I'm a sucker for a good story, one of the reasons why I love games and writing, makes me appreciate that fact that I have an imagination, an amazing one as well.
I think it’s safe to say I truly appreciate the importance of storytelling, everyone can relate to stories, stories can evoke all form of human emotion, as A player, I don’t think I really strong story makes the game, it’s how the story is told, the construction of each character and the emotional bonds that are attached to you while you play, it’s their story and yours, making it that more personal.
I well built character and half decent story should always succeed, stories make thing interesting, as you go on the journey with the character, you want to help them achieve their goals, discover the truth, when they cry you cry, stories have an unimaginable amount of power. A perfect example being “ final fantasy” even though the world ending plot has been told a million times, it’s still as strong if not stronger than the last time it was told, these stories remind me that I’m still human, I have feelings, some people tend to forget about their compassion, and stories I think are a good reminder, tragedy, which almost everyone has gone through makes a good story because it’s something everyone can relate to, or friendship, the strength you discover when you realise that you have friends that believe in you. All games have stories, it’s just that it’s hard to discover them based on what type of genre it is or if the story has been told well enough.
Storytelling is ACE !
Sunday 29 November 2009
Saturday 28 November 2009
Heartless Creature
A life lesson I refused to learn, until now, you cannot keep everything, and it was naïve of me to think I could. Just like roots or bonds, they die, so you have to get rid of them, or they drain you, hold you back, soon they will be unhealthy. You made me cold, your killing me and don’t even realise, I’ve tried so many times, compassion to save you, but, still yet, you refuse me, reject me. No one is left behind, but this time I will, I have to, because if I do not destroy you, surely you will do the same to me, no remorse, heartless.
So we battle, then what? There can be no winner, or losers, and In the wake, destruction, unbearable bonds, a constant itch under my skin.
So die quickly, hurt no one any longer, no longer shall you hurt yourself, I’m not the one to save you, but I wish I was, I have failed you.
Maybe I’m the heartless one?
I should accept what is what, drained me you truly have.
-Heartless Creature
Hope you enjoyed randy's poetry corner, stay tuned for the next installment ! :)
So we battle, then what? There can be no winner, or losers, and In the wake, destruction, unbearable bonds, a constant itch under my skin.
So die quickly, hurt no one any longer, no longer shall you hurt yourself, I’m not the one to save you, but I wish I was, I have failed you.
Maybe I’m the heartless one?
I should accept what is what, drained me you truly have.
-Heartless Creature
Hope you enjoyed randy's poetry corner, stay tuned for the next installment ! :)
One Of Those Jobs
I knew art director were important to games and film or any other creative role but I never knew how important they really are.
In my eyes they are practically a manager, overseeing other people which make their judgement and view vital en it comes to making a game or film, because if anything from their department isn’t up to scratch then it reflects badly on them.
Being an art director is tough, having to sit back and supervise instead of really getting into the projects, creating the assets, you are tell other artists of how they can improve their current ones, like being a teacher, which in my opinion I couldn’t do because people are annoying and I most of the time lack the patience :P
To be an art director you have to be a team player and must be able to make conscience decisions, but at the same time, like most jobs, it appears to be extremely demanding. Some people just have the perfect balance like one of my favourites, Tetsuya Nomura, being an art Director and Character Designer of the Kingdom hearts saga.
Giving him the ability to freely produce his artwork for the games and still have the power and responsibilities of Art Directors.
In my eyes whether you’re in film, tv or games the role of the art director is practically the same simply because they are all creative roles and it takes a lot of experience and passion to become one, personally I think I would rather stick to drawing, I don’t think I m ready to have that much responsibility, it’s Spiderman level of responsibility. :D
Thanks you and good night.
In my eyes they are practically a manager, overseeing other people which make their judgement and view vital en it comes to making a game or film, because if anything from their department isn’t up to scratch then it reflects badly on them.
