FURTHER CLIENT PROJECT THOUGHTS
I’m still mulling over the different routes that I could go down with my upcoming 3rd year client project, but I’m still on the fence, so to speak, when it’s comes to making a decision. (Maybe some tutor guidance / advice might be of help… hint, hint!)
No offence to basically ALL past game students on my course, but I don’t fancy going for the Unreal map / level option. This seems to be the only type of project I’ve seen produced in recent years from NTU games students. Some of them where top notch maps, don’t get me wrong, but still… YAWN!
There are also other reasons why I’m less tempted to pursue the UT route, except avoiding the norm, as just pointed out…
My 3D skills are basic; I can navigate my way around 3DSM (version 8+) comfortably, but when it comes to complex modelling and all the other cool animation jazz, I’m not cut out for it, or better put, I’m not that interested in the 3D / Art side of the industry. The standard of games art today is outstanding! You have to be the best of the best to even stand a chance of getting a 3D / Art job interview! It's not my forte, so I don’t feel I should waste time pursing that route.
Most UT projects (even stand alone MODS) seem to always be FPS orientated, maybe because that’s what the Unreal engine is best at, that was it’s initial purpose after all. Around 90% of the Western games market is FPS based. I feel like that’s a genre that already has enough people pushing the boundaries. Also, most of my design ideas and thoughts don’t seem to be FPS related. Don’t get me wrong... again, I love FPS but I’m enthralled with a lot of different game genres and I’m always playing around with diverse concepts for puzzle and strategy systems, these ventures intrigue me a lot more.
Why am I spouting all this self reflective crap I ask myslef?! Because I’m trying to argue reasons for my client project to possibly
I want to develop my coding skills further, which is going to be vital no doubt for my prospective role as a designer (here’s hoping). I had great successes with my Flash game project (Duck Pond) during the 2nd year and I feel it’s the project where I gained the most technical knowledge, programming / coding. Flash also acts as a good blank canvas for me to test out a huge range of design ideas and concepts.
I also have several solid game systems that I’d like to work into the project, only if plausible of course. One of the designs would be a re-worked digital version of my card game Connect Wars. As developed for a brief set last year... further explanation and reasoning HERE.
I guess at the end of the day it’s all down to the client (if I can ever secure one) to set the brief… or is it? Would it be best to locate a client that is already in the industry? Or would it be better to find a client from a different sector, who requires a multimedia / games based product but tailored towards their needs and outputs?
I’m making slow progress over the summer with regards to my ‘pixel monkey skillz’, I really need to start getting some practical work down. Working this s***ty job to keep myself afloat in the absence of student financial support is taking up all of my time, but I’m trying to keep ideas going when I can...
1 comment:
sounds like your pretty much on it mate, personally id say flash is bad...
HOWEVER i do have some thoughts/ideas that may provoke you,
1: i played some browser based 3d games a while ago, i noticed alot of them are on the shockwave games site.
2: ive been playing with the crysis engine and i think you can do pretty much whatever you want with the camera so you get out of the whole crappy generic 1st person thing and still use a good up to date engine. oh yeah and crysis's language is LUA, my friend tells me this is a good programming language, i wouldnt know :s
3: learn to make awsome websites in flash, i know its not really game orientated but you could work platforming game ethics into the design of a web page or something (if you use that idea and make lots of money you owe me a couple of quid :)
apart from that you could always try writing new scripts for things in games that already exist, like cryengine and unreal. that would show off your potentiol to adapt and as far as i can tell thats what company's look for alot, that doak bloke from free rad told us at game city he would like to see our ability to adapt, make stuff in an engine, the industry changes so much you could be the king of a certain program, next year they dont even use it anymore and your useless to them...
basically i think what you need to do is just show potentiol employers that your fucking smart!
take it easy bro, oh yeah check out mah blog, i put dinosaurs in crysis, gave them machine guns and made them shout in cantonese LOL!
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