My thoughts on the course...

I’m going to start off giving a big THANKYOU to Mike Chris and Heather, for being brilliant teachers this year. You have all taught us so much.

I think it’s a great idea, doubling the amount of traditional art skills on the course. Knowing the core art skills gives you more to build upon. I like the idea of getting out more. I always end up being inspired when I leave the uni to work. I suggest you should organise more trips to other places. Trips should not just be limited to Leicester and the surrounding area. I’ve found some brilliant things around the country by just going places.

Another thing you should do is build upon the success of the facebook community! You should put up tutorials onto facebook and use the events utility more often. Set random events for drawing trips outside of lesson time and trips to bars ect. Try and make the course a more close knit community. If we see these events we will go. Every now and again you should set up a social gaming session after class (Once a month or whatever). I’m really emphasising on getting the people on the course interacting with everyone else because I believe that was the one thing that was missing from this year. The lessons were brilliant (although as you said more emphasis on traditional art would be good) everything was there, but I felt a bit distanced from everyone else on the course, I’ve only really just learnt everyone’s names, I’ve got to meet some interesting funny people more recently. I had a fun trip to Bradgate Park recently and got some work done as well. This was organised by Abby through the facebook community. If you teachers make your own events (even if you don’t go) I’m sure you’ll get lots more people going along and doing more work!

I think there is room to build upon the film sessions on Wednesdays. A discussion group after the film might be an idea, or get everyone to chat about films together in a forum or something similar.

Now I think about it there is one thing that was missing this year and that is digital painting tutorials. You should think about integrating Digital Painting into your lesson plan. I had to learn by myself from books, the internet and other class mates. A bit more help in this area wouldn’t go amiss. I don’t like to bitch, but I’ve said it now so there you go.

Once again thank you for this year, I’m looking forward to what is to come!!!

Where do I see myself in 5 years time...

Before I came here my views on the industry were very different to my views now. I used to think I was good at making maps for counter-strike, but now I’ve found out that if you make a map using other peoples texture and objects, it’s not your map, it’s more their map.

While on the course I’ve learnt allot about drawing and Photoshop, I’ve learnt the complicated processes that go into creating an object in max. These are things that I didn’t understand before but now, getting to grips with them has opened my eyes to many avenues. I think I still want to keep my options open. I definitely want to go into the games industry, but I haven’t decided whether I should be a 3-D modeller or a Concept Artist. I think it’s too early to decide on this, but what I do know, is that I love to draw. I have had so much fun drawing around Leicester and taking trips elsewhere to draw. I get inspired by the craziest of things. I think I want to focus on becoming a concept artist. I love designing and inventing but I don’t want my skills in max to fall behind. Maybe I have this view about becoming a concept artist, because I’m still getting to grips with Max. I won’t lie to you, I have struggled with the basics of max, but I am getting there. I am beginning to make efficient meshes, I just get caught up in the intricacies of uvw unwrapping and texturing. Maybe I might change my mind when I get good at Max. I just need to keep working at it until I can do it. Maybe When I start to use max proficiently and confidently I might have more fun while making things and my views on where I want to go might change.

At the moment I’m still unsure. My mind is swimming with ideas but I don’t know which of them to act upon. I need to keep up the learning curve so I am able to make a confident choice in the future.

My ultimate goal in life is to work for a top games company such as Bungie, Ensemble, Rockstar or Valve for example. I want to make good games; I want to be part of the driving force behind them.

Creativity Part 2

So we all watched that video about how education destroys creativity. It’s true it does. But it is needed. It’s a good idea allowing kids to follow their own paths but it isn’t practical. Creativity needs to be hampered it needs to be destroyed or else we would all be screwed.

When a baby is born into the world its brain is firing off neurons left right and centre. Over the next few years and through early school life its brain will disable certain neurons and choose which ones to keep. I watched a program recently about talented and creative young people. They were crafted through early life by their parents to be excellent mathematicians, excellent musicians ECT. Kids starved of early life stimuli do badly at school, because their brain has not developed properly.

