A Significantly Different Year

Ah; finally settled and bracing myself for another year, which is becoming significantly different from last.

The centre of this year is of course; university (oh and friends too)! I’m using a general 3D graphics program called “Lightwave” for two of my subjects; Imaging and Animation and Digital Painting, Lighting and Printing. My other two subjects are more theoretical; Media Cultures and Data Com. The latter is a simplified introduction to computer networking, which should be easy as I’ve completed the CISCO CCNA 1-4 courses. Study should be no trouble as my lecturers are outstanding.

I bought Final Fantasy 12 and have been playing it here and there. I love it, although it makes me want to get a new TV, I have to squint to read the text. The battle system is great; a mix of turned-based and real-time which allows a lot of freedom. You can even program all the characters’ actions via ‘gambits’ so you can be lazy and watch them automatically fight. The characters are awesome too. I’m only a small part way through, but so far impressed.

I have a job this year working part-time at BigW on the home entertainment desk. I was pretty happy when I was told what position I was being offered. Now I’m working closer to what I love; video games! It’s been interesting to hear what motivates people to buy consoles. PS2’s are still selling and the Wii is very popular. The only problem is I’m tempted to buy so many games. Maybe I’ll wait until I get a staff discount card. A larger TV would also be good…

Coming ‘home’

I’ve packed my belongings and am ready to go on the nine hour journey. I’m looking forward to leaving tomorrow although the temperature is going to hit 40 degrees, maybe even hotter across the dry outback. It’s the start of my second year of University in Melbourne, studying games design. I’m journeying from Adelaide to Melbourne again, from my hometown and family.

I’ll miss everyone in Adelaide but I’m getting used to moving a lot. I also miss the people in Melbourne when I’m in Adelaide. I can’t wait to be in Melbourne again.

Must Play – Psychonauts

Psychonauts – Recruiting Goggalor

Psychonauts is an insane video game! I recently bought it for my PS2 because a friend raved about it. He played it on PC, so the PS2’s graphics are shockingly bad in comparison. I bought it as a collector’s item.

I love this particular cutscene; in a level in the game where your avatar/ protagonist Raz stomps through a miniature Japan-esque city of lungfish people. I laugh so much at these charismatic characters. They are hilarious yelling “freedom!” Their mouths flapping at a horrendous hinge with their disgusting diseased eyes! Everyone has to play this game, stat!

Pondering Over PS3

PS3 vs Wii – Apple Style

One of my friends asked me on MSN, “When are you getting a PS3?”

The answer is; probably never. I’m a cheap under-$5-lunch buying college student. If I bought a PS3 it would equal the cost of my food bill for a year. So lets see; I either spend an initial $1,000 on a shiny beefed-up new-gen console, which will drain my costly internet balance and will need at least one $100+ game, or spend it on KFC twisters and midnight pizza with gelati. Food wins hands down in any situation.

She also added that the Wii was inferior, as a reason why I should have a PS3. I admit the graphics and processing power are superior, but really Wii is an equal competitor as a new-gen console. The new control system placed the Wii on my ‘to buy’ list a year before it was released. I’m a sucker for new inventions and I’m quite sick of the standard games controller. Graphics also amount to nothing if your TV can’t handle the differences. The same friend owned an Xbox 360 at college which was displayed off a cheap $100 TV. I tried playing Oblivion on it but the text was so hard to make out. The only thing that interested me was manipulating the rag-doll physics by repeatedly stabbing at rat carcasses. Gameplay stands out in games no matter what TV you are using. Hence why I’ll never notice the graphical differences between the Wii and PS3 on my current widescreen TV, but the gameplay will be obvious. I bought the Wii for new gameplay experiences, while the PS3 doesn’t interest me in the same way.

I’ll probably never get a PS3, or not until I have large amounts of disposable cash. I’m not against the PS3, I’ll definitely play it. I’ve already played a bit of Resistance: Fall of Man in Game Traders. As for my college friend; she can buy a PS3 if she wants, I’m not complaining as I will be able to ‘borrow’ it off her when she does.

Beware of Mii

Posted on my Deviant Art page

An edited photo of the craziest ‘Mii’ I have made on my Nintendo Wii.

Beware of the Miis!

Wii Midnight Launch

Last Wednesday night was the Nintendo Wii midnight launch in Australia. I joined the line in Adelaide, outside Toys “R” Us in Rundle Mall, at 7PM. There was a large turnout (for Adelaide; not like America) of 200 people, maybe more were waiting later on Thursday morning.

I was the 10^th person in line for the Wii, it was so exciting. Even through the store allowed people to come in at 12AM I didn’t get my console till 12:55. It was well worth waiting and participating in the event. I enjoyed talking to people in the line, most just there for the fun of it.

Now back to playing Twilight Princess!

Late PS2 Owner

I’m on holidays now and am spending the four long months with my family and friends in Adelaide. In between working in two jobs and catching up with friends, I’ve promised myself to play a lot of new games.

I’m a late PS2 owner. Up until now I have only owned Nintendo consoles. I have played friends PS2’s here are there and thought I’d wait till the prices drop to play the games that interest me. I bought a slim line PS2 through Myer for $186, although I was worried about the over-heating problems with that version. It’s so compact and I’m so scared I’m going to break it!

