Back to 3D
So last week I finally finished my second major environment model… although it’s actually kind of small pretty small. I will most likely be adding it into my second demo reel whenever I actually get a chance to finish that. It’s been a while since I posted anything 3D… or anything for that matter ha ha, but I have actually been working in Maya a lot lately. Most recently I’ve just been finishing up this environment:
I actually modeled this from someone elses concept art, and I would give them a link here but unfortunately I can’t remember where I got it from. It’s also really bright on my computer right now but I’ve also been told it’s dark on some other computers so I may have to change the lighting before I do any final renders for a demo reel. All the textures were custom painted and all that… so that was fun (that’s only partly sarcastic ha ha)
Also recently I finished my part in a volunteer project to make educational videos about unsustainable fishing practices. I’m definitely a big fan of living green as much as possible, and all for helping the environment, so this project was really good for me. Not only did I gain some professional experience as a modeller/texture artist, but I got to help out for a cause I really support. I only made 4 models. 3 different types of fishing boats and a bird who gets caught in a fishing net 😦 but it was still a really fun project to work on.
Also, I feel like I should tell people who are interested in Maya about this book I bought a while ago. It’s called “Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator’s Guide”. I’ve been working with that a lot recently as well. I’ll probably have an updated post about this later because I’ve been rendering the stuff I’ve been doing as I go, although I’m quite far away from finishing the book, but I will most likely make a video of all of that when I’m done. But I learned a lot of new things about Maya in the first two chapters that were never covered when I went to school. It’s kind of outdated, but for the most part it’s workable. I’ve had some problems with the MEL scripting but otherwise it’s going really well.
So I’ve definitely been keeping up with 3D… maybe I should keep up with blogging :S
3D break anyone?
So I’ve recently been working on my second big 3D project or second demo reel really. And it’s starting to really feel like working on a demo reel again. In other words, it’s starting to get stressful, and somewhat annoying. I still enjoy it though, so no worries. But to keep myself sane over the past few days I had decided that it had been far too long since I had worked on anything traditional. About a year to be exact, and even before that I wasn’t doing a lot of it like I used to be. So anyway, here were the results:
I don’t usually draw people either, so this was actually pretty fun.
Male Space Armour
So I finished my male space armour to complete the collection:
It was actually pretty fun to model this character as well. And I actually think that if I didn’t suck at faces so much, that I may even consider character modeling. Maybe with more practice. I was actually able to finish modeling and texturing this in about a day and a half. So that’s not too bad, although it is all clean and new, and that made it pretty easy I guess. But that’s about half the time it took me to do the female armour so it’s still improvement I guess.
And now that the character modeling is done and out of the way, I can finally start working on the environments which is what I really want to do. I’ve already started modeling the exterior of the spaceship, which I guess still isn’t technically environment modeling, more prop modeling, but I’m going to count it anyway, because the spaceship is going to be my environment.
My new Project
So now that I’ve graduated, and finished my demo reel, I’ve decided to endure a new project… I mean have fun making a new project. It is actually more the latter so far though really. I’m actually having fun in Maya again!!! Even with the UVing and texturing too! What’s going on?! I think it’s because there’s no real pressure involved in this, and no REAL deadline… of course I should make one to follow or it will never get done, but at least I don’t have to feel obligated to follow it too strictly.
It’s going to be space themed, and I’ve finished a female suit of armour
And here’s the turnaround:
I’m also making a male suit of armour which will probably end up being displayed in an armoury of some sort aboard a spaceship of some sort… obviously I haven’t worked out all of the details yet, however I’m actually pretty excited about this. And I actually had fun doing character modeling, although I don’t think I’ll ever do that much of that because I really suck at modeling faces. But you never know.
As a side note, I recently joined Deviant Art if anyone’s interested, here’s the link:
It all started with a cube…
So I’ve finally finished my demo reel. It took a long time and a lot of work, but it’s finally done. Which also means that we’ve all graduated now! Yay!!! Congratulations everybody and best of luck in the future. Industry night at Radical Entertainment was pretty awesome, and I think it went pretty well.
Anyway, here’s my demo reel.
The Digital Animation program at BCIT was a great experience, and I’m happy to be a part of it.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
So, as most of you game lovers probably know Iby now, the PlayStation Network just rereleased the old 1997 FFVII for $10 on the PS3 and PSP. I just got it a few days ago myself, after finally finding a playstation network card after looking in 9 different stores all over Vancouver. Anyway, this was probably one of the best games ever made (second second best according to the gamefaqs polls, but at least it came in second to another great game: Ocarina of Time) but I didn’t think reviewing it would be a good idea, because everybody’s played it, or at least knows what it’s about. So instead, I’ve decided to review one of the many spin offs of the game: Crisis Core. Crisis Core is available on PSP.
