Diablo 3 Auction House Trading

One of the most interesting things i have read about this game while endlessly waiting for it to come out is about the in game auction house. This is a new unique concept by blizzard where a player can sell their in game items they have found while questing or killing monsters, for real life currency on an auction house designed specifically for that purpose. There will also be a classic auction house in the new Diablo game where players can sell their items for gold (old school), this will keep players who are maybe a little scared or intimidated by the new idea (not sure which I am yet) happy while also trying this very new very big idea out for real. The fact that Gold sellers and scammers and Bots have been a massive drain on all virtual money in games like Diablo, Warcraft and Runescape makes players, at least me anyway, have a sense of whats the point? if i can spend an hour making 1000 gold in a game and a Bot can make 5000 an hour it takes away from the experience and fun of the game never mind ruining in game economies which again takes away from the fun of a game. This new idea will be widely accepted as a permenant solution to these sorts of problems, Runescape for example, tried making the game so that trading was not allowed to solve the problem of Bots and Scammers and that pretty much killed all of their trade but it make the rest of the legitimate population of the game unhappy, they have since brought back trading in the game and placed other features in to stop in game economy problems.

What's the difference between the gold-based auction house and the currency-based auction house?

The gold-based auction house uses in-game gold for purchases and sales. With the currency-based auction house, players will be able to conduct these transactions using actual currency from an authorized payment method or from funds that have been added to their Battle.net account. Players can choose to participate in whichever version of the auction house they prefer, on a per-transaction basis.

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/services/auction-house/regions

In my personal opinion i think that this is an extremely good idea but it has the potential to case many many problems, eg addiction, password hacking, account theft, massive time consumer, poorer countries people will use this system for a living. Only time and player feedback will tell how this will work and pan out, i personally look forward to getting a good weapon drop, selling it and essentially earning a real life pizza for free :)

Artwork for my 2nd game idea

So this is my second idea based on the idea i had earlier from watching the 3:10 to Yuma, it basically is set in a western environment and focuses on the interior of a Hotel or Inn, im not sure how i can incorporate a fantasy tower into this idea but i really do like the idea as a whole.

I have a mood board which further expresses my idea of a western themed game space which is in my PP presentation blog. I feel that it needs to be included here also.

I understand that this idea was completely influenced just by the one film but it has become more than that, i started thinking about the opportunities and challenges that would come with creating an interior to a building instead of the exterior, i was thinking about how there would have to be a much higher scale of detail if the game space is much smaller and have always been a perfectionist and this would be a better project for me to undertake altogether.

Artwork of my 1st game idea

I have always loved the idea of fantasy - Final fantasy, world of warcraft, lord of the rings etc so it didnt take me long to decide that i wanted to do the fairytale tower version of the game module brief, i have always wanted to share my ideas with people and in this module i think i have the opportunity to do just that. My first idea is basically to make a stone tower that the player could either walk around and up he sides or maybe the interior if im feeling brave. 

This idea is kind of based on the style of the white city from LOTR, Gondor. I wanted the building to be made from huge white stone blocks but to have the look of being abandoned for a long time. I like to have a story to whatever i am making and if i do this game space then the aspects of the building will tell a story as to what the building was or used to be. The little things matter to me in a game.

Here is the white city I think my ideas relate to.

Another game space idea

Another game space idea i had was an old western style tavern or hotel, i recently watched the film 3:10 to Yuma which is one of the best western films i have seen and it got me thinking, this would be a good chance to branch out and do something a little different from my usual fantasy related work. I also thought even if i decided not to do something different from my usual work it would still work as an expansion on the work i have done previously (Character in an abandoned castle from the earlier module of character artwork). Since the start of the course i have kept all my concept artwork based around the same idea of a particular fantasy world/universe that i have created, i even wrote a short backstory to it in an earlier module, if i decide to do the castle idea it will directly link to previous work as the environment and landscapes will be similar and an expansion on work i have done before, but if i decide to go with the western theme it could still be part of the universe i am keeping my concept art within but maybe a different reigon or part of the world. This way of keeping my ideas based in the universe i have created helps keep me organised but also always keeps me thinking new things and trying to be as original as possible as i want my work to be unique.

Concept Art which relates to my game space

As a study of concept art which is similar to the idea I am doing i have looked at some of the work and screensavers that have been done for the up coming game Diablo 3. One of the main defining things of Diablo is the dark feel and mood of the game, alot of the game is played through in dungeons or at night time, this makes the player have a particular view of the game which is that there is no hope, no chance of winning and even if they did it would be hollow. I think this would be a good mood to try and mirror in my own work because I have found that the most interesting films and games are those where the main character or protagonists are the underdogs and are outnumbered / have no hope, eg Rocky, 300, Avatar the list can go on and on.

