Week Eighteen- Sound In Games

Sound is an integral part of any modern game. The main things it achieves are: making the game experience more thrilling (or emotionally involving) and providing information for the player to help them or aid their experience. Without sound, the gaming experience would be less realistic. It can even help make the game space seem more 3D with the help of surround sound systems or cleverly programmed volume. For example, when turned away from a character talking to you, if the sound becomes quieter, it gives the illusion that you are hearing it first hand.

In some games sound is used to emphasise and dramatise moments. In The Legend Of Zelda- The Wind Waker, the music was changed by what manouvres you permormed in combat: when you struck an ememy with your sword the music would react with a single note from a trombone or a range of notes from a flute or similar instrument.

In some sences, games are somewhat behind the sound of cinema. Games are afraid to be subtle and tend to show objects clearly for what they are. Films use sound to show what isn't being seen: a monster scuttling over floor boards, a distant explosion or a child crying in another room. In games what you see is what you hear. However some games have incredible soundtracks and musical scores much like the ones you would hear in the cinema. Games such as Final Fantasy and Halo have achieved heavily recognisable ochestral themes that could be music in their own right.

I think that without music, half the experience of a game is gone. I can't really imagine playing FZero GX without the electronic music keeping my heart pumping. I'll be honest... when it comes to COD3, I take most of the fun from the "CHING" sound of the rifles when the final shell leaves the gun or laughing at the terrible german phrases (a bit strange I realise...). The sound in games has always been important to me. It can kickstart nostalgia from previous games in a series or help create emotional content in an otherwise wooden game.

Week 17- Game Engines

When companies make games, they will often use a previously developed Game Engine in order to save time and money within the competition of the game industry. A Game Engine is the main frame of programming upon which the mechanics of a game works. By implementing this frame from the begininning, the company will save time on creating collision detection, animation, sound and how the scenes are rendered within the game among other things.

One of the main advantages of this is that focus can be directed towards the artwork or storyline rather than programming. Additional features can be added to the programming but the core mechanics of the game are still there. For example, Gears of War runs on the Unreal Engine but the camera angles and movement are presented in a different way.



Ideas can be pushed forward and developed without pressure. However creating a completely new game engine also has its advantages. It allows the creators to do whatever they wish and make new features that have never been done before. For example, in Far Cry 2 they have created a new engine in which fire spreads realistically and graphics can be rendered in a completely new way. Had they not created their own engine they would not "be able to push the limits of the current technology" (to quote an interview with the one of the developers http://uk.gamespot.com/video/942192/6185293/far-cry-2-interview-2).

Van Project

Finished my van and I am quite proud of it so I thought I would upload a picture. Used an ambient occlusion map for the first time and struggled with it a bit as I had made quite a few errors when making the wireframe. I had misunderstood how polygons work and assumed that I had to flip them in order for the inside to be visible: I learnt later that there is a "Force 2 sided" check box which makes polygons viewable from both sides which would have saved me a lot of time.

I did really struggle with this van but I am really happy with the result.

GENIUS CHIMPS!

Managed to catch a program on TV when I was at a friends house and it facinated me soo much I just have to write about it. The program was about a Japanese scientist that is studying chimps and their memory. He had trained all of these chimps to use touch screen computers and got them to play memory games, much like the ones on Brain Training, rewarding them with fruit whenever they did something right.

The chimps were trained to press numbers on the screen in order that were placed randomly. This is what facinated me, the chimps could remember characters and japanese symbols for colours and perform these tasks at amazing speeds! Not only that but the young chimps would watch their parents playing these games and would learn the symbols by example.

The reason behind these tests was to test the chimp's working memory. Working memory is what we use to remember everyday things such as our PIN numbers and where a shop is on the high street. The research started to suggest that chimps actually had a better working memory than us and that they may even be more intelligent than us in some ways.

To test this, the scientists performed an identical test on both humans and chimps. They created a test in which numbers were shown to the subject and they were randomly placed in front of them. The numbers were then hidden and the subject had to show where they were in order. Incredibly, only one out of fifteen humans could complete this test, where as, a large percentage of the chimps could complete it very quickly and easily.

They then went on to show a memory expert, who could remember an entire pack of cards, fail to beat the chimps at a memory game. The numbers were shown for a quarter of a second and the chimps could remember where they were every time.

I think it is facinating how much about the world we are finding out and the possibilities we had never considered. These chimps proved to me that maybe we shouldn't assume too much about what is going on in the world.

