The rush of getting things done in time. + Tattoo Convention

Assessment is quite literally, tomorrow. All I hear from people is " Ill have this finished by.. " " Im working on.. " " Ill get all the blogs done next week. ". I see nothing wrong in being a little behind. Hay I've been a little behind on bits and bloggs. It all comes down to how one manages their own time. As a student, most of us (and me) are terrible at it. The biggest problem with trying to catch a deadline is the work is rushed and far from the quality necessary. Sound familiar? The same shit happens in the game industry, i've learnt. Its generally the same, but just a taste, were not being paid and we dont have a thousand people asking us to finish it for whenever.

My biggest peeve at the moment is the deadline being treated like some kind of pole vault. Like, the closer they get to the deadline when they finish their work is some kind of achievement. I cant stand the smug act when they finish it. " I managed to finish this week project in less than a day " as if its some kind of achievement.

Wow look how close to the deadline I got.
Give me an award!

I guess Im just bitching, but it is damned annoying. I dont care that they finished their work next to a deadline, they should have finished it ages ago. Its annoying how it somehow seems more praisable than having something finished on time. " Oh wow I just finished this and the deadlines tomorrow Im so happy " compared to " Oh wow I finished that the week it was set. I was so happy. ", just sounds odd, no? I am complaining yesh. But I dont see why anyone should care, do they exspect me to lean over and say " Hay, you did this so close to the deadline and spent far less time on it than I did on mine when I had the time, it suddenly makes your image a million times better. ".

This may seem like im slagging alot of people off.
But really, I think anyone in the games industry would be pissed off if this pole vaulting deadlines happened in their company. Than the artist (or whatever) had the nerve to say that they had started and finished their project in a just a day before hand in when they had a week to do it in., expecting some kind of cookie for being so great. I dont think they would give a rat's arse. So why should I here?
Im probably still going to just say " yeah thats great " to whoever decides to be a smug shoe about it.

More like 50 artists, there was only 25 stands.

Also I checked out a tattoo convention yesterday. I cant get tattoos or piercings due to a medical condition. Well, my doctor says I shouldnt in case of blood infection. So me going there wasnt quite worth the £8 entrance fee as the only point of going there was if you were getting a tattoo. I however got the chance to look through a bunch of tattoo artist's portfolios and take a gander at their illustrations.
Among all artists I noticed a familiar trend in illustrations, you would have:
1) The Japanese Koi fish. The first time I saw this I was impressed, the scales looked like fun to draw and sometimes their paintings and colours were interesting. (I asume this tattoo is for women who want to have a splash of oriental mystery about them. As this is a western country, not to be racist or anything. But Westerners do like the eastern style, just as the Eastern likes the Western.) I also asume this is guided to Females. Girls like fish, right?

There are a million similar images to this on Deviantartt.

2) Skulls. How many variations of the human skull can you have? Well go to a tattoo convention and look through 25 artists portfolios and you will find out. Representing death, its stupidly cliche, so I can see how its best to try to edit it to make it interesting. Someone getting one of these would probably think " This will show people that I'm not a regular person, Im on the bad side mother fucker. ". This seems to be a genderless tattoo, stick skulls on anything and itll work.

Wee skulls are fun woo.

3) Women (Naked, sexual, or just general female). This is obviously for wierd pervy men that want to prove to others that they are wierd pervy men.

Yeah there were exceptions to these. But few, and every artist had these. And when I looked at it, I thought the same about the game industry and my portfolio. Its packed with the same clichee bull shit, clogged more like it.
But the artist are giving the people exactlyy what they want. Koi, Skulls and tits. Isnt that the same as the game industry giving everyone guns, swords and tits? But also stangely enough I didnt see anyone getting any of those tattoos on the day. Instead they were getting what they requested. Interesting I though.

Not to mention alot of the tattoo artists work was DeviantArtt material, shit. Every now and again you'd get a good one.I really should have taken photos, but I felt kind of intimidated.

I think I should take a good look at my portfolio, edit it, and than go to some conventions, maybe that are more suited to my industry of choice.

Task 10

When I think of characters, indepth, I think more about personality than clothing and weapons. The character seems to be, to me, how the sound, walk and react to things. Clothing is a small part of their personality, it can tell you what they like or how practical they are. Besides, things like clothing dont come to mind when you read a non-illustrated book. The most recent book I've read being Moby Dick. This book and most have a different way of approaching a character to a movie or a game, the reader has to imagine the character, which I think makes you feel for the character more, as the character is partialy your own mental creation, instead of a visual responce. In Moby Dick, the main character is described very little, the first line being " Call me Ishmael", is just about all the description of the main character. All other description him is through the text and his descriptions of the world around him. It gives no indication of what he looks like, but shows us how the character thinks.

