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
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.
----
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment