This be a Show reel people !!!!

This is just a short show reel of some pieces of work i have done wile i have been at DMU. not all my work is on the reel just the pieces i felt i did well on and al so showed my PRogression in terms of my my drawing skill and use and matireals. ENJOY http://www.youtube.com/user/MrSh1thouse?ob=5#p/u/0/6HlPq_u6r70

This is it Year one is Over!!

The year is over and what a years its been! My “Vlog” give a little description of what I feel I have accomplished this year but although the I said there have been up and downs on my vlog I have had more up far far far more up wile I have studied, all the lecturers have been more them helpful all of them have given me a higher understanding of the course and also and better understanding of the tools and techniques required to make it into the games industry .Thank you for giving me this chance!! and once again my fingers are crossed.

Elements of game design, part Four- Environment

When playing a game one of the things I look at the most is the environment, what elements have been placed in to the level I am playing to making it awesome to look at, also fun and interesting to play on. Now when an Environment is construed the builder has to think about how the player is going to navigate through the level to complete or reach the end of the area, Lighting is important, The slight change in textures or the atmosphere, all these play a big role in the navigation part to any level. The most important one being the lighting. Lighting can do so much more then just showing you a passage its also used for atmospheric porpoises, Dark dull lighting can set a horror style environment light and bright lighting can suggest warm calm or happy levels However I feel that it can be used to show futuristic atmosphere, all these different methods help towards making a well working and an awesome playable game level. Its interesting to think that there is always a thin line between an environment being Believable to just plain ridiculous, hindering the players experience in that particular level. How can this be avoided??? one of the most effective ways and probably the one with common scene, use a design process so you don't go off on a tangent.

IDEA

RESEARCH

EARLY DISIGNS

RESEARCH

REFINE EARLY DISGNS

FINALISE DISIGNS

DEVELOP

CREATE

TEST

REFINE + TWEEK

END RESULT

This would be to process I would go though in order to create a working playable level, some people would say it wrong but every person has there own way to going about the design process. It is important though that the level environment has to be believable other wise the player with loose interest and once that has gone the player will simply stop playing that game.

There is a film I have watch so many time just for the atmosphere from the scenes and how awesome they would make a game level, Star trek! The film was released in 2009 yet the cinematography it just breath taking and the art work is also just as interesting to look at, the artists name is James Clyne.

Elements of game design, part three – Characters

Character design is quite an interesting process, all the qualities and characteristics need to be thought about in detail to Define that character to make he / she stand out with in the game environment. Starting point for a character is background, where did he/ she come from, what things dose she / he like, what year was she/he born have there been events that might of made the character evil or good. Another big part is personality, how would the character act in game depending on the situation, Cinematic Deliver this across very well, However some games my be interactive and the characters around you interact all the time, take oblivion or fallout 3 these games use that mechanic very well. Thinking about the process of character you need something to work around to begin, like and event of date in time! One character in found insanely interesting was in a book called Orcs. The name of the character is Stryke he is the leader of and orcish clan “the Wolf clan” taken hostage and made to server and evil wench to find a power artefact of grate power. What is it about this character I found interesting ? Why did I want to read more and find out what happens to him, Well simple really he was a well thought out character and in same ways the read can relate to his plight, and become entangled into his story. Everything that a character should have was in Stryke from the book orcs, But of course not many people read in to days society young people watch films or play games. However films also have to take same Direction when a character is being created I dull character can make a film really bad or really engaging its all down to the story and how that character is preformed by the actor. In a personal opinion I really do feel that the character background and history is the most important part, Why you may ask ? Well knowing what that character has been though where he/she has been what events have led them to those places where are they wanting to go, all these things just make everything about a character, with out these fundamental points the design and creation would be a waste of time. An example from the book Orcs or monologue from the main character stryke,

“Look at me. Look at the Orc. There is fear and hatred in your eyes. To you I am a monster, a skulker in the shadows, a fiend to scare your children with. Hear my story. Feel the flow of my blood and be thankful. Thankful that it was me, not you, who bore the sword. Thankful to the Orcs—born to fight, destined to win peace for all.”

This short and powerful monologue made the character stryke stand out, made me want to follow his story I wanted to know what he and his band of orcs had been though to get into the situation they have found themselves to be in. My opinion the book is one of the best reads for a reason, I suggest those reading this get the book you will love it.

