All Your Base Are Belong To Me

Final Major Project

2009-04-16T12:59:00.018+01:00

Ok, so we've got to hand in a draft of our project proposal this coming monday, and from then on its all work towards the end of year show. I had a few initial ideas, namely a Resident evil style horror game using third person fixed camera angles and the like. While I was messing around with this idea, I did, with

the help of 3DBuzz, manage to figure out how to have multiple fixed cameras that would change dependant on the player position, all done in Kismet. A screeny is posted after the jump. Ultimately however, this idea was not what I felt would really show of all my skills. As a result, I've settled on Creating a game in the vein of "Loaded" and "Re-Loaded". As a result of this, it has taken me the better part of a week, amalgamating countless tutorials together in big pot confusion just to be able to figure out how to get a custom character into Unreal. More after the jump.

It Involves a very confusing Rigging process in 3dsMax, and lots of messing about with several .ini files. Until we go back to college I'm unsure if I can edit or even get access to these config files, due the college's network setup. So far, all I've done is a basic test character, made out of boxes and with placeholder textures.
Fortunately, by Epic offering up the base models for 4 of the different character types, I can model around the provided skeleton, rig it, and all the animations will (or should) transfer straight over onto my character. This is helpful because I've got alot to do, and creating all new animations would require a good few weeks that I don't have. Changing Weapon properties like fire speed and damage done is a simple matter of changing a few numbers in some different .ini files. Getting the top Down view I need that tracks onto the player is easy, in fact it was the basis of the kismet for this that helped me get the angles for the Resident Evil Idea. Still a long way to go though;

-Create my Final Character, Complete with Textures and Normal Maps (possibly)
-Figure Out how to Change the meshes and animations on the Weapons, OR create new weapon classes entirely
-Change the HUD
-Custom Meshes for ammo, weapon Factories etc.
-ALL Level Assets
-Changing the way unreal handles aiming (at the moment it fires in the center of the view, which results in shooting the floor)
-Meshes for Bots
-Changing Bot Behaviour (the play it like a deathmatch at the moment, killing each other, I need them to focus on the player only)
-Possibility of Porting to PS3?
-Some other things I've probably forgotten, watch this space.

The Kismet Showing the custom third person camera Angles and how they are done in Kismet. (Right Click, View Image for full size)

The Custom Test Character in the unreal character selection screen. It has to be Imported in parts, such as arms, legs and torso. (Right Click, View Image for full size)

St. Basil's and the Unreal Editor

2008-09-15T19:00:00.006+01:00

So we've been at college for exactly a week now, a despite a rocky start, were now stuck into two new units; 3D Environments and Game Engines, both of which can be fully realised on brand new quad core SLI computers.
The 3D environment brief has us ultimately making either a scene in 3dsMAX, with a video fly-by, or a interactive Unreal level. This has large crossovers with the game engines unit, which we started today, but will not receive a brief for until next week. In the meantime however, I have started modelling St. Basil's cathedral for the 3D environments unit (the big, colourful multiple domed thing right next to the Kremlin), as my original thought of a pagoda was shot down in flames after I learned Mark was doing something similar.
For today though, we concentrated entirely on the game engines unit, and from now on, I shall be updating this blog much more frequently than last year, so as to help me keep a record of my progress to help with end-of-unit write ups. Today's happenings after the jump.

