As the title of this post suggests, I’m making slow, slow progress with my summer project. I'm keeping up contact with various tutors via e-mail, mostly crying out for help with my Flash game that I’m struggling along with.
This is all I can offer at the moment, a few screen shots of what I’m working on, a side scrolling space game. It’s as basic as you can imagine, working under the generic title “Asteroid Storm”.
More to follow…
It has been longer than normal since my last post (like anyone but myself reads this damn blog anyway!) I have moved out of my overcrowded accommodation in
I’m back north for the summer, seeking work and hoping to get some cash saved up for this coming September, when I’ll be moving in with my wonderful girlfriend Claire - (big smiles all round)
My end of year presentation went better than expected; it gave me a chance to reflect on a rough first year and also to make goals and targets for my second. As predicted my chosen pathway is Games Design, I’d be lying to myself if I chose any other and BOY am I looking forward to it!
Since moving back home I have been working through a very interesting text book, Gary Rosenweig – “Flash MX, Actionscript for Fun & Games”.
My summer project is video game developed with actionscript programming, it’s going slow thus far, but I’m enjoying every frustrating second of it. I’ll post my progress here as and when.
Here is a little gem for my fellow game geeks out there; it’s a short comic strip in homage to probably my favourite video game series of all time
(oh when will the 3rd be coming out?!) only the enthusiasts will understand this one…
Deadline, says it all really…. I think I’m ready.
I will be handing in a printed hard copy of this and also a digital version on a CDR, along with the rest of my project files and also my final E4 products.
> E4 Record Deck (eSting)
> E4 Tetris (eSting)
> E4 Summer Web Banner
> E4 Mathematics Web Banner 01
> E4 Mathematics Web Banner 02
I came across this drawing (artist unknown) I believe it depicts what I have felt like recently, especially over the last three months. I like it.
Project complete!
I hope you like what I’ve churned out...
Here is the second two web banners that I have produced as part of my idents project. The concept is based around what I call “E4 Math”… don’t understand? its simple!
*example
E4 + Computer + MP3 player = E4 Podcasts
E4 + Microphone + DAB Radio = E4 Radio
… the list goes on… yadda, yadda, yadda!
There is no audio for these banners, silent web banners. I have also used the standard size of 468 x 60 pixels, a landscape banner, this size is a common template, thus designed to fit into most website’s allocated ad spaces.
I’ve finished my first E4 web banner… well, almost. There is still the matter of the ‘mute’ button, which I have added to give the user the choice to turn off the audio if they feel they want to. I have it working as a button, but the actual function of it muting the sound I have yet to accomplish and apply. It’s fair to say I’m having some trouble with it! So for now the 'mute' button doesn't work.
*I have yet to find a way of embedding working flash movies (.swf)*
* Click the image to start the web banner animation*
(.zip compressed)
I tried to consider many important aspects when designing the website. Such as easy accessibility, low page loading times, clear navigation, the different viewing resolutions that it will be viewed at and also being easily updateable.
All of the page designs were produced in Photoshop and then pieced together using Dreamweaver. The final product is a no-nonsense, basic, html website that does the job every time, anywhere…
The downside is that it isn’t a very “modern” website, i.e. isn’t Flash, CSS…etc, which is where I have tried to make up for lost ground with respectable page designs.
*click the image below to download my E4 Music website*
*comments and feedback are GREATLY encouraged*
For the last part of my ident project I have decided to produce some web based adverts / banners. These web banners will promote E4 and their identity, yet again to keep in-fitting with my Estings and E4 Website.
Working on these banners has brought me back to using Flash, which I feel I’m still at a basic level with... and yet again, as always Photoshop, which is where I feel right at home!
I’ve been researching into the standard sizes for banners and found that they have been formulated by the Internet Advertising Bureau. In the example below I have used a 160px by 600px, an established banner size.
*I have yet to find a way of embedding working flash movies (.swf)*
*click the image to start the web banner animation*
After a 3D animation lecture last week I managed to get my hands on
3D Studio Max. Here is what I produced. It took me a good while as this program is all new to me, but it was all very intriguing...
Here are my 3 estings that I entered into the competition. To be honest I have been holding out on posting them all up together as I’m not 100% about the ‘DJ/Record’ ident and the ‘Tetris’ ident.
I’ve been progressing with my E4 Music website, slowly but surly…
Of late I’ve been trying to come up with some logo designs for the two new E4 based radio stations, E4 Radio & Pure4. Seen as how I’ve been sticking to the logo branding that is already in place, I decided to see what I could conjure up by playing around with various fonts along side the current logos.
For all of you that care Rockstar Games have made the first two instalments of the classic Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series into free downloads for your Windows PC (sorry Mac users… suckers!)
My favourite thus far, its not complete I’m still playing around with it, not today though, its Sunday!
Yet again today I found myself go ballistic in Photoshop, playing about with more layout designs for my E4 Music website. Observe below…
Today I have spent a good few hours playing around with possible page layout designs for my E4 Music website. Here is a few screen shots of one design concept that I came up with. I have added some random content just for effect...
Since sending off my estings entry’s I’ve been looking into where I can go next with this E4 based project. I spoke to Jools (lecturer) about this and he pointed me in the direction of a news article that was in last Thursdays Guardian newspaper. E4 have just won a bid to launch two digital radio DAB stations of their own.
After a few weeks of putting together the Same But Different project, it is finally finished.
I spent this evening putting the image files together in Dreamweaver and then uploading it to a friend’s web space (which they have kindly said we could use) Looking back, the work load turned out to be a lot more than I first expected. James (the gentleman who I have been working with) had a very certain minds eye view about how this project was going to unfold, but to be honest I got stuck in when I could and challenged most decisions and ideas where it was due. I don’t think the outcome would have been the same without our collaboration...
Click on the image below to view the project, or click HERE.
ENJOY!
Quick update, I have been putting in the hours recently working with James on the Same But Different project. It is taking time but I believe the final product will be worth it, from what we have put together thus far, I think it will be something that I’ll be proud of being involved in. Even if it is a week behind schedule (apologies Jools)
“24 more hours …”
I’m enjoying it very much, eager to input, maybe a bit too much sometimes. Check out here and here to find out more… I have also posted a few preview screen shots.
I’m working with my comrade James on a photographic based project, entitled “Same But Different”. We have based our photos around tin cans…
Tin cans (like the ones you get baked beans in) are out there… and they are EVERYWHERE! They are in the shops and supermarkets; they are in the factories, in the bins, on our streets and in our rivers, by the road sides, in land fill sites and in people’s homes… all over the place, the list goes on…
I guess we are trying to show the life cycle of the tin can by documenting some of the many possible routes that a tin can might take. From being made, containing food, being purchased and opened, being thrown away, rusting away in a field somewhere or maybe even recycled.
We have logged certain pieces of information to go along with our photographs; we then plan to arrange them into an order and hopefully develop some sort of interactive web based piece from them and maybe even a print version.
Here are a few select photos, more to follow…
It took a total of five hours today to put my 3 estings onto a DV tape, ready to be posted off to the Channel 4 competition ...
To finally get my 3 idents onto a tape it took an army of computers, which included x1 Apple Mac (appalling machines) and x3 PCs. I had many problems throughout involving the use of different codecs and compression formats. In the end I had to use the audio from one compressed version and the video footage from a different version, it worked, perfectly, but it wasn’t the “correct” way of going about it.
All in all... I achieved the what I set out to do, which was to get my competition entry together. I even took a photo (above) to document what I sent off...
