The Course

In the end i have really enjoyed the course and it has been very beneficial to me but i think when i get out i may look for vocational game scripting courses so even if i am on my own i will still be able to make games. I may ask my friend for his material that he used in the first year but most likely i will look online for a digital tutor.

I hope that i can work with some of the people in the course in the future but obviously it depends on if they are looking into doing something script or gaming related.

book

One of the extra projects that i will be working on during the next few years is a book. This book will follow a character in a jungle esque environment as he meets more characters as he progresses until he finds out that someone in the jungle is cloning the dead animals so they come back to life which brings back some of the most dangerous animals in the jungle. the story is in the early stage but i am still writing it and if it doesn't become a book i will most likely make a game out of it.

The story is influenced by jumanji but also is very different. I really am looking forward to making this but we will see about if it appears more like a book or a game as it progresses.

CV

When it came to my CV i had a hard time due to not having my qualifications and some of the information for some of the competitions. Due to me not actively searching for a job right now i haven't got the CV as full as i might have otherwise but it is a piece that when i search for a job will have more to it. altogether i don't feel that mine was good enough.

Collabs

Once i have finished working at uni i will most likely try to do stuff on my own for awhile but after awhile i think i will continue my collabs that i have got lined up. One of my friends has agreed to work together to create a story which with us both being something individual to the table i think will allow us to create an interesting story that i may convert into a script. The story hasn't been decided yet but that will be decided soon.

The Other Collab i have is modelling and animating some pieces for my friend who is a programmer i will be credited for the work but the main reason for helping him besides being his friend is also so i have a favour from him when i work and individual work.

The last one which may not happen is the creation of a game with the group i did my final major with. Although we worked well as a group i think it will just be timing and availability that will stop it though otherwise i will be looking forward to making a game with them.

Blogger

Now this blog is just like the travel post were i just mention what i will be doing. Now with blogger i don't like my student one so what i am going to do is create a blogger connected to my work email which will be used as another form of showreel that will feature current works as well as finished articles so besides showing people just my showreel they can look more behind the work to see if they will want me to work for them.

This my seem a strange post but i thought that i would mention this as well as that my first self directed project will be the modelling of a smith and wesson 500 as well as other weapons to show that i can model assets and weapons which then will most likely move on to environment until potentially i can post a full scene up to show people my progression. Hell just another way to get me noticed.

The Big Break ScreenWriting Contest

This is a contest which is held every year and is a famous competition the prizes are cash and an NYFA Writing Fellowship which is worth $80,000. Now my first concern is if this was only an american contest but it is an international contest that will fly you to the awards event. Now if that wasn't cool enough it seems that original ideas are the preferred submission for either a screenplay or teleplay now though you need to pay a fee it is not break the bank expensive but due to the deadline being in july i think i will leave it a year and prepare so i know i'm not rushing an idea.

With this piece i think i may start preparing because if i don't enter i will still have a story?/script that i can use for future pieces though i see no reason not to go for it

Author Solutions

Author Solutions is a group affiliated with Penguin Random House Company and is a company that offers an alternative to traditional publishing. Now why am i talking about a group that gives support when it comes to publishing. Well the main reason is that for a while i have been writing a narrative which is more fitting as a book and due to me trying to do other work i only spend a little while on it but i think when i get my story written i would use this group.

Now this group is not to be confused with a publisher, this is more like a customised guide which takes into account if you want the book just for family and friends or if you want it write because you love writing. I would love to try this out even if it is a bust since it may be a way to get my scripts out their and noticed if i play it right if not just for my stories.

Modding

Now i may not get a job for awhile and possible won't do a collab with anyone to create a game for just as long so what i decided i will do during that time when i don't have work is practice my skills by modding. Due to the guides that are online i believe i would be able to create modded pieces for a game. for an example i will say Skyrim, i could create an armour or collection of weapons which due to them being 3d assets could also used in my showreel.

Now this seems like i am hoping not to get a job but the main idea is that this would allow me to keep my skills from getting rusty while not working and would probably keep being done while working depending on deadlines and workload.

