Who needs a map?

No way. A new blog post? That's right folks, it hasn't been half a year and I'm back. I'm hoping that if I can wedge a block of writing time into my rotation more often it will become a regular thing. I actually have quite a few different things I want to talk about, and I'm already going to change the rules I set in in place last post - I'm kind of a rebel, people say that about me. I wear leather jackets and play by my own rules.

Who wants to see some photoshop art? No one? Awesome, here is some photoshop art.

My classes this quarter are almost entirely upper level drawing courses, no small feat for someone like me. This assignment comes from Background Design and Layout - for our midterm assignments we had to create two compositions - one of a castle that invokes fear and one of a desolate radar station in the tundra. Above (obviously) is the castle. I'm actually pretty proud of how it came out, I'm positive a seasoned environment artist and photoshop expert could tear it apart in half a second - but for my first real drawn environment, I'm happy.

Aaaaaaand there's the snowy radar station environment. Snow is extremely hard, coming from a writing background the aspects of value and composition are still things I'm getting used to. I am going to plug some of the videos I watched however for those that are interested in this type of thing. Feng! His free tutorials are amazing, he breaks everything down to understandable language for someone who isn't a veteran. My success on these two drawings owes much to what I learned from his tutorials.

Glad that's over? Me too, let's talk about some games. I couldn't really think of a game I've played lately that I haven't liked. My play time has become so limited that I don't really have time to waste on games that suck. If I'm not pulled in from the get go then we've got problems.

First and foremost, a game that is close to my heart - which is strange. PvP (player vs. player) isn't something I often enjoy. That was before I joined the League.

 League of Legends, the free to play game that has recently risen to the lofty heights of success. Riot Games knocked one out of the park with this title. For a game that focuses completely on a simple team vs team concept they added just enough depth to make it playable for...well forever. Riot employees frequent the boards and try to interact with the community as much as possible, contests are held, and tournaments are live streamed - this is a company that does it right.

The game has a few modes, but I'll talk about the one I play almost exclusively to give you an idea of how a normal game would be played. At the start of each game, each team is composed of five team members. You go back and forth picking Champions (the character you get to play as) until everyone has chosen their preferred character.

There are an absolute ton of different characters to choose from, many falling into different categories (such as ranged physical damage, beefy tanks to absorb pain for allies, and support players that are all about augmenting their team to put them at peak performance) and all with interesting lore.

The story team is nothing short of amazing, something I feel is sadly overlooked. Each character has an interesting background and the world that they inhabit truly feels alive.

Back to gameplay before I go off on another tangent. Each team of five is tasked with destroying the other team's Nexus (main base). The map is split up so that there are three main paths that go out from each base and lead to the other team's side of the map. These paths are lined with defensive structures that (with the help of timed waves of AI minions spawning) your champions need to break down before they can move in and deal the final blow to the teams Nexus.

Being free to play is another huge draw. There are different rotations of free champions each week that you can try out and see if you enjoy. As you play you also accumulate points known as IP (influence points) which after you save up a certain amount you can use them to have the privilege of "owning" a champion and being able to play them whenever you wish.

Each champion also has skins that change their cosmetic appearance, add new particles, and all sorts of fun flashy things. These skins do not affect how the character plays at all, they are purely appearance based and can also only be purchased with real money - boom business model. No one is actually ever forced to spend a penny on the game, yet here I sit with nearly every champion owned and more skins than I would ever care to admit.

Check it out though, if you are into strategy type games that rely on teamwork it could very well be for you. I'll report back in within a day or two I'm sure. See you then.

A New Beginning

Oh, hey internet. How's things?

 It has been a while since I posted here, mostly due to being absorbed in work - but I'd like to make this page far more active in the future. Instead of a random post on random topics, you'll begin to notice a shift in the things I'll be talking about. I love Game Art, and I want to be able to talk about it more.

 For those of you that don't know me, I'm a writer turned video game artist based in the Santa Monica area. As of today I'm still a fledgling game artist, with most of my days going into learning and producing things for a portfolio in order to graduate from my program. Books and video games were my first true loves as a child, and I want to create emotionally impacting games on par with some of our most revered literature and cinema.

 Video games are an extremely powerful tool, instead of weaving words together and hoping your reader can visualize what you wish them to, they allow you to literally create the world you see in your head from scratch - and then let people experience it.

 Anyways, let's continue. Whenever I post I'd like to share some of my work - even if it's awful. I want to get used to people viewing what I create and dealing with those that don't like it. I'm sure some of what I throw onto this blog will be pretty hilarious...for you. If I can manage to get some of my drawn work up here I will - I don't function well in the world of Fine Art quite yet as I'm sure you'll notice.

 So, without further ado - here is my first real sculpt in Zbrush (for those of you not savvy with game artist lingo - Zbrush is basically a 3d artists wet dream - those cool trolls from the Lord of the Rings movies were created using Zbrush if that helps). I had to create a basic concrete pillar, nothing special. I did however go a little overboard and, with some advice from my more experienced roommate, was able to put this together.

 I'll add something else next time I post, perhaps some of my digital backgrounds I've had to paint - oh boy. Next up: I want to start talking about a game I like and a game I despise every time I post. Not only because I think it'll be funny to rail on some terrible games, but to also practice digging into some of the finer aspects of game design for those that are interested.

However, I'm just a person with an opinion. Feel free to disagree. Keep in mind, these are in no way comparisons - if they turn into that, I'll let you know.

 The Good - TERA

Oh god an MMO already. I know, I know. Regardless of what you say though, TERA is stunning. The environments alone are enough reason to give it a shot, and that's without considering the combat system in place. Instead of the usual stand still and wail on a rat until it's dead combat style, TERA forces you into active combat. Enemy attacks can be dodged and blocked in real time, lending a much more visceral edge. The different races and classes all feel distinct and relevant, and I am completely able to lose myself in the world around me. Instead of groaning aloud when I'm given another quest to go kill 5..whatevers - I smile. I smile, because instead of standing in front of an alligator and hitting the number 2 a few times - I'll be out with my greatsword leaving a swathe of dead creatures behind me, that's how it feels at least.

Weapons, armor, and characters all feel like they have real weight and power behind them. When an Aman Lancer plows into you, your character looks like they feel it. Strikes have to connect to do any damage, so sitting back and spamming is no longer an option - at least if you want to hit anything.

I'm not far into the game itself, I have been rotating between a few different characters while trying to get a feel for which class I like the most. Though, if I had to pick right now it would definitely be the Slayer. Light armor with a greatsword, risk vs. reward, sign me up.

 If you want to play an MMO that doesn't feed you the same old experience, then TERA will feel like a breath of fresh air. We'll see how it stands up to the test of time, hopefully it sticks around long enough for me to experience some of the end game content. I'll talk about this more later when I can get some more play time in, but so far I'm enjoying my time with it.

The Bad -  Dead Island

This sentence is hard for me to say, much less type. Dead Island is the most fun I've had with a terrible game. Does that make sense? The first half of the game is fun. Good old fashioned zombie maiming fun. You and your buddies get to run around a beautiful tropic environment, picking up stuff, and killing zombies with it - awesome.

BAM! Welcome to the sewers. You just got lost for two hours in a brown tunnel full of zombies. It was fun the first time we ran through it. The second time we got lost, almost irreversibly lost. Every corner was an undead filled brick wall, the door we needed simply did not seem to exist. When we finally made it out and moved on into the jungle the game took a nose dive.

Level design stayed as sloppy and unpolished as the sewers were. Everything looked rough. In fact, the entire last chapter of a game is a bunch of corridors packed with undead that are meant to lengthen the experience. By this point we ran by every single zombie in order to get to the end of the game. How did such a fun experience go so horribly wrong?

Besides the myriad of bugs the launch of the game was fraught with (one being a bug that disabled multiplayer, a big deal in a multiplayer game), everything besides hitting zombies with blunt objects was boring. The player characters are forgettable at best. The story and dialogue are not better, and they both degrade as the experience progresses.

Beautiful resorts become the same grey prison hallways over and over again. I'm glad the game made the money it did - they deserve another shot. I believe that the experience is there, I remember it vividly. Hopefully they can refocus and make the game they really want, with a timetable that doesn't limit them so creatively towards the end.

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I think I'll end this post here for now. I'll be updating this more regularly now, so if you enjoyed reading - I hope to see you around.