Absorb - Copyright ©

Copyright one major big things in most companies. Copyright is there to help most people not have their work stolen, but leads to the problem of I created XYZ on this date and the other person who has XYZ has it at a earlier date which leads to who is right?
My game level and concept art I think should have a copy right symbol and something in my work, which will be repeated to show which one is mine and the proof behind as well!

A problem which occured with Gearbox and Olly Moss a British artist when he discovered a picture inside Bordrlands 2 which looked very similar to his own work, which it does however I thought that Gearbox handled this very well because Olly didn't mind much because he was a fan but lead director Randy Pitchford wanted to fix this and therefore offered him a job at gearbox the lucky boy! This however is only a nice version of the problems of copyright. Olly Moss is on the left and Borderlands 2 is on the right.
                                     

This one was about Apple sayong that the Samsung Galaxy tablet copied it's design. I thoughts on this "all tablets look pretty much the same".
It was interesting reading this story because firstly the Judge ruled that the Galaxy was not as "cool" as the iPad and gave a different impression, therefore didn't infringe copyright.
Therefore Apple did lose this Copyright appeal because the tablets were different in thickness and design on the back and the screen could not be judge because all tablets have that! The user face was different because the ipad is more user friendly but not as professional as the Samsung.
I believe this is trivial matter because Apple made £5.6 bn in the third quarter of the year 2012 so I don't know why they are complaining so much, however this is what can happen if copyright gets out of hand!

Abosrb Making a pet mech with Vaughan Ling

In a copy of Imagine FX Xmas 2012 he takes you though how to make a pet mech.

 I believe this will be a good start on making my level over summer, also adding a dog mech as a object/asset in the level. He starts by making rough outlines and finding source images on the internet and a template, therefore a lot of images. In this at part 7 when he starts to colour in the dog's head with metal  he was of to use light metal for the main body and dark metal for the lattice. On the reflective material, diffuse shading becomes subtle and reflections dominate the surface. I also noticed on this picture he has used highlights on the tight corners to make the shape.

I will defiantly try this over summer and use it on the Mech dog and other metallic object in my concept art for my level project.

Artist Eric Gagnon

Deus Ex human revolution, I have already done a review of the game which I love therefore I thought it would be best to see all the concept for Deus Ex and learn from it and design a game level from it over summer.

This is Adam's personal office and I love every thing about it. The lighting which sets a dark and stong mood. The futuristic tech on the table.  The cluster of lights makes a circle shape and focus your eye there first to show a powerful area then your eye get attracted to the light on the left which is more relaxed and personal. I really do like this a lot and wished I made a Level like this, therefore over summer make concept art similar to the cyber punk theme and design a level from that idea.

 These labs I remember playing though and this image transferring to game hasn't changed one bit and looks even more stunning as concept.

I really do likre this concept artist because he has designed this not to futuristic China city which in game is called Hengsha but I can imagine in 20 plus years that a city could look like this one which adds to the whole backstory and world building which I beleieve is important to anything!

 

Artist Shane Pierce

He is one of my top favourite concept artist's because he create's these beautiful world which I want to explore!

This one is a street corner cafe and straight away I want to know what that machine is? I really like the creating of the atmosphere with the painterly detail.

Shane created a lot of the Gears of War 3 and a bit of Gears of War 2 and while most video games are limited with narrow halls ways and defined corridors, but Gears of War 3 can let the player stand back and look at the scenery and stunning visuals, with crumbling builds and their architecture.
Shane starts with getting words or a description from the designers, then takes a few hours to piece together some rough ideas. Shane said this as well "Gear's 3 progress went really, really fast, so there wasn't much irritation"

I really like his futuristic/ cyber punk concept and would really like to give it a go and build a game level from my own designs over summer.

This was so cool in game and I love that he did this concept of the writers idea.

Artist Bruno Leblanc

He is a concept artist for "Far Cry 3" who created the character Vaas

Reading about how he made this character was interesting because at the time Ubisoft wanted to have the Vaas character but didn't have a concept yet but when the saw Bruno's 'Pryo' character design and with the actor Micheal Mando (voice of Vaas) he really liked the look of the pryo and so Bruno made a few tweaks to the design and we got this.