The first half of the day we spent about an hour doing our environment work, while Shaun set up the shared drive and the resources we needed. After that, Shaun had arranged a guest speaker from NC-Soft, a QA games tester he had teached to use the Unreal engine over the summer. It was interesting to get his perspective on the industry, and obtain some first hand knowledge of one route into the industry (despite not being multi-lingual or having any qualifications), and how to progress up the ladder from an entry level position.
After that, we lunched, then got stuck into the Unreal Editor via some video tutorials. The editor its self is the the old 2.0 version, and the educational license, so bugs are abound (in particular an annoying saving one). Despite this, I found the tutorials easy to follow and a great help to me. I got quite far in the tutorials, in front of many others in the class, and I hope to complete that section by the end of our next session.
The Unreal engine treats the entire world as solid, so to create a room, you make a wire-frame box and 'subtract' it from the game world, creating a room. From there I proceeded to texture and light the room, learn navigation controls, as well as modify and delete aspects of the world that I had created. This was all fine and I had no trouble with it at all, but from then on, things got a little more complicated.
Next up in the tutorials was adding to the world via subtraction, which was similar to creating the original room, but focused more on replicating the brushes and moving subtracted elements. After that came adding to the world via addition, which is extremely similar to creating the room, but instead you 'add' to empty space you have created by subtracting from the solid game world in the first place. That sounds a lot more complicated that it is, but once I got my head around it it became surprisingly simple.
Following that came stair creation, which was deceptively simple. There's numerous options and limits (like a 45 step maximum per flight) and you have to do some actual maths (Gasp!) to work out your individual step height and the number of steps for how high you need to go.
Afterwards came placing static meshes in the scene, which caused no problems, and was very simple to do.
The trouble came next, by creating a static mesh from scratch (made more difficult by that every present saving bug, something we think is down the the college's horrible network setup, in which the unreal editor doesn't like saving to a hard drive that isn't in the computer, but instead is located on the other end of a network cable). The idea in the tutorial was to set up the beginnings of a lift, and as a lift moves, it has to be a static mesh, not a subtracted or addition element. I did it in the end though.
I only got part way through the next tutorial, which setting up the static mesh as a 'mover' so that it would function as a lift. It seems simple enough, such as setting at start position, an end position, the time it takes to rise and fall, how to activate and how long before it descends again. I just managed to get through to to testing the lift before we had to leave for the day, and it work fine, except for one bug. The lift worked and functioned like I'd set it up to, but it was invisible (!?). I talked to Bod about it, apparently he'd had the same issue, static meshes as movers not displaying. He's used the engine before though, and I'm confident he'll come up with a fix (hint hint).
If I remember to stick the files on my memory stick, tomorrow I'll upload some pictures of the tutorial level progress and the current state of the Cathedral.

Long time, No Post

2008-08-22T13:46:00.004+01:00

Ok, so summer is almost at an end, and still no word about grades from last year which is a bummer (also, when do we start again?!?).
Over the holiday, aside from going out ALOT (huzzah for no early mornings!) and working, ive been working on my drawing and general graphics skills, and trying my hand at some more advanced modelling. I'm fairly pleased with the results, having already filled two awesome Moleskine books, and a sizeable portion of my harddrive.
In Addition, ive managed to catch up on all my gaming. This effort will of course all be wasted, what with practically every game worth its weight released in the next few months.
In related news, i've also had a nice tax refund, so that going on a new Nehalem DDR3 system when Intel gets their act sorted.
Anyway, i thought i better get a post in to seperate next year from last year.

EDIT:

Oh yeah, completely forgot to metion Uni courses. I've a good hard look, and (if i do apply) i will probably go for something along the lines of Games Technology and Computer Science. Brighton seems to have a pretty decent course including a sandwhich year, but then again Kingston has a very nice alternative (Computer Science With Games). While I'd love to go to uni, I'm not sure it the wisest choice, as many degrees are outdated by the time you graduate, so maybe (if its achieveable) ill try and get a job straight out. Then again, going to uni purely for the sandwhich year would help...

Statement of Intent

2008-06-19T11:22:00.001+01:00

I am going to look at the effect of in game advertisements and advergames on the consumer and developer.

I will do this by
•Researching current spending
•Researching current trends
•Researching new technologies in use
•Research the beginnings of IGA

Xbox Review Summary

2008-06-19T11:09:00.003+01:00

As part of the critical approaches unit, we have had to summarise and compare two reviews of the Xbox 360 Console.
Hit the jump for summary and the two original reviews.

Review 1

Microsoft - Xbox 360 review
High-powered games console (06/12/2005)
IT Reviews
Taken from: http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h852.htm

Blurring the lines between computing and console gaming more than ever, the Xbox 360 is far more than a games machine. Some may cynically observe that it's a device that's allowed Microsoft to bring all manner of non-gaming, Microsoft-branded services and media functions into the living room (replete with tie-ins to Windows Media Center Edition and XP, naturally), but there's still no denying it's a capable beast.
Initial observations are that it's slightly smaller than the original Xbox, and heavier. The huge power pack takes us back to the days of the Spectrum +3 - and then some! - and the controller is far better than it looked on paper.
We should point out that it's the Full edition we're looking at here, replete with in-built 20GB hard drive and wireless controller. A 'Core' edition is available without these and a couple of other items for £70 less. There doesn't seem much point in opting for that, though, as a hard drive is pretty much a necessity here. That said, you can add a drive later, and with the various USB ports there's significant upgrade potential.
After a solid weekend with the machine, several pros and cons emerge. Certainly the power packed inside is immense: Call of Duty 2 was playing easily as well on the Xbox 360 as it had done on our test PC the week before, and looking the business too.
We'd also managed, with consummate ease, to get the Xbox 360 connected to a network. We tried both wired and wireless connections and in both cases we were up, running and taking advantage of a shared broadband connection in little time at all.
And that sums the Xbox 360 up to an extent. The things it does well, it does exceptionally well. Its interface is clean, it's as simple as you'd expect to set up, and we even managed to buy and download a small game from Xbox Live Arcade in a matter of minutes. Smashing stuff.
Sadly, our boxed review copy of Project Gotham Racing 3 exposed a flaw or two. Namely, the machine kept crashing. Now we couldn't replicate the Web-reported cases of the machine overheating (although given the cooling system inside, we were inclined to give the machine a little space), but when a launch title crashed four times in the first hour after being taken from a previously shrink-wrapped box, we weren't impressed.
In fact the launch line-up looked better on paper than it appears in reality. Perfect Dark Zero was a slight disappointment, Kameo we didn't warm to at all, and ironically it was a PC game that we'd played the month before that we enjoyed the most. That said, in spite of the hype, it's rarely the launch line-up that defines a console, and we expect lots of better games in 2006.
Other mild grumbles? We can see that 20GB hard disk filling up quickly for anyone who uses the online functions, and we wonder long term whether a DVD drive will be ample (perhaps Microsoft is looking for upgrade sales there). And it would be nice if a console manufacturer could one day make enough units to satisfy demand from the start.
Yet the Xbox 360 is a strong and important console, with plenty up its sleeve. Clearly technically superior to the Xbox and PS2, its real challenge is still cloaked in a degree of secrecy, with Sony's PS3 still months away at the time of writing. Thus we can only conclude that in the Xbox 360, Microsoft has delivered an astonishingly competent machine at a price that - if you tried to replicate the technology in a PC - looks an absolute bargain.
Now if you'll excuse us, it's Call Of Duty 2 time again...

Review 2

Xbox 360 Review
Paul Thurrott
November 8-22, 2005

Taken from Winsupersite: http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/xbox360.asp

Like a child on Christmas morning, I greeted the arrival of Xbox 360 in my home as a magical and unforgettable moment. The day was the culmination of 30 years of video gaming, from my earliest experiences with video arcade titles like "Pong" and "Space Invaders" to the recently completed "Quake 4," which I played at 1920 x 1200 resolution on my hopped-up PC gaming rig. Between these events, I've logged uncountable hours gaming. There was my first video game system, the Mattel Intellivision, with its amazing sports titles and quirky controllers, the Commodore 64 with hundreds of arcade, action, and flight simulator games. There was the Apple IIGS, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and, yes, the Amiga, with the majesty of "Shadow of the Beast," "Wings," "Defender of the Crown," and so much more. Id software's "Castle Wolfenstein" proved that PC gaming was viable in the early 1990's, and I've spent much of the time since slogging through id-created and -inspired shooters such as "DOOM," "Quake," "Unreal Tournament," and "Call of Duty." And of course, I've logged numerous hours on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP, and Nintendo GameBoy Advance and DS, as well as various retro game systems like the Atari 2600, 7800, and Jaguar, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast. If it's a video game, I've probably played it.
But the Xbox 360. My God, the Xbox 360. Let's be frank for a moment, shall we? As good as its predecessor was--and still is--Xbox 360 is the holy grail of video gaming. It supplies HDTV resolutions with video-quality graphics. Surround sound. A triple-core Power PC processor. I mean, seriously: A CPU with three dedicated processing cores. All wrapped up in an elegant white and gray case and accessed via wireless controllers. Nerdvana in a box. That's Xbox 360.
I've spent a good part of this year figuring out how I would cover the Xbox 360. I knew that I could make a logical argument that the device's Media Center Extender (MCX) features would merit at least some coverage on the SuperSite for Windows. But really, the decision to go all out and treat Xbox 360 as an equal to Windows, Windows Server, and Office on this site was an emotional, almost religious decision. Xbox 360 is going to change the world, I think, in the sense that it will legitimize video games as a top-tier entertainment experience. And I can't leave it to the bozo video game sites to communicate why that's the case. Too much of the video game-related content out there reads like it's aimed at children, with annoying pseudo-cool language. I can do video games right, I thought, something that adults would like. So I'm giving it a shot.
And here we are. With the official launch of the Xbox 360 upon us, Microsoft has given me permission to start publishing reviews and other information about the shipping version of Xbox 360, its peripherals, and software. My first major effort is this product review, which primarily covers the Xbox 360 console itself, but also touches on the various accessories and games that are available at launch. In the coming days, I'll have a massive wave of additional content that will delve more deeply into the games and other products that out in support of Xbox 360. But this is my love letter to you, the video game fan. I'm serious about Xbox 360, and will remain so throughout its life time. So grab something hot to drink and settle in, because we have a lot of ground to cover.

My Summary

Review 1 gives both the good and bad points of the xbox360,, taking into account its multimedia capabilities and improvements over the original. The second review however seems only to praise the xbox360 as the be all and end all of computer gaming.
In review one, useful information such as price and SKU’s are considered, along with ease of use and setup. However, the bad points are also considered, such as machine crashes “…, the machine kept crashing…”, game line-up and Hard drive space. The review sums up the xbox360 as and improvement over previous generations “…Clearly technically superior to the Xbox and PS2…”, but makes the point of Sony’s PS3 having not been released yet as its main competitor “…Sony's PS3 still months away…”.
In review two, the reviewer only talks about the xbox360 as the ultimate gaming experience …” But the Xbox 360. My God, the Xbox 360…”, comparing to everything he’s ever played, “…I've logged numerous hours on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP, and Nintendo GameBoy Advance and DS…”. Pointing out all of its good features and hyping them into obscurity, without considering any of its downsides.
In summary, Review one is fair and balanced, while review two is biased and inaccurate in places.

Advertising for the Female Gender

2008-05-09T10:24:00.019+01:00

Second part of that advertising research, focusing on females advertising. Hit the jump for the advertising goodness. Hit the titles for links.
Boris Johnson unrelated, but awesome none the less.

Herbal Essences "Intensive Blends" Print

This herbal essences advert, promoting a new 'flavour' (for lack of a better word) is clearly aimed towards women as it uses the tagline - "Until now, you've only fantasized about it being this intense". This is a pun on female orgasms in reference to the enjoyment of washing your hair (!?).

Diet Coke Hunk 2008

Keeping in theme with their famous advertising of years gone by, diet coke have released a new advert featuring another hunk and aiming at fashion and diet conscious women (In response to declining sales for men the Coca-Cola company released Coke Zero).

Aero Chocolate Hunk 2008

In the vein as the diet coke advert, this Aero advert uses an attractive male to appeal to women.

Sheila's Wheels Advert

The product is aimed towards women but the advert is just plain annoying according to EVERYONE i know. But still, its pink.

Dove "Beauty has no age limit" campaign

A little to big to embed and shrink so hit the link for it. It is and advert aimed towards all women, be it old or young.

Animating a City

2008-05-02T10:59:00.003+01:00

As part of the video production unit, i've moddeled and animated a camera zooming in on and traveling around a city. I had a few problems doing this, mainly with lighting which has been left largely untouched in tutor sessions, so i took me a while to nail it. I'm pleased with the result though, and thanks go to Mark, Bod and Whyte for their expertise.
I'm going to use this as part of my music video, when i get round to filming the live action parts then i can get properly stuck into it. This is of course in between playing copious amounts of GTA4 and going out doing damage to my liver. Hoorah!
Also, still need to get round to finding a host...

Animal Movement

2008-04-23T20:39:00.003+01:00

As part of our 3D animation unit we've been asked to reasearch animal motion, so we can replicate it using standard primitives in 3DStudioMAX. Follow the jump for links and the like.
Once i find a host for the flash animation stuff ill upload my Channel 4 Ident and Personal Ident.

Pigeon
I thought i'd start with some thing simple, the humble pigeon. Nothing to complex, one foot in front of the other, with a head bob for each. Will move in random directions to get somewhere, very rarely walks in a straight line. For now, have a youtube link, but seeing as im carrying my video camera everywhere for the Video Production Unit ill try to remeber to film some in town or on the way to college.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_H5rUF6EYk

Rabbit
More complicated this time, the rabbits front "arms" move froward, follwed by as push of the back "legs". Reminds of when cats leap. No one owns a rabbit as far as i know, so heres a bad youtube video. Unfortunately rabbit walk cycles gennerally incolve humaniod rabbits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPOCaPs7oek

EDIT 29/4/08
I've since started animating a scorpion instead, for they are made of win and multiple legs.

Work Update

2008-04-23T12:17:00.007+01:00

Okay so its taken a while, and i still havent got some of my sketch books back, so ive rounded up all the digital copies i can find and uploaded them to this Blogs Picasa account. You view all my work to date (minus the Flash animation - need to find a host) after the jump. Also removed the slideshow widget from the sidebar, hopefully ill try to remember to update as i go.

3D Moddeling

Digital Graphics

Concept Art

Lost Odyssey Review

2008-04-23T11:03:00.011+01:00

I've always been a fan of RPG's, ever since i can first remember gaming on my old SNES. After being dissapointed with Mistwalkers previous 360 RPG, Blue Dragon, i was unsure of how to approach Lost Oddyssey. I'd heard good things, but the same could have been said about Blue Dragon, so i was a bit apprehensive about dropping £40 on this game. Nevertheless, i hadn't played a good RPG in a donkeys age, so hit up PLAY.com and within a few days it was on my doorstep.

Upon loading up Lost Odyssey, i was treated to a pretty awesome opening FMV which seamlessly rode into the first battle. It was fairly standard affair, with a system akin to Final Fantasy X's CTB system. After the introductory battle, the game slowly eases you into its mechanics, the most prominent being the Ring and Immortal system. The ring system is a reflex mechanic that allows you to deal extra damage, inflict status or even mug (all dependant on which ring you have equiped) enemies with a well timed hold-and-release if the right trigger. It makes the battles that much more interactive, with out making it an action RPG. The Immortal element of gameplay is like a constant auto-life on some of your characters, which means provided at least one person in your party remains alive, within a few turns any immortal characters will be revived! it can be quite handy in those optional boss battles.
Of course, the heart if any RPG is its story, and this a cracking one. I wouldnt want to say anything to spoil it, so ill leave it at its not a worn out rebel vs empire, or light vs dark story, its a fresh and excellent concept.
The game was desgined to be anti-grinding (except for optional bosses), so you are always proceeding, never hanging around trying to get those few extra levels to beat the next boss, which is a welcome addition in my book.
It really looks the part too, although sometimes this did cause a bit of stutter. Having said that, my 360 did RRoD about 50 hours in, so that may be why. It was a shame really, because all i had left to do was get a few acheivments then defeat the final boss. By the time i got my 360 back i had forgotten what i was doing and what was going on. Alas, i finshed it anyway, and despite the hicup, i was pleasantly suprised at how much i had enjoyed the game. This is an RPG, though while not as good as classics like Chrono Trigger or FFVII, is definately the best RPG ive played on this or the previous generation.