Elements of game design, part two ART DIRECTION!!

Art Direction! Is it important some might say no... for those people who feel that way YOU ARE WRONG so very wrong. With out this part of game creation, the art work created would not meet brief standards and in the industry everything needs to fit What the Client has asked for. So what do you do? Simple really get yourself someone who knows the fundamentals of drawing, understands how lighting , atmospheric scenes, textures someone who understands that to sell a game the art direction has to be appropriate, of course you know I am talking about an Art director. Art director is not an easy job to get you need lots of industry experience and understand a lot of games and the artwork involved. So what do they do, well let just say work , work nothing but work! Not only are you one of the art team your also the one who set the direction in witch the art work most go, to successfully complete this task not only do they have to write briefs for the artists but also make sure that the art work is done right and is artistic correct and in line with the clients brief. Although this sounds like they do nothing your very mistaken, in fact a lot of the time the art directors do most of the work to help with the production of ark work needed to build environments and characters to a standards that make gamers jaw drop, the kind of art work that will sell a game. This link to GW2 website shows a video of how there art direction has led them in creating such a spectacular game please check it out it is, one fantastic video full of cool shit. http://www.guildwars2.com/en/media/videos/

In all cases an art director is responsible for the art team making sure everything go's to plan and all art work created is cool enough to make that file of awesome shit that makes that game look outstanding, and in all honesty I think that with out this direction, games would not be the way they are the this generation...hell maybe awesome games full of cool content may have not even existed, Art direction is Fundamentally a

big part in the industry one in witch if feel Defines the beautiful existence of game art.

P.s my passion for game art is not gay it is freaking awesome >.<

Elements of game design, part one

This is it, everything I am doing in this course leads to this one important part within this industry the all important design process. With out this all games would be pointless and make no sense and in all cases would not even be made! Everyone knows that the starting point to the design process is to create a pitch or a tech-document showing an idea for a possible game. Within this document there will be and outline of the hole point to the game, in other words a story line and plot to the game. This leads me onto talking about game play, what is game play ?? game play for me is how you interact with the game wile you play, what you do within the game and also the style in which it has to be played. There are many styles of games, RPG , FPS , RTS ect and all of these types of games have different Game play make each game ideal for different gamers.

In a lot of ways this can effect a game dramatically making it bad or good, In my opinion it comes down to the artists and what they create for the game. The artwork is very important for the creation of a game, it can determinate what type of game will be created. This is another part of why the artwork is import each genre requires artwork to fit the style of the game with this in place game production teams can then begin making assets and texture them to fit what has been asked with the design document .

Writing about Games, Previews, reviews, commentary and lies

Games have been around for a wile, and to get the public into them what do we need ?? Reviewers to put what they think of a new release that have hit the shelf's of are stores. However one problem they FAIL, Why is this you might ask ? If you think about it logically for those how buy the gaming magazines don't take into consideration to speed in witch issues are released, as Kieron Gillen will tell you in his blog gaming journalist have become “lazy, corrupt and fundamental stupid” when I read this I could not stop laughing because its so true! Ever couple of weeks a new magazine is realest this dose not give reviewers time to review a game fully, they have to cut corners to hit those deadlines a problem they face day in day out and the result of this lazyness reviews seem half done and a large amount of times corrupt and one-sided. You would think that the aim is to try and sell the game they are reviewing not throw it down the shit can that is just bad marketing, the last time I read a gaming “MAG” the review was bland and boring really depressing stuff, But its only now I realise why! If a game is buggy or some of the game assets are faulty instead of telling the game developers, giving them a chance to correct it the game simply gets the shit drilled out of it, not really something you want to read if you a hardcore gamer. SO who pays the reviewers wage?? a stupid answer to that question is the head of the studio DERP! In all cases yes but where do they get there funding form, from the game company asking for a review ? It would not surprise me if a margin of the money comes from game company's ask the gaming “Mags” to get there new game published and advertised and in most case reviewed so readers can sit back and say “this game seems f**cking awesome I am sure going to buy this”. Of course not all Readers of gaming mags will talk to themselves like Muppet's but its because of the fan base of the magazines I think that's what pays the journalists wages. You know looking back at my blog posts I would not make much money in reviewing games, but I do think I put a point across a lot of the time in a subjective manor

and there are other ways that games can be reviewed some better then others, although that is just a personal opinion. So what can I say gaming journalism seem hard as hell everything you have to think about, everything you have to acknowledge and think about carefully will effect what you put on paper read to be placed into that Mag, lots of lies and bad reviews have been created let there be not more !