GOG

GOG is a drm free game site which sells those drm games internationally. Now gog has alot of old games but they also seem to do a sort of greenlight system which i mainly decided to write about since it is an alternative to Greenlight if it does not get supported. The chances that it will sale on here when it wasn't supported on steam seems small but the main difference on gog is that it will get a form of marketing campaign which is done by gog themselves.

I hope that if i do start doing indie games with my friends that we will release the game on both greenlight and GOG because realistically putting it out there more would be better for us as a group and solo practitioners.

Showreel

When it comes to my show reel i do not feel that i have alot of work that i want to show so i will be changing my submitted version after the hand in and will most likely have more modelling based assists and some script assets located in it. The truth is i feel since we are still perfecting our final major which has more of the stuff that i would want in my showreel. So i feel that my showreel will not be how i want it to be until possibly july since after this module i still have work to do.

Looking back on my work i can see that since i have been working on script writing alot their are less physical elements which is something i will change as i have already mentioned.

Game Republic

Game Republic is an industry led games business network that supports and promotes the yorkshire, north-west and north-east England games industry with members including Rockstar Leeds, Sumo Digital, Leeds Metropolitan University, The Blast Furnace, Just Add Water, Four Door Lemon, The University of Huddersfield and Team17. Now With Game Republic the group and I will be entering into the contests that are involved with our game level we created in maya during our final major project.

Why is that important well although i don't really care about winning i am more interested in the networking since this will most likely be my last chance to properly network in connection to the college as well as doing it as a student. I am looking forward to it but their are a few bits that need to be changed before then.

Travel

Now this blog post is mainly about what i am going to do once i get out of uni which although a lot of the blogs post i have made talk about the same the thing, i wrote this one mainly to talk how i am going to get around. Let's get this out of the way i don't have a license which means i can't get around for jobs as much as i would like. I will travel for a job but as mentioned i have the problem of not having a licence but i also don't have a car. Though i am happy to move to someplace for a job I will be trying to get my licence once i get out of uni. I will not be getting a car though until i get a more steady job of some sort

QA Process

QA stands for quality assurance which is a process that is used for checking video games for bugs, glitches or  errors which may cause the game to crash that can stop the shipping of the game or just be something that may cause very little problems. There are usually 3 ranks that bugs are used to estimate severity.

A bug are Critical bugs that can prevent the game being shipped such as causing crashes in the game.

B bugs are problems that need to be addressed the game can still be played but multiple b bugs can be the same as an A bug 

C Bugs are small and obscure problems which are normally just recommendations rather than bugs

Certain games feel like they don't have any QA such as red dead redemption but due to the nature of being able to update games alot of companies feel a little lazy in the QA department. 

Game Tester CA

Currently A Game Tester job is available in creative assembly job page. which although is not actually you creating parts in the game and is more about quality testing and is as mentioned to me by Annabeth is a very good way to get your foot in the door when it comes to getting contacts.

The essential elements they want is:
A keen interest and experience with total war or strategy games
Excellent Communication and reporting Skills
A highly driven and flexible approach
A clear understanding of QA Process
Able to work to deadlines set by the QA management in a timely and precise manner
Experience using a range of pc office programs such as word, excel, e.t.c

I will be trying for this job after finishing all uni based work. Since i think i will need to re look over certain criteria before i try for the job.

Business Cards

A business card is nothing new to me due to me creating one after my graphic design course though my design at that time was a chimera which i really liked but i needed to design a new card. I decided since i am not a concept artist i should make a unique card which featured my favourite animal with what i want to do in the future which led to the paper baboon below. which used different colours to give the perception of depth.

The Laughing Baboon was a line i decided to use since when i did the paper thing with a dog it looked aggressive and so did the baboon so i though a tagline would be good. The reason Laughing Baboon is used is because it is very carefree but also could be jokingly seen as laughing buffoon. The though behind it all is that you remember the card and are interested in ringing the number and showing others the card.

BAF Game

Bradford animation festival: Game is a event that i have gone to for the three years of my course and although i have gone to it for three years this most recent time has been the most beneficial. During the event i met with a producer from sumo digital who i spoke with and gave me a insight into how sumo digital works and how the industry works.

Along with the producer the team and I got into a lengthy conversation about group dynamics and deadlines with lead concept artist. Altogether it has been a major insight into the industry which i think really will help once i leave uni.

Payday Competition

I went for a different type of competition compared to other ones i have entered. Overkill Software which is the company that created the payday games did a competition that many didn't suspect which was a poetry competition. The competition rewarded the winners with their poem being read by a popular character and appearing on the soundtrack while also allowing the winner to design one of the masks that the community will get.

Although this competition isn't really that serious when it comes to the industry the winner will be able to talk to workers in the overkill's concept department and from that i believe i could of got a contact in Overkill software.

Moving out early, 12 o’clock at the bank.

With my brothers three and one kitted like a tank

Bain going on in my ear won’t he just piss off

I’m counting 3 guards one with a bad cough

Looking at the vault it feels like a cop’s lure

If that guard doesn’t shut up then I have a mosconi cure

My shotty’s barrel is shining; I need to get the drill first

As I approach the vault, bag drops, alarm blares, I swear I am cursed

Hankering for a fight, get ready swats, fbi, army and all of the rest

But watch me on overkill, cause at this shit I am the best.

Although i didn't win it was good to try something new.

Indie Gaming

Indie gaming is not something i usually do but i have a few games that would be counted as indie.

Indie games are usually games that are created by small groups of people rather than companies and are released on Steam or other similar distributers. Some indie games are free such as the cry of fear which uses another game's engine.

This for me is the most likely way i will start my career if i don't get into a company straight away. Since i have a few friends that are doing programming i think that indie though it may not be what i want to strive for will have an impact on my first few years in game design.

Using someone else's IP

Recently i have wanted to work on my writing skills and one part i have wanted to focus on was creating stories using someone else's ip since most likely i will have to do this in the future when working in a company. The IP i decided to create a story in was the star wars series due to the knowledge i had already of the series as well as how accessible it is to creative writing.

Although i did something similar in my dissertation i had not done much writing since so i decided to do this. I based the writing around the animated series since it is the most recent media based on star wars. The story followed two bounty hunters during the clone wars. Though this was less industry based i wanted to keep my skills sharp.

Writer's guild for Great Britain

As a writer i have found that getting information on how to be a writer professionally is not easy to come across. The writer's Guild of Great Britain is a trade union representing writers in TV, radio, theatre, books, poetry, film, online and video games. The Guild is recognised for negotiating terms and practise agreements for writers.

Although i will need to pay £100 per year for a candidate membership it is like a union for writers. As a starting writer i think i will join this after i try to get into a company so i am not wasting money although i don't think it would ever be a waste.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a system that is not just game related but is set up so a person or group can raise the money to release what they are making or continue development, The example i am going to look into is a game in kickstarter called Kingdom Come: Deliverance and i will be explaining the system though using the game.

Now in terms of how kingdom come rewarded people who pledged money, the more money you gave the more they give something in return such as pledging £30 gets you early access and game soundtrack and making of video on dvd. Although this is a interesting system i think i prefer a system like greenlight but the difference between the two is that one is for getting funding while making the game and the other is more based around release. I hope i don't get to the point when i need to do a kickstarter but it is good to know their is an option to fall back on.

Alien isolation

Alien isolation is a game currently in development by creative assembly based on the alien movie series. The game will be released on the 7th of october and although there are alot of alien games and creative assembly have made alot of games this will be their first fps game. The development team mention in their development diaries that the main reason they wanted to create their game is because  the alien games that have been released are not the sort of game they wanted to play. The idea that they picked up the project due to something like that is quite an interesting and is although risky it is also something i think game companies need to do more often. Now the deciding factor for this game is if it is a flop or not since if it is a flop then creative assembly i think will stay in their realm of expertise which is rts games rather than branching out.

The game being designed to be in the survival horror seems to have been a good decision since this has been a genre that is currently very popular and although so far the game has only shown that it looks nice in the trailer the survival horror aspects are only mentioned and not seen. Since creative assembly is one of my favourite companies i hope it goes well but as mentioned before in my ip blog post they will need to make sure that they give the feeling that the movies gave so they do not disappoint fans as well as ruin their reputation.

Writer Job CA

I decided to look into a job at creative assembly to get a understanding of what i will need to do to get a job at creative assembly.

What i found was a job for a writer which at the time it was posted would of been around the time that alien would of been possible been when more advance writing was needed. The requirements were a degree or higher. Collectively they wanted 4 years experience in a company or 4 years of extensive writing which seemed to mean that you would need a collection of work that can be shown and have samples to send them. This is the sort of job i would love but the requirement of experience i feel is what makes it difficult to get into the industry for a student like myself. Though the job is no longer posted i am still looking into other jobs in creative assembly for the future and have started to get some writing experience so next time i can try for the job.

Creative Assembly

Creative Assembly is a company located at Horsham in West Sussex and are the creators of the total war series. this is a company that i really want to work for. The company focuses mainly on the creation of real time strategy games but with their popularity as a company is increasing they are starting to create different genres of games. The company seems to have alot of benefits for employees which although i am already interested in the company the benefits seem good in the long run since i would most likely stay in the company for quite a few years.

Creative Assembly have a mocap studio which is 12 meters by 13 and sports 46 cameras which has been used for rome 2 as well as potentially any new projects. After i finish uni i will be sending my CV to them and will be keeping up with their vacancies in the years to come.

GreenLight

Greenlight is a scheme made by Value for Steam. The idea of Greenlight is to have the gaming community help to pick some of the new games that will be released on steam. Developers are supposed to be post information, screenshot or video for their game. After getting enough support from the community the game starts to get distribution. There is a submission fee which stops joke submissions which is good to see since it keeps the space free for developers.

If i decide to create a game with some friends this will most likely be the way i would distribute it if i got the support from the steam community the main drawback i can see in this method is if you don't get the support you will be just sat their with your game or elements of the game and will have no way of getting it out to the public.

Transmedia and Laptop

My Laptop broke down over the weekend which left me with no computer for two weeks this was a major set back in making what i had planned as well as causing difficulties for my other hand in. I wanted this know just so the problem was realised and was not hidden. The transmedia element has not been finished due some missing pages lack of artwork and the cover but these will all be changed for the end of year show. I will be publishing this book by lulu the publisher. these were problems which though could of been ignored i wanted to mention them.

Animating and unity

With animating i found that the rig locked in weird ways that made the animation a bit more difficult for movement but ithelped make me think in a more mechanical way when animating. I enjoyed working out the animations but i found that the updates for unity and maya caused difficulties with doing turntables and exporting into unity but besides these problems i found that i had no difficulty with animating except crashes during weight painting.

Star Wars Mytho's Mythos

This scene is from Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith when Anakin was assigned to protect the supreme chancellor Palpatine which led to this well written and acted scene. The reason for this having a good connection to what i am writing in my essay due the principle of mythopoeia and legendarium is making a story's world more realistic as well as an experience to the audience. The tale told by Palpatine is not told as if it was exposition which the series is known for and instead is more like a myth/legend and in the style of a fairytale in his way of speech. How they did the mythos for this section is the sort of idea needed for videogames and other such media which have large worlds that need to be shown without tiring the audience.

Jumanji adapting story

Jumanji, the children storybook written by Chris Van Allsburg in 1981 was an acclaimed story which though a picture storybook was still a great story that affected the imagination of kids everywhere. The remediation of Jumanji led to the creation of a movie staring Robin Williams.

