPm1Xcv5mcTErEFWpZmprBpu1hqQN2PuFCp8-G5-5JS-nCOMslvbbU0c91gEkzoFmZKEWyjEKyKb9HPlvv/s1600/heavy_rain_raining_hard.jpg

http://www.dailydesigninspiration.com/diverse/di/francoisberanger/Concept-art-for-Heavy-rain.jpg

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/Wh0WA1f1bR0/maxresdefault.jpg