The tavern in particular is work that is closely related to my own, in another blog I mentioned that this is the kind of thing i wanted to do, although i did want to do more of a western themed tavern i decided to compromise nd go half fairytale and half western in that i got the idea of the tavern from a western but am creating it in the style of a fairytale / fantasy tavern. For example the Inn of the Prancing Pony from lord of the rings is the kind of tavern i wanted to create. Pic Below.

These final two pictures express the idea of a time before technology, a medieval feel but with a hint of magic in the world. This idea is also expressed in my mood boards and in the concept artwork project.

I also really like this kind of artwork as the contrast between light and dark makes the piece really stand out, much like the game it is based on. Also the scale which is portrayed in the image makes it feel all the more epic.

Blog on game books

These are scans of the game books that we were told to read. This read was heavily focused on where an artist gets their inspiration from, it talks about inspiration coming from anywhere and everywhere, how carrying a sketchbook wherever you go is a good idea, and also about people who are successful and where they get their inspiration from. This text also focuses on how to let your inspiration be put of by the 'been done before' idea but to instead try it and see where it goes but adopting your own path.

I found it overall interesting and found myself remembering from when i was younger some of the points made in the text. I have to agree with the text and think that even though i had an idea of what it is talking about before i read it i feel i have learned something from it, especially the part on call of duty and how the idea of having low health displayed by red around the screen and heavy breathing to signify near death to be a new mechanic in fps's and how this changed all fps's in the future as they almost all adopt this mechanic.

PPP - Soul Calibur

I recently bought Soul Calibur 5 special edition for £45 and thought it would be appropriate to do a short review on it, and compare it to that of another review I found on Eurogamer.

These are the kind of skills you'll need to put into action when climbing up the rankings on PSN or Xbox Live. The usual mix of Ranked and Player Matches sit alongside a new Soul Link system that lets you keep track of up to three rivals, as well as a new Global Colosseo mode.

This free DLC is a community-building tool that's similar to the player rooms in Mortal Kombat. You pick a major capital like London, Paris or New York and then enter a 50-player lobby that lets you browse through Player Cards while participating in Random Matches and Ranked Tournaments that will be held at set times each month.

In terms of the all-important netcode, we were able to enjoy stable games against UK-based opponents with improved lag-reduction compared to SoulCalibur 4. And that's a sweeping statement that can be applied to the game as a whole.

We're 90 per cent sure that Kilik's successor, Xiba, shouts 'foooooooooood!' when bested in battle.

My lasting impression of SoulCalibur 5, though, came from a 'first to 50 wins' set that I played with a fellow reviewer over the course of a long evening. During this time, we experimented with roughly half the roster and although our initial games would've looked like an amateur showcase from SoulCalibur 4, it wasn't long before we were using the new mechanics to Quickstep out of the way of horizontal haymakers, punish whiffs on reaction with Critical Edges, Just Guard telegraphed unblockables, and stage epic comebacks with Brave Edge ball-breakers.

To be fair, these matches weren't quite as thrilling as the first time I played the original SoulCalibur. But in terms of those round-to-round mind-games where you have to adapt your strategies and mix-ups to find an increasingly elusive opening against a similarly skilled opponent, I can honestly say that this was the most intense game of SoulCalibur I have ever played.

SoulCalibur has always excelled at offering an accessible style of combat with a level of single-player content that other fighting games have only recently begun to match. These qualities haven't changed - and now, after what seemed like an uncertain return, the historical fighter is staging its best performance since that fateful Christmas of 1999. High five!

The review criticises the new systems in the game as well as the old systems, the lack of customisable armour and stats i thought was a mistake, it pretty much made the game for me in soul calibur 4 and new games in the series wont like up to my initial experience of the game series as i came into the series late (4th game). Also the lack of certain characters as well as the addition of certain character, Ezio for example feels very forced into the game as a marketing ploy by Assassins creed and that takes away from the point of the game a little bit.

Overall the game is fun when played with friends and almost entirely pointless when played alone, this has been true about the previous games, in my experience anyway, and therefore will not be getting ranked down for that fact, but will be losing marks in that it nearly hasnt changed at all since the last one and i will not be buying any more unless i read that it has sygnificantly changed in more than one aspect for it to be worth paying £40+ for. Other than  that though i will continue to play with friends and enjoy not being very good at the game as its not about winning in this game for me that counts. 

Eurogamer gave this game 8/10 and i would have to agree with a 8/10

PPP - A day as a Blizzard employee

When i loaded up the game World of Warcraft i noticed an article which i thought would be good as a PPP blog post, i thought it would be good to read up on what people have to say about what a working day is like in the game design industry. This would be especially useful for me as this would be my ideal job and anything more i can know about the entire industry would be an advantage.

Lunch! Heat up the pizza I brought from home and check out some gaming sites, or whatever.

1:00pm

Jay and Steve Parker (producer) stop by my office for a quick priorities update. We look over my tasks and shuffle around priorities. I have five UI mockups in review, some at the design evaluation stage and others for tech review (mainly programming). We talk about how those UIs may impact other functionality and revise the list to accommodate.

My schedule tends to be very loose since it is affected by all three disciplines (art, design, and programming). Often times something will clear art and design only to hit a snag in tech review which causes a revision. Most of the time it's minor, but in rare cases it can mean scrapping everything and starting from scratch.

1:40pm

Wyatt Cheng (designer) stops by my office to brainstorm some UI ideas for one of his tasks. We talk through various scenarios and Wyatt puts his ideas on the whiteboard. This will be my reference point as I move forward with the UI later.

I prefer whiteboard scrawl to stuffy formal design docs as it tends to bring out the emotion of the designer. I get to see what they're really passionate about in a particular UI. A lot of that gets lost when converted to a word document.

2:10pm

Time to get some art assets into the game!

My Trade UI has been approved, so it's time to break it down into game assets.

Once a UI mockup has passed all areas of approval (Design, Art, Code) I then covert the mockup into actual game assets. It's kind of like breaking up a jigsaw puzzle into all the pieces. I put all the pieces into the game engine and let the programmers know where they are, what they're named and so on. Then I send along a coordinates image that shows where all the pieces go and how they work so that when a programmer reassembles all my pieces it looks nearly identical to my mockup.

For this reason I make my mockups game-quality art (most of the time) so that when it comes time to break it up into all the separate components I don't have to make new art. It's already done.

I send along both a sample image (the mockup) and the coordinates image so the programmer can see what the final UI should look like. This is a helpful reminder because sometimes things get moved around in the schedule and the layout may not be fresh in the mind of, or even familiar to, the programmer assigned to implementing the UI.

To me this sounds like a pretty awsome day of work, i know i would love to work on a game i am interested in, to make it my own and add my own style to a gameplay experience. I have found this study a very good insight into what a day working in the game industry is like and with any look want to be doing this kind of thing in to future.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/b20/interviews.html#firstInterview

Dropbox game zone

Today we started creating our maps using the program Unity, i very much enjoyed using the program mainly i think because of the interactivity of the program, the play button is one of the things i found most fun and useful, it helps get a better feel of the environment and atmosphere. I also found that Unity is way easier to use than Maya even though they are very similar and find the entire program more user friendly.
I have uploaded a demo of the game i have created, it is very messy at the moment but i think after one day of working with the program i am getting used to how to work things, naming objects, lights, water and textures are all becoming easier to use and manage. Anyway here is the Demo.

Animation - Final Animation

This is my final animation for the OUDF405 project.



I have also included what the Maya file looked like 2 days before i started rendering out, just to show what staying 12 hours each day can do. I am happy with myself for achieveing so much in such a short amount of time but again in the future will try to manage my time better as i think i could have done even more if id have had more time.

This is also what i presented for the final crit we all had.

Animation - Everything Else

The other little things i did which caused me some hassle.

I thought i would include a screenshot i did of the first thing i ever created in Maya. This was done at a point in time before i realised how frustrating the program was, life was good before Maya. Also i used deformers a little here thinking i would use them a lot in the future.

I also put up this test i did using lights, reminding me that it took a long time to get the hang of but i did manage to get the hang of them in the end. 

Finally another pic of a file screen, because it reminds me of how long it took me to realise and understand how maya works with its filing system. Projects, source images, images, textures and all that jazz.

Animation - Creating My Car

While creating my car i came across a few problems, first was navigating the entire Maya interface as i was getting lost a lot and finding the help tab at the top to be where i was finding most of the buttons and tools, i also never get a custom tab set up but if i ever take on a bigger project i will most likely be setting one up for time saving. As for importing images to use as reference, that was quite easy, it was just a case of moving and resizing the images to match each other then using the different view panels to see things from different set angles.

The actual deforming of the car was a time consuming process, i found out after i had done it that deleting the lines which are created while deforming is a bad idea, it means if i wanted to move the shape in the future i wasnt able to because the line which is a handle to the object is missing, i did this in the first place because there were so many lines that i couldnt tell what was going on, basically i will try to exersize less messy practice in the future. This was also the reason i had to use in program Blinns to create the colours for my car, this is because when i tried to unwrap and save the texture of the car in photoshop i couldnt tell what part of the car was what as there were so many line, and in the end too little lines. I ended up being happy with the colour so it all turned out ok. i also used my common sense and only made half of the car and then duplicated it then grouped it to create the finished thing.

