Environments, or, 'Space'!

A Basic Sound Environment.... Research:

1. Starting at the father of all videogames, my first example is 'Pong' by Atari (1972):

The sound system used for pong is called 'Monaural', which has a very handy explanation from wiki!:

Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or (in the case of headphones and multiple loudspeakers) channels are fed from a common signal path. In the case of multiple microphones the paths are mixed into a single signal path at some stage.
Monaural sound has been replaced by stereo sound in most entertainment applications. However, it remains the standard for radiotelephone communications, telephone networks, and Audio induction loops for use with hearing aids. A few radio stations, particularly of the talk radio variety, choose to broadcast in monaural sound, as a monaural signal has a slight advantage in signal strength over a stereophonic signal of the same power.

The gaming interface is set up in 2D, birds-eye view, with simplistic sounds this game is a perfect example of basic environments with limited sounds.

2. My second example is from a game I played as a child; 'The Lion King' produced by Virgin Interactive (1994), I played it on the computer, however it was also available for, SNES, NES, Game Boy, Sega Megadrive/ Genesis, Amiga, Master System and Game Gear. Although a long jump in production date, this game uses elements of the Atari game 'Pong'. For example; the game features 2D side scrolling technology, although significally increased in graphical detail, this game is still 2D! The graphics were produced by actual Disney animators, the background music is MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), in other words electronic music, usually produced using a synthesiser etc.

3. Another basic example of game environment is the original 'Prince of Persia'! (1989), developed by Jordan Mechner for the Apple II:

Prince of Persia was produced using 'Rotoscope' techniques, another wiki definition is needed;

Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films.^[1] Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background.

The original POP had only sound effects (sounds of jumping and gates rising etc.), it was a pinacle game, it started the 'non-scroll' levels and superior animation compared to anything that had come before!

4. My last example for simplistic sound and environments is the second 'Final Fantasy' developed by Square (the company now called Square-Enix!) made in 1988:

The game is a 2D pixel made game for the Family Computer and has been remade for Wonderswan Color, Sony Playstation, Japanese mobiles, Game Boy Advance and PSP. The music was, of course, made by the legendary, Nobuo Uematsu- Sama, and is MIDI made.

An Immersive 3D Environment.... Research:

I thought I'd start with an environment that led to the fully immersive environments found in modern gaming! So, yet again I am using 'Final Fantasy 7' (1997), my personal favourite series and game in the series.

This clip gives us images of both in-game and also the FMV sequences. The animation in this game was the start of the 3D age! Made for the Sony Playstation the game was ahead of it's time. It used 3D technology for the interactive environment and for the characters, and 2D graphic artwork for the distant background work. Again, the music was made by Nobuo Uematsu and produced in MIDI form by a synthesiser, the 3D technology used in this game made Squaresoft (as named then) one of the leading Japanese video game developers and allowed them to continue developing the 3D graphics for the next games to the present day and probably for a long time in the future.

2. Continuing with my decision to build up to present day technology, my next subject is from the good old PS2 era or what is now known as vintage! (-_-''). Therefore I have selected one of my favourite games from the PS2, 'Shadow of the Colossus'!

Released in 2005, 'Shadow of the Colossus' is a 3D game developed by Team ICO (creators of the great game 'ICO'). The game boasts incredible graphics and the music was developed especially to ensure the player would feel alone in a world that is exceedingly vast, the emotional effect being that the audience feels the character's desperation to save his loved one, but feeling so small compared to everything in the world! The colossus add to this effect! Although the gameplay in the landscape of the world is silent, save for the character's sound effects, when the cut-scenes play, or a battle starts (and throughout the course of the battle) the music changes to orchestrally recorded soundtracks that immerse the player completely into the fight.

3. My third choice is 'Batman: Arkham Asylum', for PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows, released in 2009 by Rocksteady Studios.

This clip is from the boss battle of my favourite villain, 'the Joker' and displays the immense graphical technology and quality of both gameplay and music. To make the gameplay graphics smooth, 'Wildstorm' built the character 'rigs' and Rocksteady animated the characters actions. It runs on Epic Games Unreal Engine 3. The music was composed by Nick Arundel and Ron Fish, and is completely orchestral based, allowing the gamer to focus on gameplay and not on lyrics etc. ensuring the experience of play to be focused and as though the player is in the game. Although the player is 3rd person the game still has a very strong depth to it's gameplay through good graphics and traditional orchestral soundtrack!

