Creative Development Week02:Blitz Games Studios (Blitz Academy)

Blitz Academy is a section the Blitz Games Studio which covers anyone wanting to get into the games industry and really are there to guide and encourage people to create games in ways of an academy format or even having competitions. The resources that they provide as well as the general information into getting into the the industry, paths to strengthening your skills and much more but i found the sections of their games design on the art direction pretty interesting as they also provide links to webstes that will help to further develop my skills but also to see the competitions work through the http://www.blitzgamesstudios.com/blitz_academy/resources/#art website i found http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial.php?catDisplay=2&p=1&sort=date&order=1&detailsoff=0&roPos=1 which 3D Total provide sample tutorials as well as some free full tutorials which straight away i clicked on one of the tutorials and found something which i was unsure if you were able to pass off actually using refrence images for your concept art. Where you could place images into areas and actually take those bits of details to develop your own interpretation so thats why i feel Blitz Games Academy not only gives you their own known information and provides you with the right type of choices but also points you to the right resources in which they weren't able to cover but also the academy itself is part of  games studio which in essence can give you a really good insight into a studios expectations.

There was also a job role and needs part of the website in which was useful for an insight on the expectations as i mentioned and i came across not an exact role of which i will be going for but close enough under the games design section:

"Game Designer

Skills Required

This is one of the most difficult areas to define a skillset for. In many respects it comes down to game knowledge - you need to have played games from every genre and every era. But a willingness to branch out and the self-confidence to create is essential - the world does not need any more game designers who actually just want to remake their favourite game.

You'll have to be a resilient character who can withstand a lot of criticism, but who also knows when to listen to differing opinions and take on board other peoples' suggestions. Communication skills are vital: those fantastic ideas of yours are worthless unless you can present them in an exciting and clearly comprehensible manner.

Experience is essential in this field. It is very unlikely that you will be hired as a game designer if you have no previous form or professional experience. At the end of the day, it is personal skills that will allow you to flourish as a game designer. Imagination. Creativity. Confidence.

Best Tip

As with all roles that carry a large degree of authorship over public-destined artwork, the most important thing to do is to balance the amount of novel and radical concepts (which some players might find confusing or alienating) with some more traditional and familiar elements. Getting this balance right should enable most people to gain a foothold, a degree of understanding of your games, yet be constantly surprised and entertained."



Also there was some information at the bottom really covering the point of sending and bringing together your work for potential employers:

"SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

This following list is a guide to the sort of samples you should try to assemble when applying for a design role. Whatever you do, remember to be selective and send only your best work. Swamping a prospective employer with large quantities of old and new work can make your submission look inconsistent and patchy if the older stuff is of a lower quality. Don't worry if you don't have all of this stuff, just provide a few good items from this list.

• CV - in the standard format.
• Professional work (if you are industry experienced).
• Practical examples - level designs for existing games (for example, FPS games).
• Sample models/artwork.
• Sample documents.

Professional work can be provided as screenshots and supporting material (with obvious respect to legal and confidentiality issues). This support material could be documentation, maps and plan drawings or actual models. Professional work should always be accompanied by a detailed description of what you actually did on the work in question. It is anticipated that most areas of a finished game will be collaborative, so highlighting key sections and areas of your responsibility is vital.

Practical examples could be your homemade levels for published games. Ideally, work of this kind will include the playable level (obviously you'll need to hope that the actual game is available to the person reviewing the application), as well as some brief documentation illustrating the key design features and decisions behind the level. For example, the original concept and how it changed and evolved during its creation, what things you discovered didn't work and what actions you undertook to rectify those problems.

Sample models and artwork are not expected to be of the quality required by an Artist applicant, but examples of your level modelling could be extremely useful. These could be presented as actual model files (for example Max or Maya) or via a good series of still images and screenshots that illustrate the layout and views within the level. Initial maps and diagrams can help us judge how well you plan and present your work.

Sample documentation can take many forms; below you can find a few examples. The most important thing to remember is that quality, not quantity, is the most important factor. Keep each sample document short - 3-4 pages at most, and be selective with your work. Just a few of your best items will show your abilities in the best light.