Animation - Creating My Track

While creating my track i came across several unique problems that others didnt have due to the nature of my idea, my track was to be like a micro machines or hot wheels track, and would be bendy and twisty in all different ways which made making the track tricky. My first idea i started with a flat surface with lots of subdivisions, extending each set of subdivisions in different angles which made for a really bad looking blocky stretched track, i think i actually deleted the file because it was so unusable and bad (would have been nice to comparison) but oh well.

Matt then showed me how to create a CV curve from a birds eye view then lower different sections using vertexs, which worked really well, he then showed me how to extend a shape along the line using the extrude setting, i then rotated and changed the extrude settings until i was happy with the result and it looked track like enough for me. The motion path was easy to follow as the track was made using a line to start with, it was only a case of keying the car to the right amount of frames to make it run at a realistic speed. The colour in the entire scene was one part i did enjoy as it did what i wanted almost straight away every time, the only trouble i had was with the chrome looking bin and table legs which took a few goes to get right. I was shown how to add reflectors and lights by classmates (Tom, Luca) as i hadnt really looked into that area much since i strugled on creating the base track but once i was shown i edited, messed around and found the lights and reflections and colour that i wanted. The textures were a simple case of texture wrapping and bump mapping which i caught the hang of early on but i think worked nice (floor and table).

Here are a few pics showing what i have evaluated.

Animation Study - The Power of Animation

I found this short animation clip on Snotr (a site joel go me using) and thought it showed the fundamentals of animation really well with no faults, this t=is the standard of animation that needs to be produced to get noticed these days and i think the amount of effort that goes into this type of work must be way more than i have put in in this last module, not that i havent put a lot of effort in but from what i got yesterday when the animation company Distant Duture came to talk to us, the amount of work put into an animation that will get you noticed in the industry will be the amount of time where you are tired most of the day from many sleepless nights. Basically expect many many hours of work to make anything good in animation is what i have learned.



http://www.snotr.com/video/7804/The_power_of_animation - All credit to the owner

Animation Study - Toy Story!

I was talking to phil about my animation project when he suggested looking the the Toy Story 1 animation where buzz rides a toy car down a track in the film, i don't know why it never occurred to me before but it would be the perfect study to do as it matches up with my animation idea perfectly. The video is quite hard to find since Toy Story on youtube and other sites has been spammed with so many crap videos its hard to find the ones you want.



At 3:08 Buzz lands on the toy racetrack i mentioned. A thing that i failed to consider when creating my own track was weather my track would move when the car goes down it but i figured it wouldnt and also that would be a lot more on an already full plate of mine. I also realised the reason the track moves in this film is that Buzz is way heavier than the track is meant to handle so that is the reason for it bending slightly as he goes around it, it makes another small but crucially essential part of the film being the little things, sometimes unnoticeable but always perfectly done and which complete the film.

Film Production - All Films

I have decided to put all the film links in one blog post for future viewing. Enjoy


1 Min Instructional Video - How to shoot two pistols while jumping through the air

Group Film 1 - Mind Wonderer

Group Film 2 - Define me

Film Study - Sound Recording

As mentioned earlier we have used a voice track recording of us reading out the poem to overdub over the film, this has worked really well and we went with using just one voice reading the poem which also works well. I am going to include my reading of the poem since it was a new experience for me and shows a little more into the processes we went through to create our film.

Film Study - Storyboarding

I searched the base definition of what a storyboard artist is and does, this is what i found. I find Wiki gives very good definitions when it comes to well everything, this definition says exactly what i have come to understand which is why i have used it.

Storyboard artist (sometimes referred as story artist) is a profession specialized in creating storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions.

A storyboard artist is able to visualize any stories using quick sketches on paper at any moment. Quick pencil drawings and marker renderings are two of the most common traditional techniques, although nowadays Flash, Photoshop, and other storyboard applications are gradually taking over. The digital camera is one of the latest techniques in creating storyboards.


I have looked at films and storyboards over and over and Bladerunner keeps popping up in my finds so i have decided to write a little about a storyboard of a part of the film, i found this storyboard and a little text commenting on it from the linked website below, i agree with everything that the writer of this article has written at least about the storyboard picture and how important it is as a guideline to a film.

http://media.bladezone.com/contents/fan/submissions/doug/doug5.php

"This is a typical storyboard. Part of the sequence you just saw. (Deckard and Gaff on their way to the Tyrell Building.) And you can see that we diverged from the storyboard sometimes. It’s just a guideline to make sure the shots are there and tell a story. Exactly how the shots are framed or how fast they move changes from time to time, based on our professional judgment. In my opinion, you shouldn’t make a movie unless you have a good storyboard for every shot, and know exactly what you’re going to try to do, and how it’s all going to come together."