The character descriptions of Queequeg are more than interesting, although different people would interperate him in different ways, he's described in such a way that gives him his unique character, I havnt read another book that seemed similar to the descriptions. The way he talks, is written as if hes speaking in broken english, it gives him part of his chracter, the feeling you would get from him would be far different if he couldnt speak, or was translated into perfect english. Because he can some what speak the language, shows us that hes forign but intellient, even though being described as a canibal. For books, characters are totaly dependant on script and the appearance is up to the reader.

However a book is far different from games. The character has to visualy describe the personality of the character. If the character doesnt speak much through the game you wouldnt feel as attached to the character, so the text is quite important. Lets look at Professor Layton!

Good spot of tea there Luke!
What appeals to me more than the game in professor layton, is the main characters! A simple puzzel game, but these characters have such a charm to them, the personality is in the text. But also in the voice acting. You can tell where these two come from, Professor Layton and Luke, because of their typical english accent. Not to mention that theyre often set in traditional english settings, drink tea, ride trains and solve mysteries like Sherlock Holms and Watson (Another good book which has good character description. It would have been better to compair the Book Sherlock Holms to Professor Layton. But I havnt read it since I was 17 or something.).
The visual styles of the game gives off that desaturated, smoggy english look, especialy in the towns. The style goes back to the victorian, industrial Britan scene, this is reflected to Luke, by his shorts and cap, which makes you think of a victorian chimney sweeper. Even by the use of Laytons hat, makes to think of them Old times. They're innocent and cheerful faces are reinforced by their surroundings and dialog.
To be honest, with out the characters in this game, it would just be a bunch of mindless mini-games which would seem to serve no purpose. The characters keep the story moving and keep the mini games fun.

Characters in this day and age are important in games, well most games. Even Pac Man has a sort of character to him. Hes a greedy bastard haunted by manafestations of his own Gluttony, Greed, Wrath and Pride.

This game seemed so innocent untill I realised the truth.

Maybe I went off on a tangent. I do that.

Critical Studies and The social interatction of the first years.

I've been thinking about my critical studies group a bit. Talked it over with a few other students.

The wierd thing is, I talk to just about everyone in my critical studies group indepenantly. Admitedly some are less talkative than others, thats fine. But when we're in a group, with a tutor asking questions, there is always an odd silence. I dont see why. Maybe theyre intimidated by Mike? Or maybe the feel that If they are wrong they will be scolded, or seem stupid, or unfit for the course? Or maybe Im completely wrong and they are just about to awnser or theyre thinking about the awnser?

I always try to break the silence, even if I dont know the awnser (More than often I'll have a sketchy idea of the awnser, but not be correct.). I dont have much fear of being wrong. I'll gladly give a wrong awnser if it gives someone the chance to give the right one. But the question is why dont they awnser if they knew the correct awnser? There are other problems to be giving the wrong awnser, I can easily do it to every question given and not feel embarresed. There are an infinate number of wrong awnsers to correct, with those odds its understandable. But if I do, It would seem like I know nothing. It would also seem like that if I gave no awnser at all. So perhaps Im losing nothing by awnsering. If I awnsered to every question, I would imagine everyone would be annoyed with me for tryin to awnser. So why dont they awnser more confidently if they know the awnser? If a nucular misslie was about to launch and they knew the code to deactivate it, would they wait untill someone punches in the wrong code before pausing and entering the correct one? Probably not, but I'd like to see that.

There's nothing wrong with being wrong, I feel. It just shows that theres something you dont know.The more you know, the more you know you dont know.

Which is a pain in the ass, because Im seriously forgetfull and have to relearn everything I forgot a day or two ago.
Sure, maybe I'd give the correct awnsers if I read more and watched more and thought more. Somehow doing this stresses me out alot more than just doing the work. The good thing about critical studies is that I think about these things more. Even though Im still confused about most things.

My year seems to not be a very social year, we've made no social events even though there have been many birthdays been and gone. We seem to have fallen into small groups, very small groups. I'd rather not be in any group, although I feel as if I have fallen into one. I would like to do some large drawing events with the others on the course in my year, but I dont think anyone would care. Such as, the third years offered an event where they would do some drawing, a "Sketch-off" was planned at a pub.
Only 3 first years (including me) showed up. And even than, only I drew. (With the exception of some second years.) I didnt see a single third year with a sketchbook. I saw them with drinks, quite happily talking to eachother in a large group. Even though they didnt set out to what they had wanted. (A sketch off) They were still talking away to each other. Something the first years have never achived. Considering there is a chance I could work with any one of these people in the future, I would like to know and talk to them. I try to get people on board with what Im doing every now and again by word of mouth. But more than often they're simply not interested, or they say they are and than show no further interest, ask no questions or not tern up; now I've simply stoped asking. This wasnt to everyone ofcorse, so maybe I should start asking again, but a broader range of people. Hell, I probably seem like a wierdo to all of them, but if you dont ask you will never know. And not asking is worse than asking and being let down.

