Life Changing or Career Building?

      I believe that with the education into a career such as game art design, there isn’t a choice between specific technical skills and developing learning attributes as I believe they are both important in having a rounded and broad spectrum of skills that have been learnt.

    We cannot know the future, however we can imagine. In the time it takes to learn certain skills with regards to game art, technology will advance, but it shouldn’t advance too drastically in a short amount of time. Humans are interactive species, we love to gloat about the upcoming new technology that will be available for purchase soon. This means that most people will be in the loop with technology, whether it’s through hear-say, internet, newspaper ect. Skills needed are unlikely to change too drastically for your education to be meaningless. Often skills can be transferred to other job roles and can easily be picked up or changed according to what advancements have been made. It will not just be you not understanding how to progress in a company, most other people will need to be re-educated in some aspects as well. There is no point in worrying whether your skills will be useful in the future as it will happen with most aspects in life. Things are forever changing, for example, you learn a small amount of instruments, yet now, you can get all instruments downloaded at a press of a button on your laptop. Things do become out of date and the only way to keep advancing is to be able to see this change, cope and learn from it.

    However, saying this, it is still important to plan for the present. It is important to meet the current demand from an organisation as planning for the future would be useless to get you hired as they want to see what skills you have there and then instead of what you may be able to do in the future. (However, I am not saying don’t discuss some advancements, just concentrate on the here and now.

     It is important to be a rounded person if you don’t mind where you would like to be in the games industry. If you want to work for a specific company then you will have to research into whether the company prefer technical over artistic skills or vice versa. Many companies will want you to be the “jack of all trades”, but be experienced in one overall part of the gaming experience. It really depends on what a company requires and what you can give, if both criteria match then there will be a high possibility that there may be a job for you.

    It is difficult for education to accomplish all the needs that both the student and industry want. The industry will change the criteria for it’s employees on a regukar basis, as they have the money and power to do so. So it is important for communication between industry and education so that universitys and colleges can supply graduates with training they need to be of use to the industry. It is all required to be able to work in a circle, as the industry needs the employees for work, as do the employees need the industry. It is not a linear answer to such a broad question, it requires communication and planning to achieve an overall positive outlook for both industry and worker.

Creativity

   Creativity, Definition; The use of the imagination or original ideas espcially in the production of an artistic work.

   So what does this mean? Everyone has an imagination, whether it be imagining what food they will have tonight or imagining a narrative in a post-apocolyptic world. There are different variations of imagination and creativity. Artists nuture creativity and express it through artist mediums such as paint, pencils, digital. But how far can we go within imagination and what defines this from reality. Imagination can sometimes be a vessel from the stress of real world issues and allow us to become submerged into a lower level of our subconscious. Many times a day I will zone out and begin creating different stories and characters.

   In practical terms, if someone is psychologically damaged in childhood, they may imagine things such as people, personalities and some even create hole new meanings for reality. This is the end of creativity that I find quite frightening, the human brain can not handle a situation so it creates another as reality to sooth the stress. This is the furthest push of the imagination, and is overwhelming to think about.

   Talent is produced when creativity is carefully moulded and practised excessively. It is unlikely that any human will try something once and be amazing at it from the off. I personally believe that artists are taught. This stems back to the nature/ nuture debate. This debate can be traced back to many aspects of the human psyche, for example are murderers born natural killers or does society make them this way? I think it has to be a mixture of both, as well as creating an artist. You have to be able to recognise shapes and dynamics of drawing, but you will learn new techniques from peers and people throughout your life. Some people do not care for there creative sides, and allow this to wilt. Artists however enjoy the creativity, and therefore allow the knowledge and perception of art to grow. Craft and skill both play a part on stimulating creativity and talent. You develop the skill of art via practise, practise allows you to craft your talent. It is an inevitable circle, you practise at something then you will improve. I personally disagree that skill and craft hinder your abilities as an artist, as these traits improve within time. Anything learnt cannot be a hinder. Talent can be seen as something you are born with, this is incorrect. We are all born with the same talent as everyone else. We are infant humans, we have the same aspects as each other at that age.  Skill is often seen as something learnt. Both skill and talent are things that are learnt, on one is born amazing, we are born with the basic urges, cry for food, cry for change, cry for pain. If we didn’t learn we would still be at this stage now. This is the simplicity of human evolution and learning. From this we learn and manipulate different aspects of our personalities.

    Creativity is seen in game art generation. Without the imagination to think of a suitable story there wouldn’t be a starting point for the game. It manifests itself throughout the evolution of a game. Technical advancements allow artists to use more than traditional medium to express the creativity. It allows us to get the thoughts in our mind, down on paper for others to see. It can be argued that it is much quicker to make digital paints than traditional, because you can erase and change colours at a click of a mouse, although it still takes a lot of talent to use.

   In the industry, all roles use creativity in the creation of a game. Art directors, programmers, writers all have to be able to imagine how something looks or works and get it into the game. It is an important aspect to have, and is needed to create a flowing game. As the audience we feel the creativity stems from the entirety of the game, not individual identities. You don’t normally focus on individual points in the game unless you are playing it to find these tell tale signs.

   There are a variety of ways the gaming industry manifests creativity. All areas of the team uses creativity, so it will be shown via all areas of the game. The graphics are engineered by imagination, as are the narratives, AI, gameplay, concepts. You cannot escape imagination, it is everywhere.

    As an artists, I show my creativity through the images I create, the thought flows from my brain to my hand and splurges onto the paper in front of me. I cannot control it, I need to express it through however I can, thus by drawing it in physical form. I need to develop my drawing understanding and ability to enter the field I wish to be in.

H R Giger

Wanted to show you some amazing work by one of my favourite artists.

Generalist to Specialist

As the gaming industry rapidly expands, young budding artists need to know the real deal with what is needed and wanted in industry. It is a completely competitive industry so knowing your weaknesses and skills and changing them according to what is desired by the industry.

    Once upon a time in a land far different from our own, there was a bedroom coder. This boy would have to be generalised and good enough at all areas of game making to create a fully functioning game. This covers everything from concepting art, creating models to scripting and introducing assets to the gaming industry. This seems incredibly difficult, to be able to be good enough at all aspects of game creation to make and sell a fully working game.

   Nowadays, multi-million dollar industries require specialists. It is better for the average jack-of-all-trades to be able to be superior in one aspect than good in many. This is because the industry is in constant competition with each other and require workers to be absolutely godly in what they do and can achieve. Because the industries have a large amount of money, they can afford to pay many people to cover many jobs. They need an expert covering all areas to get the best from the employees. These include such things as artists, lead art director, concept art, 3D artists. Programming roles such as scripting, engine work, animators. That’s not even including such things as overall game management and researchers. There is a wide variety of jobs in the industry, it’s knowing which role is best suited to your abilities is the key to success.

   For me, I would prefer to go into the 2D art side, being a concept artist or something similar. There is an incredibly, super majorly slim chance of becoming a concept artist in industry. You have to be able to use both traditional and preferable digital art skills and are able to quickly produce rough and interesting concept ideas. Now, I can be quite quick at drawing, but I am no way near good enough to become a professional concept artist. I practise to try and better myself, but it is going to take many, many months until that is even a slight option. This reality check is something I need to keep in mind. However I will not let it crush my ambitions. I do not want to enter the industry blind and foolish. I need to be able to recognise my strengths and weaknesses so that I can change in accordance to what industry needs. Instead of faking reality and thinking  everything is fine and dandy. If you want to get into the industry, you need to be absolutely amazing in what you specialize in and you have to want it like your lungs want oxygen. This course is not for the faint-hearted, I’m overjoyed that I have got this far, I’m going to chase this dream until I physically can’t anymore. The only way to improve is practise.

Interaction Design

   Gaming interfaces are changing rapidly with regards to the ever changing advancements in technology. This means that the industry has to keep on top of the ever changing needs of the gaming audience. Gamers are in constant need of the new technology so it is wise for companies to keep an eye on the oppositions advancements.

    The GUI (Graphical User Interface) needs to look appealing and allow audiences to easily navigate through the image driven menus in order to begin gaming. If this is not done successfully then it could cause stress and upset for the player, making them dislike the game before even properly starting. Menu navigation is key for setting a smooth and interesting visual for the  players to interact with. Messy and confusing menus provide a dull and annoying experience for the player. Menus are important features and are easily distinguished in game if not done correctly. If a game has a well made navigation system then it doesn’t stand out, it makes an easy flow and minimal disruption for the game.

    The interaction with the actual console is important also. If you compare the early PS1 with the new PS3, you can clearly see the amount of change manufactures have put into the design. It comes from a grey boxy large machine, to a sleek, slim, black design. The big bold buttons and flip lid have been changed to a insertion area and small touch-screen-esk buttons. This is to make the console fit the technology advances. People want the sleek designs to fit there (most likely) designer lives. The industry strives off consumerism and audiences wanting the latest, must-have gadgets and they need to look tech-savvy.

    Game interaction is also a key point. Consoles such as the wii have motion sensors in order to provide advanced features to make you feel more “involved” in the game. Another interesting upgrade is the aspect of 3D technology. The large expansion of the need for 3D is rapidly growing, and in order for consoles to stay up to date with technology they now need to start including such elements into there systems. The motion sensors on the wii are impressive and with the majority of the population worrying about weight issues it also allows for exercise with such games as zumba and wii fit. As well as attracting gamers, this now also attracts the health conscious. A wider audience means more sales, and more sales means more money. More money is always good.

    In the future perhaps we could such things like total emersion into games, were we feel the effects of the game. This will be a long way off but it still nice to imagine what the future and technology has to offer us as gamers. Lets hope we don’t get any advancements were we end up in situations like from “Gamer” and “Stay Alive”. Thinking that would be a creepy future, you die in the game you die in real life! Considering the amount of deaths I’ve racked up over the years in games, I wouldn’t stand a chance.

   

              http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441796/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

              http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034032/?ref_=sr_1

Update

    This is just a post to revisit the last few projects and mull over them.

  In visual design I have found that I have been lagging behind slightly. I sometimes find it difficult to get “in the mood” to draw certain things. I get the projects done, but I feel like 3D has taken up the majority of my time. I feel like my 3D needs more improvement than my 2D, which is why I’m focusing on it more. I have to keep re-educating and experimenting with aspects of 3D because I still don’t really know what I’m doing with it.

  However, the last “Mortal Engines” project I was quite happy with the 3D work. I managed to work to a better timescale. So instead of panicking that I wont get it done on time. I set out a timetable and worked to it. It definitely worked out a lot better than I expected.

   I’m nervous about the group project because I’m scared of letting my team down. I am someone who likes to listen to others’ ideas and go with the flow of things. I am very individualistic, but when it comes down to working in a group, I’m happy to go with most ideas. I don’t want to appear uninterested, but I get inspired by what other people say, so all the time I’m getting ideas….

Sound in Games

   Sound is a very important aspect of game design. When you think about game design you tend to skim over the sound area as you don’t necessarily pay much attention. Hearing is more of a passive sense, therefore making sound something where you don’t tend to notice it is there but if there’s no sound or incorrect sounding then you realise.

    Sounds are used in games to help provoke an emotional response in the audience. Whether it be, fear, anger, sadness ect. This is done by using different strategies to convey meaning. For instance, sharp, high jolted notes are used, in essence with disjointed silence, to scare and disorientate the audience. Whereas, soft, long notes are often used in sad or dramatic sounds. For example;

                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCcVy8-nHOU

Listen to the incoherent shuffling tones, which seem to have no sort of rhythm too. The human brain is conditioned to respond to rhythmic noises, so the lack of flow in the music and sound creates an eerie confusion for the brain to handle.

   Diegetic and non diegetic sound is used in the gaming world. As well as the music you must have  item response noises. To create a convincing level you must integrate the appropriate sound convincingly. For example, a dripping tap wouldn’t look right if you couldn’t here the water dropping. Our eyes and ears have to work together to get a sense of realism, without one, the other one becomes distorted.

    Theme tunes are also useful for gaining recognition.

    Some key composers working in industry are;

-Harry Gregson Williams – who created the theme tunes for Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 and 4.

- Inon Zur – who created the theme tunes for games such as fallout 3.

- Koji Kondo – Who created the theme tunes for Zelda: Orarina of Time, Super Mario Bros and Super Mario 64.

- Michiru Oshima – Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

All of these inspiring composers use interesting melodies to create the desired effect. For example, the melancholy tones of the fallout 3 music differs greatly from the adventurous music for Zelda.

    As I play a lot of horror games, sound is one of the most iconic aspects of a horror game. It is  used to create tension and to scare the audience. In addition with interesting visual components, this can create a very frightful, heart-pounding experience. Some key sound aspects for me, come from games such as FEAR (As I spoke previously about) and games like amnesia. Here are some links to gameplays of some of my favourite horror games with amazing sound techniques;

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJlSWm8bTc

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qeOtbYnPmI

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbEI4B_rmiU

    In regards to the quote “Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards composition 'Good Times' is the most influential recording made in the 20th Century”, I believe that this quote is purely based on the individual. I personally disagree, as I listened to the music I tried to think of what it had been in. I couldn’t think of much, to be influenced by something is a personal thing. I’m influenced by horror stories, people and life in general. This is not true to everyone, it is a matter of opinion.