Being an art director is tough, having to sit back and supervise instead of really getting into the projects, creating the assets, you are tell other artists of how they can improve their current ones, like being a teacher, which in my opinion I couldn’t do because people are annoying and I most of the time lack the patience :P
To be an art director you have to be a team player and must be able to make conscience decisions, but at the same time, like most jobs, it appears to be extremely demanding. Some people just have the perfect balance like one of my favourites, Tetsuya Nomura, being an art Director and Character Designer of the Kingdom hearts saga.
Giving him the ability to freely produce his artwork for the games and still have the power and responsibilities of Art Directors.
In my eyes whether you’re in film, tv or games the role of the art director is practically the same simply because they are all creative roles and it takes a lot of experience and passion to become one, personally I think I would rather stick to drawing, I don’t think I m ready to have that much responsibility, it’s Spiderman level of responsibility. :D
Thanks you and good night.
Sunday 15 November 2009
Game Design Madness !
As stated before, game design is the process you go through when creating a game, from story GAMEPLAY, music etc.
One thing that is apparent and getting extremely irritating is the fact that NO ONE cares about quality anymore, they are willing to spend billions on a crap game and not even bat and eyelash or lid :S
It is everyone responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen, yet no one wants to do this, what developers and the design team seem to forget is that this is a process, which will go through lots of changes before it’s ready. But they aren’t investing enough time into this which is why their games fail and they lose money and in turn they go bankrupt which in the end destroys the market.
What I look for in a game, I look for an enjoyable experience and challenging as well because I want my moneys worth and I want the hours of years I have investing in this game to give me a feeling of achievement after completing it. The genre I usually get this feeling from are RPG’s! In addition, I think this because there are so many out there that you have to go that extra mile to come out on top. But you could also apply this to any other genre, but since we are on this subject, from a design point of view, I personally thing that when it comes to designing games, different genres go though different stages simple because they don’t have all have the same gameplay elements which mean developers must adjust accordingly.
In games I play, story is a HUGE factor because I like to be interested and I think it adds to my imagination and feeds my creativity which is why I must devour RPG’s and music, don’t want to be listening to the same song for about 70hours, would drive me insane !
Graphics only recently have taken over on the fundamentals of games, now it’s if the graphics are realistically amazing the game by right is excellent.
Simply because they invested all of their time to make the visual amazing so you could STARE at the textures and models forever and truly, appreciate the hard work, instead of PLAYING the game and appreciating it in it entirety.
Rant over :D
One thing that is apparent and getting extremely irritating is the fact that NO ONE cares about quality anymore, they are willing to spend billions on a crap game and not even bat and eyelash or lid :S
It is everyone responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen, yet no one wants to do this, what developers and the design team seem to forget is that this is a process, which will go through lots of changes before it’s ready. But they aren’t investing enough time into this which is why their games fail and they lose money and in turn they go bankrupt which in the end destroys the market.
What I look for in a game, I look for an enjoyable experience and challenging as well because I want my moneys worth and I want the hours of years I have investing in this game to give me a feeling of achievement after completing it. The genre I usually get this feeling from are RPG’s! In addition, I think this because there are so many out there that you have to go that extra mile to come out on top. But you could also apply this to any other genre, but since we are on this subject, from a design point of view, I personally thing that when it comes to designing games, different genres go though different stages simple because they don’t have all have the same gameplay elements which mean developers must adjust accordingly.
In games I play, story is a HUGE factor because I like to be interested and I think it adds to my imagination and feeds my creativity which is why I must devour RPG’s and music, don’t want to be listening to the same song for about 70hours, would drive me insane !
Graphics only recently have taken over on the fundamentals of games, now it’s if the graphics are realistically amazing the game by right is excellent.
Simply because they invested all of their time to make the visual amazing so you could STARE at the textures and models forever and truly, appreciate the hard work, instead of PLAYING the game and appreciating it in it entirety.
Rant over :D
Friday 13 November 2009
Crunch Time !
Crunch Time
Definition: Crunch time: crunch time is pivotal moments in life were you have to step up or fail miserably.