Game Log

Game Title	Lost Odyssey
Platform	Xbox 360
Other Platforms possible	-
Dates Played	3/3/08 - 16/4/08
Number of Players	One
Release Date	29/2/08
Developer	Mistwalker
Developer Loacation	Japan
Brief Overview	Deep RPG woth fresh twists on worn out concepts
Primary Game Genre	RPG
Secondary Game Genre	-
Tertiary Game Genre	-
Single Player/Multiplayer	Single Player Onlye
Typical Duration of Game	60 Hours +
Out of 10	9/10
Target Audience	Young Adults, RPG Fans
Out of 10 for Audience	9/10
Is it a Success	Yes
Why	Has flipped turn based RPG's on their head with and enagaging story and great battle system

Advertising Geared Towards Gender

2008-04-22T10:03:00.030+01:00

As part of our new unit "Critical Approaches to Media Products" we have been asked to find examples of advertising geared towards a specific gender. Follow the jump for five examples of advertising for Males (Females to come later)along with a short background and explanation of the advert. Ill also upload all that concept art and flash animation stuff when we get our sketch books back.

Click on titles for links to the adverts.

Male Advertising

LYNX - Click

The first piece is a Lynx advert, as part of there promotion of their new annual fragrance "click". It features Ben Affleck as he goes about his day, using a clicker-counter to count how many women check him out. And the end of the advert, a not as attractive male shows him his own counter, significantly higher than Ben's. It is also shown that this male uses "Click" as a fragrance and thus is more attractive to the opposite sex because of this. Clearly aimed at single men, this advert was shown in 2006 to promote the yearly fragrance, which was preceeded by "Pulse", and has been followed by "Vice" and the current "Chocolate"

Noitulove - Guinness

The Noitulove (Evolution backwards) adverts was a critically acllaimed advert for Guinness in October 2005. It features 3 Males who are shown to have wait for the entire history of evolution for a taste of Guinness, after having tasted muddy water in the beginning of theire evolution, following the "good things come to those who wait" campaign. This was aimed at men trying to draw them away from faster pouring lagers. Several variotions were later shown, including a variation for Guinness ice cold featuring a slighty different ending where the muddy water freezes the 3 bugs.

Budweiser - Wassup

This advert was aimed at students and aired between 1999 and 2002 and features the now cult slogan "wassup?". It depicts several young adults holding a fairly pontless conversation, and intergrating Budweiser as part of their life style. It appeals to the target market as it has comic value and the slogan has even been parodied in movies.

Durex - To all our Competitors

I have been unable to find any information on this ad so it may be a photoshop hoax, but it is still an advert aimed clearly at sexually active men, playing down their competitors abilities to prevent pregnancy as well as Durex can. Features the slogan - "To all those who use our competitors products, Happy Fathers Day"

Setanta Sports Tv Spot

An advert aimed at sport loving men, featuring the attractive Thaila Zucchi and the sporting icon Des Lynam, it features straight to the point facts appealing to Men for its simple nature and appealing content.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Review

2008-02-01T16:34:00.000Z

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was my first foray into the Call of Duty series, and was the series' first non WWII game. Having worn myself out of WWII shooters by the sixth generation Medal of Honour games, i had no real intention of buying CoD4 either, despite the new modern setting. However, after having played a few missions on a friends PS3 version, i decided i would pick it up for my 360 with left over Christmas vouchers.

The FPS genre to me is overpopulated and dreary, but CoD4 shines through for me because its more than just a FPS. Its has a great, well told story told in Half-Life 2 way. Its that exact reason that i enjoy the single player campaign, I'm not just 'a guy' shooting 'the enemy' for 'no reason'. I'm Soap MacTavish, a newbie SAS operative hunting a nuclear device hoarded by a one-armed villain. My comrades aren't just cannon fodder designed to soak up bullets, they're AI's with names and skill. Aside from the standard run and gun the game offers, there also brief moments of bullet-time esque precision shooting. The shining star of this game however has to be the 'All Ghillied up' level, a sort of Stealth-em-up level, where you follow your CO with nothing but a sniper rifle, a leaf suit, and your wits. It was the first level in any FPS i've played that actually felt good to play through.
The game can only be played on the hardest difficulty to get the most out of it though. On Veteran, enemies flank you, a few bullets will kill, and grenades are thrown back at you. At any other difficulty the game is two predictable, and not nearly as enjoyable. The game offers many weapons to the player, each with various pitfalls and strengths to consider, although i often found myself using the default level starting weapon, unless i needed some sniping done.
The online multiplayer was a surprise to me as well, with a multitude of game modes and character customization options. I think however my experience was heightened once i realised that all the whiney kids that populate Xbox LIVE and make my online experiences less than desiriable were all to busy playing Halo 3 to notice what a great game had arrived to take on the crown of most played LIVE game. Cod4 even managed this, albeit for only two weeks, but at least i now know im not the only one who doesnt like the god-like status Halo seems to have.
All in all a great single player game reinforced with a good online portion.

Game Log

Game Title	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Platform	Xbox 360
Other Platforms possible	PS3, Windows, Mac OSX
Dates Played	31/12/07 - 19/1/08
Number of Players	One, 1-4 Split Screen, Online Multiplayer 2-18
Release Date	9/11/07
Developer	Infinity Ward
Developer Loacation	California, USA
Brief Overview	Involving FPS with a challenging difficulty and solid Story
Primary Game Genre	FPS
Secondary Game Genre	-
Tertiary Game Genre	-
Single Player/Multiplayer	Both
Typical Duration of Game	15 Hours
Out of 10	8/10
Target Audience	Young Adults, Military Personnel
Out of 10 for Audience	7/10
Is it a Success	Yes
Why	Believable FPS with realistic features.

Concept art and Flash

2008-01-29T23:33:00.001Z

OK, i haven't posted in a while, been bogged down with the concept art and finishing the digital grpahics unit. Since the last post we've also started a flash unit. Updated images to come.
On a different note, Christmas and a birthday have given me ample games and time to complete them, so a few game logs will be hurling themselves blogwards soon enough. Heres to a new year and hopefully many great games!

Mass Effect Review

2007-12-06T17:54:00.000Z

With already glowing reviews from major gaming sites and the public as well, Mass Effect is definitely Game of the Year material. On the surface it is a clean and unique RPG that improves upon RPG giants Bioware's previous successes of Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic. On the whole it delivers a great next-gen experience with stunning visuals and narrative despite some technical and game play issues. Hit the jump for the rest.

While Mass Effect has very little in the way a brand new genre-defining innovation, it does however, vastly improve upon what has been done before. The best example, and quite possibly the greatest part of this game, is the unique narrative interface. In previous Bioware games such as Knights of the Old Republic, conversation choices appeared after the character you were talking to had finished, resulting in a stop-start feel to conversations as you read and then choose possible responses. Mass Effect how ever will give you your choices during conversation so you can be ready when its your turn to speak. Also, as oppose to giving you word-for-word responses, Mass Effect will offer you a sort of tone of response choice, with the words describing how you will respond, not what you will respond with. This system is presented in a unique wheel, with kinder options at the top and harsher ones at the bottom. Left hand choices generally offer more conversation, while right hand ones generally signal a conversation end.
This results in a smooth flowing narrative, one in which i don't find myself reading the subtitles just to get to the end and collect my loot, Although the presentation of the speech wheel will allow you to skip through conversation once you know how it works if you so wish.

The Story line is brilliant too, with new and well executed twists on sci-fi standards. Its only a shame that the main plot line is horribly short, clocking in around 12 Hours, although with all the side quests a good 30-40 hours can be had. It has also caused quite a controversy as a possible romance subplot can involve not only interspecies sexual relations (even though the 'scenes' are hilarious to watch) but also lesbian interspecies sexual relations. The game was initially banned in Singapore over this, but this has since been reversed.

Anyway, that's enough praise for now. Underneath all of this lies a unpolished pseudo-RPG that could have been so much better.
For starters the Visuals. OK, so they look amazing. But they also bog the game down like nobody's business, with texture pop-ins happening frequently throughout game play. "Official" loading times, where the game tells you its loading are short (albeit with texture pop-ins again), but its where the game tries to disguise loading times with painfully long elevator rides or "bio-hazard decontamination" that you start to get impatient as the game hastily tries to load all that data. The games unique locations look brilliant, but its when you start doing the side quests you notice the recycled textures.

The combat plays more like Gears of War than the updated KOTOR like it was touted, with the whole cover-duck-shoot playing more like a third person shooter with a overused over the shoulder camera angle than the careful tactical play an RPG should have. The game will occasionally experience horrible FPS drops at critical times as it tries load all the combat physics at once.

Vehicular exploration and combat, while fun at first, turns out to be not only boring and in some cases unrealistic (driving up vertical slopes anyone?), but also insanely hard at higher difficulty levels.

Although i should give credit to Bioware for trying to make an accessible RPG, its exactly that which makes it feel exactly not like an RPG. The dumbed down level system feels abandoned, and the team dynamics feel rushed, with squad control coming across like a tacked on afterthought. Also, standard RPG conventions, the very substance that makes an RPG an RPG, is almost unrecognizable. There are no unique character weapons, with all characters carrying the same four weapons and an encouragement by the game and its achievements to use two squad members exclusively (A point we discussed in class the other day, RPG's generally having uses for all the characters at different points)

However, despite all of its short comings, Mass effect remains a great RPG (late nights being a good indicator) that i cant help but love. A great story and impressive visuals make this a must play ~~RPG~~ Third Person Shooter.

Game Log

Game Title	Mass Effect
Platform	Xbox 360
Other Platforms possible	-
Dates Played	23/11/07 - 05/12/07
Number of Players	One
Release Date	23/11/07
Developer	BioWare
Developer Loacation	Canada
Brief Overview	Space opera RPG with unique dialogue system. Deep involving narrative, and gameplay that shines through technical faults.
Primary Game Genre	Third Person Shooter
Secondary Game Genre	RPG
Tertiary Game Genre	Third Person Adventure
Single Player/Multiplayer	Single Player
Typical Duration of Game	30 Hours
Out of 10	8/10
Target Audience	Young Adults / Adults
Out of 10 for Audience	9/10
Is it a Success	Yes
Why	Builds upon previous developer successes without being complacent in their accomplishments

Concept Art

2007-12-01T16:45:00.000Z

For our ongoing unit of Concept Art, I'm going to set up a picture slide show of some sort down the right hand side of the Blog to show the art I'm producing, and ill probably dedicate a few full posts to specific pieces as well. This is of course once i find a scanner of A3 size so that all the work in my sketch book can be placed on the Computer, Hopefully theres one somewhere at college.

Art Gallery Visits

2007-11-29T20:01:00.000Z

Today our class visited two local exhibitions on an apparently relevant field trip. While i cannot see the immediate benefit of this to our current unit of Concept Art, it is obvious that some of the work may help us in our upcoming Flash Animation Unit.

The First Visit was to the University of Brighton Gallery to see "Fragile Identities" by William Kentridge. The set composed of two rooms, the first being full of quite random newspaper and book clippings arranged into sets, as well as around 6 stereoscopic images. Although i didn't appreciate the meaning or what not behind them, i found the idea of stereoscopic images quite appealing. Perhaps this is a thought for the future.
The second room comprised of about 8 projectors, each projecting onto the blackout wall windows. While unable to see outside from inside, and vice versa, the screens were visible in both the gallery room and the outside of the gallery. The content of the films was mostly stop-motion animation, the content of which again i didn't appreciate, although what i saw may help in the upcoming Flash module.

The second exhibition was "Pause", a selection of short films, at the Phoenix Gallery. This exhibition i did not find useful at all, with the short films seemingly making little to no sense, as well the content and style appearing completely irrelevant to the course.

First Post!

2007-11-29T12:37:00.001Z

Well this is a Blog set up for College as part of my Games Development Course (hence the title - lets hope i dont make that kind of mistake!)
Basically ill just be reviewing Games, talking about the units we are doing and anything else relevant to the course.

EDIT: Got all the CSS style sheets sorted! i hate CSS...but horrah for added functionality and custom look!