We're all imperfect people in a imperfect world.

This is in response to the critical studies session, where we discussed time management.

A: This is a weird way of doing things, hope it gets the point across…

N: yeah I know but fuck it, might as well give it a go…
So yeah according to Powell you should get rid of boyfriends and just have causal sex to keep the tension down.

A; Times nowadays call for several people to fund and support a household, respective partners being the norm…But the whole condoning casual sex thing! We may as well cut out the time wasted in the flirting and finding someone and just allocate people to each other…

N; that might not be completely….er…satisfying maybe have it so trying and find your own and if you cant find one then allocation will have to happen. Only thing is there are more guys than girls, suppose they could take it in turns with playing the girl, have a sexy little dress for them to wear and some heels. HA. That would make them squeal!

A; any excuse for the filth! But if we had to live according to Powell’s regime, we would cut down so much time just keeping it in the course! Haha! So what about food? We couldn’t shop or cook, that takes up too much time!

N: well just get a IV drip into the arm, have the PC in the toilet and just live in the loo. Got all bases covered then, eating, drinking and defecating.

A: absolutely! It saves so much time that way! Sleeping? We’ll only be allowed 4 hours sleep, with maybe a rewarding nap of one hour in the afternoons to top up the energy…

N: have you ever seen me with only four hours sleep, the only thing I would be good for is an extra in dawn of the dead.

A: ^^ this is true… I’d pass up food entirely just to fund my caffeine intake! See me last for all of 8 days before dying!!

N: but you can’t remember, you will be on a drip in the loo unless it was a caffeine drip. Don’t forget there isn’t time for personal hygiene so the only people that would have sexy time with us would be equally as grotty Game-Arters.

A: O.o this image makes me want to resort to celibacy!

N: No. I refuse… Who do you think I am?

A: I guess that would be kind of hard… We all have needs! Imperfect people in an imperfect world… ^^

N: haha, I believe that would be a Powell quote right there!
People are much more interesting because of their flaws, almost perfect people (No-one is completely perfect ) are at best irritating and induces a lack of self esteem. Which means that inturn they are flawed, as they cause a negative effect on the people around them. A perfect person wouldn’t do that.

A: saying that people have to be imperfect to function in a society? ^^ that doesn’t bode well for the ideal of all work and no play should be your daily routine, does it? If we’re all imperfect, we wont be sticking to that…

N: well put it this way being bad sometimes is good but perfect people wouldn’t commit crime or do bad things, society and the people within would agree and never fight, if no-one fought and settled down and had families we would suffer from overpopulation. The world works because its brutal, we wouldn’t appreciate the good in life if we didn’t have the bad to compare it to.

A: I love that you think ‘perfect’ people settle down and have kids! ^^ interesting insight… But good point about the good is good because you have the bad to compare it to.

N: well according to society your supposed to work, settle down, buy a house, have 2.4 kids, grow old, get a pension and die in a miserable nursing home with everyone else that’s just counting the last beats wondering what you have really done with life. I would much rather be a little bad and actually have an interesting life that I have enjoyed. Than follow the expected path.

A: I’m thinking that thoughts like these are contributions to the shaping of society of late. Women gaining a bit more independence and wanting to do all the things men want to do and that being acceptable. The only thing in life isn’t being a wife and mother. We want things like sexual liberation and freedom and opportunity in the work place, whatever that may be. From a non feminist point of view, ofcourse.

N: well yeah I think that pretty much sums it up. We want to be free but don’t want complete anarchy, I think we are back to the imperfect world issue again. We will always strive for more than we already have, in the fifties woman would be amazed at the freedom we are now given but yet for the modern day we strive for more than they would settle for.

A: So the whole ‘time is of the essence, enjoy it while you can’ thing… Powell was associating it with work and self development, but we’ve taken that and twisted it to apply to the stuff we were saying which was slightly derogatory. But yet, it still applies… How ironic…

'Real' Dolls

Real dolls are like the elaborate version of a blow up sex doll which is so frequently ripped in films. Real dolls are made of silicone and are flexible realistic plastic ‘dolls’ made for the adult market. The dolls are customisable with interchanging faces so that it looks like more than one ‘girl’. The body type weight and eye colour are all factors that go into designing the doll.