I have experienced Crunch Time numerous times in life and here I stand, faced with another one, but this one is the biggest bite of them all, Uni, Game Art, since I was small this has been my dream, creating, and this is the way to obtain it, but first I must endure the toughest of tests.
“Becoming an artist is easy, remaining one is difficult”
This is what I know, I CAN draw, I CAN see, I CAN create something beautiful that all would enjoy, or should I say I could?
I used to love drawing, no matter if it was technically sound or not, but now its different, now I am older and creativity no longer has the same value as gold.
Now I have to conform, I have to be technically brilliant just like everyone else, or better.
But it’s hard to change, to change in such a sort amount of time, so drastically, but I am trying, maybe not hard enough, but I will, because I’ve realised the severity of THIS crunch time, and hopefully I change in me will appear, I haven’t completely lost sight of my dream, I just closed my eyes for a while.
Definition: Crunch time: crunch time is pivotal moments in life were you have to step up or fail miserably.
I have experienced Crunch Time numerous times in life and here I stand, faced with another one, but this one is the biggest bite of them all, Uni, Game Art, since I was small this has been my dream, creating, and this is the way to obtain it, but first I must endure the toughest of tests.
“Becoming an artist is easy, remaining one is difficult”
This is what I know, I CAN draw, I CAN see, I CAN create something beautiful that all would enjoy, or should I say I could?
I used to love drawing, no matter if it was technically sound or not, but now its different, now I am older and creativity no longer has the same value as gold.
Now I have to conform, I have to be technically brilliant just like everyone else, or better.
But it’s hard to change, to change in such a sort amount of time, so drastically, but I am trying, maybe not hard enough, but I will, because I’ve realised the severity of THIS crunch time, and hopefully I change in me will appear, I haven’t completely lost sight of my dream, I just closed my eyes for a while.
BLITZ BLITZ BLITZ BOYSS !!
Guest Lecture
Well, that was interesting lecture for Blitz’s very own Jolyon Webb
the lecture was inspiring because I had finally met someone from industry who would have or has gone through the same drawing dilemmas as me which to an extent is comforting but meh.
I loved the technology that we got to see, the real time editing on Left for Dead 2 (I think)
This was so cool and convenient because you get to check your edits in real time, instead of checking it after it has been rendered.
In addition, the game showcase and Jolyon Webb actually speaking was mind blowing, I hung on every word like some kind of groupie.
I can’t wait for the next one!
Untapped potential is just like pipe dreams
Well, that was interesting lecture for Blitz’s very own Jolyon Webb
the lecture was inspiring because I had finally met someone from industry who would have or has gone through the same drawing dilemmas as me which to an extent is comforting but meh.
I loved the technology that we got to see, the real time editing on Left for Dead 2 (I think)
This was so cool and convenient because you get to check your edits in real time, instead of checking it after it has been rendered.
In addition, the game showcase and Jolyon Webb actually speaking was mind blowing, I hung on every word like some kind of groupie.
I can’t wait for the next one!
Untapped potential is just like pipe dreams
Monday 2 November 2009
an important but short Segway
The issues game reviewer’s faces are writing a decent and compelling entry. Trying not to fall into the usual garbage category of writing game reviews, they have to separate themselves from the Youtube and amateur reviews.
What I love about reviews if that fact that for me it completes the whole gaming industry, the infinite resources, the floods of information, which back in the day was hard to come by, even though we had magazines back then they just weren’t enough.
Everything is moving toward digital distribution, just like the gaming reviews, and surprisingly, kind of, people are sheep so having a scoring system for games do influence our decisions, even me sometimes. That fact that people conform to other PEOPLES opinions so much that it would change their own; people tend to forget that reviewers are just people, not higher beings of some sort.
This is going to be a short entry by the way.
Umm NGJ, I think this is really interesting and not that surprising as well, its just one of the many gaming industry evolutions, who ever thought you could produce an in depth piece of writing based on games, of all things.
This new trend is good and dangerous because of people, for instance, a game that is fundamentally rubbish could appear good based on a fixed review, which would make people purchase it, and the cycle of madness begins.
