Excuse the horrible pun in the title. Anyway, I'm close to being an adult, and that means I have to start seriously thinking about careers, and one of the huge keys to that in the gaming industry is having a good portfolio. One of the main points of GameIndustry International's interview of a team from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) was the importance of a good portfolio. Game programs need to teach students core industry skills, rather than only software-specific information, and give them the opportunity to create a solid base of work. Students have to be competitive entering the industry, and the best way to be competitive is to show proof of one's skills; game companies look very seriously at portfolios when evaluating a candidate. With that considered, I need to start taking this portfolio very seriously, as one day it just might get me a job. That is, to be honest, a little terrifying for me, considering that at least for the moment, I'm more of a programmer than an artist, and producing a full game is going to take a lot longer than making a piece of art–unless making art should be taking me much longer. Additionally, this class isn't even about programming, so I won't be focusing on that anyway. For the moment, I need to start working on art, probably both 2D and 3D, as often as possible, and it has to be good art–which is not my specialty. I guess I have a whole year to learn. There needs to be variety, too, and actual drawing skill, not my sad attempts at creating hilariously cartoonish illustrations based more on Photoshop loopholes than any real talent–or worse, quick photo edits that don't require anything more than basic knowledge of the program. I should probably also learn to use that drawing pad I've got laying around. In my own defense, I don't claim to be a good artist. In terms of revamping the actual presentation of the portfolio, I really ought to fix the sizing of my images, and maybe come up with a better caption format. In the future, this portfolio will obviously feature a lot more code-based works, seeing as I most likely will look for programming jobs. Making your own game is a huge boost to a portfolio, especially a good game. I've done it before, but it was sloppy and unfinished; I've been meaning to fix it up for a while now. I'd most likely have a section under Student Work leading to downloads for my game(s). Videos of gameplay would also be helpful. So, to summarize:
Citations:
“How to Build a Game Designer Portfolio: 2018 Guide.” The Ultimate Resource for Video Game Design, 2 June 2019, https://www.gamedesigning.org/career/game-design-portfolio/. Mann, Simon. “Game Design Portfolio-Building Tips from a Creative Assembly Vet.” Gamasutra Article, 17 Apr. 2018, https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/316629/Game_design_portfoliobuilding_tips_from_a_Creative_Assembly_vet.php. “Your Game Portfolio Is Your Greatest Asset.” GamesIndustry.biz, 30 Apr. 2014, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-04-30-your-game-portfolio-is-your-greatest-asset.
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I'd be lying if I said I'm looking forward to the school year, but I am excited for some things in Digital Design & Animation II. What's most exciting for me here is the fact that by the end of the year we'll be 3ds Max certified. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds like good news. I've never really been the kind of kid who won medals, or trophies, or contests, or...well, anything, really. Academics is really the only thing I've ever been good at, and I've never been outgoing (or motivated) enough to get involved in things like spelling bees, so the idea of getting certified for anything is a huge deal for me. I'm also super happy at the prospect of becoming skilled in making things, especially art. As a kid I had (and still have) extraordinary respect for anyone who could make things–tables, shirts, pies, what have you. To create was in my mind true power. Unfortunately for me, I was never any good at making things–any things. Art, especially, has always been a struggle for me. I'm just bad at it. It was always embarrassing to be the one kid in my friend group who couldn't make any sort of art, couldn't produce anything. The only artistic talent I've ever had is for writing, and maybe photography. With that in mind, this is a really big deal for me. Admittedly I'm terrified (no exaggeration here) about the possibility of having to sketch, but being good at art is something I've wanted for so long and never achieved. The other reason I'm excited for this class is that I've been in the pathway for three years now, with the same teacher every year. I genuinely enjoy the class. I look forward to coming in every day and working on a project, especially when that project is something that actually comes naturally to me. Honestly, I really just took the class in order to stay in the pathway. I'd like to be good at art, and I'd like to create cool 3D models, but I'm not really an artist. Programming is my thing–likely my career. As I said before, I'm not really good at any other art forms besides writing, so I don't want to leave the pathway. Besides, it'll be nice to have something familiar in my schedule. In a way, GAD feels like home. So, to summarize:
I was going to try to get better at using Blender, but my family just got a new computer with an absolute monster of a graphics card, so finally I can run 3ds Max. I took the opportunity to finally create a 3D model I've been planning since last year but never had a chance to create: a skyscraper. This required heavy use of the skills I've learned in using the material editor, object manipulation, and modifiers, and tested my skills with lighting as well.
