Quickly went onto IndieDB today to accept an invite to join the group Flying Bones [the team name for our final major project], and lo and behold, what did I see?
I'm guessing those adverts on the edges are supposed to be in the background - but they're not and have ended up covering a fair portion of the screen's edges. I can't read any of the numbers on the side. I'm not amused. Especially since Ctrl scrolling doesn't do anything to help it.
I don't even know what they're advertising precisely, but already I've probably developed a subconscious link between it and the feeling of rage it's giving me. F.
Okay. I know. I've ranted and raved and then gone back on my word and then gone back on it again about whether or not I wanted to make games. But after the challenges, the expected failures but also the surprise successes of working on this final project, I'm up for it. I have been extremely inspired by the success of Q.U.B.E., but I have no idea where I want what I will do to go. Probably into my collection of stuff I have done for myself.
Over the next month I'm going to work on the mechanics and the code we used in our final major project and make myself a new game. It won't be FP[3], but it will come out of that. It won't be all fancy and story and AAA style animations and look beautifully like real life. It will be extremely simplified, extremely basic, it will not try to be arty; it will just be a game. A tidy, efficient, well executed game. Maybe with some funky colours and a feel of abstractness about it. Maybe. Who cares. I'm in charge on this project and the only one grading it will be me.
Do I sound angry? I think I sound angry. I'm not angry... Just very, very determined to do what I want, and get what I want, when I want it.
... Although, I have also been listening to Queen's I Want It All all day, which may have something to do with it.
Well, it is now almost ten to 11pm, and I've been quickly typing out a personal statement for tomorrows lecture.
I've given up on trying to pursue a career in something in particular. Here's what I typed out. Italicised text is just the stuff I wrote to get into writing mode.
---
Personal Statement.
I have experience in:
- modelling and UV mapping in Maya,
- texturing with Photoshop,
- some javascript programming in Unity3D,
- organisation and planning within spreadsheets, including Excel, Google Docs and Google Sites
- animation in Flash and Maya.
You know, writing a personal statement is really fucking hard when you have so many varied and sometimes conflicting interests, especially when you don’t know who you’re trying to impress.
Maybe I should start with why I chose to study Computer Games Design at University.
Well.
I do not have a passion for games. I have a passion for creating, making, observing, learning, exploring new areas and concepts, and an insatiable desire for acquiring more knowledge and skills that allow me to do even more for myself.
When I chose to study Computer Game Design, I was looking for a course that would allow me to further develop multiple skills, including my visual art skills [drawing, painting, photography, photo-manipulation, sculpture, architecture, animation and film making], story writing [be this for games, music, film or plain prose], audio creation [including song writing and ambient music and audio clip selection for conveying feelings and sensations within a situation or area - although usually for use in film/visual work], research skills [including historical, psychological and scientific understanding, and learning how things and systems physically work and the concepts behind why they work in this way, and what these things could mean for future developments in various areas], programming skills [to allow me to create and control interactive virtual environments and systems myself] and teamwork skills.
When I was younger I was never able to seriously answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a young adult, I still feel unable to pigeonhole myself into a single specific career choice.
---
Haha. What do you think... would you give me a job?
A more important question to me would be; would you give me a job I would enjoy?
This is a little something I made last night, for fun:
... I call it "FireBENCH!"
When you click, you fire benches that are on fire at the targets on the wall.*
... The targets are flammable.
Each time you click, the word, "Fire!" can just about be heard over the background music of a version of Firestarter that had Eric Cartman dubbed in as singing along to it.
* The targets' faces originally looked like a slightly modified version of the "troll face" that I've seen around the Internet, except with pink skin, brown hair added and an orange hoodie. I believe the picture was drawn by Frodey [or Frody?] in the year below me, but I hadn't asked to use it so I've got some more standard targets in for these screenshots. Also, I started feeling a bit creeped out by the fact that I had made this game when all those faces were looking at me, so I thought I'd better change it anyway..... Yeahhh.
Today I made a little artwork to splat onto the walls of room two. Wasn't sure what to do though, so I'm drawing a little inspiration from my 4 Pillars [if you don't know what that means, don't worry. It's one of those Chinese Horoscope things].
Here's my year pillar, the Yellow Snake:
I literally just painted the body with the touch pad on my laptop, and sneaked a peek at this tutorial for some help with making it look like old graffiti.
Well, the animating plan didn't work out too well. I found it really hard trying to work with a rig I didn't understand. I might have done better if I had used the same tutorial Tim had worked from to rig a character, so that I'd know from the start what all the lines on the rig meant [perhaps I should rig up Mr Shiny when he is made?].
So this week I've got to texture up the second room of the first level. Here's what I've been given to work with:
Tim has shared a bunch of textures with me using Dropbox [Dropbox is a file sharing/syncing software and website that's pretty cool. If only I had more computers with files I want to keep track of so I could play with syncing stuff with myself...]
UPDATE: Have put the base texture on the walls, floor and ceiling, now it just a little tender, loving carevandalism decoration.
I've also made a little task chart for us to look at and use. I'm not sure how up to date it is at the moment and we haven't thoroughly discussed Milestones at all, but it's up there and is shared in our Dropbox folder for us to edit as we go.
Dissertation
I think I've gone into denial. The sun is out, I can smell freshly cut grass, I've got plans for living arrangements next year in Cardiff with some friends, and I've got texturing to do today. Let's just say I will be happy when I have seen the end of the dissertation period.