It would be excellent if we taught different kids different things, encourage them to follow their own paths but if we did that the world would be a complete mess. How are we meant to know which kids excel at which subjects before they are old enough to show off their flares? We have to teach them everything, a wide range of subjects, so later in life they can follow the path they choose. What if we give children a limited education and let them go their own way. They would all want to do what they considered fun, they’re kids. Destroying creativity is an essential part of life. We have to do it so that society can work we have no choice in the matter! If kids don’t know everything how are they meant to choose between things in later life.

How to train the best of the best

Here is a job description for a being a concept artist at Bungie Studios.

Concept Artist
Bungie Studios is looking for an exceptional concept artist who will work closely with the Art Director and Art Leads to establish a style and feel for the environments, characters and objects for exciting new Bungie titles. You will also work closely with the production art team to help them envision what the finished results can be for the in-game content they are creating. As the ideal candidate, you should amaze us with creative designs and artwork and have the capability to inspire greatness in those around you.


Essential Functions

· Collaborate closely with the Art Director and other concept artists to produce quality. designs that define and expand the look of the game.
· Create concept art for primary and secondary characters, objects and environments.
· Create thumbnails, sketches, model sheets and production paintings within deadline.
· Ensure that Concept art is consistent with defined visual style for the game.
· Contribute original visual design ideas throughout pre-production and production.
· Create additional illustrated concepts for marketing and PR needs.

Desired Qualifications

· Strong understanding of character proportion and costume design.
· Ability to quickly iterate concepts given input from the art director.
· Professional attitude and an ability to take constructive criticism.
· An exceptional understanding of mood, lighting and architecture with a keen eye towards form, shape, structure, and silhouette in regards to illustration and design.
· Superior eye for light, value, composition, color, staging and detail in environmental design. · Strong foundation in the traditional arts, including, but not limited to, figure drawing, landscape painting, and illustration.
· The ability to carry an idea from the conceptual phase to the finished illustration and an understanding of translating these ideas to real-time game content.
· Self-driven, good communicator and a great team-player.
· A passion for games.
· Experience with Photoshop, Painter. 3D software knowledge not an absolute requirement.
· AA/BFA preferred, or at least demonstrates through portfolio an industry standard level of art.


This is a top games company, so understandably, they can have high standards. How do you ready someone to be able to get a job like this over three years of teaching them? Here is a job description for Rockstar North, based in Scotland:


Environment Artists

We'd like to hear from the industry's most talented environment artists.You will be designing, building and texturing the world, have the technical knowledge to achieve great looking results and the skill to get the most from next-gen consoles.Advanced skills in one or more of the standard industry 3D packages essential. Knowledge of 3DS Max an advantage.


Both of these job descriptions stress the need for technical experience. The Bungie job description says that 3D software knowledge is not an absolute requirement. So if you’re an outstanding artist and can digitally paint you can get a job with them. This is the same for some other companies too. So why then, on this course are we being taught 3d software skills. I think I can answer that. The purpose of this course is to get you the skills needed to get into the industry. In the current climate, you have to be a fucking good artist to land yourself a job as a concept artist at a top end company. Giving students the ability to do everything makes them a valuable asset. Games companies are chucking people out or breaking up all over the place at the moment. So having fewer employees that can do everything is better than having more employees that are limited to certain fields. Putting together a course that will produce industry standard applicants is hard work. I think what is essential on any course, is to give the students the basic knowledge of everything. Then when they have that knowledge they know where to go from there, and then it’s really up to them how hard they work to build on those skills. Giving students a good understanding of liberal arts puts them at an advantage when they come to learning how to make thinks in the software. Giving students tonnes of experience in Photoshop and max means that yes, they will make things that work. But will they make things that are good without the strong base in understanding life drawing or landscape painting or they ability to understand shape and form for example. I see how it would be hard to put together a course that produces talented people, but it is my opinion that emphasis should be focused on training students in traditional and basic art skills. Students should be taught and shown how how to do technical things, yes, but only enough for them to be able to develop those ‘’technical’’ skills in their own time. Putting it even more simply, chuck a whole load of knowledge at them, give them the resources to utilise and see where they go but focus on the traditional side when teaching.

Steam Train Pics

I realised I didnt have any of the pics that I took to go with my blog about steam trains so here you go...

Museum Pics:Grant... working hard

Tornado Pic's

This Last picture has to be my favorite. It shows off the three ages of rail. The steam and deisel in the forground, and the Electric main line train carrying passengers in the background. I think it holds some significance. It's almost like the Tornado is showing off to the others, saying ''Steams not dead''.

Ka-BOOOOOOOOOOM...

Sound is vital in games. Sounds provide key information to the person playing the game. Sound also adds atmosphere, tension and excitement. Without sound, games would be dull and boring.

Imagine you’re playing a game without the sound on. Your coming up to a corner but before you reach it a tank comes round the corner and kills you. Now imagine you’re playing with the sound on. You come up to the corner, the ambience suggests you’re in hostile territory. Music starts, ominous music, you know something’s going to happen. Then you hear a faint rumbling sound, and the creak of metal. It’s getting louder in the right speaker by your screen. All this information goes together and informs you that a tank is approaching fast from the right and by the music and ambience is telling you that you don’t stand a chance if you stay where you are. So you move back behind a rock and hide. The tank rolls past without seeing you. This is just an example of the importance of sound in a game, but it plays many other roles too. I will always play through games with the sound the game’s makers intend you to hear. I always find that listening to your own music while playing through a game will ruin the overall experience. This however is not true for multiplayer. I personally love playing fps’s whilst listening to fast paced music, like rock music or drum and bass. I find that it takes away the fear of death. I run in guns blazing, like a mad man high on adrenaline. It intensifies the gaming experience. This brings me to my favourite sonic moment.

One of my favourite all time games has to be Burnout Revenge because of the way the sound track and the sound effects couple with the visual game play so perfectly. The game comes with about 40 music tracks from modern rock/metal/dance ECT. artists. I start up the game for the first time and play the first level. I’m driving through a track called Motor City, the music blaring and the sound of a 12 cylinder Ford engine coming is coming from my car. I hit a ramp accompanied by the sound of metal scraping on tarmac, fly though the air past the horns of lorries as I whip between two of them in the opposite direction. All the while the sound of the air is whooshing past me, like some western film. Then after my sonic flight of glory, I crash down on top of another car and the game goes into slow motion. Suddenly the volume of the music is drastically decreased to a barely audible level, the camera angle changes to an overview of the crash. There is the sound of screeching tires and crushing metal and glass. The victim car career’s off to the left and hits an oil tanker, making it explode. The accompanying sound sounds like a tiger growling. Flames lick round the side of my car and the force of the explosion propels me further forward though the air. Words pop up onto the screen displaying ‘vertical take down’ with a sharp metallic sound effect. I notice my boost bar is full! Suddenly allot of things happen at once. The game comes out of slow motion and the camera angle goes back to the normal behind the car view, my car lands back on the road, tires screeching, sparks fly and crackle, I press the A button on the controller, activating my boost, which sounds like a harrier jet taking off. The games sound track is restored to its normal volume, just as the chorus kicks in, resulting In a masterful crescendo of visual effects and sound, that leaves me sitting there, mouth agape and my heart racing like I’d just ran a Marathon. The game doesn’t let up for the rest of the race. It hits me again and again with a wide range of amazing sonic and visual events. Have you ever put down a controller after playing a game and your hands are actually shaking!!!