Then I reset the groups for the material editor: the windows, the doors, and everything else. I created a multi/sub-object material and used the brick pattern as a bitmap for the main building, then created my own from scratch using standard materials for the windows and doors. Afterwards I tried for quite some time to use lights to illuminate some of the windows, but I couldn't figure out how I'd used to do that and was unable to find any answers from google, so I ended up creating another group for the materials after reading about self-illuminating materials, hence the lit windows. The flag on top was easy: I stuck a sphere on top of a cylinder for the pole, used a boolean to combine them, and quickly created a material to look like shiny metal. The flag itself was the result of a very thin box primitive, another quick material, and some fiddling around with the wave modifier. So, to summarize:
Citations:
Khalid, Hassan A. “Free Stock Photo of Brick Texture, Bricks, Building.” Free Stock Photos, www.pexels.com/photo/brick-texture-bricks-building-cement-1200862/. I started 3D modeling in Blender, and I thought it would be just like 3ds Max. I was wrong. I ought to start looking up tutorial videos. Now, behold the worst 3D model I've ever created: It harkens back to one of the first 3D models I ever made...but worse. I dove into Blender with absolutely no idea what I was doing. It took me about fifteen minutes just to figure out how to work the controls, and searching the web didn't seem to help. Finally I managed to create a sphere. Cue another five or so minutes trying to figure out what I could do with it. I started messing around with "sculpt mode," which raised the vertices on the object when the cursor was dragged over them. I still don't understand it. The coloration comes from "vertex paint" mode. I don't know what that does either. Finally I found a page that explained how to rotate the scene view. Afterwards, I essentially just clicked on everything I could see, without getting a lot of results, and honestly I'm disappointed in myself. I came up with a new plan for creating 3D models of cups: extrude one part of a circle to create a sort of pill shape, then subtract it from a cylinder to create a hole in the middle with straight walls but a rounded bottoms. Or–as it occurs to me just now–just subtract a chamfered cylinder. That would probably make more sense. I also spend a slightly ridiculous amount of time trying to design a wineglass in my head. Either of these things I could have accomplished in 3ds Max with ease, but in Blender I was a fish out of water. Honestly, I have to consider this a failure on my part, but I haven't learned nothing. The next time I'm faced with a new piece of software, I'm going to look up tutorials and really do my research so I can get the most out of it–and I'm going to start early. So, to summarize:
Works Cited:
tutor4u. “How to Use Blender without a Middle Mouse Button or a Scroll Wheel.” Blender Hut, 31 Mar. 2017, www.blenderhut.com/use-blender-without-middle-mouse-button-or-scroll-wheel/. Assuming I become a programmer, my future career will be full of it. Crunch is the (often unpaid) overtime work most common during the stages just before a game's release. Some members of the "Red Read Redemption 2" team from Rockstar Games worked hundred hour weeks to get it finished on time. French game studio Kalisto, which went bankrupt in 2002, had such an intense crunch culture that each team had a psychologist assigned to it to keep all members working productively. In general, shifts can often last 12 hours or more, and work weeks can last all seven days, which leaves workers with little time to sleep or spend with family, and can lead to health problems both mental and physical. The practice has become so normalized that despite these detriments, many in the industry are afraid to speak up for fear of damaging their careers or endangering their livelihoods. Frankly, I hesitated to write this post in case it hurt my chances of getting into the game industry. It's become so expected that refusing to crunch can end in many losing theirs jobs, and the game industry has always been defined by changeability. Stability isn't guaranteed, especially for contractors. Smaller studios have tried a variety of strategies to avoid crunch and other unhealthy standards. Motion Twin, which came from some of the former employees of the fallen Kalisto, pays all staff members an equal salary–all eight staff members, I should add. This also makes hiring more difficult due to the cost. Croatian game studio Croteam released "The Talos Principle" with only a couple hours of crunch a week. For massive AAA studios, however, many of the strategies of smaller teams simply don't work because of how these companies are designed. Some have suggested unionization as a solution, but again, this comes at a risk of losing one's job. Whatever comes of the debate, I hope (but don't expect) the problem will be fixed by the time I have a job. So, to summarize:
