Pre order anyone ?

The pre order Pandemic


Is it just me or have game developed raped this “exclusive content” wagon or what, I have started to slowly notice game distributors are having a lot of exclusive DLC if you pre order a game, which is good and all, but there is something sinister about it, it’s constantly in my face, like an omen.

It’s really weird how the cashiers are banging on about pre ordering this and that as if they have some kind of ulterior motive, ,maybe some shabby deals are going down, demon soul collection “ would you like to pre order this game boyy?!”
I guess the industry is trying to squeeze what little money we have! I almost fell into the trap, the sirens call is so enticing, and all of those freebies just for pre ordering and double points on my reward card!

Last blog?

Looks like we are finally here, last blog of the academic year, a review of the course.
Sooo let us go back in time to the beginning, my name is Randy Yaw Amoakohene but some call me raspberri, ha-ha.

I remember at the beginning I said I wanted to become a concept artist when the course is over, but then reality hit in the form of Christophere, Heatherest and Zen master Powell, I’m not going to lie, I was crushed but then the Zen master said “Hold on to your dreams in the darkness”...it was something along those lines. The point being you’re not going to become amazing over night and a lot of people will say you’re not good etc, but you must hold onto your dreams regardless because with them you will have the passion and drive you persevere and you WILL improve!

“Try not to compare yourself to others in skill, we all travel the same road, it’s just that your journey will be longer”


I noticed that the line between friend and lecturer is blurred, which is a good thing, it like a family than anything else, all prepared to help you improve and get to where you want to be, this course has been magical, in the amount I have learnt in a short amount of time.
I’m not going to go all technical and sound like a mindless student drone, programmed to write nothing but positives about the course, I do it because I believe it!

“You can’t run away from your problems, they will catch you! So face them head on!”

My intention was not to write an essay so I’ll wrap this up, overall, the course is great, believe it!
2nd and 3rd year work is awesome and inspiring, a potential future of GA cult members

Thanks musketeers !

GDC !

GDC!


Game developers conference, well it’s been an informative one this year!
I will be talking about what appealed to me from the conference, mostly about Sony’s latest “stunt” and the new technology that is out and about, for example the new awesome cry engine.


Let’s start off with Sony’s playstation “move” which is basically a rip off of Nintendo’s current Wii-remote, the move is impressive but for me it comes down to the fact that it is a rip off, or others might want to say and improvement, they definitely surpassed the Wii-remote and now everyone is jumping on the motion control band wagon, which is fair because that what’s hip and new with the kids and where the money is.








The CryEngine3 appears to be the best engine in the world to date!..Well, at least on paper, all of the technical jargon more or less means almost nothing to me, but in action it looks amazing, realistic light and all that jazz.




Seeing all of this new stuff and information has re-lit my fire, and reaffirmed my trust in the industry, just thinking that WHEN I graduate I WILL have all of this technology at my disposal, hard and fun times!

The future's bright, the future's orange

Ambition, out of my three years at university I would like to have acquired the skills I have always strived for, my drawing skills matching the quality of my imagination, so far I think my progression has been steady and it is possible to see potential in my work if set the right task where my current abilities will be shown, creating, using my imagination and just enjoying the fact that I’m drawing, In some ways it’s like a child playing with toys, the level of enjoyment that we want to reach in our chosen fields.

The skills I’m learning at the moment would benefit me even if I chose not to take the game industry path and picked something like graphics or some other field that I can’t think of at the moment...
My plan for my three years or MORE learning to reach my perk and surpass it, then move on the working for a gaming company, designing character and a few environment, being content but not happy, then after a few years of learning from this company, I would leave and work for Square Enix because I’m a massive final fantasy fan boy, possibly work on the next kingdom hearts or final fantasy and in a sick and twisted alternative universe I would buy out the company and fire a lot of people simply because I’m insane... :D

What a crisis we are in

I guess one of the main problems with game centred educators is that they are always a few steps behind, teaching methods are old and out dated.
For instance, you can never be lost when it comes to traditional art skills, but areas like 3D modelling; it’s always changing, improving because of the industry and with new more advanced technology.
So what games centred educations must do or try to do is teach you the very basics so then you could at least know what you’re doing if you were to gain a job in the industry, but the downside to that...

Let's Try Not To Cry

Game music, is not one on the best thing ever!? What would we do if games didn’t have music in games...NOT PLAY THEM!
Personally I think that music in games is as important as graphics, the type of music played can tell you a lot about the game you are playing, music adds depth, mystery and sometimes discovery, they is a different sound for almost every action.

Game music supports the action, for example, a final battle; the music resonates within you and creates emotions, sad, happy or angry, through the music itself it tells the story.
I don’t know who the “ket” composers are but I’m sure there reasons for using their music in games is simply for recognition, everyone plays games, and if you enjoy the music scores as much as I do you would seek out the creator of them, buy the OST etc.

SPOILER ALERT!
My key gaming history musical scores would have to be for final fantasy or anything square enix.
Crisis core, when Zack fair dies, the lead up to his death, if I remember correctly they played “the price of freedom” or when squall meets the sorcerer for the first time.
Way too many, final fantasy 9, when you meet Freya and travel through lord Gizalot grotto, and when you meet Freya lover and enter Burmecian.
The most emotional is the ending theme to final fantasy 10...
This list could go on forever

game engines, WTF API ???

Game engines, probably the most popular one being the unreal engine, which has been floating around for years. Constantly being changed to suit other companies, But what is a game engine?
A game engine is software that more or less does the hard work for you, from physic to rendering.
A guess one of the main engine related madness in the industry at the moment is the reuse of engines, most companies would buy the same engine, unreal engine and just tweak it slightly and rename it. They do this because it is to time consuming and costly to design an in house engine form the ground up.
Maybe when the unreal engine doesn’t meet the requirements will a company create a in house engine, exhibit A being Square Enix, for the newly released final fantasy XIII they created a in house engine called crystal tools that could seamlessly merge pre rendered cut scenes and full blow CGI.

I think these next gen games are too demanding on their systems and the engines aren’t up to scratch, which COULD explain the shoddy games being released at present !
Since we have next gen systems and games, it is a must we have next gen engines as well, engines capable to rendering in real time, kind of like the type of engine Blitz and using at the moment or the current cry engine, the top shelf of gaming engine to my knowledge.