An example of somone else doing smthing very similar in Burnout revenge. (30 second clip). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuU6eT2VFJw&feature=related

My favourite composers for a game’s score have to be Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. They are responsible for the Halo sound track. I love the music from all three halo games. Sound track albums were released for both halo 2 and halo 3. Almost every part of the halo games are accompanied by variations on the games sound track. The music tells the story just as the game does. The games score is one of the reasons why the Halo trilogy stood out from all other games. One of my favourite tracks from the halo 2 sound track is a track called ‘Peril'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72U3E3rzQro

About a year ago I was watching Top Gear live on BBC 2. I noticed that this music was playing in the back ground while Jeremy was driving through a scenic mountain range that looked very similar to the level that the music accompanied in Halo 2. I don’t think anyone apart from hardcore halo fans would have noticed this but I did :)

Game Engines

Game engines play a vital role in every game. They hold everything together and make everything work using complex code. All the assets made for a game don’t just work when you put them together. They need the game engine to understand each other.
Game engines perform complex tasks such as, physics, lighting, rendering and A.I. Havok is a famous game engine first utilised in the game Half-Life 2. It makes realistic physics, such as Rag-Doll physics. Objects react with each other considering factors such as weight, distribution, density, buoyancy and hardness. Valve incorporated it in their main game engine ‘source’, which has been used for games such as Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. Proving its success many other companies have used the Havok engine in their games, such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which takes full advantage of Rag-Doll physics. It is much more cost effective than making and coding your own physics engine. If you want to see what the Havok engine can really do, play a game called Garry’s Mod. It is a game that allows you to mess around with the core principles of the ‘Havok’ and ‘Source’ engines.
Another famous, more recent game engine is ‘cryengine’. This engine was developed by a European team called Crytech mainly for other companies to use. It is the most advanced game engine yet made. Crytech made a game called Crysis, which utilised ‘Cryengine’. The game was more of a showcase, as most computers at the time where unable to run it. Crysis showed off new advanced technologies such as advanced dynamic lighting. Each asset in the game even individual leaves react to light caused by the sun, the moon, explosions, even muzzle flares. The cryengine set a new standard for games developers everywhere, just as the source engine did.
Subtractive and additive editing are terms referring to the construction of in game assets using a game engine. The Unreal Editor uses subtractive editing. This means that you carve out the scenery from a solid block. An easier way to put it would be; you subtract from what’s already there.
An example of additive editing would be the Hammer editor, a program that allows you to make games using the Source engine. I have prolific knowledge of how to use this engine as I have made plenty of maps/levels for the mod Counter-Strike: Source. Instead of subtracting from what is already there, you add objects to an empty void, much like 3d Studio Max. One of the main advantages of using subtractive over additive is the lack of leaks in the game work. If you were to create a map using an additive editor you would have to seam the edges of the game world, so that the engine knows the limitations of what it has to work with. One advantage of additive is that it is easier to create large complex outdoor scenery. Subtractive is more suited to confined, or indoor scenery.
I would say that the key issues facing Game engines in the future, are creating physics based sound (all the sound’s in games are pre recorded), creating more realistic, spontaneous A.I programs and creating a proper physics engine for water. Water had always sucked in games, for one reason or another. I reckon in the future we will see some amazing new technologies emerge that will blow our minds.

Lets Get Together

Gaming culture is vast and wonderful. I’ve been part of gaming cultures all of my life. I consider myself as a ‘’gamer’’. It’s a state of mind, a lifestyle. I’m going to tell you about some of the gaming cultures I’ve been in throughout my life, in no particular order.

I was once a regular member at a cybercafé. There were always the regulars there. It was perhaps the geekiest part of my life, ever. We called each other by our gamer tags. We used to play Warcraft 3, Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2 and many other games. It was very competitive, but still, very fun. Every now and again we used to hold competitions at the cybercafé. At one point I was part of a clan for CS:S. There were about 7 of us in the clan and we used to enter online tournaments all the time. We even paid money, each month to have our own server running. When I used to make levels for CS:S, the clan would beta test them for me on the server. It helped me to refine the maps so that they played better. I remember those days, I used to have a lot of fun, and I felt part of a close community.

More recently I have gone over into the realm of the online gaming community. MMORPG’s never really tickled my fancy; I was more of a first person shooter player. Xbox live created an online community, and the invention of ‘’the friend’s list’’ brought about a new meaning to the words: gaming culture. Instead of going to a cybercafé to meet up with my friends I would simply log online and play with them. I made some close friends that I never saw in person. I created a persona for each of them in my head. The use of the Xbox-live head set made things much more fun. Let’s put it this way; I learned all the possible swearword and cuss combinations in the English language, and some in other languages to. It was a hive of filthy people playing games with each other; what more could you ask. But of course there were always the few individuals out to ruin the fun for everyone else. You would get the occasional berk being racist, excessively swearing, and team-killing everyone. We hated these people and most of the time kicked them out of the game, chucked them off of our friends list, or ganged up on them until they left the server. It is people like this that can ruin the image of some gaming cultures.

More recently, me and my friends at university have been going to the Demon Gamers (The De’Montfort Gaming Society), were we play all sorts of games. It is kind of reminiscent of the times I used to spend at the cybercafé when I was younger. Sometimes we even have parties where we link up 4 TV’s and 4 Xbox’s at our flats. I’ve now become part of a new gaming culture here at DMU.

Writing this brings back memories I had put out of my mind long ago. It is very euphoric!

Choo Chooooooooooo, Cough......

Recently I took three trips up to York to see steam trains at the national railway museum. I have recently grown fond of steam trains and so I was very excited. When I got there on the first day that I went, I was dumfounded by the size of some of the locomotives on show. I find them much more interesting than cars or planes or modern trains. Everything about them screams power. You can see how forward motion is created and can literally feel the transition of energy throughout the locomotive. I saw famous trains like the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman while I was there. The museum holds a wealth of history and information.

O.k. so the main reason I went was so that I could draw complicated drawings of the locomotives and such, but I found myself just wandering around staring at things for the first two hours I was there. I got some nice photos and drawings done while I was up there. I don’t know why but I really like drawing them. It’s sometimes hard to get everything to look right but trains have taught me how to draw allot better in perspective views.

The second time that I went up I was extremely lucky. I found out that I had arrived on the day that the Tornado was being launched on its maiden voyage from York up to Newcastle. I spent about an hour and a half on York station taking photographs of it arriving and leaving the platform. This was a very special moment for me as it was the first time that I had seen a steam train in action since I was very young.

A diesel train pulled in the carriages and left so that the steam train could pull in. The main thing is... I was not ready for was how loud a steam train is. Seeing one in action was like seeing industry and steel and smoke come together as one living being, shouting at you like a lion. When you’re stood up next to one you feel like you’re listening to the train breathe. Because the engine was stationary and still producing steam it had to vent a little steam every now and again so that the boiler didn’t explode! When this happens you momentarily lose your hearing. Bear in mind that I was standing about a metre away from the front of the train when this happened. Thing of how your ears feel after coming out of a loud concert. That’s the feeling you get after five seconds of standing next to the locomotive when it expels it’s built up steam. I got some amazing pictures. I don’t know how I managed to get them, but it was like there was a small void directly in front of the engine, where people were afraid to stand.

I went up a third time with Grant to get some more industrial drawings completed, and we were lucky enough to see two steam trains in action that day. I highly recommend taking at least one day out of your life to see the NRM, whoever you are. It’s a chance to get good reference pictures and metal textures as well as drawings.

Oh and you know who you are, those of you who think I’m a train fanatic, yes it’s very funny I’m sure, but I’m having fun, so I don’t care. Oh and I counted 75 green/brown anorak’s, while I was up there one of the days, I can’t remember who asked me to do that, but there you go.
P.S

Hard Times

A global economic recession is currently in effect, causing all lines of work in the U.K to suffer. But how is this recession affecting the games industry. Many games developers are shutting their doors to new employees and are giving current employees the sack! Some companies are going bust, while others are merging. The big companies are still healthy though. I see the industry heading towards a situation where only large scale developers can survive. People are still buying the best games. The problem is people cannot afford to buy as many games as before the recession. This leaves the more popular games selling high and the less popular games losing the customers they so desperately need. Look at ‘Killzone 2’, a game only recently released, but the third highest selling ps3 game within the first weekend of sale!

