Halycopter » Uni

Machinima and Game Design

Haly — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:47:46 +0000

So I’ve been busy, been gaming lots but not really got round to blogging about it.

However, I’ve started cracking on with some Uni work. And stuff that actually interests me!
For one module, I’ve got to create Machinima. Basically using video game tools such as Unreal Editor in my case, to create a movie.
I’ve spent half the day looking through Machinima.com for ideas and generally to see what others have done. Some interesting ones there.
In particular, there was an amalgamation of World of Warcraft and Super Mario Bros by Losos which was interesting, maybe the content wasn’t fascinating after the while, but the idea and the creation process were.
I always lean towards watching Counterstrike 1.6 videos so watched a few of those, so now I’ve got an urge to play again.

As well as this, I’ve got to come up with a game concept for a presentation shortly. So I googled around a bit and came across ’40 Ways to be a better (game) designer’ on Raph Koster’s website, Raph Koster having worked on Star Wars Galaxies as Chief Creative Officer.

Then came across, The Anatomy of a Design Document to give me a clue of how to write up my design brief for the end of April.

When I’ve got some basic machinima sorted, I’ll upload it. Got a website to design for a wedding garter business first of all which I’ve got to stick high up on my priority list. Going to be quite a learning process for me.

Oh and God knows how much my Gamerscore’s gone up since the last update, a good few k, and should go up by another k within a day or two!

Academic updates

Haly — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:20:10 +0000

Besides producing a page explaining my postgrad dissertation (see the sidebar), I’ve also just uploaded a number of old essays.
They’re all in PDF files for now:
1) Has the X-Box 360 achievement system affected
games usage? – This was written for my Msc course, but I do feel I could have written a hell of a lot more if I’d had the time. The entire concept interests me immensely so I’m hoping to extend this at some point in the near future.
2) Games analysis â€“ use of Game Theory – This was also for the Msc course. It’s a short piece on the use of games theory to analyse Maxis’s The Sims. It might be a bit of a rough read if you know nothing of game theory. It was a fair challenge to write!
3) Games Engines â€“ Current Offerings, Comparisons and
Research – Again for Msc. This is, as the title states, looking at the current offerings games engines have and a bit about the future and what will come of them. It mainly focuses on the Source Engine and Unreal Engine.
4) Are video games becoming the new cinema? What
factors would suggest this to be the case? – This was for my undergrad course in Media Studies. Again a subject that’s really interested me over the years. Its main examples are the PC games Half Life 2 and Fahrenheit. It’s got a brief bit about the film of Doom too which ironically I thought was quite fun, maybe I don’t have any taste :p
5) Proppellian Analysis of Final Fantasy VII – This looks at the ideas of Vladimir Propp, a Russian Structuralist who looked at Russian Folklore and determined a number of similarities within all folk stories. This essay extends the idea to games, in this case the PS1 and PC RPG Final Fantasy VII.
6) We refuse to show the world as it is. – This essay’s a bit different from the others. It’s not focused on games at all. It’s looking at the portrayal of wars, and primarily the genocides, in the modern media. It’s not pretty, it’s got pictures you might not want to see. So this is your warning, if you’re of a sensitive nature. It was hard to write due to the material but I don’t think it should ever be ignored, which is pretty much what this essay is about. It was for my second year undergrad course.

I would greatly appreciate any comments on these essays, whether they be negative or positive.

Almost on my way

Haly — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:30:58 +0000

So that thing I’ve been aiming for all this time is almost upon me.

I’ve finished work, couldn’t get a transfer unfortunately but hoping to come back at Christmas and work my ass off so I can afford to not work in term time.

I leave for Stafford on the 17th September, not long at all now!

I’m hoping to make this blog a bit more full about then too, maybe make a bit of a photo journal of my time there

As it is now, for the next two weeks I’ve got plenty to sort out. Car to put through the MOT, TV license to buy, NTL installation to arrange, people to say goodbye to, relatives to say goodbye to etc.

And before I know it, I’ll be there!

Oh and yet again I’m considering a return to WoW. But I don’t really have the money A mate is trying to persuade me to join up again though so we shall see. A lot will depend on payday come Friday.

Been rather a while

Haly — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:57:58 +0000

Hmm been a bit of a while, oops.

I’ve been pretty busy. Once I finished my Uni work I took on a lot of extra hours at work because I like the money. Besides that I’ve been trying to sort out accommodation for Stafford, getting my unconditional acceptance stuff though, got my degree results etc.

I got a 2.2, one bloody mark off a 2.1 so bit gutted there. But it’s all i need to get to Stafford.

It’s just annoying because I had such non existent tutoring for my dissertation throughout the third year but ah well. It happens I guess.

Have to make up for it with my Msc

I’ve sorted out the loan for the most part, got to send the form off but worked out I need 7.5k eeeeeeek. Be worth it in the end though.

I’ve got a week off work at the moment which is nice but I can see it vanishing very fast. Monday was spent at a graduation do and recovering from a long weekend away drinking. Wednesday i’m off to visit relatives and the cinema in the evening, Thursday I’ve got a meal, back to work Saturday. Hmmm.

I miss my times gaming, I’ve lost the urge a fair bit lately, I think just because I’ve got out of the habit of it.

Not had a chance to start my C++ projects yet either :/ Grrr.

All go

Haly — Mon, 01 May 2006 17:54:30 +0000

Not entirely sure if anyone is still reading….but I’ll have to relaunch once I finish Uni.

It’s been all go: Got accepted to Staffordshire (\o/) so been organising stuff for that like accommodation etc.

Other than that Uni work’s been manic in the run up to finishing Uni in about 3 weeks time.

I haven’t had much chance for gaming or pretty much anything other than some form of work. Just about to start a game of Chrono Trigger though so hopefully that’ll keep me busy in my few spare hours. Want to play Final Fantasy VII but i know if I start, I’ll end up forgetting to do anything else.

University Choices

Haly — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 21:31:03 +0000

I can quite safely say I messed up my decision with Uni when I was 18.

Problem was, I was burnt out. I was studying so hard for my A levels that the thought of University held no appeal whatsoever to me. Plus I had no idea what I wanted to do really and the support at my college was pretty terrible (great if you knew what you wanted to do but anything a little bit different and they didn’t want to know, the idea of a gap year was sacrilegious in their eyes).

So now I’m finishing a degree that I never really liked and will serve me close to no purpose in the future…hence why I’m doing a Masters to make my mistake up to myself.

The annoying thing is when you read articles like this: Tutors at the University of Derby have said they are hoping to discover the next Lara Croft with the launch of a new computer design course. and Derby Plans To Bridge Gender Divide In Gaming

If only I’d known about these courses when I was looking around, then again they didn’t exist at the time heh.

Annoyingly Derby don’t seem to do any Mscs or MAs in Computer Games Design otherwise I’d have applied to there over Staffordshire, but oh well.

Not really gamed much lately, been out of sorts thanks to a leg abscess so not really settled to much. Played a bit of the Tomb Raider Legend demo which is looking promising but not really played it enough yet to review. Same with Oblivion although that’s not really drawn me in yet.