4. Finally, -Drum Roll- the final game in this post, I chose; 'Fallout 3'! Developed by the now infinately renowned game developers Bethesda Studios (rightfully so...), Fallout 3 was made on PS3, Windows and Xbox 360 and released in 2008.

Fallout 3 was a game made to suit any gamer, the choice of 1st or 3rd person, the choice of music etc. lead the player to become immersed in the game extremely quickly. The original two Fallouts were developed by Black Isle Studios, however development was transferred to Bethesda (developers of 'Elder Scrolls') for the 3rd game, after a failure to complete the original version of Fallout 3 (a demo of the original Fallout 3 was released however). The Bethesda team did an incredible job working on the graphics and gameplay and created a legendary game even without the music, however, it was the music that swept it up the podium to one of the greatest games ever made! The music during gameplay was from a score written by composer, Inon Zur specifically for the game and builds tension with ease putting the player on the edge. In addition to this wonderful score the player has the choice of listening to the fallout radio transmissions! Galaxy News Radio, provides music that survived the blast and ranges from the 'Ink Spots' to the 'Andrews Sisters' (my particular favourite being; 'I don't want to set the world on fire...' by the Ink Spots!) and the other radio station in the game; the Enclave Radio, with it's stereotypical American Patriot's marches etc. The defining feature of this game is choice, from your character's appearance, conversation choices, music preferance and even gaming perspective (3rd person etc.), this game gives the player the opurtunity to play the game they want, making this my chosen most immersive video game!

Gothic Research For My Doorway:

Gothic Doorways:






These doorways combine arches and intricate gargoyle decorations, therefore I have decided to utilise gargoyles in my door design.

Gargoyles:



Gargoyles in general look quite 'impish', I have decided to use the imp and make it have the body of a dragon, this way I have combined both 'ideals' of your average gargoyle!

-Drawing Stage-

Several hours of brainstorming and rough drawings later, and I produce my final design:

I have combined arches, gargoyles and intricate carvings into my design. I may unfortunately, have to dull down my design, due to my lack of experience in creating maya poly models and texturing in mudbox.

Definitions of 'Space' and 'Representation':

Space:

Noun

• S: (n) space, infinite (the unlimited expanse in which everything is located) "they tested his ability to locate objects in space"; "the boundless regions of the infinite"
• S: (n) space (an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things)) "the architect left space in front of the building"; "they stopped at an open space in the jungle"; "the space between his teeth"
• S: (n) space (an area reserved for some particular purpose) "the laboratory's floor space"
• S: (n) outer space, space (any location outside the Earth's atmosphere) "the astronauts walked in outer space without a tether"; "the first major milestone in space exploration was in 1957, when the USSR's Sputnik 1 orbited the Earth"
• S: (n) space, blank (a blank character used to separate successive words in writing or printing) "he said the space is the most important character in the alphabet"
• S: (n) distance, space (the interval between two times) "the distance from birth to death"; "it all happened in the space of 10 minutes"
• S: (n) space, blank space, place (a blank area) "write your name in the space provided"
• S: (n) space (one of the areas between or below or above the lines of a musical staff) "the spaces are the notes F-A-C-E"
• S: (n) quad, space ((printing) a block of type without a raised letter; used for spacing between words or sentences)

Verb

• S: (v) space (place at intervals) "Space the interviews so that you have some time between the different candidates"

Source: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Representation:

Noun

• S: (n) representation, mental representation, internal representation (a presentation to the mind in the form of an idea or image)
• S: (n) representation (a creation that is a visual or tangible rendering of someone or something)
• S: (n) representation (the act of representing; standing in for someone or some group and speaking with authority in their behalf)
• S: (n) representation, delegacy, agency (the state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent)
• S: (n) representation (a body of legislators that serve in behalf of some constituency) "a Congressional vacancy occurred in the representation from California"
• S: (n) representation (a factual statement made by one party in order to induce another party to enter into a contract) "the sales contract contains several representations by the vendor"
• S: (n) theatrical performance, theatrical, representation, histrionics (a performance of a play)
• S: (n) representation (a statement of facts and reasons made in appealing or protesting) "certain representations were made concerning police brutality"
• S: (n) representation (the right of being represented by delegates who have a voice in some legislative body)
• S: (n) representation (an activity that stands as an equivalent of something or results in an equivalent)

Source: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Defining Technology, Creativity and Culture....