The story for the book and film is a board game that as the dice are rolled supernatural events happen such as monsoons, spiders, mosquitos and lions. The movie starts with Alan (Robin Williams) getting trapped in the game at a young age and when the game was started again by Peter and Judy he was released but due to how the game is played everything that comes out of the board stays out until the game is won which leads to a memorable action movie that has a memorable characters like Von Pelt that caused in the heart of young children. The main reason i bought Jumanji is due to Jumanji also being remediated into an animated series. Due to the premise of Jumanji the idea of the magic entering the real world wouldn't work for the series if they wanted to make it a long running series so they had to change the mythos of the series which they did. They decided so they could add more to the world of jumanji they would set it so instead of things coming out of the game the players enter the game until they answered a riddle. This shows a way of using an existing IP and making it your own while also allowing alot more freedom for the creators of the show.

Transmedia level

With the inclusion of the transmedia element the second level appeared to be a good fit into the story so with the decision of the group to do this we tried to find the connection between the two. The group decision in the end was that the ex nasti moon member called black dog has come to a museum which contain a mining equipment.

Due to him stopping here then moving on we decided that after the repercussions of the leeds attack mission the marauders split up which causes some to go one way while the others are coming to the museum. With the others coming to the museum the resistance decide to take them out. which leads to the second mission being in the museum after Black dog has long gone and the Nasti Moon are annoyed after missing him a fight begins.

The full connection between the two has not been made but the transmedia element will also be affected by the first level which has not been written yet but will be a element that affects the story. both will be tweaked as me and Tim write the pieces and will be adapted as well.

Ideas of Camera

Due to the problems with the camera i have looked into more real time strategy games to work out how to make the scale fit this has led me to believe that i will need to half the scale of the world so the scale is 1:2 or i increase the size of the mech which while testing seemed a better idea so the environment is viewable.

I will need to test this with an actual model due to the cube replacement may not be the best representation. the truth of the matter is that i think if the world doesn't shrink and the mech doesn't grow maybe the camera should zoom in and the assets shrink.

The camera

Though one of the key elements this is a section i unfortunately did not check sooner which is the camera which tracks the character during gameplay. Although attaching the camera is easy the main problem is the distance of the camera since due to trying keep the details on the mech the world becomes too big which causes the mech to look like a mouse in a Snes game.

Keeping the camera further away caused the same effect to the mech which made the world look fine but the mech look tiny. When looking over this i found that i will need to tweak the scale possibly by half to allow the character to be visible as well as keep the world at a good scale compared to the mech.

Creating the game space

When it came to blocking out the level i had to use google maps due to the easy accessibility to the distance for the path that me and tim discussed. When blocking out a perimeter i tried to keep in mind the mechs needing more space round the canal as well as the size of buildings that potentially would have the mechs enter them.

The canal ended up looking good except for the size of the body of water which was far to big and caused the player to be too far away from the other shores which gave a scale problem for the player in the form of perspective as well as the distance of the camera and the level.

When i do my second block out i will address some of the issues that i found while laying it out which mainly was that the huge mech was just too small.

Looking at scale

While think about the level design I needed to look into the scale used for the mechs compared to humans due to it affecting the rest of the measurements in the game. Andy measured out the average mech being 4 metres which i used as 4 units in unity which made the measurements easier.

Knowing that 1 unit is a metre i looked into existing factories for measurements and when measurements were not available i used the next best thing which was to use the google maps route planner to work out distances and length of such buildings and then used average measurements of houses for smaller buildings which ranged in length when needed.

This is for me a easy and quick way to get good measurements but i believe it may not help others in the same way since you still need to convert the measurements to meters.

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is a third person shooter that reached critical acclaim due to it's violence and scale of missions ranging from in a giant worm and a mountain trail in a tank-ish jeep. the game itself uses what feels like very large spaces but due to good design the realism of it is that the space loops back on itself which gives the perspective of really long levels as well as the clever use of switching levels after cut scenes or checkpoints. When it comes to the design of the environment it is always fitting the scenario of the mission such as the mission to enter a science facility it keeps large ceilings for rooms such as where the experiments are being done and low and long corridors between the sections which along side giving a certain feeling when walking round it also tells it's own narrative.

My favourite chapter to look into is the mission to go though Jacinto since some buildings are still upright while some are destroyed or on their side. The roads are in one piece but covered in wrecks while some sections have giant holes. In the end of the day the scenery and level design can tell as much of a narrative as the story.