Competition is increasing between game companies, so arguably this could only lead to better games. I think that the games industry can survive the recession. Looking at recent innovations in the way games are played and the ways in which games have been viewed over the last three years only points to a promising future for games!

The drop of the U.K pound has seen the over-sea sales for games go on the rise. This is good for Europe and other parts of the world, and good for the games industry. I think that companies and retailers need to take a strong approach on the pricing of games in the future. Maybe this will increase sales and profit in the U.K. We will make it through; we just need to keep on making good games!

Creativity

Creativity, Is essential to the survival of life. All species on our planet have varying levels of creativity that plays an important part in day to day life. I’m not just talking about humans, because I believe that creativity is not just limited to complex feats of imagination that humans achieve. Primates, pigs, dolphins, whales, and many other species have creative thought processes (and this has been proven)! Even the way that a pride of lions hunt and work together in the Serengeti, shows impressive feats of creativity.

I’m taking quite a wide approach to creativity because creativity is a wide and complex topic. If we limited creativity to the arts, the world would be screwed! A single person uses creativity hundreds if not thousands of times every day. Everything we do fundamentally comes down to a creative thought process happening in our brain. I can’t look at a single thing outside my window that has not had some form of creative process go into its construction or purpose.

The human race is famous for two creative wonders; Art and war. While they are completely different in their goal, they are arguably the same in their creative construction. War in its many forms is terrible don’t get me wrong, but the many advances in tactics and technology have been down to great creative minds. Dr. Richard J. Gatling was responsible for the creation of the famous Gatling gun first used in the American civil war, Which went on to spawn many other multiple and single barrelled versions throughout history. The use of tanks in the First World War completely changed the modern day battlefield. In the American war of independence the rebel troops used guerrilla style warfare against the English troops. Small raids from bushes on arms convoys, and the use of flanking tactics, completely changed the way that war was fought. Before that, horizontal lines of troops would battle it out on an open field, with help from cavalry and cannons. Modern day terrorism, and the way enemy troops fight in Iraq and Afghanistan can be linked back to these advances. All this brings me back to my earlier point: creativity is vital for survival. As long as there are creative geniuses around to bring us new ways of killing each other, I see little hope in a peaceful future. Now that I think about it Creativity is not only responsible for our survival, but it is and it will be responsible for our downfall.

Art is wonderful! Art in its many forms is the way of humans expressing their creativity. Without it the world would be a dull place indeed!! Art has come a long way since cave paintings. These days everything in our lives is art. Art is the clothes we wear, the buildings we make, the cars we drive, through to the images we paint. I believe England was at a creative height in the Victorian times! I think we’ve lost a little something since then in our creativity, but I can’t put a finger on it. England and the rest of the world is losing culture, and art has a strong link to culture. This isn’t such a bad thing though. While we are losing a unified culture, all the new sub-cultures popping up all over the place are providing rich pickings for art. Humans will always make art. It is who we are.

Creativity in computer games is vast. Everything that goes into the process of making a game through to the playing of a game is creative. All games are creative, but some more so than others. Games however are becoming less creative as time goes on. I think we are becoming too focused on the target audience and what games have been successful in the past. We are basing new games on the successes of old games. It’s working for now, but soon the audience is going to turn around and say, ‘’hey I want something new’’. This is not the case for every game, but generally I believe this is what is happening. Maybe the initial idea of a game needs more creative thinking before it is put into production. The gaming community needs to stop wondering along like zombies. We need a burst of originality and creativity to be injected into the industry!

This all brings me to my final point:

Creativity in its many forms is what makes this world so brilliant. Creativity needs to be encouraged and set free, but in some cases it needs to be monitored and controlled.