Sound play's a vital role in games these days, and is created by some of the best composer's in the world. Recently for example the blockbuster best selling game to date, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 had only bloody Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer! Who's worked for big name film titles like The Dark Knight and Pirates of the Caribbean. Every aspect of a game these days is pushed to it's best ability to achieve the maximum entertainment experience possible. As budding game developers' were aware of the processes involved in creating concepts to achieve the look and style of a games appearance, from characters and vehicles, to environments and mood. But what about sound. That's why I was pleased to find out that the industry seems to be broadening its concepting ethics into pitching game ideas not only using visual, but also musical forms. So basically it can range from small sound to scores to find an overall sonic to a game, that fits with its style. The pieces never have to be finished because there just concepts but generally they go on to become final works that will be incorporated into the game. I'm a fan of an upcoming game that was originally a mod for half life 1. They release news weekly every Friday showing there progress in a very “back stage” kind of way, and in a recent post they showcased a mixture of sounds re-enforcing this very topic. It would be best to have a look for yourself so here's the link http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2010/2/friday_update_build_137_and_sound_montages I think this is a very good way to show the direction the sound is going, and I believe its just as important as any other part of the game.
I'm trying to think of past game experiences that have evoked emotion from the sound and one springs to mind that I feel deserves a mention. As I've mentioned before I played Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Its was one of the first franchises to start of the whole first person period, WW2 series of gaming and they did a remarkable job. They paid a lot of attention to detail to make you feel apart of world war. Might be best known for it Normandy Omaha beach landing that's seen also in the film Saving Private Ryan. The sound effect were top notch but it was the score that did it for me. As I have great respect for the soldiers who fought in world war 2 and have a very big interest in it, this soundtrack I felt captured a good emotion for the war and to be honest it made me want to cry. I even copied it to CD to listen to it. Composed by Michael Giacchino who has done work movies, television series. His most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, and Alias and films such as Mission: Impossible III, The Incredibles, Star Trek and Up, for which he won an Academy Award. In my opinion this is the best score in any game ever made and I never tire of listening to it.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Game Engines
I've been a very keen gamer over the years and when I say that I don't mean just playing games. Its the way there made and how the industry has evolved over the years. Its about what the future holds and what technology will become available. How does this apply to game engines though? Well game developers want the best from there engine as it will ultimately determine is there game will any good or not. With the rate of witch games evolve these days its hard to stay ahead of the game ( no pun intended). For me there are two game engines that have most influenced my gaming. This is mainly down to there support for the modding community. I'm a big Valve fan boy and ill happily admit that. I've got a lot of respect for them and I've been a fan since the first Half Life game. It was many, many years after they finally released Half Life 2. The reason being that they decided to create an engine like non other that had been seen before. It made use of lighting, physics, particle effects and model animation in unprecedented and revolutionary new ways that these days has become a standard within new titles. But I feel a better engine became available. Epic games, the creators of unreal tournament develop the unreal engine and its still used by many top titles today. Including army of two, bioshock, gears of war, mass effect, boarderlands and many more. Main features of this engine include the same of the source engine by valve but add more in terms of larger scale maps and open environments, better use of vehicles and the tools make building games far more user friendly. Epics dedication to there engine surpasses anyone's expectations and appeals to all game developers needs no matter what game you may want to create.
This brings me to the point of creating your own engine. To tailor it to your own needs is the obvious reason to do so, but the time and effort needed may require to much time and money for most developers. Epic sold licence to use there engine commercially for around $1.000.000, not sure if it is that price now. Its a lot of money but given the long-term benefits I can see that It could reduce cost and time to deliver a finished game to shop shelf's by quite some time. Plus epic have always been at the forefront of technology working very closely with top gpu manufactures nvidia and ati to ensure maximum performance and reliability. Hence the reason why so many developer have bought the rights to the engine. Just recently they released the tools and engine to be used free of charge in the form of the UDK (unreal development kit) this allows developers to crate a game for free during development and only if they make a certain amount of money after realise per year they then pay royalties to epic games. Now is that a sweet deal or what. Some of you may be thinking this move is just to get the last scraps of cash from and old engine but there are many games still being released, even today on this engine and im sure epic will be maing sure thats the case for any years to come.
This brings me to the point of creating your own engine. To tailor it to your own needs is the obvious reason to do so, but the time and effort needed may require to much time and money for most developers. Epic sold licence to use there engine commercially for around $1.000.000, not sure if it is that price now. Its a lot of money but given the long-term benefits I can see that It could reduce cost and time to deliver a finished game to shop shelf's by quite some time. Plus epic have always been at the forefront of technology working very closely with top gpu manufactures nvidia and ati to ensure maximum performance and reliability. Hence the reason why so many developer have bought the rights to the engine. Just recently they released the tools and engine to be used free of charge in the form of the UDK (unreal development kit) this allows developers to crate a game for free during development and only if they make a certain amount of money after realise per year they then pay royalties to epic games. Now is that a sweet deal or what. Some of you may be thinking this move is just to get the last scraps of cash from and old engine but there are many games still being released, even today on this engine and im sure epic will be maing sure thats the case for any years to come.