Technology:

Internet Definition: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=technology

Noun

• S: (n) technology, engineering (the practical application of science to commerce or industry)
• S: (n) engineering, engineering science, applied science, technology (the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems) "he had trouble deciding which branch of engineering to study"

Oxford Dictionary Definition:

Technology: N. (Science of) practical or industrial art(s); ethnological study of development of such arts; application of science; hence technological: A. ~IST.

Creativity:

Internet Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity

Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, a solution, a work of art etc.) that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as "valuable" is similarly defined in a variety of ways.
Scholarly interest in creativity ranges widely: the relationship between creativity and general intelligence; the mental and neurological processes associated with creative activity; personality type and creative ability; creativity and mental health; creativity in education; and ways of fostering creativity through training and technology.

Oxford Dictionary Definition:

Creative: A. Creating; able to create; inventive, imaginative; showing imagination as well as routine skill; hence ~LY adv. ~NESS, creativity, ns. f.create+ -IVE.

Culture:

Internet Definition: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=culture

Noun

• S: (n) culture, civilization, civilisation (a particular society at a particular time and place) "early Mayan civilization"
• S: (n) culture (the tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group)
• S: (n) acculturation, culture (all the knowledge and values shared by a society)
• S: (n) culture ((biology) the growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium (such as gelatin or agar)) "the culture of cells in a Petri dish"
• S: (n) polish, refinement, culture, cultivation, finish (a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality) "they performed with great polish"; "I admired the exquisite refinement of his prose"; "almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art"--Joseph Conrad
• S: (n) culture (the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization) "the developing drug culture"; "the reason that the agency is doomed to inaction has something to do with the FBI culture"
• S: (n) culture (the raising of plants or animals) "the culture of oysters"

Verb

• S: (v) culture (grow in a special preparation) "the biologist grows microorganisms"

Oxford Dictionary Definition:

Culture N. 1. Tillage of soil; rearing, production, (of bees, oysters, fish, silk, bacteria); quantity of bacteria thus produced. 2. Improvement by (mental or physical) training; intellectual development; particular form, stage or type of intellectual development or civilisation (the two ~S, literature and science); ~vulture, person eager to aquire culture. 3. Hence cultural a. relating to culture of mind or manners. 4. v.t. Cultivate (bacteria etc., or fig.) esp. in p.p.pr. -cherd; ~d pearl (formed by oyster after insertion of suitable foreign body)

Modelling for Game Interfaces...

Low Poly Models v.s. High Poly Models:

Examples of characters with low and high poly models:
Male Characters Examples:

Cloud Strife Final Fantasy 7
V.S.

Dante Devil May Cry 4

Female Character Examples:

Lara Croft Tomb Raider 1
V.S.

Jill Valentine Resident Evil 5

Other Character Examples:

Crash Bandicoot
V.S.

Yoshi Mario Winter Olympics

The Endless Forest- Recieving Information from the Creators!

I got in touch with the designers of 'The Endless Forest' (Tale of Tales) via 'The Endless Forest' Forum pages, they replied to my original post enquiring after the roles of the production staff and about their software:

ORIGINAL POST:

Hi, I would like some information about The Endless Forest for my degree if possible? I need to know how many people were involved in the making of the game, what areas there were in the design process (character design etc.)? What software did Tale of Tales use to create the game? And where do you begin when creating a game? Any information would be greatly appreciated, thankyou for your help.

REPLY:

The software we used is Quest3D.

The first thing we created was a prototype with temporary assets. Then we decided to produce the game in stages and raised funding for stage one. The important aspect of stage one was to finalize the game and publish it so people could play it, even if it was very minimal.

CREDITS:

DESIGN & DIRECTION
Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn

CHARACTER DESIGN
Lina Kusaite

3D ARTWORK
Auriea Harvey
Ringtail Studios

ANIMATIONS
Laura Raines Smith

SOUND
Jan Verschoren

MUSIC
Gerry De Mol

PROGRAMMING
Michaël Samyn
Ronald Jones



THANKS TO
Ferry Marcelis for excellent technical support
Steve Clement and Marc Morocutti for taking care of the server
Diego Cadenas for the Bass audio interface system
Nicolas Fouarge for technical advice
Deer DuDes Guild for French translation
Sebastian "Mafutrct" Heuchler and Susanne Laws for German translation
Picy for the Hungarian translation

SPONSORS
Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean
Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds
Design Vlaanderen
Entropy8Zuper!

Tale of Tales site: http://www.tale-of-tales.com/

Video Game Companys

The make up of a video game company:

1. Publishers: In charge of funding and checking ideas for possible copyright infringements.
2. Design Team: Includes developers and artists who create initial concept artwork and animation rigs etc.
3. Production: Designs the tools etc.
4. Retail distributors: These people work with marketing the game and releasing it to the retail industry.
5. Hardware: Works with the software, converting to platforms, like the iphone or consoles.

Within the company sections there are sub-sections, people who are specialists in the more precise areas, for example; game designers, level designers, character artists etc. Some company section workers break off from the team, creating their own companies or transferring to a different company, the most prominent example probably being the Activision workers that created their new company, Atari. The UK is the 3rd most prominent software designer in the world, after Japan and America. It houses 23 of the 100 most successful design studios in the world, it is a country that created Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto and Fable. A game designer has a certain amount of work to complete within the deadline, if the designer does not complete the work within the allotted time, the whole team will be let down and the game will be delayed further.

Charcter Designers in the West, do not have this title originally taken from the Japanese (Tetsuya Nomura etc.), instead, the closest job titles would be; Concept Artist, Character Artist and Art Director.

Topology

Topology:

The way in which constant deformation is consistent in an object. We use this in video gaming whilst animating an object, careful examination of topology prevents the sculpted matter from morphing in awkward ways.

An example of bad Topology; The red highlights are showing how the model should form using topology.



Correct facial topology.

Large polgon count (bad topology)

animation from: http://www.phungdinhdung.org/Studies_paper/Realistic_face_modeling.shtm

Smaller poly count: (good topology)

Animation: same source.

Character Design ~ A comparison from Books to the Internet!

Reference 1: 'The Art of Game Characters' by Leo Hartas.

Inspiration in game design. The books chapter on character creation inspiration in games other and art forms gives the reader insight into how the BIG names in Charater Design create their show stopping characters. Where do they start? And how do they do it? Here are just a few examples from the book!:

Gilles Benois (creator of Starshot by Infogrames):
'From people I know, from people I cross in the street, from characters I like in animated films, actors I like, books and comics I've read.... The video games are too young to propose as many interesting characters as other media do.'

Farzad Varahramyan (Sammy Studios):
'Influences can come from anywhere. Again, listing influences may not be as useful as explaining methodology. We strive to use as much relevant photographic reference as possible that may be appropriate to the character we are designing. I don't care how realistic or alien a design is, you need to visually anchor it. Visual cues are critical to make the audience read into the design and begin to form their own opinions and connections to the character. If you've done your job right, your character design will resonate with most of your audience on some primary and universal levels.'

Siku (Visual Director at Elixir Studios, London):
'Never any game, not ever, a strong no, no! I would rather use games to direct me in what not to do. The idea is too unique, isn't it? My influences comes from the great tradition of phenominal artists before me largely in science fiction and fantasy art, not to mention the great Dutch and Renaissance masters and a couple of some of America's greatest illustrators, notably Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell. There is also a contemporary street sci-fi style out there, born out of the Graffiti-Grunge-Indie music generation. It tends to bend the rules a little. I like looking at stuff like that; they generally tend to be comic-book artists like myself. I find comic-book art more interesting than most contemporary stuff. Of course all media is useful for inspiration.'

