Task 24: Personal review of the second year: Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?

‘We’ve looked at education, and creativity, we've explored the industry and culture

- now it’s time to begin thinking about your own future. Obviously, this is significant

as you face the transition to final year students and what lies beyond. It’s useful to

start by asking some questions to help frame your thoughts.

What are Universities for?

Where did they come from, and how does that impact on what they try to do now?

What do you expect from your University education?

'What am I going to get out of three years at University?'’

A University is defined as: a high-level educational institution in which students study for degrees and academic research is done. As well as this one of the primary purposes of a university education is to prepare students for jobs, but for jobs that are intellectually challenging, infinitely variable and that require constant critical engagement with the world around us.

Universities came about in the 13th century. colleges, which appeared some time before universities, first emerged not at schools but as residences for scholars and students, often funded by outside sources. gradually, they developed courses of study as well, but they were never as all-encompassing as the university. As a result, the modern university is still often composed of several colleges.

The first bona fide university was established in Paris in 1221. it grew out of the efforts of Parisian scholars to organize. following the model of town governments, and also of local Guilds (the precursors of our modern unions and professional associations), this group created a legally recognized entity specifically licensed to teach prescribed courses of study. The University of Paris was licensed to offer degrees in theology, canon law, medicine, and the arts. it eventually became known by the name of one of its early benefactors - Robert de Sorbonne.

My own personal opinion about what I would expect from a university education would be obviously, an education, to be educated in depth on my chosen topic, being that particular course. I would like the tasks to be engaging and creative with multiple routes to completion as is possible in an arts based course. I would expect the tutors and fellow students to be like minded and for it to be a pleasant environment to work. And finally I would expect to be fully prepared for the job type I will be applying for and to know exactly what I need to do to succeed in my chosen field. 

As far as the last point goes, you get what you put in really, if you ‘work your ass off’ and come out with a first or 2-1 you have a degree and the skills to give yourself a damn good chance of reaching the job you’ve wanted.

My own personal review of the second year for me has been one of mixed feelings. I still do enjoy parts of the course however have shied in other areas. I enjoy seeing the finished results and being proud of what I have achieved however the process to get there are no longer appealing, where as last year I would jump at the opportunity to do extra work or tweak things here and there to maximise the end results, this year although I have still pushed myself to achieve, it has been an uphill battle.

Because of this I plan to defer my third year to give me a chance to re think what I want to do with my life –as late as it might be at this point- and decide what I would truly like to do as a career path.

Task 23: Life Changing or Career Building?

‘Essentially, the issue boils down to; is there a choice between teaching specific

technical skills or developing learning attributes and ‘soft skills’? How do we know in

advance what skills will be needed in the future, since we can’t know the future? Or

should we simply concentrate on meeting the current demand for specific technical

skills, as the government (and probably most students and employers) would prefer?

Some game companies want highly trained graduate artists and programmers.

Some claim they really prefer creative individuals with a good Liberal Arts

background. They can’t both be right can they? How can education meet these

opposing views and yet provide a valid and fulfilling experience to students?’

The first point raised emphasises whether courses should be more concerned with teaching ‘soft skills’ or technical skills. I think that there should be more of a harmony between the two, as in a work place one cannot exist without the other, much like yin and yang. For example an artist could have the technical skills of a master however without any social skills in order to communicate his ideas accurately and effectively, others may not –and certainly not within the general public- see the complex issues and problems addressed and solved within his or her work, it will effectively become a pretty picture to most.

On the flip side to this it is much the same, someone with impeccable social and communicational skills could convey these ideas down to the very last detail however others  would not be able to visualise the designs the way it is intended as everyone will build a very different metal image of what has been said.

The second point, and the third offers an interesting idea constantly facing employers and the educational system, should they teach what is currently required or teach ‘next gen’ as it were, but how can you know what is the next step? Personally I think that the best educational institutes can do would be to teach what is currently required and emphasise a constant need to research currently evolving trends and technology and bring it back for everyone to benefit. That way it will also allow students to teach others which is a fantastic test of truly being able to understand the subject/technology yourself.

The forth point really bottles down to what I've already mentioned, from speaking to my tutors and my own personal opinion of one of balance, in the industry currently it is becoming more and more necessary to complete tasks/jobs outside of your title, especially in smaller indie companies, a artist may also have to rig models and undertake engine work. So it would make more sense to be a ‘jack of all trades’ as oppose to one highly developed skill.