Vlog reveiw of borderlands

This is my first vlog review for one of my faverate games Borderlands. In the video blog i explain some of the machanics in the game, some game play and how i feel about the game. The reason for doing this video blog is simply becouse i wanted to try a new way of articulating my thoughts across to you, the veiws and followers of my blog!

My history of gaming.

My gaming history is quite typical I started with good games that made the games we have today what they are, then as I became older I found my soul was taken my online MMOS !!!!!!! however with out those days of gaming I would not have the passion I have now for wanting to create artwork for games. Lets start at the beginning of my “epic” history. To be perfectly honest it would not surprise me if this game was the first game most people from my generation played, I am talking about Sonic the hedgehog on the saga mega drive It was AWSOME. I can still remember the joy in witch this simple game give me hours of fun and entertainment, just the simple task of collecting coins saving weird animals by killing other weird shiz was just fantastic! 

 After killing all these wield animals you final get to one of the most infamous Rivalry's sonic vs doctor robotnik, best part of the game looked forward to doing those boss stages just because he did look like a complete tool so you wanted to jump and hit him in the face with a talking / walking blue hedgehog. 

Moving on swiftly from sonic the next game I played and found awesome was on the Nintendo 64, I am talking about Golden eye, only one word really to describe this game “godsend” some may think I am binging this game up to much, but be honest with your self the multi player mode was incredible just incredible, hours and hours of epic funny moments wile running around shooting your mates.

 

The next game I really loved to play Zelda Ocarina Of Time the fist the first game where you had to kill things using a sword I LOVED IT ! As you can guess I did buy and play all the zelda series who wouldn't. The amount of fun I got from running at things hitting the crap out of them was awesome plus the experience of questing just made this game a win for me. 

 These three games for where the highlight of my early days of gaming and personally what a start, however I can't help but feel that today's games have kinda gone down hill along with the games I play now.

Not all games in this generation are trouble but a vast margin have become to commercial and also alike. Take the CoD (call of duty) series for example, the first few CoD games where very enjoyable and I did like playing them, but as the game became larger so did the fan bandits, the suckers who saw a new CoD traitor, wet themselves and then got the game only to find out its the same as the rest just a different story, Even then the games have become more online based having very little or no campaign mode to try and enjoy the game single player! If someone asked me if I would play Golden eye or COD I would say “Are you Mad golden eye is win! Go back to your 360 and scream at fan bandits online wile under age kids make your ears bleed”. But there are games I fell have made this generation awesome for gamers and my top three are some what expected.

At Number one its borderlands I really don't have to say much in term of how much I enjoy this game, but the main thing that draws me into the game is the art direction that has been taken. I looks the balls ! Cartoon but yet has an edge of realism making the game play something new. One big reason I like this game is the fact it has elements I really enjoy, shooting shiz and questing to gaion levels, therefore make you character more powerful.

At number two its guildwars, now its clear that i am starting to like fantasy games, and games where you need to quest to make you character more powerful However this game was also my downfall as I sucked into the world of MMORPG gaming, although I enjoy it the experience I gain is not as fulfilling as when I started gaming way back in 1990s. Once again the art side of the game is what made me interested in playing it was jaw dropping, I am talking about art work that go's into your cool shiz folder! This game has a huge fan base and of course huge fan base means new games

hence Ucsoft are in the process of making guild wars 2 !!! http://www.guildwars2.com/en/

Last be not least at number thee is Battlefield , although this game is not as new as guildwars or borderlands is still has some fun content and is in all fairness it is a solid game. Although its heavy online based you can have retarded amounts of playing it single player, mainly just messing around enjoying the creation of rag doll and watching team mate fly miles in the air and not returning. This game was not one I choice to play though art work but the game play itself, I went though a faze of online shot 'um' ups needless to say I thought battle field was GREAT so it deserves my number thee slot.