My own style of writing I would like to think is interesting to read and different from everyone else’s for multiple reasons, the main one being I wrote it and there is only one raspberry on the cherry tree !
What I love about reviews if that fact that for me it completes the whole gaming industry, the infinite resources, the floods of information, which back in the day was hard to come by, even though we had magazines back then they just weren’t enough.
Everything is moving toward digital distribution, just like the gaming reviews, and surprisingly, kind of, people are sheep so having a scoring system for games do influence our decisions, even me sometimes. That fact that people conform to other PEOPLES opinions so much that it would change their own; people tend to forget that reviewers are just people, not higher beings of some sort.
This is going to be a short entry by the way.
Umm NGJ, I think this is really interesting and not that surprising as well, its just one of the many gaming industry evolutions, who ever thought you could produce an in depth piece of writing based on games, of all things.
This new trend is good and dangerous because of people, for instance, a game that is fundamentally rubbish could appear good based on a fixed review, which would make people purchase it, and the cycle of madness begins.
My own style of writing I would like to think is interesting to read and different from everyone else’s for multiple reasons, the main one being I wrote it and there is only one raspberry on the cherry tree !
Aftermath of the end, A bright future ?
It would appear that the gaming industry of today and my future one will be full of snakes and money hunger fools. The trend we are following is a dangerous one, the thought that money makes a game better is completely insane, I understand that better resources cost more money but if the end result is a mere shell of its full potential than its pointless. The point is to create and convey an idea, for everyone to enjoy, without taking how much its going to sell into account, its was all about the entertainment factor, the pride of creating, creating something that was new and innovative, that was the past, the golden age.
Now it’s all about the money and now we have to deal with the insane “ console wars” The battle between the XBOX360, PS3 and The Nintendo Wii. My own honest opinion being that currently the 36 0 is winning. I say this not because of fan boyish( which I AM NOT) I say this because of what they have done with current technology, for example the 360 is around £180 pounds and the PS3 being 300+ and was a lot more back then, Microsoft giving you more for your money. Microsoft proved that you don’t need a Blu-ray player or fancy hardware to provide consumers with what they paid for. On the other hand, with have the Wii, which is brilliance in disguise, holding the console market sales for years since its debut, the worst of the three in almost every aspect, Nintendo targeted and untapped market and triumphed.
I guess the developers and publishers aren’t completely to blame, consumers are as well for being so demanding and wanting the best of the best out of technology, but the D&P need to listen and stop thinking about lining their pockets with gold because in the end on the market really suffers, and suffer it shall. Me for instance, what I want out of games hasn’t changed even after all these years, I just want a compelling story great musical score and gameplay and I’m happy( final fantasy saga )
I hope that by the time I join the industry everyone would have gained some sense, and gone back to what everyone loved about games.
Now it’s all about the money and now we have to deal with the insane “ console wars” The battle between the XBOX360, PS3 and The Nintendo Wii. My own honest opinion being that currently the 36 0 is winning. I say this not because of fan boyish( which I AM NOT) I say this because of what they have done with current technology, for example the 360 is around £180 pounds and the PS3 being 300+ and was a lot more back then, Microsoft giving you more for your money. Microsoft proved that you don’t need a Blu-ray player or fancy hardware to provide consumers with what they paid for. On the other hand, with have the Wii, which is brilliance in disguise, holding the console market sales for years since its debut, the worst of the three in almost every aspect, Nintendo targeted and untapped market and triumphed.
I guess the developers and publishers aren’t completely to blame, consumers are as well for being so demanding and wanting the best of the best out of technology, but the D&P need to listen and stop thinking about lining their pockets with gold because in the end on the market really suffers, and suffer it shall. Me for instance, what I want out of games hasn’t changed even after all these years, I just want a compelling story great musical score and gameplay and I’m happy( final fantasy saga )
I hope that by the time I join the industry everyone would have gained some sense, and gone back to what everyone loved about games.
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