Week 16- Gaming Cultures

When you think of a person who plays games, firstoff you would probably associate him/her with loneliness and social difficulty. However gaming allows a new type of culture to develop in the real world.

Personally, some of the best times that I have had with my friends have been at our "Gaming Nights". We started doing these while I was doing my GCSE's when Halo 2 first came out. It started with about 4 of us playing over each others houses after school on fridays and bringing all our consoles and just chilling out with pizza. We then realised that if we all chipped in, we could play 16 player on Halo 2. This, we then found, was one of the best decisions any competitively fueled man could make. It was fantastic being able to have team games, in which, 2 teams were in different rooms in order to keep tactics secret, occasionally yelling to the other team across the hall "you suck!!" or "can you handle that?!". Great fun.

I then started inviting friends from outside school who liked to play Halo. These nights have introduced people that would never have met otherwise and that are now very close friends. We still do gaming nights whenever possible and we still end up hysterically laughing when a team member makes a complete fool of themself. As time has gone on, I have realised, it's not just us that does this often: Many of my other groups of friends have started holding similar events which has given even more reason for them to hang out with people they never would usually through inviting others along.

Ultimately, the games arent mainly why we enjoy these nights. They act as a catalyst for our jokes and competitiveness and it makes for a great time and an excuse to just laugh with your friends with pizza and beer (which is what we all want right?!). Whenever I see one of these friends again, it's almost guaranteed that at some point the question will come up "so whens the next gaming night?!". In fact, if it weren't for the gaming nights, I probably would not have stayed in contact with some of them after I moved schools in sixth form.

Many other gaming cultures have emerged in society generally, such as online social events and MMORPG. Gaming has extended into the rest of our culture. There arent many places you can go and not hear some kids talking about the games they are currently playing and film continues to take influence from games.

Online gaming has opened all kinds of new possiblities. One of my best friends even keeps in contact with his brother almost completely though meeting up online to play a couple of games, or chat over Xbox Live. Although many over indulge in this and it can be unhealthy in many respects, it has become a vital part of the modern world. "Virtual friends" can know you just as well as somebody you see every day. Games could even (dare I say it) help you make friends and meet people.

Week 15- The Game Industry

Currently the gaming industry appears to be very profitable with a greater amount of people playing games than ever before. This is mostly due to more family-friendly games becoming available through consoles like the Wii and DS.

The structure of games development is different depending on what company you go to but the basics are the same. A guest lecturer from Sega Rally explained that different roles are assigned depending on how important they are. If several objects have to be made for the game but it would save the company time, they often outsource to other companies which means that they will make several objects within the game but are not part of the same development team.

The main diciplines in terms of Art include: Modeller, World Builder, Front End Artist, Special FX Artist, Animator and Concept Artist. They are then guided by a Senior/Principle Artist. Programmers then take what has been created and make all the gameplay mechanics of the game. Programmers and Artists are under the Game Director or Producer.

blog? what? oh yea... that thing I do sometimes

Due to an extreme absence of me, I feel I have to inform all of the minor changes in my life, whether you like it or not! READ IT!!!

My experience of halls has become... interesting: I've found a little too much pleasure in aggravating my flat mates: putting salt in Jacks drinks over and over has proved...amusing. Also putting his beer in the toilet when he got a bit bossy was fun. This has started a chain of events in which nearly every time something is stolen from my room! grrr I want my monkey back!!





Aswell as this my internet has failed to work for a good 5 days in a row... and for somebody that is a bit too in to facebook, this tends to give me a cold sweat like some kind of addict: the kind who's only your friend so that he can "borrow" your DVD player.

The course has become increasingly difficult and I am finding it difficult to juggle everything at the moment but I'm filled with determination to become better at every aspect. I've really struggled making the Transit Van but I feel like I'm alot better than I was before I started. Now I just have to texture it... yay. It is really strange because I want to be able to do these things but the process of learning is a real uphill climb. However, I am so happy at what I have learnt and it is great being able to show my friends from outside uni what I am up to.



I am excited about doing the workshops that are coming up. We are going to be having inductions which will allow us to use more traditional materials, which I love. We had a life drawing class with charcoal a few days ago which was great! I have missed being able to get a bit messy in order to make something look great. The current drawing project is to do a self portrait, which is quite exciting because it allows you to express yourself quite literally in whatever material you want!

"WOOT".. as some idiots say.