I bought a couple of games: Kingdom Hearts and God of War. I’ll also have Psychonauts soon which I have just bought though Ebay. So far God of War has been the absolute favourite and I have been enjoying the gameplay immensely. Kingdom Hearts is not as good as I had thought. Not at the standard I thought it would be after so many people have praised about it. The level design is just really bad! Well these are only my first impressions and I might give them a bit of a review after I complete them.

I think I have over-piled myself with games. I’ve returned to playing Guild Wars. Add ‘Guardian Skyla’ to your friends list if you play. I have also started playing World of Warcraft on my brother’s account. If you are on the server ‘Nathrezim’ feel free to say hi to my noob character ‘Piastol’. In between all this I’ve been playing Beyond Good & Evil, which I have wanted to play for ages. Good thing it’s a whole four months of holidays, I just hope I can restrain from spending my savings for next year.

Play Wii

From 6^th – 9^th of November in Melbourne Central there were free Wii tryouts.

First perception: wow the console and controller is smaller than I imagined! The Wii controller is also extremely light. I used to compare it to a TV remote but it is much lighter, thinner and of course nicer looking. I was slightly disappointed at the weight, I was thinking if it was a little heavier it would feel better to use. I guess if you waved it about a lot you would want it to be light.

At the time I was there the games available were: ‘Wii Sports’, ‘Excite Truck’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’. As I was in a rush I only lined up for one demo but I did watch people play all three games.

I had a go at ‘Excite Truck’. It’s a simple racing game with additions like rings to jump through. The motion control of the Wii was used to turn and adjust the vehicle (when landing a jump). It felt very natural, better than punching buttons or fighting with a keyboard. The only thing I found odd was how you recovered from a collision. When you hit a tree or another truck the game moved in slow motion and prompted you to repeatedly push ‘A’ to recover with better speed. I thought it felt odd and it broke up the faced passed atmosphere of the game. Overall it looks great. The Wii will definitely improve racing games.

‘The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’ looked very polished and impressive. I cannot wait until it comes out. Nothing more to say but; this is a must buy.

The sensor for the Zelda booth was a little buggy which gave me a few bad vibes on the console. During E3 this year, I remember the comments about Nintendo Wii sensors not working properly under halogen lights. I would like to know if the Wii is guaranteed to work anywhere and if there are situations that can weaken the sensors. I’m a little worried about how long the sensors last. If the motion sensing was even a little thrown off, it could completely ruin the experience. I guess these are questions that will be answered after millions of Wiis are played in all situations across the globe.

Only three weeks until the Australian launch!

More Australian Play Wii dates can be found here.

4DCS – PDFs Available

If anyone is interested in looking at the three documented stages of my game dev group’s MOD – 4 Days of Community Service – the PDFs are available to download on my FileFront page. Find the download links here

Enjoy

Unreal 2004 MOD – 4 Days of Community Service

For semester 2’s major Games Studio project my group created a MOD called ‘4 Days of Community Service’. The specifications for the project were to create a working game using Unreal Tournament 2004’s Unreal Editor. My game development group consisted of four people; two Games Programming students, one Games Art student and myself studying Games Graphics Design. We had the semester to complete the fully working game, which was less than three months.

From previous experience of creating a MOD for Neverwinter Nights last semester, I suspected that UT would be more complex to understand and manipulate. I designed the gameplay and artwork/storyline so as if either one changed dramatically the other wouldn’t be as affected.

The core of the game is a space flight adventure in a comic and humorous setting. The storyline follows a deluded lounge-lizard called Edward who was sentenced to four days of community service. Each of the four levels is set in a theme: junk, sewer, nursery and the last is a ‘boss’. After each level Edward’s story is unfolded, by short AVI movies, as he finds out the plot behind why he was sentenced.

The game design changed a lot over the process. We tried to do what we could and the outcome is good considering the timeframe. In particular we had problems with implementing custom scripts. We spent most of our time figuring out how to restrict the player into the ship. The game just wouldn’t have worked if you could instantly jump out of a vehicle into the fake space.

Less time was then spent on other necessary game elements like enemies and collecting ‘power ups’ and weapons. Without them the MOD turned out to be a ridiculously linear: shoot all the enemies spawning from a point in the level to complete it. We ran out of time to figure out how to make the spawning enemies larger; so in the game you fly around a massive space level shooting ‘ants’. Although the actual gameplay was simplified it does work but it is the part of the MOD which needs improvement, if we returned to this project.

In terms of the story and art I believe we excelled. The cut-scenes pulled together the comic situations of the actual game. It is unfortunate that UT does not easily allow AVIs to be placed before and after an arena is played. To experience the game to the fullest it is essential to watch the cut-scenes and see Edward’s story unfold. The in-game levels come alive with the bright and nicely sickening textures. The effect of the tiled floor of dead mutant babies in level 2 is comic, even if the massive size of the levels made texturing a little ridiculous to the eye.

The MOD was all fun and a good experience in developing an initially wild concept over a short time frame of three months. It was a joy to work with each member of the group and we have all taken a lot out of the project. I do know one thing for certain; none of us will make another MOD with UT again but we will willingly MOD a different game in future.

Links: www.badgerplus4.tk, filefront – downloads, flickr, Unreal Ed Community.

I doubt I will upload the MOD to the internet; the file size is huge because of the textures. I may however upload the pdf’s of the development stages somewhere. For now, enjoy these screenshots and pieces of in-game artwork.