Although there are still positions in large companies that are much more strict and has dedicated individuals to complete each task, but for entry level university graduates a well rounded individual capable of multiple tasks would be far more successful than one of one highly developed skill.

The final point I believe again, relates back to a balance, developing a well rounded individual while still providing interesting, engaging  content for the tasks. One thing that I think this course does well it really tailor the tasks to the students, tasks are creative and interesting, engaging and in some cases exciting student just from reading the brief.

External References From:

Own sourced information from speaking to tutors.

Task 22: Creativity, the talent myth and craft.

‘What does creativity look like? Is it in the brand identity, think Halo or HalfLife for example, or does it live in the overall experience of play? How do games manifest creativity? Graphics? AI? Gameplay? Are there any companies or individuals who seem, to you, to be particularly creative?

As an artist, how do you show your creativity - and how would you expect it to be acknowledged by others? Are you talented or skilful? Do you know what skills you need to develop in order to be successful in your field?.’

Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.

Creativity begins with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline, and mastering a way of thinking. You learn to be creative by experimenting, exploring, questioning assumptions, using imagination and synthesising information. It requires practice to develop the right muscles, and a supportive environment in which to flourish.

As for in the games industry I think everyone has their own input, just ranging amounts, like the art director will have a larger input than a junior environment artist, however they all contribute to produce the final results.

Personally I believe that creativity in any society appears different, different in the way of thinking, therefore, to quote a cliché: outside the box. Whatever it is, it will appear foreign to an average person of the period and drive trends and fashion statements if –and I stress IF- successful, because there is being different for the sake of being different and different with a purpose, a design.

In games I think it’s spread throughout the creation of a game. It’s within the decisions made early on in concepting at the hands of the artists, directors and writers, they work to shape and populate the worlds no one has seen before. It’s within the programmers, the marketing, the gameplay, the AI. Every aspect of not just games but almost everything in life has links back to yourself and or someone else being creative at some point or another. You can’t look around where your sat right now with seeing something that has required someone to think and construct creatively to solve a problem.

As an artist I show creativity through –as mentioned above- trying actively to solve problems in ways others haven’t and showcasing the results (good and bad) so that others can benefit from the methods and mistakes made. It’s all a learning process with need for both success and failure.

I believe that I am talented and somewhat skill in order to get onto this course and to the second year, however I believe that mastery of these skills and talents take a lifetime to achieve, the top artists/programmers/writers etc. dedicate the majority of their lives to the pursuit of this goal, it is an on going process and one that never ends.

External References From:

Given references

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

www.creativityatwork.com/2014/02/17/what-is-creativity/

Task 21: An introduction to the Game Industry.

‘Gaining an understanding of how the industry is structured, what the roles and responsibilities are and how future developments will affect future employment prospects is essential. If you are to get the best from your studies, you have to understand how they fit into the 'bigger picture' and how they relate to the industry.’

Within the games industry the key businesses within the industry are publishing, development, distribution and hardware manufacturers (console makers Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft). The main issue to be aware of when looking at the industry is the complex interactions of the various companies. A company focused on one of these areas may also be active in others. Publishers often own all or part of a development or distribution company and the hardware manufacturers all act as publishers for their own 1st party products. This means that an independent development company seeking to do business with a publisher may actually be approaching the owner of one of their main competitors.

Different types of companies that play active roles in this include: Computer Game Publishers, The companies responsible for bringing the games to market. They effectively control what type of product reach the market as the majority of commercial software is commissioned, funded and published.

Computer Game Developers. These are the programmers, artists, designers, sound engineers, musicians, producers, writers and others; who develop the games. Development companies can be independent, part owned or wholly owned by a Publisher, distributor or hardware manufacturer. 

Distributors. These are the companies that are responsible for getting the finished (manufactured) games from the publisher to the shops. 

Hardware manufacturers. From a gaming perspective there are two main types of hardware, personal computers (PC/Mac) and consoles. The key difference is that personal computers are generally open access, while the consoles created by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are closed systems.

Now the hierarchy will vary slightly from circumstance to circumstance, but usually with a publisher at the top and obviously a distributer as the final, or bottom.