• A short design overview for a new, original game. This could be anything from a small, free download arcade or puzzle type game to an epic fantasy adventure. The important thing is to get only the most critical information across in a short space (3-4 pages).
• A critical analysis of an existing game - this is not a review, this is a far more sophisticated and observant appraisal of why a game works very well, or why it falls flat on its face. You can assess the entire game in broad strokes, or choose a single section or level to cover in detail.
• A level design for an existing game, presented as a map and walkthrough. Be sure to capture the atmosphere and play style of the chosen game. Try to stay within the size limit of 3-4 pages. Stick to the point: long descriptive passages explaining the emotional state of the player are unnecessary.

Do not send a full game design document. It is very unlikely to be read in its entirety and it can be extremely difficult to find the crucial information that the employer will be looking for. Therefore it is likely to be ignored.

Finally, be a designer!

A trap that a great number of people fall into is confusing game design with script writing. We often receive a so-called game design that is, in fact, nothing more than page after page of often confusing and hackneyed narrative. While it is important to be able to contextualise your game designs within a narrative framework, you must allow the game-play itself to play the most prominent part!

If you are particularly keen on storytelling, then consider creating a specific game narrative work sample of 2 or 3 pages. Explain how the narrative will relate to the gameplay and theme of the design. Unless you are applying for a specific scriptwriting role, remember to ensure that your full application achieves a balance of game design and narrative design.

Good luck!"

http://www.blitzgamesstudios.com/blitz_academy/

Creative Development Week02:Skillset, Networking

Creative Skillset also focus on the aspect networking which is essential to finidng work and advancing within the games industry as the communication skills are what are shown through networking which show that the individual is able to work and understand those around him/her to get the job done. Going to events and talking to people will aid in furthering your notoriety around the games industry by being available for certan bits of information or even to help out in projects which will build up a client list and help to keep informed of the goings on within the industry, here is a piece of the information Creative Skillset have on their website which really does cover the advantage of networking:

"Effective networking

A lot of people hate the word, but networking is the single most valuable skill you need in order to find work and get ahead.

Jobs in many parts of the creative media industries are never formally advertised. So when people say it's a 'contacts business', they're right!
From day one, it pays to stay in touch with people you've met, trained or worked with. Be prepared to share your knowledge and ideas and start forging creative relationships. You also need to be organised; keep records of who you meet, so you can knock on their doors when the time comes."

Website at: http://www.skillset.org/careers/networking/

Creative Development Week02:Skillset, Games

Creative Skillset a company which seeks to help advance those in need with a set of skills that can be used within the entertainment industry have a section which covers the games industry giving information useful to those seeking to enter the games industry. Also this section of the website covers a basis of furthering your knowledge through classes and courses on certain roles within the games industry and a blog covering the latest developments within the industry, tips on getting the push you need start working within the games industry along with the general breadth of knowledge needed to get far within the industry Creatve Skillset is a company which is beneficial to following for the vast resources and inside source of the games industry for available opportunities.

This is the section i found very useful from the Creative Skillset website which covers areas to look into for information that can be useful even if it is just one line of information or a whole page there will be some source of information which will be beneficial:

"Games Recruitment Agencies & Job Websites

Websites full of useful info:
sloperama.com
Useful information about working in the games industry.
Games: TesterNews and information for games testers, including hints and tips on finding work.

Blitz Games: Game On
Blitz Games appreciate that everyone has to start somewhere and that there's a time when we all need a bit of help and advice to get started.
IGDA Breaking InThe IGDA have set up this site to help you build your skills, make informed decisions, and improve your chances of breaking into games.
GAMESbriefGAMESbrief is a games business blog with a database of games freelancers designed to help connect companies who want to make games with the people who want to make them.

Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment ads can be a useful source of information about the sort of skills that are needed in the games industry. These are just a few of the many recruitment agency websites:
Aardvark Swift
Amiqus Games
Creative Personnel
datascope recruitment
Games Recruit
interactive SELECTION
Mary-Margaret.com
OPM Jobs
Probe Games "

Website found at: http://www.creativeskillset.org/games/

Creative Development Week01:UKIE

UKIE is a large company which exists to further the U.K based entertainment industry, seeking to help those wanting to get into the entertainment industry by providing information, interests, building members up to have a good public image for potential employers. Providing a range of services i see that joining UKIE could be beneficial for me as i also came across the Train2Game is basically an online version of college which provides the knowledge of the technical aspects as well as the mental aspect of the work taken on by the games industry, this is something which would help build up a portfolio as well as extend currents skills. Acting as a public information resource, i believe that aligning myself with UKIE with their membership i will get access to information which will help build myself up to where i will be able have more of a confidence overall to get into the games industry as i know areas which i am lacking in skill and need time to work on.

http://ukie.info/

Creative Development Week01:BAFTA (Launching Your Career)

Whilst looking at British Academy of Film & Television Arts, specifically the young games designers area in which competitions are set up to encourage young audiences to create their own games and even seek a career within the games industry. This area of the BAFTA website not only encourages young kids to seek an interest in developing games but also having the competitions involve latest, upto date information within the industry such as a competition in which building your own game in Unity is encouraged with additional tutorials for just wanting to make the game without the intent of entering the competition. Also there is a whole section which is linked to the BAFTA website which follows the latest goings on within the games industry and this is shown through their explanations of what to expect and work towards the goals met by the games industry, as you can see below is the section on locating jobs and how to get them, mentioning such things as getting stuck into any project which is games related as this markets yourself as ready for any job and also to apply jobs not only available but places which may not be hiring so when they do your name is fresh.

"Finding Work in Games

Possible Employers

Employment in this sector is primarily within Games Developers or Games Publishers. These can range in size from large, multi national studios producing triple A titles for the major consoles to smaller companies producing games for other platforms. Games can be created in a variety of forms for a variety of commisioners, in addition to PC, Console and Handheld gaming devices games are utilised by broadcasters such as the BBC, DVD and CD–Rom authoring companies, E–learning suppliers, Educational Institutions, Information Providers such as Government, Interactive Design Agencies, Internet Service Providers and marketing and advertising agencies

A Range of Opportunities

In such a fast–moving industry, with a continuous churn of companies, technologies, delivery platforms, software packages and working practices, equipping yourself with cutting edge knowledge and skills – and keeping at the sharp end – is a never–ending challenge.

It is not so much a case of learning the right tools, but rather becoming adept in the skill of learning. This means acquiring the technical principles, confidence, skills and experience to quickly adapt to new situations and processes, but being involved in learning and training as a continuous part of your career. One employer says, for instance, that members of his teams should master a new piece of software “about every two weeks.”

Finding Your First Job

Unless you are very well connected, this is the hardest part.

The Creative Skillset Job Profiles are invaluable here to help you find out about the areas you are interested in. See also the Useful Links section of this website for further resources.
Games companies emphasise the following:

• Apply for jobs advertised, but you should also be approaching companies “cold" as many jobs are simply not advertised, and it may depend upon being in the right place at the right time.
• Always research what companies have done in the past.
• Get involved in developing ideas, working on projects (funded or non–funded) and generally show you are a Games person who is prepared to go “the extra mile” (or ten) for something that you genuinely desire.

Battlestations: Midway - with thanks to SCi Games

“Talent is all, and people pay to get it and keep it”, says one long term Games industry observer.

There are genuine opportunities for bright, creative and well–organised people in this under–publicised and fast moving sector. To specialise in the Games sector will sometimes mean working long hours on high pressure projects with budgets of millions; but you could be part of a team producing high quality products at the sharp end – the retail market place."


This next piece of information i pulled from the BAFTA website is something i felt is useful as it covers the main set of skills that are needed within the games industry in general and that the last job is what stands out to a future employer but also the fact that along with technical abilities industries are looking for skills such as communication, team, marketing yourself and so on.

"Skills & Training for the Games Industry

People from all kinds of educational and cultural backgrounds work within Games. Once in the industry, people do move around and the majority find work through contacts and word of mouth. Few are freelance, however, as companies want to find and hang on to talent. Talent is valuable, and signed to permanent contracts. Many take short-term courses to maintain their high skill level, in an industry where the technology and thinking is ever advancing.

Reputation really counts. "You are only as good as your last job" is a common saying, and there is much truth in that. This is a small industry, and word goes round - fast, very fast!

Key skills for Games

Beyond the technical skills needed for a specific role, games companies look for employees with the following abilities:

• Ideas, ideas, ideas!
• Creative Skills
• Communication Skills
• Problem-solving abilities
• Team Skills
• A flexible approach to life
• Tenacity
• The ability to sell your skills to potential employers
• An awareness of the applications of, and the possible applications, of technology
• The willingness to go "extra ten miles" if necessary, devoting yourself to the production and its deadlines, and living and sleeping on the job a times if needs be.

Age of Empires III, with thanks to Microsoft

Training and Relevant Qualifications

Games industry workers tend to be degree educated, especially in highly skilled areas such as programming. However employers often tend to be less concerned with formal qualifications than with relevant experience, portfolios and knowledge of specific software tools.

Many of the most successful games professionals are qualified in the broad-based disciplines that draw on both creative and analytical approaches. The industry contains creative and technical directors from a diverse range of backgrounds, ranging from architecture, art and design to psychology and music. Specialist training in games related disciplines, following a more general degree, seems to be a good approach. Relevant course titles for a first degree might include the following:

• Computer science
• Computer arts
• Interactive media
• Computer games design
• Computer games technology
• Software engineering
• Virtual reality design
• Maths / Physics
• Fine Art
• Animation" 

Found at: http://ygd.bafta.org/working-in-the-games-industry/launch-your-career-in-the-games-industry

Creative Development Week01:Get Into Gaming

One event that stands out to me as an individual who is looking towards the games industry is the local event within Leeds, the Get Into Gaming event. This event is more of a social gathering of games lovers, where playing games, talking about games from gamers and even people from within the industry holding talks and also gaming and more available gaming related opportunities. The resaon why this event is one that i will be trying to attend is due to the event bringing experience from people within the gaming industry who have 'been there, done that' and not only listening to their talks, i will be able to play games with and against them opening up more time to just hang out and perhaps to even get my details across of what i am doing. This event seems more social than other events and allows me to bring exposure to my work and potential employers for my skills to be used and with the next event in two days time it would be the best opportunity to get myself out there and network with not just people who are in the industry but just people who love games.

http://www.getintogaming.co.uk/

Independent Practice Week9:Evaluation and Show

This week was the hand in for the project and i had to write an evaluation:
Starting my final year i was pretty clear of what direction i would be going into, the direction being concept art and 3d modelling. Breaking down the two into separate projects, i felt by doing this i had more freedom and focus on the specific role and would be able to bring quality into my work. The project was starting to take off as i knew what i wanted to produce, with the idea that i had in mind but once again a problem occured similar to my second year's final major project. The problem was all to do with the research, as i had very little of it, showing no background research for my story, ship designs, setting, time and more but being made aware of this early on allowed for a quck recovery.

Along with the hand in we as a course had to set up an exhibition and we were left to set the exhibition up ourselves. I was givin an area that i would fill with my concept art that i believe is my best work to date. I sorted the images added borders, printed and mounted the images onto mount boards which would then be ready to put up on the space on the wall.

But because i wanted to show many images of my work i had taken up two spaces of the wall and with other students showcasing their work i didn't want to place my work up for them to level up their work with mine but to be able to work the images on the wall as one level piece together. With some students unable to make it in on the day i was ready to setup the work and myself unable to make it in the day they would be in i set out post it notes on the places i wanted specific images to go as well as a quick outline on the post it notes showing the placement of the images.

Danny Beckett volunteered to place my images up when the other students would place theirs up as theey would be able to sort out the area of the wall much further but i had planned my area for them, if they wanted to work with my positioning of the images.

I would like to thank Danny Beckett for placing my images up and for Steven Elmes for leaving the post it notes for me to plan my image placements.

Fairly early on before the project started, i decided that i wanted a simple idea for a project to allow as much concept art to be produced but little did i know there is no simple idea. As my simple idea began to manifest, with pile of objectives expecting to be produced and i knew that i would lose focus on my own project because of the amount of work needing to be produced. Due to my project focusing on mainly level designs and being approached by Chris i took on some side work for Chris, in the form of character design and also willing to do some designs for Tom as i understood that his designs would be fairly basic, similar to childrens character designs.

Working with Chris and Tom allowed my skills to be used for their projects giving me experience when working for other people and meeting their deadlines. When working with Chris i was given guidelines to work along but enough freedom to create designs that i wanted and from that i was able to create some of my best work although after constant back and forth discussion on the work the recurring problem that occured was proportions and positioning of limbs, which i will need to work on. However when it came to doing Toms character designs, i was left with a very open mindset as my only rules were to create a basic, fun and crazy design that would stand out for the level he will be creating. I began to feel that having so little limitations that, whatever i produce wouldn't be the design he wanted and so i chose to do some basic sketches to which i chose three to further develop.

Based on the work i produced for both Chris and Tom, their continous communication on the work and their approval of the designs i feel that i met their expectations as well as my own expectations. Doing designs for other projects in between my project allowed me to regain my mindset and giving me a breathe of fresh to look at my project in a different aspect as some of the research that Chris had shown me such as Deus Ex's interior and objects were very smooth and rounded which helped to design my interior. During the early stages of my own project i was able to refine the spacecraft design i wanted as well as the design in scenes before going into the interior of the spacecraft.

Creating the design of the spacecraft, the scenes and the cutaway of the spacecraft i was able to plan the interior of the rooms before going into detail. Around this time i, along with my classmates were scheduled for an intrim crit which i was fairly confident because of the work produced and constantly seeking advice for things to do for my project but i found out that i would need to go back and add measurements for the spacecraft as well as fine tuning my backstory. So before going into interior design for the spacecraft i touched up on my backstory but was failing to get the measurements rights, mostly beacuse with previous designs i never had done measurements but in the end i was able to get the right measurements for the spacecraft.

My overlook to the whole project is a very happy one, i produced designs to standard that i liked, producing for other projects broadened my mind and the end product for my work is sufficient. But from the amount of work i produced i feel i should have really developed what i wanted to from the get go, with my concept art and the development didn't really show until the end of the project which was disappointing. At this point i also felt that although the amount of work produced gave me enough incentive to model my designs, i could have produced more conceptual designs of the control room and i realised the problem had been because i slacked off at the start of the project. But continously getting feedback on what to do, whether this is okay and what should be my expected outcomes, allowed my skills and understanding to be nurtured and grow to a level that i can work from. With the feedback i learned much more than i have before, understanding the why side of the design, the reason behind doing certain things and how it will benefit later production.

At the end i was satisfied with all that i produced learning many faults from this project but also many more advantages whether it be software usages or routes to designing concept art. But with the work that i have created i am now looking forward to developing these ideas and images into 3D modelling but before that i believe we may have a few weeks before the project so maybe i can produce some control room concept art. Although i leave the answer to that question open, if not in the few weeks before maybe at the start of the next project alongside getting reaquinted with maya i could produce more concepts.

Independent Practice Week8:Control Room Interior

Before doing the the interior of the room of choice i took some time out and wanted to go back into EA's 2008 horror game, Dead Space but settled with the iPad equivalent to have an overlook at how they have created their interior.

From playing the game for a while i found that the interior design is very basic and doesn't have a range of colours, but allows the lighting to differentiate between objects. I see the lighting and basic colour being used as part of the whole horror genre that it is based within.

So after looking at Dead Space i found that this is a step which i wanted to follow where i allowed the lighting to play the factor of giving the gamer the understanding of where one object starts or ends.

After knowing what outlook i will take for the interior design i choose to do the control room as i feel with the amount of time in the next project this type of room would benefit from the time that i will have.

So i started to colour the control room with a grayscale to give the look of a metal ship but within the metal interior i will have colours which will stand out because there will be a limited amount of colour range, similar to Dead Space their interior was a grayscale and when bright vibrant colours were found they stood out. So in my room i made sure the room was a greyscale and made sure that there would be areas and items within the room which have colours that will stand out, for example the head of the enemy will stand out because the colours are bright and with the backdrop of greyscale it will be a focus point.

This is the cutaway of the control room interior for the viewer to see that it is placed within the front area of the spaceship to allow the crew to see where they are going and is a much larger area, allowing the room to be used as a control room which is symmetrical.