Reference 2: Tetsuya Nomura Interview for Final Fantasy XIII.
(http://finalfantasy.cc/News/Final%20Fantasy%2013/The%20Final%20Fantasy%2013%20Tetsuya%20Nomura%20Interview!?task=view)

Tetsuya Nomura (Square-Enix)

The interview focuses on the character design for Lightning, Tetsuya explains in depth about her character!:

Lightning Final Fantasy XIII

Lightning’s muscles and such make an impression, don’t they? She is muscular, but attractive.
Nomura: In drawing Lightning, the most essential thing was that she is a “cool character.” You can’t have a cool character without sex appeal.
What kind of “cool” is she?
Nomura: Serious, and unforgiving, yeah, she is a relentless character, isn’t she? Maybe she is harsh on herself too, but she is not the type to coddle people. When she meets other people, she’s not the kind who changes according to them, but instead you can see that she is a kind of individualistic person who gives off the image of someone who unswervingly follows the guidelines within herself.

Was that harshness more than was intended in the design?
Nomura: I was asked to make her strong and beautiful, but when I read the scenario, I thought “Is that all?” They were saying that she is a soldier, and her personality was certainly of one. She is not a “whiner.” Actually, before we decided on the type we have for her now, there were a variety of different Lightnings. There were some by other staff members, too, and in the beginning, she didn’t have the same image as she does now.
Like what, for example?
Nomura: She was Asian. The final Lightning is considerably more chiseled. Her eyes are more deeply set in than a typical heroine. Also, her cheekbones are more prominent than other female characters. In these ways, Lightning’s design changed considerably. Other things are hidden, so you can’t tell, but her legs are lean and her abdominal muscles are defined. Toriyama was particular about her having an athlete’s body. However, if the heroine was too “macho,” it would be difficult for players to associate emotionally with her, and so, while serving the director’s intentions for her, I tried to make her a bit sweet. That intent appears in things like her hairstyle and hair color.

Then, about the yet unnamed protagonist of Versus XIII, his outfit is temporary, isn’t it?
Nomura: We intend to completely redo his design. The concept for him is that his hairstyle will give a different impression when viewed from the front than from the back. From the front, his hair is calm and tame, but from the back, it is quite intense and violent-looking. Because his design is temporary, we’re having him face the back as much as possible, like on the cover. (Haha)
I see. There are a lot of things that are unclear, aren’t there?
Nomura: The Versus protagonist is not a character with a Squall-like or Cloud-like personality like everyone is thinking now. He is a type that has not been seen in the generations of the series yet. For a long time now, I have wanted to try making a character like him, but I hesitated because he is a type of character that might fall close to “out of bounds.”

Are you really that critical of him!?
Nomura: Yes. (Haha) There are probably people who dislike his type. Usually, protagonists do not have strong personalities to avoid having the personality interfere with the player’s empathy, and so very distinctive characters are relegated to side-roles, but not this time. He has a bit of an overabundance of p idiosyncrasy. I think that when he speaks, the impression of him will change considerably.
Will his voice be so high that we’re surprised? (haha)
Nomura: (Haha) The concept for his voice has not yet been finalized. People who thought “That’s great!” to his current impression will probably think “What did they do!?” upon seeing him. So, as much as possible, please try not to hold any preconceptions about him! He is not the least bit a silent, gloomy little boy.
He can show an apathetic face to the world, but is he the type that can adjust and let his guard down?
Nomura: There is that type in reality, too, and there it depends on whether or not their friends accept them, doesn’t it?

