When it comes down to education people for a career in the games industry, the biggest problem is that games are still considered by most as children’s entertainment and any course with the term “Game” in it automatically gets the presumption that it’s a “Micky mouse” subject. Most people, particularly the people apply for these kinds of courses take enjoyment from them as a form of entertainment but don’t understand or appreciate the level of work, dedication and commitment that goes into the years of processing a game goes through before it gets on the shelf, resulting in the “Micky mouse” theory.
As the course becomes more popular and games are clearly making its mark on the entertainment industry, this unfortunately isn’t reflected in people’s attitudes. As these courses become more popular, the “Micky mouse” stigma and lack of understanding results in people who have no idea how a game is made, running for these courses with this idea that they can sit around, playing games and drawing whatever crap comes out of their head and as if by magic it makes its way into a game.
In addition, most new comers to try and make their mark on the games industry don’t appreciate the fact that the Games industry is still considered to be a new one, and thus considered a risk by investors. Many games which consume so much time and money and may even have consumed some of your passion may never even see the store shelf. Weather the game will make money or not is very much a gamble. Also, as games companies collapse and renowned, well established teams find their secure footing in the industry, the rate of employment in the industry to graduates from courses on the games industry is falling. To exaggerate this, the fools who know nothing of the industry with their fantasy of playing games all day, are making annoying competition for those who have a real passion and talent in the field they’re willing to properly dedicate their lives to.
However, Even I must admit, that in an industry where you take so much enjoyment from the outcomes of your work, It is hard to balance playing games with doing work on games, but gladly, being a games artist is what I want to do more than anything and I’m under none of the illusions that society casts over games. How could I be so blind as to walk into an industry without being well versed. The idiots of this industry who don’t know what they’re walking into have their uses I guess...they make those of us who are serious about this look amazing. Lol.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Musik Horen!
Like films, music in games is used to create all types of emotion from tension and suspense to sadness at the death of a character. However, in my personal opinion games achieve so much more through music than films and even that of artists in the charts. Not only does music help to engage the player into the game but after the emotional effect has passed, the music holds its emotional value even without the game.
Today many games who have dedicated orchestras for their music release sound tracks. Martin O’Donnell, composer of the Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 3:ODST has created music which not only works well with the game, but the music also works so well without the game and can bring excitement or a calm mood depending on what I’m doing or how I feel. It can even be played with other games. Similarly, Nobuo Uematsu, Writer of a lot of the Final Fantasy series’ music, has held many concerts with his orchestra, playing only Final Fantasy music, which are massively popular. Every time I watch one on Youtube I’m horribly envious of the crowd. Funnily enough, my number one “sonic moment” is by Nobuo Uematsu. Quite typically, as a Final Fantasy VII fan, it’s no surprise that my number one moment is when Aerith/Aeris is impaled by Sephiroth’s Masamune and her hair bobble/Holy material bounces down the stairs into the water to her theme, and as the player/I was emotionally distraught, you have to fight off a piece of Jenova to Aerith’s theme tune. *sigh*I’ll never forget how devastated I was...
But swiftly moving on, lol. Besides the emotions that games can create, music from games is massively under rated. I often listen to game sound tracks and people always ask me who it’s by or what it is to look into it themselves, but as soon as I mention the fact that it’s from a game sound track, they either sound disappointed, or shocked. I think this is a reflection of how games are still stuck with the stigma of being for kids, which truly is a shame as the composers of some of these game pieces really do write some fantastic pieces of music that just demand respect and appreciation.
Today many games who have dedicated orchestras for their music release sound tracks. Martin O’Donnell, composer of the Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 3:ODST has created music which not only works well with the game, but the music also works so well without the game and can bring excitement or a calm mood depending on what I’m doing or how I feel. It can even be played with other games. Similarly, Nobuo Uematsu, Writer of a lot of the Final Fantasy series’ music, has held many concerts with his orchestra, playing only Final Fantasy music, which are massively popular. Every time I watch one on Youtube I’m horribly envious of the crowd. Funnily enough, my number one “sonic moment” is by Nobuo Uematsu. Quite typically, as a Final Fantasy VII fan, it’s no surprise that my number one moment is when Aerith/Aeris is impaled by Sephiroth’s Masamune and her hair bobble/Holy material bounces down the stairs into the water to her theme, and as the player/I was emotionally distraught, you have to fight off a piece of Jenova to Aerith’s theme tune. *sigh*I’ll never forget how devastated I was...