I like Bruno Leblanc's work because he does a lot of human characters which look like they belong in a game and from this I need to learn to be like him in his concept with the original idea and pushing on with some differences just like when he designed 'Bull' also from "Far Cry 3" below.

Character Deadpool

Deadpool aka Wade Wilson is a fictional character made in the Marvel universe, he is a mercenary and a anti-hero. He is disfigured underneath due to cancer but his ability 'accelerated healing factor', depicted by various writers has different levels of effects, he got this power form the weapon X program (A fictional government genetic research facility) this means he is  strong enough to survived complete incineration but the healing also increased his cancer which leaves him disfigured. 
 "It is sometimes implied that his healing factor merely bolstered and exacerbated an underlying mental issue, as a young Wade Wilson was shown as a withdrawn, disturbed young kid caught in his zany daydreams and, upon losing his healing factor, Deadpool didn't regain his sanity. " Wikipedia source because I didn't know fully how he became that insane.
He also has the ability to teleport, He got this form Cable who appears in most of the comic's and they basically traded their powers but if one of them  "Body slides" (teleport) they both teleport to that spot which is semi helpful.








Deadpool was in the recent film X-men: origins and was played by Ryan Reynolds. All of the lines he did in that film he came up with himself and I love the start bit of that film with him and disliked the ending because it was full on rubbish.







But the main reasons why I like this character:
1. Anti-hero (just prefer them).
2. Wacky and insane.
3. Read the short script below.

Deadpool Game trailer

All I can say is "WANT IT NOW".
From looking at this trailer the graphics look stunning, and it's defiantly not going to be a serious game.
I do like the way they have captured the character in this small trailer it resembles the character in the comic books along with his self narration. can't wait for it to come out and review it.

Deus Ex Human Revolution

I couldn't wait for this game to come out on Xbox 360 because I had played the first on the original xbox.
It takes place in a not to far distant future and is similar to robo cop, blade runner, and judge dread ( all films). The protagonist Adam Jenson is swept into a conspiracy when he is badly hurt and then augmented. Deus Ex uses the base of the cyber punk fiction but with references to the italian renaissance.  Deus Ex is a role playing game with the ability to shoot. The way you level up is though praxis points which upgrades and unlocks different abilities, which all have up sides and disadvantages but the game allows different ways to complete a mission and rewards you for what ever path you may take, This is what I love about this game is because every time I play though it you find different paths and new things and having a limit on the number of praxis points means you can't unlock every thing so you have to choose wisely!
The thing I disliked was the boss fights because with all the choices in the level had all gone had you had to shoot them which means doing the 'wuss' non lethal way mean't you were completely outmatched so aways have a combat rifle or big gun for them sadly.
Overall the environment is stunning and the music goes so well. All abilities matter and change the way you play, e.g.falling to get to the next area there is a augment for that, but also this game doesn't hold your hand and you can do whatever therefore if you go into a boss fight with low ammo you are going to get punished which makes this game so good. This is a first person shooter, role playing game, stealth, and action all blended into one and a must get game.

Dishonored

Overview of this game. You are the once-trusted bodyguard of the empress. framed for her murder and driven by revenge, you must become an infamous assassin, know only by the disturbing mask that has become your calling card.
In this I like and dislike the whole silent protagonist because in the game you play as Corvo who is well known as the "lord protector" but in the first 5 mins the empress gets stabbed and saying I didn't do it, but nope his a silent protagonist which I thought was a 'great' (sarcasm).  Dishonored's world is well build and great backstory gives it life in this steampunk world however the characters in the game feel robotic and show little emotion with all of them having massive foreheads!

(huge foreheads!)


Overall the main mechanic of this game is the stealth which is incredibly good and works well but I've heard its similar to "Thief" a game which I haven't heard about and might play at some point.

Recently Bethesda have released some downloadable content called the knife of Dunwall which looks interesting and I will defiantly review it later on.

Assassin's Creed 3

Assassin's Creed 3 a completely new game without Ezio who is about 50 year old now. When this game was first announced, my first reaction was "this looks awesome", AC3 (Assassin Creed 3) I think is set in a very interesting period, the American Revolution which I thought was good as it's a jump from the renaissance period which Assassins Creed brotherhood and Revelations (which I call 2.5 and 2.7) introduced bombs and the  unrealistic hidden gun (pistol attached to wrist) for some reason.