Story: 8/10
The story is definitely interesting. It’s a prequel to the original FFVII, and you play as the character Zack, whom you find out about near the end of the game in the original story . It’s really fun to play through some of those mysteries that the original left behind. It clears up some answers from the “first” game as well. Although it is a prequel, there is a lot of original storyline of the game, that doesn’t really seem related in any way to the original Final Fantasy VII… I could be wrong. Honestly I haven’t finished it yet, but it has a really good story so far.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are really good. I find it so hard to believe that a little handheld PSP could have better graphics than the old PlayStation… but I guess that’s how technology goes. Anyway, I’d say they’re up to par with PS2 graphics almost. And the cinematics are just amazing.
Innovation: 7/10
I’m not exactly a fan of the classic turn based gaming, so I was excited to learn about the new battle system. It’s pretty basic… just button mashing for the most part, but you can change your battle type from attack to use materia or an item by just using your L and R buttons along the bottom of the screen. The only problem I have with this, is that your enemies are free to attack you because it’s not turn based, so if you’re somewhat clumsy like I am, you may fumble over the buttons and get hit numerous times, and possibly even die while you’re trying to get to your potions. The other new thing they added in this game, is the leveling system, which I have to say… I really didn’t like. It almost seems like you’re just playing the slots and you level up through luck, because you need to get all 7’s to level up while you’re doing one of Zack’s special attacks, which also have to be activated by slots landing on three of the same character-. However, I have since been informed that it is not by chance, and that the longer you go without leveling up, the more chance you have of leveling up. But I think I’d still rather go with the basic EXP, and meter to see how close you are to the next level.
Overall: 9/10
I would definitely recommend this game. It’s no where near as good as the first one, but I’m definitely enjoying it so far. The good thing is that if for some reason you haven’t played the original, you don’t really need to know the story from it, so you can play this one anyway. And also, if you’re a fan of the FFVII series, you may like the story in this game, as you get to play through the events that happen previously to the story… or it may ruin it completely for you. I’d still say it’s worth it though, and it’s probably the best game I’ve played for PSP so far.
Texturing
I know it’s been a while since I posted… I guess I’ve been distracted with my demo reel.
But anyway, on monday, we’ll be finishing our texturing class. Yes, term two has almost come to an end. We were given three assignments to work on gradually through the term. We were provided the tree models, the only one that I modified was the shed, and some small changes in the other two models. The things we had to texture were a shed, xbox 360, and a turtle.
here are the video turnarounds of the final results:
Shed:
Turtle (Based off of the Koopa turtles from Mario):
And the Xbox 360 which I gave a Bioshock theme to:
Texturing was actually a really fun course this semester, and I’ll be looking forward to it in 3rd semster now.
Hotel 626
So yesterday, I was just informed about this fairly new online game called “Hotel 626”. I think it’s some sort of promotional game by Doritos or something. I don’t really know a lot about why it was made or anything, but I tried it out last night, and I thought I’d inform you all while it’s still going.
Anyway, here’s the link if you want to check it out. http://hotel626.com/
Now, here’s the catch. It’s a horror type survival game, and being online, the developers thought it would be really cool to limit your play times. So what they did is made the game only available between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. I played this at about midnight last night, and I was pretty scared. It’s short, and some of the parts are sort of tricky to figure out, but it’s still fun, and I think it’s worth it to play this game if you just want a break, or if you’re looking for a bit of a scare.
It’s somewhat frustrating, because I did die numerous times, but the good thing about this game is that they let you give up if you want to, and let you skip the level if you so choose.
One other really awesome thing about this game, is that it connects to your web cam, so when they put on a scary part, they’ll take your picture… I thought that was cool, although I still didn’t enable my camera. They will also send you your picture after you play it.
I just thought I would let you guys know about it. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.
Dead Space
So last week I finally finished Dead Space. I bought this game at launch, and through a combination of being too terrified to play it and not having time because of school, I kind of put it aside until last week. I got so excited, and decided that I had to write my next review about it. And as always (as it would seem) I’m reviewing it for Xbox 360, but it was also released for PS3 and PC. It’s a 3rd person shooter, survival/horror game.
So I have to say that I loved this game. I was actually kind of upset when it ended but that’s how I know it’s a good game I guess. I would definitely recommend this game, and in fact, I liked it so much that I even watched the animated film (or most of it anyway, thanks to computer technical difficulties :S I haven’t been able to finish it yet… yet being the key word there). The film is okay so far, and I would recommend it, but probably only if you’re a fan of the game. It’s called “Dead Space: Downfall” and it was a prequel to the game, so I would also recommend playing the game first because I think the story is just better that way… but that’s just my opinion.
Story: 10/10
I would have to say that the story is one of the better ones that I’ve played recently. It starts with your crew on a small repair ship. You’re headed towards the Ishimura, to respond to a distress call. You play as Isaac Clarke, who is surprisingly just a poor engineer stuck in an unfortunate situation, and forced to fight for his life to find a way off the ship as he finds that it’s been infested with this alien/human hybrid species called necromorphs. The story has a few twists and turns along the way, but mostly right at the end.
Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in this game were really amazing. I know I say that a lot, but honestly they were. The Necromorphs looked awesome, and the environments looked so realistic. I would definitely consider this game to be an inspiration to me. I honestly don’t know what more to say about it. Just look for your self I guess.
Sound: 10/10
Now, I know I don’t normally add this category into the reviews, but I think it was so good that this game deserved a rating in this category. What I would actually recommend while playing this game, is getting a big pair of noise cancelling headphones, and wearing those while you play. You’ll hear so much more than you normally would. Every footstep (even if it’s not yours), and things creeping behind the walls or in the ceilings. It really is amazing, and adds a lot to the game.
Innovation: 10/10
This game had one amazing feature that I’ve been wishing for in video games for a long time. Do you ever play open ended video games, and get lost easily? Well I know I do, and I have to say, that’s probably the number one thing that I hate most in a video game. I know a lot of games have maps, but most of the time they don’t clearly show which way to go. But Isaac gets this awesome feature in his engineering suit that if you click the right stick in, it’ll point Isaac in the right direction, and a blue line will show you to your destination… how cool is that. I know what you may be thinking… the possible downfall being that the game isn’t so open ended right, or may limit play. But the fact is, this feature isn’t limiting you from exploring, it just points you in the right direction if you should need some navigational assistance.
There were some other really cool features, but I know similar things have been added in games before, so they’re not THAT innovative. But they also added the gravity jump in Zero Gravity mode, Kenisis and Stasis, which are all pretty cool features anyway.
Overall: 10/10
Seeing how much this game has decreased in value, and how fast it’s happened, I’m guessing that it’s not the most popular game compared to the big titles. But I really think it’s being undervalued. Maybe it got too much hype that it didn’t live up to? That seems to be the case most of the time, but I really think that that’s unfortunate, because this game has probably made it to my list of top 5 favorites. Anyway, if you’re a survival/horror, shooter, or sci-fi fan, then I would definitely recommend Dead Space. A word of warning though, if you don’t like gore, then definitely don’t get this game.
Rathchet and Clank: Size Matters
If you have a PS2, you most likely have played at least one of the Ratchet and Clank games available, considering that there are 5 just on the PS2. I really like this series in general, although I thought the general storyline and gaming started to go south in the fourth game Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked. That’s why when Size Matterscame out, I was on the fence as to whether or not I should get this game. I decided to get it for the PSP, because I had no good games for it at the time. And I’m glad I got it now.
So just to clarify, Size Matters is the 5th game in the series and is for the PS2 and PSP. I’m rating it based on the PSP version. I haven’t played the PS2 version, but apparently the reviews for the PS2 game were worse than the PSP’s reviews. Originally the Ratchet series was made by Insomniac, but this game was made by High Impact Games, so there are some subtle differences in gameplay, which I wasn’t a fan of, but you’ll get used to it.
Graphics: 7/10
The graphics for this game weren’t bad at all. I’ve seen better graphics on the PSP, but I’ve also seen much worse. They’re fairly simple, but I really like the cartoony style. I don’t really see that a lot these days, so it’s nice to see something a bit more unique. Of course the general style hasn’t changed at all from the first game, but still.
Plot: 7/10
The plot is similar to the first three games in that, at the beginning, Ratchet and Clank are both minding their own business, (in this case they’re on vacation) and then something happens (in this case it’s a creepy little girl wanting to do a report on them… this has trouble written all over it doesn’t it?) and they then become heroes embarking on a new journey.
I’m guessing I don’t sound very enthused about the general plot line. That’s because it is used quite often, but then again, maybe that’s because it works and people like it. I really did like the story, and I know when they tried to change it (aka to Deadlocked fail) it didn’t work out so well.
Gameplay: 9/10
I really like the gameplay in Ratchet and Clank. For the most part, it’s classified as a platform/3rd person shooter, which is already a good combination. But they also add the space fights which are normally done with spaceships, but in this game you get to use Giant Clank for that. They also have the arena battles, which are always one of my personal favorites in these games. So they really try hard to keep the game interesting at all times.
Replayability: 5/10
When you finish the game the first time, you unlock what’s called “Challenge Mode”. It’s basically the same thing as the first play through, but the enemies are harder, and you get a money/bolt multiplier. And you can upgrade your weapons even more than before. It’s fun to play this game again, but I never finished the second playthrough.
Overall: 8/10
I definitely think this game was worth the money. I really liked it enjoyed. I’d say that if you were a fan of any of the first three Ratchet and Clank games, then I would recommend it. It doesn’t have a continuing storyline from the previous games either, so if you haven’t played any of the games before, you can still try it out and not be lost.
Becky's Blog 