oclusion map

I managed to make an oclustion map onto my model, however i couldn't get the images to open in photoshop in order to set them as a multiply and apply them to my asset in maya

Studio: modelling process 1

Studio: Modelling process2

Starting to model:

Here is my modeling process:

Console Representation: Xbox 360

The unveiling of the Xbox 360, seemed to place it somewhere in between the markets of the Wii and the PS3. This seems expected as it had neither the power of the, PS3 or the technological innovation of the Wii.

The rep from Microsoft (J Allard) claimed that the Xbox would be more " about the gamer" and that  it would "bring allot of different people closer together". Microsoft's focus was more on online gaming integration, and creating a community for gamer's. this would be achieved by taking the Xbox live service that had worked so well on the original Xbox and pushing it to more levels to enhance the game experience in order to make it more friendly to more people.

The advertisement for The 360 however didn't make the console out as being quite as inclusive as the Wii however. as you can see from the promotional material, The console is aimed still at predominantly a younger audience, despite Microsoft claims that it would attract a wider audience. this audience still appears to be young gamer's. the emphasis don't seem o be on attracting new customer bases rather than creating a better more welcoming and customization environment for its existing customer base. This is emphasis on a younger audience is supported by the fact that the 360 announced first on MTV, a network that is aimed firmly at young people.

Console Representation: Wii

The Wii on the other hand put no emphasis on graphics or processing power, as it was less powerful and graphically advanced than both its competitor consoles. Nintendo's hook was the fact that they would revolutionize the world f gaming and make gaming more accessible to those who would have previously not considered playing video games. The Wii would do this with its new motion control based controllers and far more family oriented games. The motion controls in the Wii's Wii Remote and Nun chuck would supposedly provide players with a far more intuitive gaming experience. This was seemingly on the other end of the spectrum to the PS3.

Though it as announced at the 2005 E3 it was not till the next year that the console would be officially unveiled. 

Console Representation: PlayStation 3

The first platform i looked at was the PlayStation. As research i looked back at footage of the unveiling (and lead up to) of all the three consoles that i intended to look at. From this i thought i would be able to see, and analyse the representation that these companies wanted to give out of their new product, i would then be able to compare that to the actual public perception of the platforms ad their titles.

The PlayStation (along with the other two seventh gen consoles) was released in May 2005 at the E3 convention. Being the first console Sony released after the popular PlayStation 2, the Sony Representatives places allot of emphasis on the differences between the former and the latter. Particular emphasis was placed on the technical superiority of this console in terms of processing power and graphics, not just over its predecessor, but over the X Box 360 as well. They didn't however mention any comparison between the PS3 and the Wii. This is a large hint towards the fact that Sony didn't seem to consider Nintendo rivals on the same scale, at least in terms of attracting the same buyer market. The PS3 was clearly pitched towards "hard core gamer's  gamer's who strive for more visually detailed games, games which the PS3 would have in abundance.

Consoles and Representation

I have decided that for my essay piece for BA5 contextual studies i want to write about image and representation in the game industry. Specifically relating to the graphics and aesthetics (which i consider to be two separate entities) of console exclusive games titles, in an attempt to understand what to expect from the next generation of games. I will look at these things in relation to how they are marketed, and in what way platform manufacturers use their exclusive titles to represent their perceived corporate  image. 

I will focus my essay on the three main games console distributes, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. I also want to write my essay in a journalistic style, like that used on the Escapist Magazine (an online magazine). Though i do not think it is a good idea to try to replicate, or be directly influenced by the writing style of any one of their journalists, my main reason in choosing them is their readership, and the fact that i believe it is the right type of audience to aim a journalistic piece such as this at. I had considered writing as if for a publication like the Guardian, who often have a "Games " sub-section within their technology section, however, judging by the topics i am covering i think my discussion would be better suited specifically to gamers, developers and the wider gaming community rather than the general public.

Platfrom: Consoles

Consoles are the next logical step to look at when it comes to platform. Video game consoles were really the first attempt to bring games to a mass market. Consoles were originally designed as a dedicated gaming computer for the home, as apposed to the large gaming machines found in video game arcades. However With technological progression they are currently trending towards being a composite entertainment hub, as consumer demand and expectation grows for devices to be able to do more. 

We are currently in a transitional stage between console generations,The seventh generation of platforms ( the Wii, PlayStation 3, and XBox 360) are still being produced and sold, as are games for them. However on the 18th of November 2012 Nintendo released its successor to the Wii, the Wii U. 

(Sony PS3 and PS3 slim)

(Microsoft XBox 360 and 360 slim)

(Nintendo Wii)

(Nintendo Wii U)

This puts us in an interesting position in the game industry, waiting to see what Sony and Microsoft bring to the table in the "console wars". This brings me on t the topic that i intend to look at for my essay title, which i think i would like to write in a journalistic format, pending further research into the medium.

There is allot of Speculation and Rumor surrounding the next two of the three main console competitors, What hardware they will have, and what kind of software they will support. From an art design point of view as well as from a game design, this is an especially interesting time in that, what the eighth generation of consoles will consist of will have a large and defining impact on the games we can design and make, as much as it will impact on players.

Where next...

Now that i have decided to steer my research in a direction more suited to the specialization i want to do i have started to look at the technology of the iPad, taking, and building on the work that i did on the platform with regards to its use in education. 

The IOS devices, and more specifically iPad has brought allot to the world of gaming in teams of technology, but also in terms of the new growing market in casual gaming that it, along with smart phones and consoles like the Wii have helped to provide access to the vast world of gaming. I researched this topic last year for our IOS game design project.

The graphical, and processing power that these devices, for their compact size have brought to the table is the leading factor in their popularity. The power of modern smart phones allows developers to design games that constantly push the boundaries of what is thought to be possible on a mobile device. 

One only needs to look at a game like infinity blade to see how far the mobile platforms have  become.

Infinity blade runs on the Unreal Engine 3, the engine, an engine know to support many triple A gaming titles for console and pc. 

Higher resolution, large, touch sensitive screens have also helped to revolutionize gaming and make it accessible and intuitive for everyone. 

The ease of use, (thanks to simple control schemes) of many current mobile games has been a large contributory factor to their success. Some of the best examples of of these are Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, and Cut the rope which lie at first second and fifth in terms of most downloads on Apples App store. 

 (Angry Birds, and Angry Birds Star Wars)

(Doodle Jump)

The popularity of games and devices is obvious at one look at statistics for the the App store. which which has expanded form 500 Apps (not just games) in July 2008 to 800,000+ in January 2013.

Technology like this has started to Blur the line between what is teamed in the industry as "hardcore" and "casual" games and gamers. In fact i believe that it has helped gaming to come full circle, and to embrace the more "casual" spirit of its past, which games like Pong, Super Mario and Pac Man boasted. Comparatively these games are far more like those mentioned above than many games that get called "hardcore" or "propper games", Battlefield, Halo, and 

It could be argued that "retro" games have more in common with today's "Art Games" like journy, or Braid.

Idea Progression.

I don't know if education in gaming is related enough to the project brief. Though it interests me as a topic, i feel that it would be hard to write this in an essay format, particularly when it comes to gathering primary research. I need to move my research in a more specific direction. Looking at education in gaming as a broader topic has been useful however. My research into physics puzzle games has made me think about the technology involved in making a game like that. I intend to look at existing games that use this kind of technology, what devices they work on, their possibilities and limitations, in this way i can approach more of the platform side of the brief. 

I want my research to be something that is more relevant to my area within the industry, something that i could better apply to my own goals and that will aid my in specializing. I am very visually orientated, i think it would help if i could tailor this brief to research into aesthetics, maybe more the visual or conceptual side of game design. 

Research: Part 3

As part of my research on gaming in education i read a variety of articles, blogs and other online media on the topic. 

One of the most interesting of these is a blog by Joel Levin a computer teacher in New York. His blog is called "The Minecraft Teacher" and can be found here: http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/. The blog goes through his techniques and is a great example of how games can enable learning. 

Levin's work mostly focuses on teaching teamwork and resource management in for environmental issues and earth sciences. 

I found many other examples or other games that weren't initially intended to be "traditional educational games" being used in school environments. i think these are good examples of how platform can be played with to achieve end results based on the requirement of the user. Minecraft came up many times, interestingly being used for many different applications  i think this is defiantly a testament to how robust it is as a tool of play and a tool to enable learning.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121446-Swedish-School-Employs-Mandatory-Minecraft-Course

In Sweden Minecraft is also taught at an older level for to teach teens about the problems faced in civil egeneering now and in the future. 

This set of students held their classes in a virtual vearsion of their campus when it was flooded by hurricane Oswald.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121802-Australian-University-Holds-Class-in-Minecraft

I have also found TED talks a valuable source of information on the benefits of gaming to the education system. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games.html

Presentation

Below is my presentation, because i never got the chance to actually present it I have edited it from bullet point form to roughly say my script in areas that would have needed extra clarification, enjoy.   

Research for Presentation: Part 2

Having watched the video from extra credits "Video Games and Learning" i started to think about educational games differently. I thought about which games have taught me something, and what out of that i still remember. 

Looking at a wide range of "educational games" i think they can roughly be split into two camps, and that split is based on their objective as a game.  On the one hand there are those who set out to educate, using video games as a tool to engage their audience. Browser games like the Fantastic Contraption" a physics puzzle game: 

This game gives the player a variety of tools i the form of  different types of poles and wheels of different materials (the game constraints) to achieve the goal (to get the object into the target area). 

There are many other physics puzzle games like Fantastic Contraption, Tinkerbox from Autodesk is  another such example, similar but more robust variant, and is made for the iPad, a tool which in itself is an interesting way in which to facilitate learning through ply, and one that i intend to look at in more detail.

There are allot more examples of browser based educational games on the BBC Schools website, categorized by subject and age. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/games/

Their core purpose is education, and they simply use the medium of video games to facilitate that learning. This method is most commonly used in games aimed at younger audiences (though there are obvious exceptions, see the before mentioned "Brain Training" games), and often focuses on subjects that those players would otherwise find harder, or be less inclined to engage with. These are games that try to make learning fun. 

On the other hand are The games that do not set out to educate first and foremost but to entertain. These games are harder to find, without playing them, because one only really finds out their true value when you have, maybe even without realizing, been taught something by them. 

Games like these are almost more powerful tools of learning than games that set out to entertain as they carry the power of their audience being interested and wanting to play for the sake of the game and how interesting or fun it is. And people in general are far more inclined to learn about something they are interested in in the first place. 

One of the best examples of this type of game, in my eyes is the Age of Empires series. It is a historically based Real time strategy. The creators of the series did not intend it as an educational game as Bruce Shelly co designer says (at Leipzig Game developers conference 2007)  "The games weren't so much about history as about human experience"  (though designing a game with so much historical content doubtless required vast amounts of research.)

(Age of empires 1997)

(Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings)

(Age of Empires III)

What age of empires does is enabling learning, as Daniel Floyd stated. And this is a successful way that keeps the best of both worlds by making you want to learn more about a certain topic because the game has got you interested in it already. Fortunately Age of Empires had that covered too, with an in game index of historical information about the characters places, buildings and battled that the player see's in the game. 

(Cut scenes from AoE II had narration from the point of view of  observers various historical figures)

The Assassins Creed series is another good example of gaming facilitating learning. Though it is obviously a work of fiction, and its inclusion of real historical characters allongsid the fictional characters of the game is that also, the inclusion of certain historical figures within the franchise is enough to consider the game a source of passive learning. 

An example of this kind of exposure in assassins creed is the inclusion of the Borgia Family as antagonists in Assassins Creed 2 and Brotherhood. The Borgia's were a prominent house in renascence Italy who were suspected of many of the crimes and deeds implied in the Assassins creed games. Roderic Borgia also did as is shown in the games become Pope Alexander VI. Though the Link between the Borgia's and the disbanded order of the Knights Templar is a fallacy, the rivalry between them and the house of Medici is a slice of history worked into the fabric of the game, alongside the various locations. 

(Real Borgia flag)

(Borgia flag in the game)

Assassins creeds real power is through Tangential learning. by exposing players to certain degrees of historical events, characters and places, this teaches these things to the player, and facilitates their potential desire to find out the real history behind the franchise, which has often been a hot topic among players and fans of the series within the game industry. 

What does this have to do with Platform and distribution i hear you ask? well i think distribution is key here, because it seems to me that the problem with educational games in the industry is the way that they are distributed, the way that they are marketed, and the image they have in the eyes of players.