When I got Assassins Creed 3 and played it though before judging it.
The story, oh my goodness it was a enthralling, thematically rich story, and huge backstory thanks to the 'animus' (device which allows a person to "re-live" in their ancestors foot steps). I loved the tense and atmospheric sea battles something which is new and works so well! Along with the progression of homestead (place where you live in the game). Finally the attention to detail, historically and visually made this game come to life.
Sadly things which could of being better in this game was the hunting mechanics which where very relaxed and semi worked but there was room for improvement. The trees with certain branches which you free run off where all magically placed together, which yes works and is fun, but all lined up all nice and neat was sad because it only allowed in that area and the other trees don't work. Finally is the number of famous people you see in this game doing the thing they are famous for, E.G. Benjamin Franklin, flying a kite, but also for a random reason Connor(main character) is at the signing the declaration of independence which I found odd.

Multiplayer is fun and much better designed this time round with none of the abilities shadowing the other ones, but the uplay passport thing is annoying because I got this game second hand, normally you have a code to use which activates it but sadly I have to pay £10 just for the luxury of the "good" abilities and customisation which is absolutely silly in my opinion.

Overall this game is very good and fun to play with all the new mechanics, however it has lost the main thing about the Assassins Creed series which is getting a target and stabbing them, and not being almost god like with the counter-kill ability which has become so very over powered as the games go on sadly. , but they have learnt that people don't like the  armour in the previous games and has removed them, which is good.

Dragon Ball Z

I love this anime series and still do even to this day. Dragon Ball Z started in 1989 and ended in 2003, the pre-sequal to this was Dragon Ball (1984 - 1995)  and the next series Dragon Ball GT (1996 - 1997). The dates are when they were shown on TV.

I'm looking at Dragon Ball Z because they have developed the characters so well and found the perfect balance between story and action, but not only that just the silly over the top moves and flashing lights are things I believe make it so good.  A main thing in dragon ball z is the consistent strong themes of good triumphing over evil, putting family first, and working as a team. Still, there is no shortage of violent scenes; characters getting hurt, and characters talking about death so not really for the young audience.
The best thing about Dragon Ball Z is that it has stood the test of time for more than a decade, because of the strong messages in most of the episodes which includes the filler content, but by watching a few episodes you can easily understand the characters, story, and these are the main reasons for this show's longevity.

From this I believe that to make something good and last a long time, compared to most triple "A" titled games and movies they must be easy and straight forward and have clear understanding. I think with most of the new released games they don't have a good story and they just so happen to have a magical solution which just appears, but I can see why they do this to help the story along.

Overall if you haven't seen Dragon Ball Z and don't want to watch 291 ish episodes which is a lot there is a cut down version called Dragon Ball Z Kai, even if you watch about 5 episodes you will be able to see the meanings and the strong themes showing though.

The Amazing Spider-Man

I had my doubts about this film, because it felt like "Sony" had to keep the ownership of the character Spider-Man. I did enjoy the film but it felt incredibly rushed out, and the first half of the movie was boring and was almost exactly like the first Spider-Man film, with similar scenes but with Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane. The way they portrayed the character Spider-Man in this film is more like the one in the comics which I like. The things I disliked about this movie was Peter's Dad Just so happens to be a genius scientist and his ex partner just so happens to be Curt Connors aka the Lizard who just so happens to be working at Oscorp which turned Peter into the Spider-Man, but also Gwen (love interest) is Curt Conor's assistant, all I can say is "Wow! Could this be any more rushed? or just bad world building?"
They also played around with Uncle Ben's death and when watching this it felt like it had lost it's meaning because it was meant to be dramatic and heavy but this was not the case in this film.
Final thing was how the Lizard wanted to take over the world and turn people into lizards just because... there is nothing! This really annoys me because lack of backstory and attention to detail which you don't realise watching first time but do pick up on maybe the third time just shows that this was rushed, and jumping to conclusions just to finish the film in my opinion.


Overall it's not a bad film, I have seen worse, It's good for the SGI and action packed.  I feel it was let down by the backstory and the being rushed out.

Avengers Assemble

I went to see this film in the cinema when it first came out and I absolutely loved it, for the epic-ness and the cheesy moments which happened in the film. Bringing together all the heroes from previous films and linking them into this film, was pure genius on "Marvel's" part, also using the iconic heroes of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawk-eye, and Black Widow was good because they are more well known in the Marvel universe. The story is about a unexpected enemy which emerges to threaten New York city (as usual) Nick Fury leader/Director of the organisation call S.H.E.I.LD. as to pull these heroes together to stop this crisis.

However after getting the DVD and watching it a second time I saw a few mistakes or flaws with the film which some I can't say due to spoilers but first one was the all Avenger's with out any type of communication devices could all talk to each other no problem. Second one was the Hulk who can for the sake of the plot can suddenly control his anger but for the sake of that shot with follows where he stops one of the "big" enemy dead was very cool. Finally the convenient part of the ending but was still good.

Overall this is a must watch for any fan of the Marvel universe and anyone wanting a good super hero film. Sadly I was hoping for Spider-Man to be in this but he is owned by "Sony" along with the "Fantastic 4" and "X-Men" so hopefully if they do another film some of these character will be in the next film.

Super Smash Bros Brawl

I have been a big fan of the 'Smash bros" series since the first release in 1999 made by Nintendo. SSBB(Super Smash Bros Brawl) was released in 2008 and was a big hype introducing lots of new characters to the game at the E3 2007 conference with this video.

This video showed the new graphics of the game and interesting new powers. The end of this trailer with Snake appearing was a big surprise because he is not owned by Nintendo which was a huge shock to most people however there was a fall out between Nintendo and Konami after the release of "Metal Gear Solid 2" therefore the next titles weren't on Nintendo systems and to make up for that they added "Snake" also adding to the list of surprising new characters was this guy!

Sonic the Hedgehog! I mean wow this really got me excited for this game even more.

But this is where is gets slightly disappointing to me because this character and most of the others aren't unlocked and to play as 'Sonic' you have to play about 10 semi interesting hours of single player just to unlock, then if you take the game to a mates on a different console half the characters are gone, and you don't want to be playing the single player with about 4 people because is gets boring.  The campaign has a lot going for it with all the cut scenes and a good side scroller with a unusual story which was different from the last game (super smash bros melee) , but all the levels are repetitive and just have a different colour on but I enjoyed it.

Overall this game isn't really meant to be taken seriously and is a fun party game.

Paranorman

Straight away this is a amazing film and a must watch. It was made by a small stock-motion company LAIKA, who made Coraline. Paranorman is about a small town which comes under attack by zombies, straight away I thought "yay, another zombie film, great"(sarcasm), but this was a film which really surprised me in the way the story is told because new children's films are about fast action to keep the attention of the child but Paranorman has faith on its own speed and time to let key development sink in, which worked really well. The protagonist Norman is a misunderstood boy who can talk to the dead and has to save the town from a curse with a better version of a "scooby-doo" group/gang with his sister, friend Neil, Neil's brother, and the school bully. During the film when I thought I had figured out what was going to happen next it threw a major twist and without spoilers I can almost say this is one of my favourite films and takes on a different approach to zombie films, and a must watch!

Looking at game company Team 17

Team 17 is a game company best known for making the "worms"series.

It was a series of artillery strategy computer games. The player takes control of a small platoon of earth worms with a funny and bright personality. The art style of this game is cartoon animation which I like because I aim for a cartoon style in my game.

My personal opinion of this game is that it's fun and exciting but it does feel like this was a bit of a gimmick compared to Team 17's earlier games, because they where a lot more serious.

The last worms game I have played is "worms revolution" in which this game introduced a physics engine to the game to have water wash away enemies. This is also going back to the basics of worms away from the 3d battlefields before, and the new squeaks to help it get absolutely chaotic.

pictures of level

My level is a town which i was originally medieval however because I created my own wall to me it looks more futuristic which I like. In contrast the timber and stone building look more realistic and i like the contrast in texture. Combined with the simplistic look of my figures it now suggests to me a time in the future possibly following a third world war.  This could be a futuristic town where people are re-building their lives and are celebrating there early success with the festival of lights.

Most games are set in medieval times or war zones/ battle zones. There some set in the future so possibly i should consider developing this in a futuristic way instead of my original medieval idea

This is a Arial shot of my level.

This building above is my achilles heel because I cannot get it right!

'Joy' Bring the game level to life

Firstly I started with concept art.

This image was inspired by the front gate of Windfall Island in the Legend of Zelda Series(as mentioned before). The idea is to have a starting area before heading to the main area of the level which is where the bonfire is shown in the next picture. I like this because it gives the opening part of the level a little bit of mystery however i have to be careful because it might give a different theme to the one I'm aiming for.

The main area is going to have a bonfire which will be main attraction, with stalls selling different items in a circle around the bonfire and then buildings behind the stalls. I went for this because it would make this area open and more friendly, also adding the bright colours which I have learnt from Yap Kun Rong.  

The comments from my peers on this was that it would feel very abandoned without people in the level and the choice of music would be critical, but maybe adding lanterns to help illuminate the level and add more colour!

Secondly creating the objects for the level and texturing them.

I found this texture done by Frank Vanderwel on Google images and I absolutely love it because it fits with my idea of a medieval-ish festival and it's slightly cartoon like in Zelda Wind Waker but the level of detail is higher then Zelda and this is what i'm looking for my buildings.

In Maya I made  2 different types of building and then exported them into Unity.

House number 1

I found this model house in a model shop in Leeds. I got this image from their website and used it as a guide to model the first house, however I don't like the top half of the model house, therefore I decided to have all of the main building in the texture I found. The problem about this was the texture stretched really badly across the building and didn't cope well with stairs. I fixed this by using a UV snapshot of the building and placing the texture in the correct place.

  

House number 2

This one was inspired by my house back in Allerston because we have a awning at the front, also most little cafes and some shops have them as shown below.

  

I thought this was great idea combining the house and the shop to make the level more interesting.

I think by Extruding a lot of my objects to reduce polygon count is a definite because it will help my game run more smoothly.  

I have also created the walls to keep the player from leaving, and made my own texture for it.

The texture is same as the ones i used in my concept art, because i don't want to use a lot of textures from random sources from Google.

UV mapping most of these objects/assets was easy apart from some the more complex designs.

'Joy' - Yap Kun Rong

Yap Kun Rong is a Concept Artist, who I have only found recently. His work is very colourful and vibrant, with an oriental feel.

I really like this picture above because the amount of colour he has used, and the impact it has on you, I find it interesting because he has set the scene with a left to right movement brought about by the use of the flags radiating from the building, portraying the mood well. There is a definite feeling of celebration, emphasised by the fair ground type colours.

  In the above picture I really like the lanterns which are hanging up in the background, the mood being very happy illistrated by the use of colours especial the reds, blues and greens, being bright and vibrant  with nothing dark at all. This means when I do my level which is set at night I must make sure its bright and colourful!

This picture really caught my eye because it's a festival, and I'm trying to create a level which is a festival. This image is a great source material for me, however I've set my level in the Medieval period so there will be a lot of changes because the majority of objects in this picture are modern and therefore can't be used in my scene which is unfortunate.  Within this image, there are many things happening and there are considerable amounts of lights used, therefore reflecting back to the original point of having my level bright, this can be sorted by the use of lots of lights which will also create, a crowded but fun atmosphere.

Creating Barrels and Crates

Over the holidays we had to make Barrels and Crates which are seen in almost every game.

We had to make a crate and barrel in medieval, industrial or sci-fi style.
I chose Medieval and Industrial.
For Medieval I looked at these,

Skyrim

Dragon Age



















Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning








And here are the ones I made.

Next was the Industrial.

 Sadly the creator of this is unknown but it is definitely from a game engine. The subtle patterning on the barrel creates a real feeling of rust and the soft muted colours give a real sense of age.


















Fallout 3
This box is much sharper, and the colours though softer, are brighter creating a newer metallic look, but still with the touches of rust.










My versions.

As you can see I haven't got my colours soft enough here to create the realistic look I'm looking for. To do this I will use a filter in Photoshop.