But who actually buys these dolls? They cost a minimum of $6500 and that’s without any of the added ‘extras’. I think what creeps me out about them are that the Dolls aren’t just sex toys to these men but girlfriends, wives and lovers. It just isn’t healthy. Real people respond in a way that dolls cant because THERE PLASTIC!

There is a community of owners that discuss what they can and have done with their dolls to make it like having sex with a real woman, for f**sake they could hire a hell of a lot of prostitutes for that kind of money and they would have already covered the first hurled of making them real because they ARE real! I’m not saying that prostitution is ok but in a way it just seems less strange to me than the concept of these dolls.

I think what bothers me is the unhealthy relationships which develop between man and doll, the doll will never say no and promotes selfishness. The dolls are wrong because of the relationships which develop more than the dolls main reason for creation.

Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood a ‘radical’ group which aimed to create real, natural poses. The annunciation was painted in 1850. This is a different view of a common subject matter from around this time. It shows the moment when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she’s pregnant and for once she looks frightened of the concept of giving birth to the son of god. She is shrinking always for the angel on the bed whilst the angel is trying to reassure her by the gentle hand gesture and the presentation of the lily.

I like this painting because of its simple palette and the soft style to the painting. The folds in the fabric of her dress are simple but beautifully highlighted. When thinking about recreating the image I decided to crop it to just the virgin because I don’t like the fire around the feet of the angel, I also wasn’t that keen of the face either as it looks to much like a orange blur.

This painting took me quite awhile to recreate as it goes into so much detail. But the main thing I found from doing this excise is that a lot of detail is implied by shadow and highlight. When I first started painting it was daunting but the further I got into painting it the more I realised it was just well placed colour and planning.

Theo Jansens creatures

A little bit of a rant

The iPhone… is it just me or does it seem to dominate some peoples lives? I went down the pub whilst I was there two people there spent the entire time playing on there iPhones, comparing new applications they had and once they had excused that they decided to go on twitter (not just a brief glance at it either) so we were all sitting round a table and every now and then there was a burst of laughter (sometimes at really quiet inappropriate timing) from something a minor celebrity had posted. So you may have guessed this really gets on my nerves, don’t get me wrong i’m not against socialising sites but when your actually out with people that are standing in reality, talk to them instead of someone in the virtual world, its just plan rude.

i had actually forgotten about this irration until i read this article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/apple/5567230/Apple-iPhone-is-a-pocket-gold-mine.html

So Thankyou!

Well first of I would just like to say I have really enjoyed this year and I feel like I have learnt a lot. So thank you.

Ok well I did feel like I was being thrown into the deep end with the 3d but I think that’s because I have never used anything like Max before. So I would suggest a few more small tutorials at the beginning. But I don’t find it quite as difficult to use as to when I started. (Even if it seems like every time heather comes over all I have to show for myself is a different sized box.) As to the Visual design part I really feel like I have learnt a lot and improved for the first time it feels like i’m being properly taught about art instead of just how to fill a sketchbook. I really look forward to ‘Motivational Wednesday’ every time I came out of the morning class I had the urge to work or do something! And the film in the afternoon was a nice way to round up the week as well as (especially during the first term when I didn’t really know anyone) a good talking point with class mates. So I may not have liked all of the films but that’s just personal taste I tend to have an aversion to happy endings.

Thanks :)

GDC

The Games Developers Conference is the biggest event for anyone within games. There seems to be so many interesting sessions that I really can’t talk about all the ones I wish I could attend. But there are a couple that sound partially interesting.

There is a creativity boot camp (yeah back to creativity again!) which sounds really interesting, the aim of it is to develop your creative mind using practical exercises and is open to any experience level, its to help anyone ‘enable them to see how a nimble creative mind can truly enhance the design and development process.’

Another session that sounds interesting is the stop wasting my time and Your money: Why your game doesn’t need a story to be a hit. Because I really do feel (unless its one of the few genres that can really get away with not having a storyline) I really am a firm believer in a good storyline and ok to many cut scenes is annoying but I just think don’t a truly good game could get by without one, I think it has a lot to do with my personal gaming though.

Master metrics: the science behind the art of game design. This session is based of game techniques from game designers across the world.

Ok I really want to go to this now! (There where so many others that interested me I couldn’t have named them all so I decided on just three.)

where do i want go?

