My older brother: the game industry

The past few weeks I've been rambling on here about how much I hate the video game industry and how everyone who plays video games are dumb and how I hate everyone. But the truth is, I really don't HATE everyone. The video game industry is my passion. If I didn't love it, then I wouldn't have studied it for 3 years in college. The game industry is kind of like family to me. You love it, but you also hate it. You have fights and think it's stupid, but you always love it at the end of the day. I still believe there are real idiots out there that make gaming hard to support from time to time, but it's best not to think about them.

The important thing to remember is: the video game industry is still very young. And no matter how many pea brained, annoying little fanboys and fangirls there are ruining the image of videogames for contemporary society, there is still a strong backbone of hardworking, creative minds that are working diligently to push this medium further. Games are still evolving and although they currently consist mainly of people punching blood out of each other, soldiers shooting rivers of bullets into mutilated alien corpses, and pretty boy/girls fighting off zombies with swords bigger than their bodies, it's only a matter of time before something truly new and revolutionary reveals itself and changes how people look at games forever. I'm not saying it's going to happen soon, and I can't even tell you what that change will be, but I have faith that it will happen.

Or maybe it won't and I'll go work on a farm....

Get it Get it

Here is a render of the mobile crane I've been working on for Flaming Brain Studios. This image depicts the low poly model with the normals, AO, and base colors applied. I've had a rough go with the normal map projections, but I believe they are cleaned up well enough to work. I'm sure by the time the initial diffuse map is completed, I will have fixed up the normals as well as the AO more thoroughly. I expect this model and all of its maps to be completed in the next few days. At the same time I am working on a handful of models for Vteractive's current Facebook game, Questinations. Once I get the next set of those completed, I will throw up some renders of them as a group.

Other than modeling, I have been doing some digital painting as well as reading. If you may not know, the new season of Power Rangers debuts this Monday on Nick. They are trying to promote the new series using Facebook and have been holding fan art contests as well as other ploys to draw attention to the new show. And considering how every single piece of art submitted has either been a poorly photoshopped version of an image, a copyrighted piece of artwork, or just a really bad fan creation, I've been trying to make something pretty cool. I have about 14 hours into this painting and it's sure to be bad ass. However, by the time it's done, the new show will have premiered, and for all I know, the facebook page will cease with all of its promotional antics. But oh well.

My last post was about my hatred towards the videogame world, which is ironic because that is where I'm trying to succeed career wise. I don't want people to view me as a hater of videogames or something like that, I just hate the way ALL of the media portrays the genre. Last night on the Colbert Report, they had Jane McGonigal come on and talk about the state of the videogame world and how it should be viewed by the public. She attempted to "enhance" the image of gaming in the public eye, which is understandable. She wrote a book and talked about how videogames make people more productive, give people confidence and have better lasting effects on a person than most would think. Ultimately she told the world that she wanted more people to be playing games and playing them for longer periods of time during the week. She spoke about how they are making games to teach problem solving, games that work towards solving world crisis, and games about working to cure cancer.

I understand the whole problem solving thing, but I really have no idea what she is talking about when it comes to curing cancer and that kind of stuff. I probably have to read her book in order to fully grasp what she was saying, but what it all comes down to, is that she (as well as others) are trying to change the image of videogames in a more positive way. And although I like that idea, I don't think making videogames about curing cancer is the right idea. Video games are FUCKING GAMES. They are made for entertainment. They are made for fun. You can talk about how videogames are helping to solve the problems going on in Egypt all you want, but the other day I watched a video of a 10 year old falling off a subway platform because he was playing PSP and wasn't looking where he was going. No kid is going to purchase a cancer curing game. They want something fun. Sometimes, mindless entertainment.

Videogames are a form of entertainment created for the enjoyment of people. Nobody needs to make them into some world saving tool. They are GAMES. Let them be GAMES. Society is going to hate them regardless and I'd rather have people hate them for being violence inducing weapons then think they are some kind of life changing tool created to help the world, because that's just dumb. The fact is, any videogame is bad if you spend a majority of your day sitting on the couch playing it. It's the same with television. It's the SAME THING. Don't make it into something it's not. Comic books were under fire when they first arrived on the scene, but i don't believe anyone strove to make them into manuals on fighting cancer. They are stories with pictures. Just like videogames are stories with controlled movements and flashy graphics. It's all the same.

That's not to say games and comics alike can't have stories that push people to think about world events or science, because they can and have. But they are created for entertainment first. It's all entertainment. Society needs to just deal with it, and I belive that they will. In about 30 years, videogames will take their place as just another entertainment medium alongside movies, music, tv, comics, and theater. I don't really think we have to fight it. We just need to stand up and reassure people what videogames actually are, and keep reassuring them over and over and over and over again.

Gamers

I think I figured it out... maybe.

The reason why I might dislike the video game industry is because of its target audience. What pop culture classifies as "a gamer" is really upsetting to me. I hate the kind of gamer that is portrayed on TV or in the news. I hate the kind of people that are playing shooters on xbox live and screaming "you just got head-shotted NOOB!" into their headsets.

This fact is something I've known for a while: Society's "gamers" are annoying as shit. But what pissed me off most about the the whole video game spectrum may be that those "gamers" are what defines the genre. If you look at movies, you think of great films, shot composure, music, going to a theater; that kind of stuff. With music you think of instruments, beats, and the artists that record it all. With video games you think of the god damn gamers.

That's not to say that actual games and graphics and stuff don't come into your mind, but when I think of video gaming, I think of the people that play games and that bothers me. When you think about music, you never think about the people that actually listen to it, or the people that go to movies; but with games, those "gamers" have become part of its definition.

The more you think about it though, you realize it has to be that way, because video games are a social medium. You are actually having an experience and it is such that in many cases you can share your experience with others in a multiplayer environment. So when considering that kind of a situation, having the "gamers" be part of that overview of the genre makes sense. Regardless, that doesn't mean it's any less annoying.

Maybe I'm just crazy and that isn't how things are at all. This was just a little revelation that I had which helped me understand my own point of view.

Finally finished this thing

Ok, this is just a quick update. I finally finished this character. He's fully rigged and skinned. 6708 triangles with 100% hand painted textures.


So, now I can move on to more important models. Top priority now is to finish the mobile crane for Flaming Brain studios. I have the high poly mesh started and the low poly mesh is all unwrapped, so it shouldn't take too too long. After that, my portfolio needs props. I'm going to be making a lot of guns and probably some blades and shit too.

Also, after looking at my characters, I need a hot chick, and a big ugly monster. I technically have those already, but I need "good" ones. I also need some cartoony characters, but that stuff comes after props.

Let's see how much I can get done as fast as possible!

GO!

Rolling

I'm getting my character done. I should have all of the texture maps done tomorrow (technically today). The BIG goal I have in mind is to actually master the Reaction Manager and have the character rigged by the end of the next day. I have a long history with the Reaction Manager and have groan to dislike it a lot, but I feel if I can master it: I can master anything. This character really needs to get done too because I need to move on to more important things link the mobile crane. If I don't finish this character now, I never will, so I have to hit things one at a time. After this is done, the rest should just start pouring out.




I finally obtained a second monitor today. Hopefully this can help my performance down the road.



All I know is that I really need to get my shit in gear. These models need done, my site needs updated, and I need to land a fucking job. The only way I see this happening is if my portfolio gets a drastic upgrade. I need more and better, FAST!

Buckle up

New Year = More Fear

I'm kind of stuck in a rut right now and I'm having quite the time trying to crawl out of it. My site sits online pretty much the same as it was when I graduated and I am still without a job. I know that it's practically impossible for my to get picked up unless I have new and better work in my portfolio, but it's so damn hard when you have no motivation.

Today I worked on my character model for about 3 or 4 hours, which is good considering. The new year hit and I made a couple resolutions. 1 being that I will open up 3Ds Max on my desktop at least once a day. Even if I just move a pixel, I have to do it. If I start to work on something, I'm more apt to actually "work" on something. I'm also telling myself to do at least 1 sketch a day because my 2D work has gotten kinda sloppy. If this keeps up, I should be back on my feet and ready to start applying to the big places again.

As far as the progress on my self portrait model, I have the high poly completed (although I'll probably go back and tweak just a few minor things) and I have the retopped, low poly mesh completed as well! Now I can unwrap and start projecting. The entire model SHOULD be done, textured, rigged and skinned before the end of the month. I have spent WAY to fucking long on this model and I'm really pissed off at myself. But it should all work out soon.

I'm also working on a vehicle for Flaming Brain studios, but I've been slacking on that because of my character model. Everything's just kinda backed up right now. However, it will all get done. Especially now that I've kicked into overdrive (even though my current version of 'overdrive' would have been considered 'lazy' when I was still at school). Regardless, I have faith that I can get back to my 'work horse' state of mind and actually start busting ass.

It's weird. I am free. I don't have to work, and I'm out of school. There is nothing for me to do and yet I feel more stressed than I ever have before.

I'm ready for a change, and I think that this is the year.

Shoes

This is just a quick update on progress. As you can see below, I have the shorts of my latest character model pretty much finished and have moved on to the shoes. You have to understand though that I am working at a very slow pace. I really haven't even worked on the model at all for the past 2 or 3 days; what with Thanksgiving and all. But I hope to start working on it again and get it done quickly because Dominance War starts up in January and I would really LOVE to enter it.



I also drove up to meet some YouTube friends the other day and I edited another video that we shot. It's a sequel to an older one, but it's pretty action packed.