But from this image i didn't want the ship itself to take away from the interior but rather give a see through view of where this room is and how it shapes itself from the area of the ship that it is placed within.

The last bit of art that i had done was the floor plan for the control room because from the view of the previous images you could only see one side of the room.

But with the floor plan i was able to get across how large the room is and amount of space that is available to the gamer.

From the start of sketching the room out i wanted the room to be symmetrical with the top floor being the centre and because the ship is very large there would need to be a large room to monitor and manually control the ship.



Overall i feel that the room is a good choice to develop further but my only disappointment is that due to timing i wasn't able to get more perspective shots of the room to give the viewer a better understanding of the objects that are in the room.

Independent Practice Week8:Finished Scenes

So after the production crit i went ahead and finished up the space and docked scenes as i feel that the crash site scene is satisfying at the stage it is at. However i wasn't really going with the previous design of the space scene and started from scratch and focusing on detail of the planets and minor areas of space as well the lighting of the background, to which i then placed the spaceship within the image and i am going ahead with this design. But still feel it is lacking more detail and more art to the image, as i can see a huge space in the top centre of the image.

The docked scene has to be my overall favourite of the whole project so far as i feel because the sketched version gave me a lot more range of details to work with i was able to produce a piece of artwork which is at level i want to reach.

The lighting goes well with this image as i previously had one main source of light but in this image i have multiple and that was a challenge to get the lighting right to shine on surfaces and reach a certain distance.

The final image is just a touch up of the overall image as i kept looking at the previous image and found that the image doesn't really get across the joints of the space station so i added a light outline to the overall image.

As well as the detail of the space station i went back and cleaned up some of the lighting as it was too blocky and didn't really fade into the picture and blend together.




But once again i am happy with the end result but still feel that the images are lacking something and hope to rectify the missing piece to the concepts overall image.

Independent Practice Week8:Production Crit-Where am i?

This crit was basically finding out where the student are at in their projects and once again i was confident at the work that i had produced.

So the first image i had shown was the overview that i had done which now looking back at it i'm disappointed that i did not produce at the level i should have. As the image is good as it gets across the jungle setting but lacks in detail and i liked the colours used but they were too limited and lacked in the contrast that would be associated with concept art.

So i went back and had redone the whole image with this time being much more happier up until the point where i see the image multiple times and notice my faults being similar to the previous design.

Contrasting of the few colours were used much more but again lacked the detail that i wanted to produce and i felt i should leave this as it is for now as i'm happy with the overview but hope to have time available near the end of the project to go back into and develop the image.

The next scene that i showed was of the crash site within the cave and by doing the overview i was able to have a mindset of what the surrounding look like which would affect the cave.

With this image i used contrast much wisely in producing the walls of the cave to be lighter as you go further back into viewing the image. Lighting from the outside would affect the viewing of the insides of the cave and so i tried to makes the interior of the cave darker as their is a minimum amount of lighting being able to get within the cave.

The next image i showed is an extension of the previous after i felt there wasn't much detail in the image.

So i went back added more lighting to get the detail of the ship and rock formations across to the audience and just in general adding more detail to the image.

This next image is of the space scene that i was doing to give the viewer the understanding of how the ship works in space. So i started to do a few tests for the background and found this to be fitting with what i wanted as it's dark and showcases lighting. Detail i feel isn't really needed that much as the scene mainly consists of planets, asteroids which blend together in space as their is a large shine of light. 

From the previous image there isn't much of a big difference except that i added little minor amounts of detail to areas which lacked their design.

The next big difference from the previous image is the placement of the ship as this is the stage i am up  to i only got round to putting the basic colour of the ship on as well as trying to light the sails, but hope to finish this off very soon as their are only minor changes that need to be made.

This final image is of thee docked scene which i managed to get the basic colours as well as shading on. The stage that i will carry onto is the lighting of the space station as well as overall lighting but adding detail to image is key because with the sketched version of the docked scene i had a guideline to work with which had a lot of detail.

The next stage is to finish up these scenes and get moving onto the next stage as what i have done i feel are good enough to have for know but hopefully i will have enough time at the end of the project to go back and further develop the scenes as i am not satisfied with what i have produced.