But swiftly moving on, lol. Besides the emotions that games can create, music from games is massively under rated. I often listen to game sound tracks and people always ask me who it’s by or what it is to look into it themselves, but as soon as I mention the fact that it’s from a game sound track, they either sound disappointed, or shocked. I think this is a reflection of how games are still stuck with the stigma of being for kids, which truly is a shame as the composers of some of these game pieces really do write some fantastic pieces of music that just demand respect and appreciation.
Monday, 26 April 2010
I'd rather stand on a hornets nest...
Let’s take a few steps backwards to assess the situation. At GCSE maths and IT were my weakest subjects. At A level, I avoided both at all costs. Now I’m at Uni I would happily pay someone to look at numbers for me, can’t stand the sight of them. So naturally, the concept of even beginning to get my head around a Games engine is a daunting one. From where I’m stood right now it is by far the most boring part of the whole game making process. Despite how I may feel about it however, it is incredibly important in making something feel more believable. Although the artists deal with the physical elements of the game and making that look and feel authentic, that would be useless if the programmers couldn’t get a decent facial expression out of a character when the love of their life has just been ripped apart in front of them.
Even though I did go through how I feel about the game already, this would be a perfect time to talk about the game engine of Alien Vs Predator again. In all honesty, I can’t fault really the design work or the 3D modelling of the game as it sticks to the original designs and environments which a fan like myself would have really freaked out over had they not. However, it is clear that this is an example of how the men with money have gotten their hands on something which could have been great given a little more love. For example: when playing as a predator and in heat vision, corpses stay warm and when hats or guns are dropped, they are completely warm and stay warm even when they’re not on a soldier’s body. There is about 5 different human characters, after that you just seem to kill the same NCP over and over. Handling and movement of the Alien and Predator is inconsistent, makes no sense and often costs you your life in game play. Even bosses didn’t really do anything, they kinda just sat there and waited for you to do damage to them. Lazy problems which could have been resolved given the time.
On the plus side however, game engines give programmers a visual interface to make a game without a hell load of glitches. It allows them to see their progress or mistakes without them having to read a load of C/C++ stuff to get where they want. Although this does make it easier to transfer information between platforms, games engines do have problems of their own. They’re limited to a memory budget according to the memory space on the platform it will be assigned to. Hence why PCs are in constant need of upgrading their CPU, particularly with shaders in modern titles. Shaders themselves are a piece of software which read the information from normal maps in a 3D model. They make the model appear more textured than the bare wireframe using 'height' information to determine which areas of the model would attract the most light and which areas would shadow.
In addition there are also other software programs such as Middleware, which can be employed, and today are expected to be used by programmers for accurate physics portrayals of objects being kicked, falling thrown and particularly for explosions. These are all of paramount importance in making and interlude, cinematic and game play experience more believable.
Even though I did go through how I feel about the game already, this would be a perfect time to talk about the game engine of Alien Vs Predator again. In all honesty, I can’t fault really the design work or the 3D modelling of the game as it sticks to the original designs and environments which a fan like myself would have really freaked out over had they not. However, it is clear that this is an example of how the men with money have gotten their hands on something which could have been great given a little more love. For example: when playing as a predator and in heat vision, corpses stay warm and when hats or guns are dropped, they are completely warm and stay warm even when they’re not on a soldier’s body. There is about 5 different human characters, after that you just seem to kill the same NCP over and over. Handling and movement of the Alien and Predator is inconsistent, makes no sense and often costs you your life in game play. Even bosses didn’t really do anything, they kinda just sat there and waited for you to do damage to them. Lazy problems which could have been resolved given the time.
On the plus side however, game engines give programmers a visual interface to make a game without a hell load of glitches. It allows them to see their progress or mistakes without them having to read a load of C/C++ stuff to get where they want. Although this does make it easier to transfer information between platforms, games engines do have problems of their own. They’re limited to a memory budget according to the memory space on the platform it will be assigned to. Hence why PCs are in constant need of upgrading their CPU, particularly with shaders in modern titles. Shaders themselves are a piece of software which read the information from normal maps in a 3D model. They make the model appear more textured than the bare wireframe using 'height' information to determine which areas of the model would attract the most light and which areas would shadow.
In addition there are also other software programs such as Middleware, which can be employed, and today are expected to be used by programmers for accurate physics portrayals of objects being kicked, falling thrown and particularly for explosions. These are all of paramount importance in making and interlude, cinematic and game play experience more believable.
The Industry today
The games industry today is still considered to be a new industry and too many industries are considered a risk to invest in. However, over the past 20 years it has become obvious that the popularity of interactive entertainment is growing and shows no signs of stopping. From being confined to arcades, games have crawled their way onto personal computers, consoles, mobile phones and today is breaking free of control pads and buttons and moving onto motion detectors to allow consoles to read the players body motions and put them into game. With Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo leading the games industry, other areas of the entertainment industry have taken note of its potential. Even the BBC has taken a leap of faith with the release of episodic gaming for the Doctor Who series. Despite the economic down turn, the games industry is well and truly on its way up.
Personally I would love nothing more than to be part of such a creative industry. With games being considered by some as an interactive was of telling a story, modern games and films like Avatar can’t help but inspire me to want to create my own and contribute to an industry which can invoke such an emotional response by the gamer/viewer. Today, increased specialisation of jobs in the industry means that about 70% of studio is made up of game artists whether they specialise in environment or character design, special effects work or 3D modelling. Personally I would be much more interested in the development of character design or environment, mostly due to the fact that I would want my job to be satisfying to my creativity but also presents a challenge. However, with 3D modelling being among the better paid jobs, I doubt I’d complain if I was to stumble into that position.
However, my only issue with the Games industry thus far is the fact that it is starting to show the same annoying patterns of the Hollywood film industry. Endless sequels for the sake of profit and the same kinds of repetitive game play and generic plot which are seen over and over make it obvious that some games lack passion and creativity and money is clearly the primary objective. Although I don’t that I could ever fall out of love with games, if the games industry were to completely fall into the hands of the money thirsty corporate giant, the creative element of the industry which has caused people’s emotional responses to the industry, would be quickly lost.
Personally I would love nothing more than to be part of such a creative industry. With games being considered by some as an interactive was of telling a story, modern games and films like Avatar can’t help but inspire me to want to create my own and contribute to an industry which can invoke such an emotional response by the gamer/viewer. Today, increased specialisation of jobs in the industry means that about 70% of studio is made up of game artists whether they specialise in environment or character design, special effects work or 3D modelling. Personally I would be much more interested in the development of character design or environment, mostly due to the fact that I would want my job to be satisfying to my creativity but also presents a challenge. However, with 3D modelling being among the better paid jobs, I doubt I’d complain if I was to stumble into that position.
However, my only issue with the Games industry thus far is the fact that it is starting to show the same annoying patterns of the Hollywood film industry. Endless sequels for the sake of profit and the same kinds of repetitive game play and generic plot which are seen over and over make it obvious that some games lack passion and creativity and money is clearly the primary objective. Although I don’t that I could ever fall out of love with games, if the games industry were to completely fall into the hands of the money thirsty corporate giant, the creative element of the industry which has caused people’s emotional responses to the industry, would be quickly lost.
Friday, 19 February 2010
The all new and 'improved' AVP for 360
Unless you are a mahoosive alien fan like myself, alien verses predator for the 360 is unlikely to be your go-to online FPS. One of the main features about this game is that in the campaign is that there isn’t just one. There’s a separate campaign for each of the marine, alien and predator. Each of the campaigns start off well! All have their own thrills. The first few levels of the marine are dark and rather jumpy, very reminiscent of the original alien films and kept accuracy within the original alien film story lines. Playing as the Alien you escape from a lab for some entertaining ambushes, head chomps and generally toy with the AI. As Predator, it can be fun to jump around and get yourself in position for a gloriously stealthy and gory trophy kill. But the thrill soon wears off as you soon find out in each campaign that AvP has some annoying basic errors which unless you are willing to put your back out to learn how to use it to your advantage like I did, it can really put you off the game.
The dark and much more thrilling levels of the marine give way to tedium as they are replaced with much more boring jungles and temples. The thrills of running around as a zenomorph as lost as the inconsistent movement controls suck out the pleasure and usually cost u your life. And in the predator campaign, poor movement is just as much of a problem. As Alien, you’re supposed to hold right trigger (Xbox 360) to change the surface your crawling on, but in actuality there’s no consistency to the movement, you’ll crawl onto some walls and outcroppings whether or not it’s what you want to do, which when you’re trying to ambush someone, peruse someone, or run away from someone is just about the most annoying thing in the world. This inconsistency also invades the predator campaign, where there’s just no rhyme or reason to where you can jump. Sometimes you can jump up to 20ft above you, while other times you can’t even jump over a 3 ft fence.
The brutal and close up kills are probably the best part of Alien versus Predator. As a Predator you can yank out some guys spine and stroke it as if it was caressing a woman’s hair. Personally I just think it’s wonderfully gross and the best part of the single player portion. The Alien also get some equally sadistic moment so if you like your gore, you’ll have some fun here. The story isn’t bad either, and some of the voice acting is well done and really brings the characters to life. It’s unfortunate that the numerous little errors just mount up into a big pile. Not that I mean to go on, but: boss fights are pretty lame, the recycles levels are fine but work well with one species and not with another; aliens and civilians alike act in really stupid ways, which keeps you from feeling like a bad-ass, and some of the visuals are quite frankly, sloppy.
The game’s online features are much better however. There’s lots of fun to be had when you mix, aliens, predators and marines together. Things still feel a little awkward but it still feels rewarding to land a kill, whichever species you are, without the crazy civilians giving their lives to you. The Best modes are Infestation and Predator Hunt, because they highlight the differences between each species, but if you want something more traditional there’s death match and team death match where the three species face off. Survivor is the usual co-op mode where you shoot off waves of enemies. It’s not as good as some other games out there but it’s still a lot of fun because it reverts back to the dark and creepy feel of the first marine levels.
I guess that for an Alien fan like myself, this is a really entertaining multiplayer game. For someone not as fanatical as myself, it will be the little things that drag the game down. Some grotesque kills and some entertaining multiplayer moments just won’t cut it when there’s so many excellent FPS shooters on store shelves. Alien vs. Predator just doesn’t have the attention to detail and the obvious care that go into the best games. The thing it does best is make you wish you were 8 years old again playing the original on pc while the ‘grown ups’ weren’t looking.
ahh yes the culture of games
Over my entire gaming life I think it’s safe to say that I’ve almost been part of every gaming culture that you can spawn out of your head, ignoring the wonderful dogma of sports games that is.
It’s easy enough to consider the fact that there is a large gamming culture of vampic teenagers, hunched in front of a screen for days at a time, rhythmically rattling away on their key boards. But as real as that is, especially in my case, gaming culture doesn’t end here. It’s exponential growth over the past decade has caused it to pour out into the rest of society. Whether it be games for educational purposes, sports sponsorship or the promotion of other products games are pouring out from the constraints of a dank bedroom .
From my own experience games have also brought about massive social changes. It takes a very dedicated gamer to pack up and carry around all their gear every time and travel (sometimes hundreds of miles) to a LAN. LANs can be a fun and highly social event and participants show a level of commitment to gaming that is rarely seen by outsiders of game culture. It's a whole lot of fun to spend time with like-minded people who share your passion and enthusiasm for video games. And lastly, it fosters a strong sense of community amongst gamers when they meet face-to-face.
MMOs. Although I’ve grown out it, well I say I’ve grown out of it. Rather I’m scared that if I play them again I’ll become addicted, I’ve been a massive fan of MMORPGs. Once upon a time when Thomas was young and MMOs were relatively new, MMO culture scrambled out of gamming culture and into a part of his life. As cheesy as this is going to sound, I used to play an MMO called MapleStory every day with the same group of people, some of them I knew in RL and most I didn’t. One in particular I enjoyed spending more time with than all the others and we became friends outside of the game. She was from America and in time she became my pen pal and, I went over to visit and holiday several times and now...nearly 6 years later, I love all the friends I’ve made over there and we still keep in touch.
Aside from gaining real friends, people speak, rather type has also changed from gaming culture. Weather people are aware of it or not, a lot of the abbreviations and acronyms people use are Leet or have developed from Leet. Some of our favorites include: Noob, Owned/Pwned, and the most annoying... ‘Lag’!!!
It’s easy enough to consider the fact that there is a large gamming culture of vampic teenagers, hunched in front of a screen for days at a time, rhythmically rattling away on their key boards. But as real as that is, especially in my case, gaming culture doesn’t end here. It’s exponential growth over the past decade has caused it to pour out into the rest of society. Whether it be games for educational purposes, sports sponsorship or the promotion of other products games are pouring out from the constraints of a dank bedroom .
From my own experience games have also brought about massive social changes. It takes a very dedicated gamer to pack up and carry around all their gear every time and travel (sometimes hundreds of miles) to a LAN. LANs can be a fun and highly social event and participants show a level of commitment to gaming that is rarely seen by outsiders of game culture. It's a whole lot of fun to spend time with like-minded people who share your passion and enthusiasm for video games. And lastly, it fosters a strong sense of community amongst gamers when they meet face-to-face.
MMOs. Although I’ve grown out it, well I say I’ve grown out of it. Rather I’m scared that if I play them again I’ll become addicted, I’ve been a massive fan of MMORPGs. Once upon a time when Thomas was young and MMOs were relatively new, MMO culture scrambled out of gamming culture and into a part of his life. As cheesy as this is going to sound, I used to play an MMO called MapleStory every day with the same group of people, some of them I knew in RL and most I didn’t. One in particular I enjoyed spending more time with than all the others and we became friends outside of the game. She was from America and in time she became my pen pal and, I went over to visit and holiday several times and now...nearly 6 years later, I love all the friends I’ve made over there and we still keep in touch.
Aside from gaining real friends, people speak, rather type has also changed from gaming culture. Weather people are aware of it or not, a lot of the abbreviations and acronyms people use are Leet or have developed from Leet. Some of our favorites include: Noob, Owned/Pwned, and the most annoying... ‘Lag’!!!
Monday, 1 February 2010
Another pointless piece of terminology
Game play, until now I never even questioned what this impossibly vague description encompasses. “the game play is really dynamic” – what does that mean? I kinda just completely ignored it in the millions of game interviews and reviews I’ve seen and read. The way it’s used most of the time makes it a completely pointless word to use, unless you break it down to have a meaning of value.
I guess for me it’s a term which describes what the player does, the challenges a game poses the player, the responses the player can make and how enjoyable the overall experience is. Yet, verying from genre to genre, these areas of “gameplay” will vary again. There’s no way that the game play of a strategy game is fairly comparable to that of an FPS or an RPG, or vice verca. Parts of a game which make it enjoyable will be very different in one game than they would in another, ie: a fighting game like street fighter IV, fast paced, competitive, online and local play, it’s a quick thrill which can be played socially but personally I would never sit and play through the campaign on my own. Where as a turn based/real time strategy game like Rome Total War, which is hardly quick paced and has disappointingly poor online capabilities, has an unlimitedly variable campaign, is highly addictive and replayable is historically accurate before the variants kick in and has the largest real time battle scenes than any other games of its genre (other than other games of the Total War franchise)
So Basically, which has the better game play? I guess that’s pretty much subjective to the person whose playing the game and their opinion on the game. As good as the graphics are and all the possibly ways of playing COD there are, personally I’m more of a Halo player, so to me, the “gameplay” in Halo is far better than that of COD. So clearly, how enjoyable a game is has a big impact on how the player considers the gameplay, making the term gameplay, completely subjective and still, quite a pointless term to use. I think I’ll continue to ignore it in interviews and reviews.
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