Okay my personal review for the second year it felt like I just started this year here I come to the end of the year how fast was that!!! God time flies!!
I have recently checked the progression of my work and god damn I have improved so much my rendering, depth of details, tonal values and mark making looks more confident and my perspective also improving just need to keep drawing over the holidays then I should be near perfection!! Weirdly, my marks are not going up always wondered why?? What am I doing wrong?? How should I improve? See I expected me to get better marks on my first semester cause I had a lot of my work done and I seemed like I improved so much but for me personally I didn’t see the improvements for my markings!! I was really pissed and upset I wouldn’t lie. Yes they may be right on me doing something wrong but what is it?? This hasn’t put me down but made me stronger all I could do is carrying on and keep trying to improve! This applies for 3d max as well! I felt more confident this year with 3d max it felt like it was working exactly how I wanted it to! Soon as the assessment comes it just drags me back down!! What am I doing wrong seriously!! It doesn’t make sense at times! Like no lie sometimes I look at other people work some didn’t even texture the model and they got higher marks than me...how???
Overall I know the teachers are right on marking your grades and I am not saying it is unfair but it would be nice if they explained better on the errors you are making!! With the blogs I could understand but for visual design and game production it is still a blur! Like people say it’s better to say something than just avoid it and keep it in!!
Avoiding the assessments I think year 2 was a huge success for me I have learnt a lot more than my first year and built more complicated assets on 3d max and I actually enjoyed majority of my visual design projects well some were boring but it has to be done. Best to tell the truth than lie...am I not right?? =D well the big twist to year 2 was the group project!! It was a huge experience got to know my course mate’s a lot more than before which is definitely positive. To be honest I am extremely happy with my group I feel like I have learnt a lot more with working with my group than my first year!! I have also used the UDK bearing in mind it’s the first time me using the soft ware and hey I actually enjoyed it! =D just need to get more fluent with the shortcuts buttons it could be complicated at times cause 3d max has different shortcuts to UDK! Need to keep practising on that but I have literally enjoyed majority of my projects this year. This is my personal review of my second year!
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Task 23: Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?
Before I started my first year I was confident and I thought I was brilliant at what I do. Well when I had my first lesson for visual design on my first year it went really bad for me I had trouble with perspective, rendering and everything else. It’s probably because I was under pressure as I had to show it in front of the whole class after the final’s completed but instead I just messed up. After that week everyone got their work and we all showed our work to each other and I was surprised with the work that other student produced it made me feel less confident to be honest I felt shit. I felt like this for a couple of weeks until I had another lecture with mike. Once again mike comes to the rescue he mentions we all should not lose confidence because theirs other artists out there that are better than you but you should use it as your strength and motivation to get better. Since he said that I started to produce better work and started to feel more confident than usual well it’s much better than feeling crap and unconfident. To be honest I didn’t realise how much I improved until I back tracked my work from my previous year and I seen how much I improved. I felt proud and a lot more confident and finally realised I may not be the best artists but I could improve and push it to my best ability until I get as good as an brilliant artist weirdly I never thought like that it’s just because there weren’t many good artist in my school and I always got complimented with my work but in university you get feedback on how you could improve it etc it is way different than high school or college.
I have been asked this question in many occasion in which role do you want to go??? This question was a blur for me for the first year but my mind starting to open up I think I want to be an environment artist but I still struggle with complex perspective I need to achieve the perspective until I could jump in to this role. 3D max should be fine as perspective is done by the programme but I still need to work on 3D max and practise on the UDK and get better at using both programmes. For visual design...I need more practise on perspective
I have decided over the holidays I will draw a lot of environments and landscape and keep practising with all kind of perspective until I get it perfect as it’s important for a game artist to not struggle with perspective. Soon as I get this problem solved I will start applying truthfully I should start applying now hopefully I should start applying after my last assessment which is on the 4th May and check the requirements for an environment artist. This is the path I decided to go for. Hopefully I should solve my problems over the holiday.