Planning for the future has never been one of my strongest points I have always had a tendency to muddle through life trying to do what I like and its has lead me to this point, I don’t regret the choices I have made in life even if some of them were on a whim, it seems that if I follow my instincts I tend to go where I wanted to in the first place. I don’t think I would be who I am if I hadn’t made mistakes, I dropped out of college the first time round but it gave me some thinking time and the second bash at college was much more rewarding as I really thought about my options (whereas I just flicked though the prospectus and ended up with a odd selection of courses) and realised all I wanted to do art and i always had, I just didn’t know what area to go into, so multimedia sounded like a good way of trying different areas. My parents have always said to me to do what I want and never pressured me into a more academic route. During Multimedia I found I liked animation but preferred to make the sets and characters more than the actual animating part and I suppose that’s how I ended up here, though a process of elimination.

As to the future though in still open minded about it for example at the moment I not the biggest fan of 3d modelling but that’s because I find the program difficult to use but once I can use it more fluidly then maybe I will want to do that but at the moment i’m in limbo. Which i’m fine with as once I have decided I know it’ll be for the right reasons and not just on a whim.

Creativity Part 2

Creativity is a process, it is use of the imagination to create or problem solve. Before this course I thought I knew what it meant but never really thought about, I realise now that people are always saying something or someone is creative but when I ask them what creative really is they cant really explain it. So it after some discussions in and out of class that it seems to come down to worth, that could be in saleability, emotional or personal.

Is it possible to truly create something new though? When most people go though a similar education to answer the same exams, are we all just creating varies types of the same thing and tweaking old ideas?

Creativity seen as a process seems to be about problem solving. (And yes i’m going back to the toilet example from the previous blog on creativity) the design of a toilet didn’t come from thin air, I would say it starts with a bucket and then someone thought about it and decided to make it easier/more sanitary and from that the next person did the same thing to that idea, this happen over and over till the generally perceived image of a toilet was created. Well that is multiple people being creative to make life easier.

Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being...creativity requires passion and commitment. Out of the creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness–ecstasy.”— Rollo May, The Courage to Create

life changing or career building?

The thing with games they cover so many different areas is that unlike law which you study law then practice it, with games generally you’ll be using the skills that you’ve learned but have to continuously apply them in different ways. Personally I think this course is going in the right direction it makes sense that to be a good 3D artist first you should be a good 2D artist.

All over the internet are complains that students graduating from games courses aren’t trained in the right areas and have been deluded to believe that they will automatically get a job. I think many of the companies are looking for students which will slot right into the workplace without much train that have also got a background with the art area and retain there ‘creativity’ which to be honest is quite a lot to ask how do you thoroughly train someone whilst retaining individuality?

To me school, college and university are about refine and specializing. (How can u know what you want to do if you have only ever done the same thing?) So probably by the end of ‘official’ education I will have a pyramid style of education. (This should continue to grow throughout life)


http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/games-courses-are-5-years-out-of-date-says-braben

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/qantm-braben-was-right-about-uk-games-courses


Video
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7460352.stm

“As a species were fundamentally insane”

The Mist based on a novella written by Stephen king, the film was written and directed by Frank Darabout. The film wasn’t what I expected from what I heard and the title I thought I would be terrible however I really enjoyed it, the mist had a sinister streak which had nothing to do with the evil creatures but the people inside it plays on the fear of the unknown and the responses of the characters were a result of this. The religious fanaticism was terrifying because unlike the creature it’s real; throughout the world people have been sacrificing to the gods and looked at some higher power to be at fault or to explain the unbelievable.

Of all the creatures the mutant spiders did get to me but that’s due to personal ‘issues’ with them. (i’m ok with them if there not too big, too close or too hairy) the creatures didn’t seem to have a grand plan on taking over the world in fact they seemed just like bigger versions of ‘real’ animals. From what you got to see of them anyway.

This could have so easily been a terrible film of flesh eating monsters coming from the mist because the Army scientists opened a ‘window’ into another dimension, luckily though it wasn’t, the characters in the film made it believable however the main character David Drayton did the classic macho hero thing but it backfired in the end evening it up. The religious Anarchy that took place within the store was the truly horrifying part, within days of disaster the people started to murder each other. As humans we seem to go to extraordinary lengths to destroy others of our kind with wars, homicides mafias and don’t for get nuclear bombs. Even though the quote from the shop keeper made me laugh
“As a species were fundamentally insane” Ollie weeks. I couldn’t quite disagree with it.

I’m glad The Mist didn’t have an overall happy ending with everyone surviving and living happily ever after. Because for the most part it was a happy ending (the world was taken over with the creatures) but not for the main character he had murdered everyone he was with then to find out if he had just waited a little longer he wouldn’t have shot his own son.

The different interpretation

When i’m blogging I first write the blog on paper and then I type it up later but with the mist blog I left it for ages just hand written, I didn’t realise that I had already started to type the blog and so I started again. Both the paragraphs that follow come from the same draft I thought it was interesting how over the space of a month I interpreted the same text in a different way.

(First one I wrote that I forgot about)

The Mist based on a novella written by Stephen king, the film was written and directed by Frank Darabout. The film wasn’t what I expected from what I heard and the title I thought I would be terrible however I really enjoyed it, The Mist had a sinister streak which had nothing to do with the evil creatures but the people inside it plays on the fear of the unknown and the responses of the characters were a result of this.

(The second one)

The Mist is based upon the short story by Stephen king. Unlike many evil aliens films the creatures didn’t scare me half as much as the people within. The religious fanaticism was terrifying because unlike the creature it’s real; throughout the world people have been sacrificing to the gods and looked at some higher power to be at fault or to explain the unbelievable.

“The sonic recreation of the end of the world”

Sound within a game sets the mood, builds tension and educes fear, when a box crashes to the floor you except to hear it and if you don’t it doesn’t seem believable depending on what sound it makes depends on how you ‘read’ what is happening, for example if the box makes a hollow sound then you’ll believe the box is empty but if the sound effects portray that something heavy inside then we will investigate further. Sound makes us believe something is there when maybe it isn’t or it’s hidden.

There are two types of audio within games, sound effects and musical scores. Good sound effects make the game believable whereas good music creates an emotional attachment. Similarly with films if the sound is out of sync or inappropriate then we are less likely to believe it.

There is nothing more irritating than a good game with a terrible sound track. Spyro had possibly the most annoying sound track because it was tacky and repetitive (in hindsight so was the game so it’s fitting in that way.) listening to it now actually offends my ears. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcKr3KKNrZY

For a good sound effects/track they should help shape your emotional response and believability of the game. The music should flow from area to area without noticing the change.

Game Engines

A game engine is an unseen code which controls pretty much everything within a game. (Such as physics and they way objects ‘behave’)Pre-developed games engines come in varying degrees some require large amounts of programming were as others require very little.

Genesis3D is a ‘ready-to-go’ engine which involves hardly any programming (if any at all) which is fine but restricting, less diversity to what can be created and the style of the game.

Creating a games engine is expensive and takes time but after the bugs have been ironed out the engine will do exactly what is required and if it’s partly good can then be purchased/re-used for a different game. When using an existing games engine generally some alteration would be needed to be made and hence permission from the owner has to be granted before any modifications can be done.

The unreal engine is very popular as it allows for professional results but isn’t impossible to use, also the coding is editable so more diverse than other engines.

So either way some sacrifices have to be made and essentially it depends on funds for the project and time as well as skill of the team.


http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/529/what_is_a_game_.php

Game Culture

Gaming varies from very personal alone time to playing with masses of people, sometimes this crosses over, take WOW there can be a lot of social interaction but the thing that payers need to remember is that those people that your talking to could be anyone, they aren’t with you in reality and some of them (not all) are creeps.

LAN parties are fascinating thing in themselves, people coming together, from a couple of friends to hundreds of people which travel from all over with there computers for hours.

Gaming culture is generally perceived as something lone male teenagers do but all different people play games, there is a diverse range of games available suited to everyone. Take the Wii people that aren’t ‘hardcore’ gamers can pick up and play games such as Wii sports and Mario Karts with friends (or on their own) making gaming much more social.

Games are often seen in a negative light but they can be good for reaction times and concentration. There was a study of trainee surgeons, 303 trainees were tested and after 20mins of playing Super Monkey Ball they performed quicker and more efficiently (on average 11 seconds faster) with less mistakes.

Gaming used to occupy a lot of my time but it doesn’t so much anymore, now and then I play but I think the reason I firstly was that I was broke and secondly I was bored.