Company structure is much the same with a publisher –as shown in this diagram- at the top, followed by owners and or the senior management team, which is constantly back and forth with the Admin and development support teams. The next would be the project director/manager/producer depending on the circumstances, followed by the technical manager, creative manager and design manager, who in turn are responsible for the programmers artists and designers.

Points to note would be that: Each team will also have several Managers, whose main function is to ensure that communication flows easily through the team.

Surrounding and supporting the dev teams are the different support roles.

As well as this there are the non-development support teams such as IT, HR and recruitment, administration, finance, legal, PR and marketing. 

And finally me, where would I fit into this. Well right in the blue section at the bottom with the position being a junior –in my case- environment artist, I would be part of a large interlinking organisation with numerous managers and management staff.

External References From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.obscure.co.uk/articles-2/industry-overview/

http://www.blitzgamesstudios.com/blitz_academy/game_dev/company_structure

http://j412cr.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/structure-of-the-video-game-industry/

Task 20: Elements of game technology, part three: interaction design.

‘Games are inevitably complex entities demanding constantly changing inputs and responses from the player. Given that Call of Duty is more demanding than Word, how do the designers enable such complex interactions relatively ‘intuitively’? Are these interactions in fact intuitive at all?

Game engines can handle complex physics simulations, but have traditionally been hindered by the limitations of screen/keyboard/mouse interaction. What effect could the rise of the Wii and the new generation of motion controllers have on game design? What about the impact of 3D technology?’

In a traditional solo video game you're actually interacting with the designer.
In a newer video game, you're interacting with other people through situations devised by the designer.

Interacting with the designer:  (Often called PvE, Player vs. Environment)
    Puzzles 
    Talking with NPCs
    Collecting information
    Avoiding obstacles and hazards (which may behave sentiently (with intelligence) or not)
        Stealth
        Con them (bluffing)
        Blast/smash them
        Clever other methods (drive cattle in front of you)
        Dodge/avoid
    (Cutscenes–but no interactivity)

Interacting with other people:
    Negotiation (persuade or dissuade)
    Direct Conflict (PvP, Player vs. Player)
        "Beating them to the punch" (in races, collection of objects, as well as in attacking)
        Kill-crush-destroy opposing entities
        Physical contests
    Cooperation (typical of group RPGs)
    Trading
    Bidding against/auctioning
    Drafting (selecting the best set of useful items, getting something before someone else does)

    Anticipation of what someone else will do (could be tied to “beating them to the punch”)  
    "Bragging rights"
    Telling bad jokes, charades, drawing pictures, and many other kinds of party game activities
    Acting/pretending (lying) (bluffing)
    Being annoying  
    Indirect interaction (you cause forces other than yours to do something to harm another player's)

As shown there are numerous way in which a player can interact indirectly with the designer and ultimately the game enabling these interactions so that the player can experience all of the above in an intuitive manor takes a great deal of time and effort to produce. Designers can choose to go don't he already well established routes like the Xbox and PlayStation controllers we know today or the humble keyboard and mouse, but with more and more small time developers taking the next step in these some what usually overlooked fields, more and more developers are beginning to take note and to want to be part of this new movement. Companies like Oculus and Sixsense creating prototypes and now fully fledged consumer products that have inspired many to re think the way we can interact with games.

Oculus are a company devoted to the pursuit of creating the worlds best VR –virtual reality- device that can place you quite literally so far as your vision and hearing is concerned, into the game world, no longer will you be limited by the size of your computer screen, the Oculus Rift lets players intuitively move in three dimensional space. being able to lean and look in every which direction opens up dramatic new possibilities for the games industry and developers.

Sixsense is also working to push the boundaries of player, game interaction, creating products like the Razer Hydra –which also identify the point that bigger companies do want to help make this a reality with names like Razer taking ideas like this on board- which can also be used in conjunction with the oculus to give an almost full immersive and intuitive experience where the player is free to look and move in 3D space.

Now with both products there still is the limitation as to actual player movement, by which I mean walking or running. But once again another company has that covered.

The Virtuix Omni is the first –when combined with the oculus rift- virtual reality interface for moving freely and naturally in your favorite game.

The device allows for complete immersion while still creating an intuitive environment for the player.

