week19

The kind of person you would want to employ would completely differ from project to project for instance assuming you plan to create a game and all the assets have already been chosen for this case all you would need is a talented artist to make your dream reality. In the other instance assuming you have a game in its beta stage and talented artist refer to you their idea you could happily incorporate them into the game you’re making.

In my opinion I would prefer a creative artist, in fact that’s what I aspire to be. I will be a talented artist and keep my ideas to tell people. It’s best to have both but that’s not always the case, yet I want to become what I think I would like to employ as I would rather be in an environment where there is an understanding of ideas. Otherwise I would feel like I’m a work horse in a 9 to 5 job. Being taught how to use Photoshop or a 3D modeling software is possible however being taught to have an idea is not possible. It takes concentration and interest to be in the games industry but it take creativity and raw talent to be part of the thinking process that goes into games and if you can find the balance then your sure to be welcomed into the gaming industry with open arms

week 18

Sounds in games, now this is what really makes or breaks a game to me you just need to look at the halo series, the music and ambience surrounding the entire game was phenomenal it just would not be the same without it. I frequently listen to the music from halo just because even stand alone listening to it reminds you of the very first time you picked up the pad and automatically clicked, everything felt in the right place and perfectly timed. I also remember first playing tomb raider one and loved the music and was amazed when I found if you put the cd into a cdplayer you got over 40 tracks of music from the game.

“Good times” was a very influential recording mainly for its addictive bass line, deemed as being a rappers best friend, and deep within the funk culture. I think what’s most relevant about this beat is how it easily draws you in like you know what’s coming next and that’s why you love it. I think this is a lesson yet to be learned in many games that you need to have relevant and compelling music and sounds to add to atmosphere, I long to feel how I did when playing halo again, where your senses are overrun by everything going on, and then you press pause and realize that what was once 6 in the evening has now changed to 6 in the morning and you didn’t even see the sun go down.

To me one of my favorite games music composers has to be Steve Vai because of his work on the halo series that part which the electric guitar just after you’ve stuck the disc in just makes you go “dam this is going to be good” its like an instant draw in.

week 17

The main advantage of making your own game engine is that you can make it specifically for the game at hand as well as the added bonus of being able to sell the rights to use it to other companies. This is also a good way of advertising, as if a game uses your engine (for instance the unreal engine) they will state that, this also brings people to your game if they enjoyed the game that was created using you engine. There is also a sense of being superior about other people using your engine.

There are two different ways of working in a video game engine, one is additive and the other is subtractive. The names are self explanatory, working in additive means you add shapes into an empty field to create your level design and subtractive is simply the opposite. Subtractive in my opinion the harder of the two to use because you will have to visualize your design before you make it, in subtractive you start off with a giant cube then you carve into it. I would prefer to use additive as you save yourself confusion as you know everything within the level is made separately therefore should be easier to move around and manipulate.

A game engine is the glue for a game, it tells everything what to do, where to be when to move etc, without it a game would just be like a body without a brain and well all know a game where nothing moves wouldn’t be much fun.

week 16

To me video game culture is everybody who has ever played a computer game, ranging in age, sex etc. video game culture is this vast network of minds who feel compelled to play games to fulfill a part of their lives, games are a way of being able to be in a position where you can do something that may be physically impossible other wise. Personally I feel I am close to the heart of this culture being somebody who wishes to base my future around the gaming industry. Gaming occupies a vast section of my life, I live with people who enjoy gaming as much as myself and we spend many hours talking about games and how we would love to make different scenarios within games or different atmospheres. I think games can be a way of life to people such as myself, when I meet a new person one of the first things I talk to them about is what games their into and which was the first final fantasy they played. I’ve met many people through the use of multiplayer games it’s a very good way of meeting people with similar interests because lets face it if you didn’t like games why would you be playing one. I played a game called runescape for 6 years and met an unbelievable amount of friends on there, we had a massive community going but slowly people became less interested in the game and left, in the end I was glad I had their MSN addresses.

week 15

So how is the industry doing? From my research on the industry so far, all I seem to come across is how much Nintendo has achieved. Apart from the fact that the PS3 has sold more consoles on its launch Nintendo is ahead of the competition. The DS is still doing really well for them but now with the release of Pokemon Ranger they are getting even more ahead. The Pokemon company is currently doing the best compared to other game manufacturers which I think is the key to Nintendo’s success over the past years.

