2010, your finally here !

2010-01-01

Looks like 2010 is here bring with it a new mind set, a new you and a new me.
Let us remember our past mistakes, crimes and successes and learn from them, for a new improved you in the 2010 year.
Let us worker harder in this New Year, grant wishes and fulfil dreams, remember why we walk this path, give us the ability to create orgasmic artwork: P

Make OUR mark in this world, and forever cherish the ones that made it possible for us.


Thanks :D

- A little student with Big dreams...

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IT'S ABIT LATE, BUT MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gamplay, What's that !?

Gameplay, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people don’t really understand what it is, me being one of them. I think over the years gameplay has become less important to developers and gamers, So much that we no longer conscience of.
Gameplay defines a game, part of the games foundation, and a set of rules that make the game what it is. I think that gameplay doesn’t just occur during the creative process.

Gameplay, just one of life’s mysterious :S


Courtesy of gametrailers :D

Gamplay, What's that !?

Gameplay, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people don’t really understand what it is, me being one of them. I think over the years gameplay has become less important to developers and gamers, So much that we no longer conscience of.
Gameplay defines a game, part of the games foundation, and a set of rules that make the game what it is. I think that gameplay doesn’t just occur during the creative process.

Gameplay, just one of life’s mysterious :S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7yQXIpL0jI

It Started With A Dream

It started with a dream...

How do you create memorable characters and an engrossing story?
Our characters have to be real, convincing otherwise they just fail. For a character to connect with me, I have to be able to relate to them, we form bonds with them and feel how they feel. Creating fresh characters and stories are hard because everything has almost been done already, so we do cliché’s instead, which makes things boring unless you do it properly.
A perfect explain of great character design in my eyes is jade from “Beyond Good & Evil” this game was refreshing, a change from the usual garbage.
She believable, real, human, which is why I can relate, or “Jacob Black” from the twilight saga ( I will be shot for this and yes, I do have testiciles)

Not trying to be biased but stories that always do it for me a fantasy ones like final fantasy and star ocean, the whole world destruction and the way every main characters has a story, a link to the current situation, how their story unfolds and connects, the epicness of the story, so emotional.

Something really disturbing an appeal to me, the whole mythical aspect is appealing, just feeding my imagination greatly, I crave it.


It started with a dream... It ended in reality.

Another one of THOSE entries

I still have no idea what I’m doing here, this feels like a mistake and at the same time it doesn’t, more like a huge obstacle, can’t give up now.
Nevertheless, I’m so tired, so so tired, I can’t fight any longer, never thought I would like these words let alone put them on paper, I really want to go home, I feel as if I’m missing some important family moments, going ghost prior to the choice I now think was a mistake, a fairly large one.


Enter the upbeat voice, which is entirely pointless, simple because it’s just words and fruitless thought, saying you’ll pull through is just you kidding yourself, this is the darkest level of the abyss and there is no climbing out of this one.
Enough of your half hearted nonsense, you’re not proving anyone wrong anytime soon, and should tell you why?
It’s because you’re a quitter, you lack the mental drive to succeed, you have so much potential or had, you had a bright future when you were young, probably because you lacked the mental capacity to process emotions.

Don’t waste anymore paper, no more tree
Stop, and sleep, thanks, this was the right thing to do.


-A heartless assassin

Ooo, this pad is nice :D

Out of all the gaming consoles I have used, it’s safe to say that XBOX360 elite is the prettiest colour wise, but the ergonomics or the controllers and the concept behind it, I will have to go with the Nintendo WII.
The evolution of the controller has been a long and boring, to tell the truth I haven’t been all that bothered, the physical input of the console isn’t the most important thing to me but I do appreciate it especially when it come to innovation, the innovation I speak of the Nintendo WII and its motion controller wiimote :D It was released when motion control was a fresh idea, and that’s why I liked it, it’s unconventional and they took a chance and it semi paid off.
(Short entry by the way)

All in all ergonomically friendly consoles is important from an aesthetic point of view, but half of the people using these consoles don’t really care. They care about content, so it’s good that the designers have this in mind but never sacrifice this for anything else, which just equals a fail.

Storytelling is ace

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 !

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 ! :)

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.

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

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.

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

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 !

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.

The Middle and The End :(

The continuation of the video gaming scene, many companies are born, hoping on the bandwagon and trying to line their pockets with gold.

During the 1980-90s companies such as Activision, Mattel and Nintendo, Some companies were designed for programming games, which in turn brought about the death of the “coin up” and arcade games.
Games had moved into the household and were here to stay! Alternatively, so they had hoped.
With so many companies being created their was a lot of competition and potential demand from the industry, but because of so many competing companies meant that games were flooding out of the stores, not always in the best condition. For example, E.T, the first circle of hell for the industry, one of the epic flops.

With the first hit of the industry, it could only get worst, and so it did.
With so many games being made and retailers not prepared for the large quantities, they had to send them back to publishers, which resulted in less revenue for publishers, creators and retailers.
With this happening it destroyed smaller companies not being able to survive without the financial gain of the hard spent hours creating these games that in the end wouldn’t be purchased or just sent back.

The catalyst of the video game crash, which lasted to long years, two long years of crap poorly developed games which no everyone wanted, which remind me of our current situation, cough Nintendo Wii cough cough.

After the drought the market moved to Japan were it was revived, BRING ON THE RPGS!!!

My Gaming History :)

Based on research, it would appear that Stephen Russell made the first game which was “spacewar” (1962) but the first commercial game made for entertainment purposes was pong which was released on the Atari (1973).

Funny thing is that so many people have their own definition of the “true history of video games” that its hard to filter through and discover the actual facts, but they seem to have all one or two things in common, that being that pong is the first game created for entertainment purposes more or less.

As more people create their own version of history, it becomes less important.

Now I create my own version of gaming history, my personal gaming timeline.

I think the first game I ever played was Tetris, but it was on some strange handheld device, when I look back my timeline is a bit random because I think I played classic games like pong later on in life.

I remember when the Playstation was released and I was playing games like Casper, worms, crash bandicoot etc. The most memorable being final fantasy VII, this game is so epic, story and game play wise. Ever since then I have been hooked on this FF drug, continued to play the series until this day, this feed my imagination and motivated me to draw, I wanted to be able to create memorial characters, industry defining characters.

I guess to extend I’m a bit of a fanboy…moving on, I also played the Nintendo classic like, pokemon, super Mario, Metroid Prime etc.

My timeline is probably the same as everyone else’s in some parts, the same games like Pokemon, Zelda and Mario.

-Raspberri Randy