Gaming seems to be more ‘mainstream’ nowadays. Brain Training for the DS is a vastly popular game which can be played my most people (could be a bit of a challenge for really small kids) and yet it seams like the most boring concept for a game ever! I personally hated mental maths at school so why would I want to pay £20 to do just that, also it insults you last time I had a go it said I had the mental age of a 65yr old! But this sort of game does show a shift in who the games industry is trying to reach out to….everyone.

smile

blair showed me this video and its possibly the oddest/freakiest student film i've ever seem!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYk5SumcxQw

Look a little deeper and terror strikes

Its seems from first glance that everything’s ok, with excellent statistics but look a little deeper and terror strikes, people that have been in the industry years are being laid off how on earth will I be able to get into the industry, at least its only my first year and hopefully the industry will stabilises by then but that thought is fighting against the other that’s saying this could get really bad and by the time i’m finished there wont be any jobs for people starting out. So it seems i’m having a bit of a reality check. The only conclusion is that if i’m going to have any hope in hell of getting a job for the next 2 ½ years i’m going to have to get my act together and work my arse off.

As to being specialist or a generalist in one way being a generalist would mean finding a job easier but only if you’re excellent at the different areas and not just having a mediocre knowledge/skill in multiple areas. Otherwise become a specialist and be as good as possible in that area.

The face of the industry is smiling showing good profits but theses figures are of those games which have already been developed and on the selves which is giving the false impression that the games industry is ‘recession proof’. The truth is that there are widespread lay off's even the giant EA are cutting back and not just a little but 10 per cent of their global workforce which is about 1,000 people.

Outsourcing from a company view is cheaper but with more risk, the work that is outsourced has to be considered carefully however from a job hunters view this isn’t as good as places that they would fill are now going abroad.

Image by Yue Minjun -Big Swans
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060323/diamante_01.shtml
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3901/game_developer_layoffs_the_real_.php
http://www.britishgaming.co.uk/?p=2208

Creativity

To me creativity is simply creating something, when referring to a person being creative I think it’s a want/need to make something this covers all aspects of life you could have a creative way to go to the toilet if you really wanted but what to me it means is to think about something and if its something that is done regularly then thinking about it in a more practical way of doing it or a more interesting way of do it. So I guess what i’m saying is that in my view creativity is contemplating something and trying/making it. But i’m not going to ramble on about what I think it is, so I looked at the definition in the dictionary and the definition was;
1. Having to ability to create
2. Imaginative or inventive
3. A creative person, esp. one who devises advertising campaigns

Which is kind of what I was trying to get at but as usual my way was more convoluted. I then when on to question a couple of people and what came out of that was
someone who create
When you can make out of something else to use it to its full potential.

Which is pretty much what the dictionary has already told me however when Katy tried to explain herself it made more sense (she’s a music student hence in the musical example) ‘I think that a creative person compared to a non-creative changes a cord and places it with another and makes (with knowledge and understanding) a song instead of irritating noise.’(Ok so that’s not her exact words but it’s what she was getting at) I think I agree to a certain extent with that but isn’t everyone creative to a certain extent what defines a creative person from a non-creative person is it that “imagination” (and yes I did corner another friend for there thoughts on the matter) which I get because some people just don’t seem to have a particularly developed imagination which would make it more difficult to come up with a different way of doing something.

“Today’s economy is fundamentally a Creative Economy. I certainly agree with those who say that the advanced nations are shifting to information-based, knowledge-driven economies… Yet I see creativity… as the key driver. In my formulation, ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ are the tools and materials of creativity.” -Richard Florida

creativity within games is shown in every aspect that isnt already mapped out, its just generally conceived as something ‘arty’. But this isnt true my Dad is a builder and after seeing what he does for so many years what he does as creativity it’s a combination of problem solving and passion for making something that works well and looks good.there are some professions which would make me a bit nervous for example a creative doctor sounds scary (would Dr creative think that you would be without a leg?) and so it seems a recurring thing that creativity is making things but like Richard Florida 'you need knowleadge and information to make profitable creativity' otherwise all that your going to create is The ‘Brain Fart’.

Gameplay to me at least it more important that most other aspects of a game it is how the game plays I know that’s kind of a given but to put it in perspective I bought ICO for PS2 a couple of years ago and it looked nice, it had a ok soundtrack, the storyline made sense and so I put it down to Gameplay, the camera would every now and then do a weird angle which I couldn’t change you had to CONTINOUSLY drag some floating girl out of danger, it was unbelievably linear. But the thing is if it handled better, and shown form better angles then maybe it would be a alright game (it wouldn’t have ever been able to be a great game) the concept was good but somewhere along the line someone thought ‘why not make it a little more cool’ and in the process turned it into a steamy turd.

But back to the question at hand within the reviewing world I think its seen as the desirability of the game which would be easier if it was just called the desirability but after looking into games journalism that is just the way its (bad).

Being 'at one' with the character

Adventure games allow for good characterising as they are generally in the 3rd person and so the character has more of a history compared to a first person character, the history explains why the character is doing what there doing and more importantly their motives. Take Lara croft from Tomb Raider she is shown as a beautiful adventurer who is also incredibly rich and so is adventuring for personal reason rather than financial. Lara has been in many games now but in each game she has a mission to find something and this (from the ones that I have played) is to find out about her history. (Lara’s parents are dead.) Her father was an adventurer and she is following in his footsteps. There has been a large amount of story over the course of the series and because of this she seems familiar.

I personally like 3rd person games as there is more of a past to the characters but i’m starting to get into 1st person games as they do absorb the player so that you become the character.

First impressions do count in games (and reality) if a NPC looks weak and fragile but within the game the character is supposed to be a strong expert fighter which is physically unfeasible then the game won’t be believable. Are preconceptions of character can change but the player will still have there first impression of the character.

Generally characters are attractive as to appeal to the player, I think when playing a game the player wants to play as a ‘better version of themselves’ I think this has a lot to do with being the perfect hero and that is being strong, smart and beautiful.

Beauty and substance

I tend read novels and you’ll probably Judgy me on this but….I love vampire stories and I don’t just mean the Anne Rice’s books I mean I love all Vampire novels no matter how cheesy or badly written and the worse part even vampire romance which is cringe worthy and even seems odd to me as vampire romances are so far from what I see a vampire to be. But there you have it one of my dirty little secrets.

However I don’t just read the vampire books, i’m actually quite round in what I read, I love historical fiction, horror modern fiction, fantasy basically anything except crime. What binds the genres (exclude the cheesy vampire ones) are strong lead characters and settings that I can visualise generally if I can’t ‘see’ the story I wont like it.

I have similar taste with films however I don’t mind crime based films. House of flying daggers is one of my favourite films and I can never remember the storyline what I remember is the stunning bamboo forest or the horse ride though the woods with the golden leaves on the floor, it is a truly beautiful film.

I don’t read as much as I used to but mostly I read when travelling or when I need to escape/cheer up, films I tend to watch when bored or with friends and games are for a bit of ‘me time.’ I can get totally absorbed and disconnect from the world for an hour of two. Games should be a combination of both beauty and substance.

Portal

After hearing all the praise for portal I thought I should give it a go. We’ve had it at home for a while but I was dubious to whether I would like it, to me the concept seemed odd but I was pleasantly surprised when I started to play. I loved this game from the moment I started playing it I couldn’t put it down finally I stopped playing when I got to the seventeenth level and even then I was reluctant but due to the continuous flipping though portals I honestly felt sick.

I got so into the game that I started to talk back to it. (This isn’t something to tell your psychiatrist) I got annoyed with her (the computer) when she tried to burn me in the flames but in my head I actually started to justify it, so when I came to killing her I felt bad. (not bad enough to stop playing mind you) she was trying to talk me out of killing her and I wanted to believe what she was saying however she had so far proven herself to be a chronic liar and whilst all this is going on there is my common sense telling me this is completely irrational firstly because she has been trying to kill you the ENTIRE game and secondly it is only a game.

So to anyone that has doubts about Portal I would say give it a go, however it may cause an internal battle for you as well.

Ergo-nomics

Ergonomics is design with concern to the users needs. When it comes to the ergonomics of consoles I haven’t ever really thought that much about them. When the PS3 came out my first thoughts weren’t that’s a practical method of cooling instead if anything I thought it was much more rounded similar to they way the Xbox 360 has been smoothed.

It seems the next generation consoles are trying to look more attractive to the consumer, well the 360 and PS3 by rounding them, I personally prefer the new Xbox design as it ‘flows’ better, the PS3 looks bulbous and the Wii is really a glorified rectangle.

The Atari 2600 controller was a joystick with no buttons and the joystick only had 8 directions. The main problem consumers found was that there was no pause button. Next the Atari 5600 controller which was similar to the 2600 but had full 360˚ movement and a pause button, Atari also added a numerical pad beneath the joystick and some buttons above which was apparently very difficult to use. The NES controller was the first to feature the D-pad which is still common place today. The NES controller was a basic rectangle with A and B buttons, this was quickly followed by the Sega Genesis which featured more buttons and actually looked comfortable to hold same as the SNES controller.

The PS1 has a grip which goes into the palm for more comfortable gaming, the PS1 console was the first to be able to play CD’s. On the N64 controller they couldn’t decide wither or not to remove the D-pad in favour of the analogue stick and without really meaning to created a verostile controller. I must confess I haven’t used these consoles so I quizzed a friend on them and the N64 is by far his favourite controller as the ‘middle part feels like a gun with the analogue stick above it making it wicked for FPS and 3rd person games, whereas the D-pad worked well for driving games and basically anything else. Also the button layout means less stress on thumbs’

Duel shock controllers for the PS1 allowed you to be able to feel when something fell or the character got shot enhancing game play. The dream cast controller ‘fits nicely into the palm however is bulky, the memory card fits directly into the controller which is a nice touch’

With the current controllers there all wireless. The PS3 controller features Sixaxis which is a good concept (it not trying to ripe offs the Wii) but doesn’t work very well. ‘The PS3 controller lends itself to driving games whereas the Xbox 360 is better for FPS.’ The Wii is different to the other two as it is many used one handed but can be used with both and is a basic rectangle however for the way its used this works well.

A good controller/console should work without having to think about it, on a controller your hands should be able to move seamlessly without discomfort across the controller. As for the console I would say atheistic are a plus as long as the performance isn’t scarified.

Be brave and attack one of the monsters

If the storyline is weak then most likely the games going to be weak as well, isn’t that what a game is? A interactive story. So If you’ve written a ‘Im going to kill everything whether it moves or not’ (GTA style) its fun for a while but after a bit you’ll find a urge to bond with a character, so see them grow and change. This doesn’t have to be in a positive way, the character could slowly become more bitter and twisted. But personally I want to feel like I have had an effect on the character. (Which I know is impossible but I like to delude myself) a truly awesome game doesn’t just make me feel like I have changed the character but that the game has changed and affected me.

If the is enough in the budget for a writer then one should defiantly write the script and better still find a writer with a interest or personal experience with the genre. A writer has been trained to write, a developed may have an interest in writing by 9 out of 10 times their not going to be nearly as good as a professional script/character profiler. Take Gordon Freeman from Half Life 2. He can’t speak, physically or emotionally react so why is he such a recognisable character? Well firstly the way the other characters react to Gordon and secondly because you become Gordon Freeman. This shows a good writer, being able to make you the player feel at one with the character and feel what the writer wants you to feel. The writer can make you feel good or bad, powerful or weak, just look at the best selling games there all about being the indestructible hero, Halo and the Halo suit. You can shot the enemies a couple of times and they die but you can take an entire clip and walk away. Doom is a prime example of this, your shipped to mars TO SAVE THE WORLD and not only that but your doing it ALONE. If that actually happened in reality you would either be brave and attack one of the monsters from hell with whatever you had closest (probably a frying pan or other similar household objects)and probably die. Or would you run away?

the art director

The art director is responsible for basically everything within the art side of a game, from the overall vision to the budget, they are the overseer, whose job it is to organise and correct. This is a creative role as to really know what is going on within the team they have to understand what there actually doing. The art director defines the principle concept of the game along with the art manager and animators (the lead in each department)
An art director needs to be and expert. The need to understand each process throughout the art department they need to be able to push the team to final goal hence being able to communicate their ideas coherently and see how all the different sections fit together.
To become an art director first and foremost a company wants experience generally with AAA titles, someone who has an in depth knowledge of each stage of development so can offer insight and advice, along with this they also need to be a good leader. Art directors can only be successful if they can see problems and do something about them.
This isn’t an easy job if something goes wrong of the game flops because of the graphics/art then it’s on the art directors head but a good art director is worth it.