Not to mention the blogs, I feel like a moron for not writing more. I was never one to write. Maybe I need some sort of structure to my week, I still feel quite disorganised.

Task 9

Art direction in games is a critical stage in the production of game play, in today's market more than ever. Its the art directors job to ensure that all the in-game assets and artwork are made on time and are made to fit together in the game. The main idea is that the art director keeps up the consistent feel of the game and follows the theme, making sure other artists dont stray to far from it. The work along side the Project manager to set up briefs and task updates, making sure that the feedback is constantly being passed to the other sections of the game team in the pipeline.
The Art Director will also estimate the triangle count of each asset and how long the artist has to create the asset. This is to make sure that everything runs smoothly, the game cant be made if some assets are not made on schedule. If any major assets were delayed, this would have a ripple effect down the pipeline which would slow production as other artists try to find other work to do while they wait for the asset they wer supposed to be doing originally, or they wont do any work at all until they get it. It would seem Art direction is a creative role, however its more of a guide than the artist, the creativity seems to be channeled to the artists lower down the chain. That seems to be the role of the Art Director, to ensure that the art is tailored to fit the game and for it to be on schedule.

What's required to be a art director would seem to be vision and leadership skills. The lead artist would have to be able to pass his ideas onto others clearly and directly to get the results needed which would involve allot of mentoring to the artists. The Ard director would need to be a natural leader type, if the artists dont look up to the art director, they would believe that his feedback of their work is not correct, there needs to be this ladder making the artists look up the art director. The must be clear and precise about what they are saying in order to get their vision across to the artist, this position is not for the timid. Looking at the amount of people under you and the amount of work required, being shy about an idea could cause some serious problems down the pipeline if a problem is no corrected.

Looking through some job specifications, traditional skills is a must. Not only that they must have risen through the ranks by at least having 4 to 5 years experience in the gaming industry. This makes sense, if the art director was some random character who had no background in games, how could he direct artists? The art director must at some stage be an artist them self, this way they would know what is needed of a good Art Director, they would know first hand what is good management and what is bad.

What would I need to become an art director? Experience and knowledge of the industry. Simply, I can say at the moment my experience is little and my knowledge is sketchy. At the moment I can easily say I dont have the skills required. The real question is do I have what it takes to be an artist and the will to become an art director? It seems like allot of pressure.

Task 8

Game play can be considered the action part of the story in the game. It's what the player can and cant do inside the virtual world. Achualy taking hold of this object (charcter) and endulging in the fantasy of being that character, being in the enviroment and so on. Gameplay is how the viewer can make choices to change the outcomes of the game. Where something like a movie is vary liniar in its story not alowing the viewer to see the whole picture, a game alows the viewer to branch off into various other paths or branches which can be played through in multipul different ways. Gameplay is the interaction of the audience to the medium and the feeling the get playing it.

Often gameplay is pushed aside in many modern games, in the therory that the graphics or story will compensate. This doesnt make an ejoyable game to play, but something pretty to look at. Games like Pac-Man or Space Invaders at the core were good games, their graphics didnt matter at all. People replayed those games over and over, nothing new came out of replaying the game, no unlockables or hidden stages came out of beating them, they only got faster and harder to complete the second time. Many games of recent times belive that replayability means you get a new item or clothing map on the main character. There is enjoyment in getting unlockable prizes for completeing something, but its not something to base a game upon. The unlocking can get pretty tiring, once one realises how often its used.

Remember what you could unlock in the original SNES Super Metroid for completing it? No? Bad, good and Best Endings for completeing it within faster time frames. Remember playing it again because you though Samus was a man, only to find out she was a blond woman? Ofcorse. Remember fighting that giant robot bird thing? Ofcorse. Did you also know they remade the original for the game boy DS? Metroid Zero misson (its pretty much the same game, few new perks and what not). The game play is mostly the same, but with improved graphics, and more shit to unlock. What does all this Unlocking have to do with game play? Nothing! So why is it the most important part of the game? Because its easier to change a character model than make something exciting to play again and again without changing anything. Why was Pac-man fun to play, the unpredictability of the insainly simple AI Ghosts that always seemed to find you, no matter how many times you played it, they'd always go somewhere else. What could you unlock in packman for completing it? You couldnt complete it, it never ends, the background changes colour when you get to a new level, thats it.

For me, when I play a game I look for exscapisum and a exploration. However many things are also important, such as the game being realistic enough to belive in and fantasy enough so I can escape into a fantasy world. I often like to go back and replay games, as this allows me to look at the games details in depth, knowing whats going to happen next so I have time to look at the details of the game. I do love a good sandbox game.

Self Asesment Preasessment

Tomorrow is assessment, big panic for most, however I am not in a panic. Why? Well that’s simple, I know I haven’t done all the work but even if I had done all the work, I have not done enough work. I realised this as I was painting with acrylics a few days ago. I paint like a child.

Why do I paint like a child in acrylics? Simple, I have not progressed with painting, since I was a child, which was the last time I had used them. I’ve decided that I have to paint atleast once a day, I’ve been quite happily painting in my kitchen while I make my dinner of days. Making an acceptation for it, even though I have a lot of other work, Ive found a weak spot and am trying to correct it.

Wait, why haven’t I progressed with painting since than? Simple, I haven’t done any since than. Thus, like a capsule of the past, I haven’t grown from when I was a child. It’s quite humbling and rather charming, I also feel the same when I see an adult draw like a child. Its not that they can’t draw, its because they haven’t drawn. I’ve also asked why I haven’t become a better artist since last year, the answer is obvious. There is no reason why I should not not the artist I want to be yet. But yet I am not half the artist I want to be. It seems to always be just out of reach, I always question why. But the obvious is usally the hardest to see. Its like your nose, its always there, you can always see it, but at the same time you don’t, your mind blocks it out.

Why havn’t I done all the work? Just the same as everyone else who hasn’t, a lack of devotion to becoming the artist I want to be, not to the course. In a sense the course is just a boat, where as I have to swim to where I want to be, the boat can only take me so far. Distractions are easy and offer an empty reward. Where as studying is hard and offers reward in the future. I’m a patient person, I like waiting for that reward as I know It will be sweeter than any other. But Im weak and there for opt for distraction. That’s why I havnt done as much work as I should.
The only real option for me is to rid myself of all distraction. I’ve been socialising a fair bit, which may have added to my lack of progress. Im not saying its bad that I’ve socialised, I was once a very bitter, depressed person, still being so, but a lot more relaxed about it, it was a good thing. Maybe I should have balance the two better. I don’t really care for playing games or listening to music, so why do I? Im not huge on going out and parties, so why do I? Why should I do things I don’t like? My work isn’t where I want it to be, so what am I going to do?

I digi-paint alot of things by my desk. Its just easier than moving my pc.

I shouldn’t have taken this long for me to realise what I had to do. The fucking work. And than some more.
Im going to do more than what is simply asked of me and its going to count.
After all, its what I want and its what I have to do to get it. I'll stop being a little pussy and take it. The only good quality I have is when I say I'll do something, I do it.

Task 6

Task 6
It seems that most game journalists or reviewers can be attacked by all sides, but the game developers, their peers and by the audience they’re trying to win over. The internet surely doesn’t help the game review magazines, which are basically just buying guides, but is a god send for any Indy game producer, but well get into that later. New game journalism is a good thing, without it we would not know what games are coming out when and if they suit your personal preference of games. They’re basically creating a stir, some games that may not have grown to be popular may have never seen the light of day. New Game Journalism is probably one of the best ways for a new game designer to properly promote their game, with little expense.
Personally, I remember buying game magazines as a kid and they did in fact persuade me to buy one or two games I really enjoyed. Although I wasn’t interested in the rest of the games, its understandable that they have a broad market to sell to. This however was back in the 90s and early 00’s, when internet game reviews were not huge. Back than I believe it really did help sell games to large audiences. My mind frame when buying it was; “I have enough money for one game, I want that game to be a good one.” And magazines helped me with that choice. However now I often just look through gamespot.co.uk and look at the score. I know I shouldn’t, but I do, mainly because all of the text review is dribble, just one persons view of the game. Even when you look at the comments, its just “ I like this game “ or “ This game is shit “, which simply doesn’t help anyone. Everyones view of a game is different, from the journalist to the gamer who plays it. No one knows if you will enjoy a game, they only know what they like and hope you’ll like something similar, its like trying to find a decent prostitute girlfriend, you can never really tell if you like it until you buy it. Than if you don’t sell it to someone else or throw it in the bin.
The main problem with NGJ is that its human and you cant have a robot or android rate a game. Mainly because a human would have to program it to know what games are good. So no matter what you read or do or review, don’t forget the human element that the person reading is not the writer. Basicaly, any kind of journalism is never %100 accurate, so take everything you read with a pinch of salt, or in my case a spoon.
I don’t know how I feel about my own writing. I try to write how I would usually speak, or think in my head. I think that’s the best way to write, but obviously schooling tells you this is wrong and I should write everything exactly the same as everyone else, a brief understanding is all that’s needed I feel. Hay, AtlEasT 1 don’t Tlaksa lhej tis! That’d be terrible. I have been told that I write like a girl in instant messenger. That was from someone WHO TLKS LIK DIS. So either every male types like a retard or I when I had all those nose bleeds last month that was just me menstruating from my nose, who fucking knows.