Citations:
Arguello, Diego, and Diego Arguello. “How Crunch Affects the Lives of Game Developers.” Digital Trends, Digital Trends, 21 Oct. 2018, www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/how-crunch-affects-game-developers/. Wright, Steven T., and Steven T. Wright. “Despite Resistance, Crunch Continues to Define the Video Game Industry.” Variety, Variety, 22 Oct. 2018, variety.com/2018/gaming/features/video-game-union-crunch-industry-practice-1202985642/. I've improved since I was younger, but time management still isn't my strong suit, and recently that's come back to bite me. It's time to start fixing that. One of the most important keys to effectively managing time is to eliminate distractions. I've recently taken this into account by banning myself from watching any videos YouTube or using any social media (I don't have a lot, but the one chat program I do use eats up substantial chunks of time). It's important to take breaks in order to not become too stressed, but I keep them short and avoid anything that might become a time sink–that means staying away from the TV or starting any lengthy conversations about, say, whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich. One strategy has been to find long playlists of music to listen to instead of constantly scrolling through YouTube looking for another song–this is typically where my problem of getting distracted by non-music videos comes from. I've had also issues with distractions working on a game in class recently, namely because I get caught up with constantly fixing the racetrack or fiddling with minor features. I've tried to rein in this urge to perfect things that are better left alone. When I notice something that can be left as it is without too much consequence starting to take up most of class, I move on. Another key practice is to not waste time waiting for things. I've begun working on homework during free time in class (especially when I arrive early), before school, and during lunch. It's typically something easy like a reading log so I don't get entirely burned out, but it saves time so I can worry about items like this portfolio when I'm at home. I even manage my breaks, such as using the rides to and from school to listen to music or work on personal writing so I don't end up feeling like I've done nothing enjoyable all day. Short deadlines also help productivity. Parkinson's Law states that work expands to fill the time allotted for it–the more time you have, the more you procrastinate. I've started setting hard deadlines for myself that are as early as absolutely possible–for example, I've committed to creating/digging up at least two pieces of artwork for my portfolio by the end of tonight, no excuses. So, to summarize:
Citations:
“8 Time Management Strategies for More Productive Work.” Teamdeck.io, Teamdeck, 7 Mar. 2019, teamdeck.io/project-management/time-management-strategies/. Rampton, John. “Manipulate Time With These Powerful 20 Time Management Tips.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 May 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2018/05/01/manipulate-time-with-these-powerful-20-time-management-tips/#4935474e57ab. The code for the second game (more of an interactive novel) I made from scratch consisted mostly of a nightmare chain of eighty-something if statements. Let that sink in. Obviously I considered every method I could conceive of to not do that, but with the start of production bearing down on me, I conceded to the ugly solution (in my defense, it did work). I have, however, learned some things about efficiency: code reuse. It doesn't usually refer to copy-pasting bits of code, though I've done that too. Take one of the most recent tutorials I've worked on as an example: there were three types of enemies, with different health, attack damage, and score values, but they all did basically the same thing. Now, it would have been perfectly possible to make all three different objects in the code, but considering their similar functionality, that would have been, frankly, stupid (I say, remembering the time I did exactly that on a project from last year). Instead, make a single enemy object in all the scripts, and make three copies of the enemy manager script with different models and values set in the inspector, as they all use the same functions. Another way to do this is with classes. If they use a lot of the same functions and