Game Culture
If you were to look at my msn friends list and ask me who most of them were I wouldn't be able to tell you. Over the years I have added people that I have been talking to whilst playing computer games online. I never use it to talk to people I actually know. To be honest I never use it these days. Probably because there are better methods of communication. I have a large friend list on steam and xbox live. A lot of these are people I've known for years. Its never really been something I've consid
If you were to look at my msn friends list and ask me who most of them were I wouldn't be able to tell you. Over the years I have added people that I have been talking to whilst playing computer games online. I never use it to talk to people I actually know. To be honest I never use it these days. Probably because there are better methods of communication. I have a large friend list on steam and xbox live. A lot of these are people I've known for years. Its never really been something I've consid
ered any different to making friends in real life. I've never had trouble making friends. I have no trouble talking to anyone but its so easy during a game. One of the major advantages of socialiered any different to making friends in real life. I've never had trouble making friends. I have no trouble talking to anyone but its so easy during a game. One of the major advantages of socialising this way is you know you have something in common straight away because your interested in the same game or even many games. The only major difference is never knowing what they look like, and in some cases not even hearing there voice.
So what does this say about my personality. I consider myself to be a friendly guy and ive got time for anyone. The thing that I like best about people online is there just people! The stereotype is socially retarded teens who have trouble integrating with society, but in my experience the majority of people have more in common with me than I would have ever expected.
People form long term relationships online. In my early gaming days I was in a clan for the first medal of honor game on for PC. Although some games were competitive with other clans, it was more about having a chat whilst playing a game together. There girlfriends and wives would take over sometimes and just chat with each other. I never got to meet any of them in person even when the clan would all meet from time to time but I still felt I knew them all very well.
If you were to look at my msn friends list and ask me who most of them were I wouldn't be able to tell you. Over the years I have added people that I have been talking to whilst playing computer games online. I never use it to talk to people I actually know. To be honest I never use it these days. Probably because there are better methods of communication. I have a large friend list on steam and xbox live. A lot of these are people I've known for years. Its never really been something I've consid
ered any different to making friends in real life. I've never had trouble making friends. I have no trouble talking to anyone but its so easy during a game. One of the major advantages of socialiered any different to making friends in real life. I've never had trouble making friends. I have no trouble talking to anyone but its so easy during a game. One of the major advantages of socialising this way is you know you have something in common straight away because your interested in the same game or even many games. The only major difference is never knowing what they look like, and in some cases not even hearing there voice.
So what does this say about my personality. I consider myself to be a friendly guy and ive got time for anyone. The thing that I like best about people online is there just people! The stereotype is socially retarded teens who have trouble integrating with society, but in my experience the majority of people have more in common with me than I would have ever expected.
People form long term relationships online. In my early gaming days I was in a clan for the first medal of honor game on for PC. Although some games were competitive with other clans, it was more about having a chat whilst playing a game together. There girlfriends and wives would take over sometimes and just chat with each other. I never got to meet any of them in person even when the clan would all meet from time to time but I still felt I knew them all very well.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Game Industry
Today's gaming industry is as big as its ever been, and it getting bigger and bigger year by year. Its not that long ago (when I was just a boy) that the gaming industry seemed in its infancy, and I suppose we could argue that it still is. Its only just recently that the games industry has received the same accreditation as the film industry. The the release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 had its very own red carpet premier in London's West End. The first ever to happen. Sales for the game were expected to surpass the current leader GTA 4 as Amazon said they had 50% more pre-order sales and the game ended up selling 6.3 million worldwide in just 24 hours.
So with all this extra cash what are game developers doing with it. Well i've got to admire Epic games as they run an annual “make something unreal” contest, were through the stages, different “mod” teams earn big money, cash prizes with the grand prize being a 1 million dollar commercial licence for the “epic” unreal engine. For those of you who know what i'm talking about, you may remember a few years back when red orchestra won. They started as a mod and as a result of the competition they were able to realise the game, and it became very successful. This is what I admire about the game industry. Other companies like valve also see the importance of finding new talent and who alongside developing games, want to help those who wish to become game developers realise there dreams. Its not uncommon for those people in mod teams to have a close relationship with developers of said companies in the industry.
So with all this extra cash what are game developers doing with it. Well i've got to admire Epic games as they run an annual “make something unreal” contest, were through the stages, different “mod” teams earn big money, cash prizes with the grand prize being a 1 million dollar commercial licence for the “epic” unreal engine. For those of you who know what i'm talking about, you may remember a few years back when red orchestra won. They started as a mod and as a result of the competition they were able to realise the game, and it became very successful. This is what I admire about the game industry. Other companies like valve also see the importance of finding new talent and who alongside developing games, want to help those who wish to become game developers realise there dreams. Its not uncommon for those people in mod teams to have a close relationship with developers of said companies in the industry.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Creativity
What is creativity, well for the clue is in the name. Its to create. But what? Well anything relay, if your doing something and its enhancing your ability then it creative. To become good a something takes dedication but above al it take understanding. A person must understand what it is he is attempting to do, be it a painting a piece of music or even plans for construction of a building. To think of the kind of people who are creative many would say artist's. But it falls to many professions even sports men and women. A tennis player for example must be creative to be able to manipulate the ball across the court as to make it hard for his opponent to hit it back. I would imagine it would take a lot of repetitive ball hitting to tune your senses to being able to accurately hit and object to the spot you desire. Having an idea is just the beginning, if its not created, its not creative. The skill is learning the outlet of your thoughts and ideas that way your creativity can shine through.
Applying these skill in our line of work rely lends itself to our creativeness as the medium we use allows the feel and life of our ideas to shine through. Does an idea that's created in different mediums have the same creative thinking. I would say yes because its the idea that that's the main part of what your showing, as long as the finished piece of work represents what your original thought and idea was the n the creative process have been successful. Be it a painting or a 3d model the idea and creative thinking behind it is the main point. As long as it executed well.
What motivates us most to be creative. I think a lot of it is pure devotion and love to that interest. In my case its games but also the medium in witch I use makes me want to do more. Creating something in 3d or painting it the process itself entertains and interests me. Other gain that focus someone to be creative would be financial gain. Money is an important commodity to everyone and talent is a rare thing to be talented requires creativity not purely to be original but to have good strong ideas and opinions. If the creative outcome is something that most would find something they wouldn't dream of doing then people will pay well for your talents.
Its hard to imagine our world without creativity, nothing would have ever been invented or envisioned. Everything that we see around us had to be imagined and then created. The creativity of the idea in my mind, is the hardest to overcome, but the drive and passion make the long road ahead worth it.
Applying these skill in our line of work rely lends itself to our creativeness as the medium we use allows the feel and life of our ideas to shine through. Does an idea that's created in different mediums have the same creative thinking. I would say yes because its the idea that that's the main part of what your showing, as long as the finished piece of work represents what your original thought and idea was the n the creative process have been successful. Be it a painting or a 3d model the idea and creative thinking behind it is the main point. As long as it executed well.
What motivates us most to be creative. I think a lot of it is pure devotion and love to that interest. In my case its games but also the medium in witch I use makes me want to do more. Creating something in 3d or painting it the process itself entertains and interests me. Other gain that focus someone to be creative would be financial gain. Money is an important commodity to everyone and talent is a rare thing to be talented requires creativity not purely to be original but to have good strong ideas and opinions. If the creative outcome is something that most would find something they wouldn't dream of doing then people will pay well for your talents.
Its hard to imagine our world without creativity, nothing would have ever been invented or envisioned. Everything that we see around us had to be imagined and then created. The creativity of the idea in my mind, is the hardest to overcome, but the drive and passion make the long road ahead worth it.
Gameplay
Gameplay for me is the soul of a game. Also the term “game mechanics” is used to describe how the games core play style works. A game can have a verity of ways to be played. For example not all war games include drivable vehicles, as curtain game mechanics would disrupt the style and pace of how the game mode was intended to be played. For example some of the levels in Halo have only some or non of the vehicles that others have. This is not because the developers were to lazy to take the time to add them but to add gameplay elements and ensure game balance. The term game type is used to determine how a game is played i.e. the objective to win the game. An example would be a CTF (capture the flag) game were two teams had there own flag and each team would have to steal the other teams flag to win the game. Variations i've seen to this would replace the flag with a bomb and instead of bring something from them to you , you would take the bomb to them to win. By making these changes the gameplay or game mechanic is changed. Over time game developers have experimented with game types but there seems to be some standard types that can be seen in most online games these days.
Story and Character
When I think of a game character one always springs to mind and he recently won gamspots greatest hero contest. If you haven’t already guessed, its Gordon Freeman. I must confess, I’m a valve fan boy. I have played Half Life from when it was realised and followed it ever since. But what make him a good hero? I can’t for the life of me think what can make him so popular yet he’s the one that come to mind. One theory I have is that he has no voice. This way you feel like you are Gordon freeman, and that the characters are actually talking to you Instead of the actual character. Couple this with an immersive world that is the central hub of the game half life and you get remember able experience. So without the game and its story the characters are just other guys just like me and you. There isn’t much in the line of a back story in the first game all you know about Gordon is he’s a scientist here to do an experiment that goes wrong . Then a load of aliens turn up and you got to get the hell out of there.
Gordon gets a suit, this makes him ideal for the experiments but I don’t think it key to his success. Although a characters appearance is important, with Gordon it was more about the less you see the more you get in a strange sort of way. With the second game it almost felt that Alex was the main role as there were many interactions with her and you for a relation with her as her personality is so convincing. It really helps create a whole world around the central characters. Without them the game could never have the same impact or success.
Gordon gets a suit, this makes him ideal for the experiments but I don’t think it key to his success. Although a characters appearance is important, with Gordon it was more about the less you see the more you get in a strange sort of way. With the second game it almost felt that Alex was the main role as there were many interactions with her and you for a relation with her as her personality is so convincing. It really helps create a whole world around the central characters. Without them the game could never have the same impact or success.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)