Applications of natural movement in virtual reality stretch far beyond gaming: training and simulation, fitness, virtual tourism, virtual tradeshows and events, meet-ups and multi-person adventures, virtual workplaces, museums, VR architecture, VR concerts… The possibilities for all of the mentioned above are limitless.

External References From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LewisPulsipher/20091108/85868/Interaction_in_Games.php

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129843/designing_usable_and_accessible_.php?print=1

http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-limits-of-videogame-interaction/

http://www.virtuix.com/

http://sixense.com/

http://www.oculusvr.com/

Task 19: Elements of Game Technology, part two: sound for games

 ‘How is sound used in games? Who are some of the key composers working in games? What are your key sonic moments in your gaming history? And is it true that the Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards composition 'Good Times' is the most influential recording made in the 20th Century?.’

Sound is used in games much the same way as in other forms of visual media, to provoke an emotional response from the viewer. Sound in games is now a well established part of developing process and can be used to really set the game apart and create a globally recognisable appearance.

Franchises such as Halo, Mario and Sonic all have unique sounds/scores that people from all walks of life can associate to the games.

Different types of sounds are used in games relative to limitations such as production costs and they’re overall purposes. Adaptive sounds and music are used to indicate to the player that something is happening or about to happen, changes in tempo in stealth games can indicate that the player has been spotted, where as in a first person shooter the changes may signal that there is an approaching fight.

Some games use current musical influences to engage players where the game is not heavily story driven.

Wipeout 2097 is one of the first examples of in-game music that was composed by well-known artists. As a racing game, Wipeout has no story to tell, but the developers were still keen to build an immersive setting: the fictional branding created by The Designers Republic perfectly evoked a uniquely 90s vision of the future, and the tracks laid on by The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Orbital lifted this clubland aesthetic to new heights.

The composers behind some of the most iconic scores include: Jesper Kyd, with his notable scores including: Freedom Fighters, Hitman series and Assassin's Creed II. 

Koji Kondo has created some of the most well known scores for games, with his resume made up of:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Star Fox 64. 

Jeremy Soule is also up there will such titles as: Skyrim, Guild Wars 2, Knights of the Old Republic and Word of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.

Personally, drawing on my experiences with sounds and scores of games the few that have really made an impact, and the ones that I can recognise after a few bars are ones such as the Halo theme created by Martin O'Donnel , the Civilization 4 theme created by Christopher Tin, and being a 90’s child the Super Mario theme –created by the already mentioned Koji Kondo- has to make an appearance in there.

Finally I would say that Good Times is one of the most influential songs of  it’s period, with it claiming new heights of popularity and being sampled countless times, however  I don’t think it can be considered the most influential song made in the 20th century, musical popularity changes almost daily and to claim a song which supposedly denounces all others over such a long period of time is just not factual.

External References From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://mentalfloss.com/article/26037/10-songs-sample-%E2%80%9Cgood-times%E2%80%9D

http://blindsightblog.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.gamesradar.com/10-great-video-game-composers/

http://www.amplifon.co.uk/resources/playing-with-your-mind/

Aftermath

Finally after working throughout the holidays so that I could resubmit work while trying to balance my 3D work on the mortal engines project It's finally over!

I can now safely breath a sigh of relief. Overall I was pleased with the work that I’ve redone and have a few new ideas and ways of approaching work for visual design after talking with my tutor, as with the 2D side of the course I can bend –to a certain degree- the projects to suit your own strengths and not basing them around my weaknesses like previously.

In the future I plan to base the project in something I find much more suited to my interests like technical drawing and de-constructive drawing, really working out how pieces fit together and move in unison.

The mortal engines project came out ok but the process of starting it very late on into the Christmas break because I focused on the work that needed to be redone was nothing but stress, I feel a huge weight lifted now that it’s over. On the lighter side though, I got the time to use some very impressive software like Zbrush, Marvellous Designer and Quixel’s Ddo and Ndo2. I really thoroughly enjoyed using Quixel and Pixologic’s programs, they are easy to pick up and learn and the tools that they bring to the table are very powerful indeed.

And finally, I will be taking a well deserved day or two off now because I have been given beta access to the Elder Scrolls Online for this weekend.

Because they really need people to thoroughly test the game. :D