What are the biggest challenges facing the industry at the moment? The PS3 is now out but what does it have to offer. Apart from being the last next gen console to hit the markets (which hasn’t benefited Sony) the online play is still nothing in comparison to Microsoft’s Xbox live. I think Sony seriously needs to pick up the pace, I feel none of the next gen consoles have any games that have blown away the gaming industry. Gears of War amazed us for a while but still nothing has pushed these consoles to their limits. I think the playstation 3 has a lot of amazing games to offer that will captivate the audience such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Home and Little Big Planet however they are not out yet. Until they are we need to sit and wait until the playstaion 3 releases these games and becomes the top next gen console.

week 11

Game play is something that is very difficult to explain. Different people have different ideas of what game play is, well at least that is what I think. I believe game play is what makes us want to play a certain game regardless of its age or graphical capabilities. Take Diablo II for example, the graphics are a barely 3D and they are very dated for today’s standards. However game play is not about graphics, as long as the graphics are bearable game play is the start of an addiction to a game. Game play is what makes a game unique and when it is unique graphics don’t matter; you get sucked into the original design and storyline of the game. If these two elements exist within a game and you can relate to it and have a general interest chances are you will at least enjoy parts of the game. For example if I was into Medieval design and strategy games chances are I would like Lord of the Rings.

Graphics comes first to draw you in, game play is what makes you keep wanting to play and achieve your next goal within a game. You can have good storyline, good music and interesting characters in the world but without the interest and game play you would never have the desire to complete the game.

week 10

To me what makes me like a character is being able to relate to that person within my own life, if a character shares similar traits or emotions or ways of dealing with things it makes it easier to put yourself in their position and have a more in depth feeling about the story. In stories I look for a position I would like to be in, or that would make me really think about my reactions towards that situation. Lord of the Rings is a good example as I really felt involved in the film, almost as though I was a character, yet I could relate to each character individually. A film such as Silent hill also drew me in as it plays upon common fears of loss and grotesqueness which is strangely compelling yet if you saw in real life would make you run. In my opinion a good character has to be human enough to relate to yet different enough to make you think and react, stories have to explain enough to put a template in your head but open enough to let you fill the gaps with you imagination. A good story needs to keep you asking questions yet never fully answering them in detail, its like the Harry potter films, some people despised them as the way they had imagined something to look or speak etc was shattered because the director had done the films how he imagined it. Yet something like lord of the rings was less fresh in people’s minds and therefore people were more compelled to see how somebody else envisioned it.

week 9

If you look at some of the older games systems such as the Brown Box there was a lot of use of wood within the design of the console. I think using this material died out as games consoles are supposed to look like a piece of futuristic equipment and wood as a feel of old to it. Using plastic allows this feeling also making the console feel more expensive, yet with games consoles such as the ps3 they have used shiny metal that further still makes the user feel like the console is superior and full of technology. This also creates a bond between the user and his console, when you first get a shiny new console you constantly want it to be clean and free of scratches but as that console becomes more dated the care for the console decreases. To me the best looking console so far would be the Sega Megadrive as for its day it looked the most futuristic piece of kit, it was far better looking than the SNES and even the PS1 as these consoles looked big and bulky rather than sleek. Yet to me the best controller for a console has to be the playstation 1 and 2 controller the saying “if something’s not broken why fix it” comes to mind. This is also the same the playstation’s interface, although different in appearance, the playstation 1 and 2 have very similar bios screens, where you can check what is on your memory card etc. The playstation was also the first console to utilize memory cards which allowed you to take your saved games anywhere where there was another ps1. yet its interesting now that the ps3 has decided to create a controller that is not to different from the shape of the Megadrive controller.