Will this be a story of male camaraderie, similar to Crisis Core?
Nomura: No, for instance, someone [important] dies, and you must take revenge, well it won’t be a soppy story like that. It will adopt a more general “road movie” sense. As to why I chose a story about men, well, for example, among school friends, when they go traveling, it’s normal to see any combination of fellows in groups of all one gender. That’s all. We can look back on when we were students, and remember enjoying horsing around with our peers with no particular aim in mind.
And a member of a royal family just happens to be one of their number?
Nomura: That’s right. They have not banded together for any purpose or destiny. This lot, who are always horsing around find themselves at the heart of the story by chance. I wonder if one was a student, would one feel the story even more familiar? Of course, if one was an adult, they might feel nostalgic and enjoy remembering how they horsed around like that, I think. Talking about girls, for instance. In thinking about how to make it more familiar, it turned out this way. Next time we give information, we will reveal his name. It doesn’t have much to do with anything else, though.
We’re looking forward to it. Will it be a name associated with the weather or the skies, following Cloud, Squall, Tidus, etc.?
Nomura: I thought “should we stop with the weather names, already?” but the FFXIII team named heirs Lightning, and so Versus XIII will follow suit.
Lightning’s name was quite a surprise, wasn’t it?
Nomura: Lightning’s name also surprised me, even though I was already familiar with her. If they started to use another name at this late date, I wouldn’t be able to get used to it, though.

******

Tetsuya's character designs give a strong impression of personality before you know the character well enough to make judgments. For example, he mentions the appearance of Lightning as 'muscular', 'serious' and 'unforgiving', expression dress etc. add to the obvious personality of his characters. Another example of this is the Final Fantasy 7 characters, Cloud Strife and Sephiroth (in his first project as character designer!):



Cloud is the typical classification of 'good' as and entity, he has light features (blond hair, light clothing, blue eyes etc.), his expression determined. This is the typical image of a hero. Sephiroth is the typical classification of 'evil' as an entity, he wears dark clothing and has a vicious stare, he appears confident and dark, he has green eyes (a typically jealous colour). The only appearance of purity is his silver hair, this could be due to his belief that he is a God, or a faint glimmer of his previous nature as a 'good' character and hero.

Activision v.s Tale of Tales

               v.s  

Or more precisely: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 v.s The Endless Forest

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Windows, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3)

Testing Medium: Playstation 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues the story of the original in the usual Call of Duty style, 17 missions in which to shoot and blow-up as many things as your heart desires. Call of Duty is a series that has run from 2003, it is a 1st person - 3rd person shooter, which has taken the world by storm and has become one of the greatest gaming franchises in the world. Modern Warfare 2, is set in Russia and is the sequel to Modern Warfare. The game continues the quality of graphics used in the series, each level is stunningly made and features various NPC's including friendly and enemy characters. The whole experience is interactive and puts the player right into the battle fray, this game is possibly one of the most convincing games of the series. In particular the Moscow airport level, in which the player takes the role of a terrorist, you make the choice whether to kill the hostages or not. This game could be considered not just a war game but the next level in playing God in gaming. The opinion on whether the game had gone 'too far' is greatly disputed, yet the reviews still managed to sky rocket, for example the Metacritic review for the PS3 and Xbox was a massive 94%, whilst the PC version reached 85%.

My personal opinion is that the game was extremely entertaining and convincing, the graphics were incredible and the reviews were well warranted in their opinions. However, like many I feel the Moscow Airport senario went a little bit too far, especially considering the decreasing age in which the players are becoming, it does not inspire confidence for the future. Therefore, if kept within the adult age range the game is amazing and possibly the most realistic shooter yet.

Activision is an American video game developer and publisher. It is one of the most renowned game publishers on the planet, with game titles ranging from Crash Bandicoot to Guitar Hero. The company understands and expresses various cultures through their video games, including my play test game set in Russia.

******************

The Endless Forest (Windows)

Testing Medium: Windows

The Endless Forest is a social strategy game in which the player takes up the role of a deer and explores a virtual woodland area. The game is an interactive social, there is no clear goal of the game, except to grow stronger and learn by doing. The graphics aren't as visually stirring as Call of Duty, but that is to be expected of a smaller video game developer with less people working on the game. Although the games graphics aren't as superior as Activision's, the games produced are far more original and quirky in contrast. This makes the developer more unique. The character deer in The Endless Forest are similar to that of the 'Forest Spirit' in Hayao Miyazaki's 'Princess Mononoke', giving the character a human face allows the player to connect mentally with the character and also adds to the idea of a social game, in that the character's face is more expressive in personality. A great feature of the game is the ability to change your environment depending on user preference, meaning if you want a normal forest, you can have it, if you want something completely different, you can change it! Obviously the reviews for the game are fewer than that of Call of Duty, yet they are equally as positive, for example; 'Donna's' review at: http://www.adventurelantern.com/reviews/endlessForest/endlessForest.htm

She grades the game at an incredible 95/100! Thats more than Metacritic's review for Call of Duty!