I have been asked this question in many occasion in which role do you want to go??? This question was a blur for me for the first year but my mind starting to open up I think I want to be an environment artist but I still struggle with complex perspective I need to achieve the perspective until I could jump in to this role. 3D max should be fine as perspective is done by the programme but I still need to work on 3D max and practise on the UDK and get better at using both programmes. For visual design...I need more practise on perspective
I have decided over the holidays I will draw a lot of environments and landscape and keep practising with all kind of perspective until I get it perfect as it’s important for a game artist to not struggle with perspective. Soon as I get this problem solved I will start applying truthfully I should start applying now hopefully I should start applying after my last assessment which is on the 4th May and check the requirements for an environment artist. This is the path I decided to go for. Hopefully I should solve my problems over the holiday.
Task 22: Life Changing or Career Building?
Well some university might hold the requirements for a job in the game industry and some may not. Like I know a friend who goes to the Birmingham University and he does the same course as me. I asked him a question in general on how was your first year? And what you learnt? Etc. He replied “my first year wasn’t too bad it was kind of easy to be fair mate and for my final project I did a flag on 3D max”. I was like what! Like for my final project it was to create a character on 3D max which is one of the toughest projects. I could say that I’m fortunate to be in the university that I am in now as they make you cover most of the requirements needed for a job. Plus the university kind of have a connection between the BLITZ game company and couple of students made it in and some made it in Naughty Dog’s company. This company created the game uncharted which was one the best game built at a certain point and the graphic were amazing. Students got in because of the experience, talent and hard work. So I must say the tutors know what they talk about and they know what is needed to get into a game company well at least for this university. Some university might not be as fortunate and some may be well that’s how life roles.
Like when I was in school I was always directed to do things but when I got into university it was more of me choosing my path basically it’s more independent. Like mike said the first year of university the student are like puppies and we show three directions that relate to game company which are 3Dmax, Visual design (drawing skills) and critical study. See I use to think that you could just focus on one area but most of the game company require it all so you will have to get good with the three areas as its important for you to get a job. When you get in to the second year the tutors get of your back and let you go off for a bit and on the 3rd year they completely let you go. You basically have master project where is totally up to you what direction you want to go to and what you want to do. This is when you actually experience the reality of independency.
See basically I’m not saying that the tutor controls my future they just direct me to the right path and when I become mature and independent this is where I choose my own path. Art is never limited it just keeps expanding and expanding I personally think that you can’t master a program or media just get really good at it cause they will always change every few years like the program could completely change and medias might be different to the original if you know what I’m saying....
Like when I was in school I was always directed to do things but when I got into university it was more of me choosing my path basically it’s more independent. Like mike said the first year of university the student are like puppies and we show three directions that relate to game company which are 3Dmax, Visual design (drawing skills) and critical study. See I use to think that you could just focus on one area but most of the game company require it all so you will have to get good with the three areas as its important for you to get a job. When you get in to the second year the tutors get of your back and let you go off for a bit and on the 3rd year they completely let you go. You basically have master project where is totally up to you what direction you want to go to and what you want to do. This is when you actually experience the reality of independency.
See basically I’m not saying that the tutor controls my future they just direct me to the right path and when I become mature and independent this is where I choose my own path. Art is never limited it just keeps expanding and expanding I personally think that you can’t master a program or media just get really good at it cause they will always change every few years like the program could completely change and medias might be different to the original if you know what I’m saying....
Task 21: Creativity
I strongly believe that creativity is hidden within everyone but lot of people avoid seeing it nowadays. This has started ages ago from the age of 15 years old I remember my uncle and my father telling me creativity or being artistic doesn’t get you far in life you should focus on the subjects like science, maths or architecture but they always looked down on art and neglected the hard work, creativity and talents that’s been put on to one final piece. Like mike said where all like swans we look like everything simple but underneath the water the swan going all wild with its feet just to pedal its way through the journey this quote definitely relates with us game artists. Like when people look at our work they don’t understand how many hours been put on that one final.
Even though I chose this path as my career my dad is supporting me as usual so that’s not my concern but looking at school in this generation they avoid creativity, talent etc. They focus the kids more on science, English, maths etc. Like Chris mentioned the other time about his daughter about how her English, maths etc. are lacking but like what the heck she’s just 4 years old. Well there’s nothing wrong with that what as ever as every parents wants the best for the children and every teachers for their student but sometimes they just need to step back and let them do whatever they want to do.
Creativity is in majority subject like music, art, dance and a lot more but this blog is not about my opinion of what I think creativity is as I did that last year it’s about how does creativity show itself within the game industry.
As an artist how do you show your creativity? Well I show it through my progression and improvements in my work like if I lacked using other materials I will keep trying until I keep improving. I will like to show my creativity through my improvements.
Am I talented or skilful?? Well I wouldn’t say I’m skilful but I try to show my talent through my art work. University has made me realise how creative I have become comparing to my first year and of course I would know what I need to improve on like the digital painting for example I will need more practise with that to improve and some media’s but I’m sure practise and time will make me achieve my goal.
Even with 3d max and the UDK I need to practise a lot to get really good at using the software to maintain a positive placement for my field. See like early on it said something about game being creative of course it is the whole package is creative like the area, theme, game play etc. UDK and 3Dmax hold the same. Whenever I work on 3D max or UDK I limit my creativity by just doing the project and moving on I should really do another couple of my own project this should enhance my knowledge for the software and my creativity i should hopefully do this over the holiday and enhance my knowledge about creativity.
Even though I chose this path as my career my dad is supporting me as usual so that’s not my concern but looking at school in this generation they avoid creativity, talent etc. They focus the kids more on science, English, maths etc. Like Chris mentioned the other time about his daughter about how her English, maths etc. are lacking but like what the heck she’s just 4 years old. Well there’s nothing wrong with that what as ever as every parents wants the best for the children and every teachers for their student but sometimes they just need to step back and let them do whatever they want to do.
Creativity is in majority subject like music, art, dance and a lot more but this blog is not about my opinion of what I think creativity is as I did that last year it’s about how does creativity show itself within the game industry.
As an artist how do you show your creativity? Well I show it through my progression and improvements in my work like if I lacked using other materials I will keep trying until I keep improving. I will like to show my creativity through my improvements.
Am I talented or skilful?? Well I wouldn’t say I’m skilful but I try to show my talent through my art work. University has made me realise how creative I have become comparing to my first year and of course I would know what I need to improve on like the digital painting for example I will need more practise with that to improve and some media’s but I’m sure practise and time will make me achieve my goal.
Even with 3d max and the UDK I need to practise a lot to get really good at using the software to maintain a positive placement for my field. See like early on it said something about game being creative of course it is the whole package is creative like the area, theme, game play etc. UDK and 3Dmax hold the same. Whenever I work on 3D max or UDK I limit my creativity by just doing the project and moving on I should really do another couple of my own project this should enhance my knowledge for the software and my creativity i should hopefully do this over the holiday and enhance my knowledge about creativity.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Task 20: An introduction to the Game Industry
Here is some research I did it basically shows the growth of the game industry from the 1970’s to the 2000’s I thought it will be best if you had a basic knowledge of the growth before you’re entered the industry. So check the site out...it’s under history =D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_industry#Overview
Here are a few more sites that will be good to check out....
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/416/the_game_industry_salary_survey_2007.php
http://www.gamesrecruit.co.uk/Index.aspx
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110314012432AAoVE9d
http://www.stibbe.net/Writing/Games_Industry/recruitment.htm
Basically the sites above mention about the salary, about the recruiting system and basic information on what you will need to get in the industry.
Industries are looking for anyone who has experience on having the degree of a game art course with major experience with 3D max, animation, UDK, 2D and Z-brush plus you will have to have a good CV or covering letter if it’s requested and a brilliant portfolio. If anyone has the qualification I just stated above have thumbs up but the journey doesn’t finish there. Like mike mentioned on one of the lecture... “Before you start year 2 you should check some game industries and check what skills are required...some you might have and some you wouldn’t but you shouldn’t worry because you will have the last two years of university to tick all the missing boxes”. Even though you haven’t ticked all the boxes you should apply every few months so they would be able to see you passion for the game industry not only that but your improvements as well. I mentioning all this have really put me on the spot. Right now I should be applying for jobs and start designing my portfolio i will start on that as soon as possible...I really think this blog is a wakeup call =D
I have asked a lot of previous 3rd years who are now employed in the game industry they always managed to mention something which was “always update your CV....always”!
Yes I seriously think this blog was one of the best/ useful blog as it woke me up and made me realise that I need to start designing my portfolio and start applying! Well I will start on this as soon as I get all my work done!!
http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/beginners.html
After I checked the site above it hit me hard! As many people do they work for money!! After reading the site above it made me realise that I shouldn’t apply for games just because of the money as most of them could be a normal budgeted salary. It’s not me being greedy it’s just me trying to secure my future this is why money was my big concern. The site above mentions a lot about the game industry it mentions the roles, about the job, degree that is needed and to improve my chances in game industry. It also stated that the UK has around 270 game industries which is a brilliant for more information check the site out above but it did mention it is really challenging to get into! now that i got a quick idea of what a game company wants i will need to start ticking the boixes within the two years i got.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_industry#Overview
Here are a few more sites that will be good to check out....
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/416/the_game_industry_salary_survey_2007.php
http://www.gamesrecruit.co.uk/Index.aspx
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110314012432AAoVE9d
http://www.stibbe.net/Writing/Games_Industry/recruitment.htm
Basically the sites above mention about the salary, about the recruiting system and basic information on what you will need to get in the industry.
Industries are looking for anyone who has experience on having the degree of a game art course with major experience with 3D max, animation, UDK, 2D and Z-brush plus you will have to have a good CV or covering letter if it’s requested and a brilliant portfolio. If anyone has the qualification I just stated above have thumbs up but the journey doesn’t finish there. Like mike mentioned on one of the lecture... “Before you start year 2 you should check some game industries and check what skills are required...some you might have and some you wouldn’t but you shouldn’t worry because you will have the last two years of university to tick all the missing boxes”. Even though you haven’t ticked all the boxes you should apply every few months so they would be able to see you passion for the game industry not only that but your improvements as well. I mentioning all this have really put me on the spot. Right now I should be applying for jobs and start designing my portfolio i will start on that as soon as possible...I really think this blog is a wakeup call =D
I have asked a lot of previous 3rd years who are now employed in the game industry they always managed to mention something which was “always update your CV....always”!
Yes I seriously think this blog was one of the best/ useful blog as it woke me up and made me realise that I need to start designing my portfolio and start applying! Well I will start on this as soon as I get all my work done!!
http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/beginners.html
After I checked the site above it hit me hard! As many people do they work for money!! After reading the site above it made me realise that I shouldn’t apply for games just because of the money as most of them could be a normal budgeted salary. It’s not me being greedy it’s just me trying to secure my future this is why money was my big concern. The site above mentions a lot about the game industry it mentions the roles, about the job, degree that is needed and to improve my chances in game industry. It also stated that the UK has around 270 game industries which is a brilliant for more information check the site out above but it did mention it is really challenging to get into! now that i got a quick idea of what a game company wants i will need to start ticking the boixes within the two years i got.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Task 19: Elements of Game Technology, part two: Sound for Games
how are sound used in games?
Sound is a big part of games me as a gamer i think sound builds emotions, theme, character and story to the game. like when i played metal gear solid i fell in love with the theme music and some music builded emotions that worked really well when there was a upsetting scene. Sound could be used for other reason like devil may cry, god of war and deadspace have all different sound themes what gives a different genre but it is used for the same reason. i have reralised in these three games i just stated above use a repetitive sound track when the villians, bad guys or monsters come in the game. This lets the player get ready and realise...somethings coming up!...that is just through a sound track. Even for props you will need to sound or it wouldnt work well can u just imagine in a game shooting a gun with out any sound??
found a composer whos been in the industry for over 20 years...more info click on the site below..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Wall_%28composer%29
on this site it give the information on Jack Wall...he created soundtrack for the game splinter cell and a lot more. music composers are really important for games. i trully think that sound gives realism to the game.
i guess your probably know that im mgs fan boy now lol cause there is a music composer who worked for mgs Kazuki Muraoka information is on the website below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid
check it out!! MGS is the best game ever!! =D
In the blog it stated a question is nile rodgers and benard edwards composition 'Good times' is the most influential recording made in the 20th century.
after reading this on this site http://www.disco-disco.com/tributes/chic.shtml it stated that the were one of the best guiter and bass players at the time and they influenced a big crowd. fans kept growing through there music. so yes i believe that they were most influencial at the time.
Sound is a big part of games me as a gamer i think sound builds emotions, theme, character and story to the game. like when i played metal gear solid i fell in love with the theme music and some music builded emotions that worked really well when there was a upsetting scene. Sound could be used for other reason like devil may cry, god of war and deadspace have all different sound themes what gives a different genre but it is used for the same reason. i have reralised in these three games i just stated above use a repetitive sound track when the villians, bad guys or monsters come in the game. This lets the player get ready and realise...somethings coming up!...that is just through a sound track. Even for props you will need to sound or it wouldnt work well can u just imagine in a game shooting a gun with out any sound??
found a composer whos been in the industry for over 20 years...more info click on the site below..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Wall_%28composer%29
on this site it give the information on Jack Wall...he created soundtrack for the game splinter cell and a lot more. music composers are really important for games. i trully think that sound gives realism to the game.
i guess your probably know that im mgs fan boy now lol cause there is a music composer who worked for mgs Kazuki Muraoka information is on the website below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid
check it out!! MGS is the best game ever!! =D
In the blog it stated a question is nile rodgers and benard edwards composition 'Good times' is the most influential recording made in the 20th century.
after reading this on this site http://www.disco-disco.com/tributes/chic.shtml it stated that the were one of the best guiter and bass players at the time and they influenced a big crowd. fans kept growing through there music. so yes i believe that they were most influencial at the time.
Task 18: Elements of Game Technology, part one: Game Engines??
To be honest I have never used any game engines over my previous years which I definitely regret on not doing. I have used UDK recently as I had to for my group project truthfully speaking when I opened UDK (Unreal development kit) it confused the lot out of me and I just minimized it. When I opened it I was like what I meant to do next. Gladly there were some good tutorials on you tube for the UDK which I checked out as I needed to. There were more tutorials for the UDK than 3D max. After checking the tutorial I re-opened UDK and tested it out and it wasn’t so bad as I thought basically it was exactly like when I started using 3D max like it scared the shit out of me on the first time I opened it and now it’s like a regular thing. With the UDK it has different short cut buttons which could get confusing with 3D max as I had problems with using 3D max after using the UDK. You start to get comfortable with the UDK shortcuts and soon as you open 3D max you start using the shortcut buttons that is used for the UDK.
Anyway I did some research and UDK is one of the best game engines as it holds more than some other engines. For example there are other engines that hold one texture or asset each time and then start to render in the scene which could take forever where as the UDK it could load the whole texture and assets in one go which is quicker than the quake 3 engines and a lot more. Plus the UDK holds more tutorials than any other engine so basically it would be stressful using an engine that you are using for the first time without any tutorials where as the UDK you could learn instantly with the tutorials on you tube. UDK has definitely have more advantages than the quake 3D or other engines but there might be other engines that are better than UDK.
Here is a site that explains all the best game engines and the advantages and disadvantages it holds....you must check it out...
http://techhall.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/the-5-most-powerful-game-engines-of-all-time/
Brilliant site that explains each engines it explain the differences.
Anyway I did some research and UDK is one of the best game engines as it holds more than some other engines. For example there are other engines that hold one texture or asset each time and then start to render in the scene which could take forever where as the UDK it could load the whole texture and assets in one go which is quicker than the quake 3 engines and a lot more. Plus the UDK holds more tutorials than any other engine so basically it would be stressful using an engine that you are using for the first time without any tutorials where as the UDK you could learn instantly with the tutorials on you tube. UDK has definitely have more advantages than the quake 3D or other engines but there might be other engines that are better than UDK.
Here is a site that explains all the best game engines and the advantages and disadvantages it holds....you must check it out...
http://techhall.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/the-5-most-powerful-game-engines-of-all-time/
Brilliant site that explains each engines it explain the differences.
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