variables, make a class and have the objects inherit from that. Essentially, if you can use a larger template to manage smaller assets, you should. Another way to reuse code is to create function calls. I could have made a scene transition function and called it several times during my many if statements in that one notorious project instead of rewriting the code to enable and disable the necessary objects every time. Creating a new function allows you to edit the details in one place instead of, say, twenty, or fifty, or a few thousand. There are also Dynamic Link Libraries, which I am not familiar with, but the gist of it is a set of already written programs to make your life easier. I hope to look into this in the future. Of course, I said this wasn't about copy-pasting, but I will admit to looking back over old projects to see how to get a camera to pan properly or a background to scroll. No sense in figuring things out over and over when I can quickly jog my memory looking at how I've already done it. So, to summarize:
Citations:
Zeeshan, Ahmad. “What Code Reuse Is and Why We Use It.” C# Corner, C# Corner, 28 Mar. 2015, www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/201fc1/what-is-code-reuse-and-why-we-use-it/. This was my was one of my first handheld games (I think it was the first), and for some reason I decided to dig it out again after a couple years of not touching it. The basic premise of the game is to take care of a variety of fantasy pets. This is done via three minigames, one for feeding, one for play, one for grooming. A fourth mini game (known as the "magic world"), unlocked when all needs are filled, allows the player to unlock new pets if they score high enough. It's either one of two types of obstacle course or one of two types of "bullet storm" games, depending on the pet's "element" (there are four). The feeding minigame requires the player to color in as much of the food item as possible in the time limit, with a time penalty for drawing outside the lines. The grooming minigame requires the player to spray the pet with a hose (or similar) while they run around, jumping in what are apparently interdimensional portals in an attempt to hide. The playing minigame has the pet transforming into essentially a living basketball hoop (I was somewhat alarmed the first time this happened) as the player attempts to throw the toy into them with the stylus. No explanation is given for why any of this works the way it does. The minigames (at least the play one and the magic world) get harder the higher on the progress tree your pet is. I'm not usually much of a minigame person myself, but for some reason I enjoy these. I think they require just enough effort to keep me interested. More about progressing: the player starts with a choice between two eggs, which will hatch the first creature. Completing the magic world game unlocks two more eggs. This is organized on a chart similar to an outcome tree. The end goal is presumably to hatch all the eggs and unlock all the pets. It makes sense, but despite incentives to stay on a single pet for a while such as discovering a pet's "favorites" (toys, food, etc), it can be tempting to just race through the tree–and it gets pretty easy to do so after you've practiced. The pet care minigames do get dull after a while. The aesthetic design of the game is very good in my opinion. The graphics are decent, but what it lacks in shiny hyperrealism it makes up for in creativity. The eggs are cool looking (a must if you want the player to be eager about hatching them), and the pet designs are charming and unusual. There are a few recognizable creatures–dragons, flying horses–but most of them are just weird fuzzy animals. My first pet was a lion with wings. Not a griffin, a lion. With feathered wings. At any rate, they're cute. They come in four varieties, presumably "elements" (though it's never stated directly). These appear to be sky, fire, water, and earth, but of course this is never explained either. This mainly affects the type of magic world minigame they play and their appearance as a living basketball hoop. I have not noticed any correlation between element and favorite items. The obstacle course magic world games are definitely better looking than the bullet storm games, if only because of the fantastical 3D landscapes. The sound design is good but nothing extraordinary. Overall, the game is fun for a while, but it can be very tempting to just rush through, as it gets repetitive. It's a good way to kill time, and considering the way most real-time mobile games are played, I think it serves its purpose. So, to summarize:
We've been working in 3D games for some time now. Time to reflect on that. One of the immediate things I've noticed is that 3D is the default, which means a lot of things are easy to manage because I don't have to go looking for the 2D version, or making special accommodations to let the 2D physics work. It seems pretty clear to be that Unity is really meant for 3D. Of course, I do have to take another axis in to account, but it's not nearly as big of a deal as I had expected. Another thing I noticed immediately was the difference in how the game environment is set up. Three dimensions make it easier to lose objects (though you'd be surprised how easily I've done that with only two), and there are things like skyboxes and different camera angles to worry about. One perk of 2D is that it's generally easy to keep everything on/off screen as needed and not accidentally show the viewer the vast and terrifying expanse of the rest of the scene. That was a point of particular irritation for me when working on the Survival Shooter tutorial, as getting too close to the edge of the screen would reveal a bright blue and white horizon, which did not at all fit in with the aesthetic of the game, nor did it make any kind of sense, and in my opinion distracted from the experience. Unfortunately I never got the chance to see if I could turn it to something more fitting, like a dark purple void. Something I noticed further along was that when you take away sprites and start dealing with 3D objects, things get a lot of complicated. I didn't know what a nav mesh agent was last year. I knew what a 3D material was but never realized Unity used them. Lighting and sound are more affected by the environment. It unlocks a lot more potential (unless I'm underestimating the power of 2D), but it's a lot more to keep track of. With great power comes great complexity...and great length of component lists. So, to summarize:
Having recently finished a two-player tank game that's played on a single computer (WASD vs arrow keys), I started to wonder about the history of multiplayer games. "Multiplayer" often makes us think "online" nowadays, but I doubt that was always the case. It started, of course, with arcade games–namely Pong. Released in 1972, it featured simultaneous play (pretty necessary for a ping pong game), unlike most of the turn-based games released later, such as Space Invaders (1978) and Pacman (1980). Most if not all of these turn-based games did not require more than one player–they simple had the option. Two players was the maximum, a measly number nowadays compared to the thousands one might see in an MMORPG. Speaking of which: Island of Kesmai, a PC game released in 1985, is considered the forerunner to said MMORPGs. It was run by CompuServe for $12 an hour, supporting 100 players tops. It's often classified in the roguelike genre. In 1990 came the release of the controversial Doom, another PC game and one of the original first-person shooters. It supported up to four players via LAN. A year later game Warcraft, allowing two-player contests via LAN or modem. In 1997, GoldenEye 007 came out on the Nintendo 64, supporting 2-4 players split-screen. Several other games following this format came out in the 1990s, including Mario Kart 64, Sonic and Knuckles, and Half Life. As the Internet developed to what we know it as today, online play became more popular. Nowadays we can jump into other people's game worlds to play as NPCs (such as in Watch Dogs), or encounter other players in a single world everyone logs into (such as in Destiny). Most of these feature some kind of chat system nowadays. The success of games like the Halo series or World of Warcraft stands testament to the enormity of online play, and in fact, this may become the norm for multiplayer. Split-screen is resource intensive, and is no longer viable on most consoles while keeping the level of graphics we've come to expect. Ironically, we're perhaps less connected that way; it's not quite the same playing with a bunch of strangers. Looks like it might be time once again to break out the single-computer games like the one I just finished–or maybe even (gasp!) the board games. So, to summarize:
Citations:
“Evolution of Multiplayer.” Ohio State, Ohio State, web.cse.ohio-state.edu/~crawfis.3/cse786/ReferenceMaterial/TechTeams/2014/EvolutioMultiplayer.pdf Gartenberg, Chaim. “The Future of Gaming Is Lonely (and Online Only).” The Verge, The Verge, 25 June 2015, www.theverge.com/2015/6/25/8844073/goodbye-local-multiplayer-we-will-miss-you-and-the-goldeneye-days-of-yore. |
AuthorI'm moving on to my 4th (and final) year as a Game Art & Design student at Durham School of the Arts. I'd like to call myself an artist, but I'm a programmer at heart. Archives
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