Hayao Miyazaki's 'Princess Mononoke' (The Forest Spirit)

Tale of Tales' The Endless Forest (Deer)

My opinion of the game? I thought it was highly entertaining, original and something completely different in both principles and visuals than any other game I've ever played! I enjoyed the game even more than I enjoyed Call of Duty, perhaps because the game was something I had never really experienced before. Call of Duty is a good shooter but as far as war games go, it's been done before.

Tale of Tales is a smaller development/ publisher company based in Belgium, it's published games include:

'8', 'The Endless Forest', 'The Path', 'Fatale', 'The Graveyard' and 'Vanitas'.

So the conclusion? I rate Tale of Tales as the better games developer!

Animation Research Blog Part 2

A Concise History of Animation:

Definition of Animation:
'Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although there are other methods.'

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation)

Believe it or not there are actually examples of animation running way back in history, before the well known names popped up, Walt Disney, Miyazaki Hayao etc.

'Animation' in a sense reaches all the way back to paleolithic cave paintings, for example:

This is a cave painting from Bhimbetka, although appearing like a drawing it is a panel of early animation, these drawings are ordered and show the process of the cultural habits of the artist's everyday lives, in this case the process of 'Hunting'.
Other examples of early 'panel animation' include the 5000 year old Shahr-i Shokhta earthen bowl and egyptian murals inside tombs;

(Bowl from Iran)

(Egyptian mural: EGYPT - AUGUST 11: Egypt, Thebes (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1979) - Luxor. Sheikh 'Abd al-Qurna. Tomb of army general Tjenuny. Mural paintings. Warriors (Dynasty 18, Thutmose IV, 1397-1387 BC) Digital reconstruction (Photo by S. VANNINI/De Agostini/Getty Images) )

Still, Animation as a set of moving images without actually looking from image to image didn't come into existence until 180 AD, when the chinese invented the first animation device, the early zeotrope device. Then, in the 19th century came the Phenakistoscope, Praxinoscope and of course the renowned 'Flick Book'.

The early zeotrope device invented by the Chinese, was called the 'Magic Lantern':

(This is a modern reconstruction of the magic lantern device)

The device merges two images together to create the illusion of movement, the famous example being changing seasons.

The Phenakistoscope was a device which utilised a disc with slits on it, the disc would be spun with a mirror facing the image side and the viewer would look through the slits into the mirror, which would show the images in motion. An example is shown below:

(The Phenakistoscope)

(An example of the animation)

The Praxinoscope device used the same principles of reflection as the Phenakistoscope, only it used spinning cylinders instead of just a mirror, this made image quality greater:



(The Praxinoscope)

The zoetrope device, created in the 19th century by William George Horner, he named it the Daedalum ('Wheel of the Devil') was adapted from the Praxinoscope, the only difference being, the zoetrope doesn't require a mirror to view the animated images:



(The Zoetrope)

Contemporary animation has several branches to it:

1. Traditional
2. Stop Motion
3. Computer

Traditional Animation:

Traditional animation is animation which has been produced using traditional mediums (pen, pencil, paint...etc.) the most famous examples would be, Anime, Miyazaki and Disney.

(Property of Disney Studio's (Snow White), Studio Ghibli (My Neighbour Totoro) and Bandai (Wolf's Rain))

Stop Motion:

Stop Motion animation is when the director photographs each panel of an animation to create a moving film (Puppet, Clay, Cut-out, Silhouette.... etc.) famous examples would include, Tim Burton, Wallace and Gromit and Monty Python's animations.

(Property of Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Aardman (Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and Monty Python (The Holy Grail))

Computer Animation:

Computer animation is as it says, any animation produced through digital means using a computer (Flash,  Cel-shaded, Photo Realistic, Maya...etc.)

(Property of Appleseed Film Partners (Cel-shaded: Appleseed), Twentieth Century Fox (Photo Realistic: Ice Age) and New Line Cinema (Maya: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings)