Bipdeal Creature - Sculpting finished!

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Here is the finished sculpt, now.. to Topogun!

Bipedal Creature - Muscles and Leg Armour

Another not-so-big update, I've been working on his body quite a bit - the major forms are there it's just a matter of working out how everything fits together.

I also whipped up the base meshes for his leg armour.

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Bipedal Creature - First Hours of Zbrush

This is still at a very early stage; I'm just posting my first days progress in ZBrush.

I still need to do a lot of work, especially on the head and torso.

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Bipedal Creature - Small Update

I've adjusted the basemesh based off criticisms from various forums.

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Alien Race - Bipedal Creature

I've recently started working on my next big project to add to my portfolio; it's a creature from Design Studio Press' amazing book 'Alien Race' and the concept was done by Thom Tenery.

I haven't got a scanner so I had to make do with taking a photo of the page the concept is on:

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I've currently just finished the base mesh to bring into Zbrush, I was planning on waiting until I'd finished the creature before adding all the harnesses and such.

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Alien Rocker

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This is my latest finished product.

All the adventures of his creation are chronicled in this thread on Polycount.

There will be more* soon!

*It won't be an alien.

Alien Fisherman - Finished!

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There it is - my alien fisherman finished. I'm a few minutes away from hitting "Batch Render" which start rendering out a turnaround of him but I snapped off these still frame renders of him to show off on my portfolio.

Not much else to say - I'm happy.

Toybox Fightsters

I couple of weeks back my group and I finished our work on our major game assignment. Our game was called "Toybox Fightsters" and the goal was to have the player be able to customise their character (called a "fightster") and battle with them in an arena-type format.

My role as lead artist and lead character artist was to create the textures for all the characters we came up with (about twenty or so). I spent two weeks creating around twenty-eight characters - by the end of it I was able to create one in an hour.

About four ended up being used in the final build.

Here are the Fightsters which used the basic body mesh, there were others which used a robe body mesh e.g. a wizard, king, death but I shall post them in a later update.

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I also came up with this nifty logo for the game.

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Gamer's Log - Minecraft

The best game to feature tree-punching mechanics.

Minecraft, where do I begin? Minecraft is the most talked about game right now, it seems no one can escape its 16x16 pixel grasp. I had heard whispers of what the game involved and viewed quite hilarious videos involving various structures being unintentionally razed but it wasn't until I heard my friends talking to each other about all the insane contraptions and structures they had built and planned on building in the future that I decided I must buy it. This seems to have been the way Minecraft has gathered ninety percent of its popularity; friends tell friends who tell other friends and so and so forth until we have over one million registered players. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention the game is still in Alpha.

So why is this game so damn good? The first thing I noticed is the way it doesn't force you to think a certain way or throw you into a pre-conceived universe. You begin the game in the middle of a procedurally generated environment made up of cubes coloured with a 16 pixel by 16 pixel texture map, with nothing but a block hand sticking out in front of the screen. What you do from this point on is entirely up to you, the only constant being that at night time there will be monsters and they will try to kill you. The addition of monsters to the game add a welcomed necessity factor to the already enjoyable and addicting building mechanic. During the first night you'll probably only have enough time to dig out a stone dwelling in the side of a cliff with a couple of torches scattered around but by the fifth or sixth night you could possibly have a multi-layered castle fitted with mechanised doors and a moat running along the perimeter.

The brilliance of Minecraft, in my opinion is only unleashed once you're playing on a server with a group of your friends, working together to create a land of wonder and mystery. On the current server I play on for example, I've created the aptly named "Ben Island" which is a hidden underground labyrinth, guarded by giant cobblestone walls and furious cacti.

I'm feeling more of a need to write about all of my creations other than the game itself and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's this kind of creativity and social interactivity that has made this game such a phenomenon and is absolutely a wake-up call for all game designers out there. Minecraft is a video game, can only be a video game and will ever only be a video game. Markus Persson (the creator of Minecraft) has fully embraced the medium he's working in and is being rewarded for it.

Alien Fisherman - Cage Mesh

Cage mesh is complete! At a grand total of 3417 polygons, here is the Alien Fisherman in a stance which says "I'm about to get UV mapped":

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Kind of makes that whole "Pants" update even more lame.

Alien Fisherman - PANTS!

Not the most exciting update ever but here is the cage mesh for the Alien Fisherman's trousers:

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Alien Fisherman - Retopology [REDUX]

I've decided that I'm not the biggest fan of ZBrush's retopology tools, nevertheless here is the finished cage mesh for the Alien Fisherman:

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It's not perfect, I still have a lot to learn in regards to edge flow and intelligent placement of polygons but it's one of the few humanoid characters I've ever modelled and it's miles ahead of the last humanoid character I modelled so I'm satisfied in that regard.

It ended up being 3,946 polygons, giving me plenty of polygons to play with for the trousers, straps, boots and fishing rod.

I'm going to sleep.

Business Cards!

Hello internet.

I'm heading up to GCAP (Game Connect Asia Pacific) next week and I feel like I'll need some business cards to hand out to all the important people I'm likely to meet. I checked out some websites where you can order cards based off a pre-made template and they look horribly generic and boring. I don't like to think of myself as horribly generic and boring so I decided to make my own:

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Here is how this particular design developed, I had the typography and composition down within a few minutes but it took my so long to decide what to add as my own personal touch... I ended up with a slug:

Oh yes, these cards also reveal my new online portfolio internet website which is still in development... well, it has all of my concept art and sketches up, I just need to sort out the rendering of my 3D artwork.

Alien Fisherman - Retopology

In lieu of my ZBrush study I have discovered that the program actually has some nifty retopology tools, I'm slowly working my way around the mesh, adding polygons here and there. The face tendrils are giving me the most strife but I feel there's enough information there for the time being. Here's what I have so far:

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As you can see I have finished the head and I'm working my way down the neck 'til I reach his... hips? Or torso stub, I'm not quite sure what to call it. I'll do each of the objects separately i.e. the straps, the wading trousers and then it's on to UVing and texturing.

Here's a neat animated gif of my work in progress:

Voren'thal - 40/M/Silvermoon City

With the release of the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, Cataclysm looming ever closer it became harder and harder to resist the call of the Lich King. Roughly a month ago I answered the aforementioned call and my alter ego Voren'thal was on the other end. He's a pretty cool guy, see for yourself:

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So what have I been doing over the past few weeks to prepare for Azeroth to be torn asunder by the ever-growing Maelstrom, you ask?

Smelting!

I smelted so much ore. I dropped my previous professions of Alchemy and Leatherworking and picked up Mining and Engineering instead. It was a good move.

I've also acquired a couple of neat new mounts such as this Swift Brewfest Ram:

And this Bronze Drake:

Since I quit playing over a year ago, Blizzard has added a few fantastic new features which make WoW much more streamlined and accessible such as the Dungeon Finder. The Dungeon Finder is an excellent new way to find a group of fellow players to plough through an instance with, you simply select which dungeon you would like to run (or select 'random dungeon' if you're not picky which will reward you with gold, Emblems of Frost and a nice buff for the duration of your run) and your role and you then join a queue for that instance. The best part of this feature is that it works cross-server, meaning you could have a party of five players with each being from a different server.

There's also an Auction House in Dalaran purely for engineers.

It makes me happy.

I'll upload my thoughts on Dead Rising 2 within the next couple of days. Here's a hint: You can kill zombies with two chainsaws duct-taped to a paddle and it has co-op.

P.S.

For the ladies.

Alien Fisherman - Final Sculpt

Yikes, it's been nearly a full week since my last post but that's not due to a lack of working on my part, in fact I have a finalised sculpture of my alien fisherman - BAMF!

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I'm pretty happy with it, seeing as though it's my first ZBrush sculpt an everything but God DAMN did this guy's face annoy me. I started sculpting last Tuesday and I didn't get a face I liked until sometime in the afternoon today.

Here are the many iterations of Alien Fisherman's face:

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And these are just the ones that I saved. There was probably about ten more between versions two and three, eugh! It's kind of funny, I was so fed up with changing his face that I just cut off his face which lead to version four and it wasn't until I looked back on it later on that I realised I liked the look so I combined the tentacle look with the nearly final version six and we have the final fact of Alien Fisherman.

I still have (to learn how) to pose him and texture him but for now I'm content enough to sleep.

Goodnight, Internet.

Alien Fisherman - Junk Mesh

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This alien fisherman is becoming an obsession.

I just finished the junk mesh which I'll import into ZBrush and use as a base for my sculpting. There are four separate objects; the body, the trousers, the trouser straps and the boots. The mesh is completely clean, no faces with more than four sides, no holes and pretty decent edge flow if I do say so myself with edge loops added in areas where more detail will be needed i.e. the head, hands.

Working time: 2 hours.

Polycount: 1876

I'll begin sculpting on Thursday.

Alien Fisherman - Messing around in ZBrush

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I'm currently learning ZBrush and I was itching to put my current knowledge of the program to use so I spent about an hour sculpting the head of my Alien Fisherman and here's the results.

Alien Fisherman - Concept

As the title suggests this is the first instalment of a series of developmental blog posts chronicling the conception, refinement and finalisation of an alien fisherman.

I've been needing a concept to develop into a 3D sculpt for my research assignment and showreel and this is he. I knew I wanted a classic alien-looking character and I was gathering images from Star Wars and old kids shows like Plasmo for inspiration. Despite presenting my eyes and brains with such delicious eye candy I really wasn't getting any good ideas so I fell back on my method of just drawing shapes until something is spawned upon the canvas and voila! it worked once again - I was given this as

a starting point:

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I was really liking the design at this point, he was unique and simple. Now, I honestly don't know what lead to the next stage of this guy's design but I decided that I wanted him wearing wading trousers. Wading trousers are hilarious, the image of huge pants hanging off a slim frame by means of only two shoulder-straps has always tickled my funny bone and it makes for a distinct silhouette so, go time.

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Obviously drawing baggy trousers is not one of my strong points but he was starting to look more like a character, and that was all I wanted at this poi

nt, I knew I could stress over drawing good-looking wading-trousers once the concept had been finalised. Of course, now we have a fisherman without a fi

shing rod which is... unprecedented to say the least. I knew I didn't want him to have a humanoid fishing rod as I feel like I'd just be placing an alien head on a redneck fisherman which would seem more like a shallow punchline than an interesting character.

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Regarding the fishing rod (which I'm referring to as a "rod" purely for my own ease), the mechanism works as such; the end of the rod emits a force which holds the bait in place and also emits a light which shines a spotlight on the bait attracting the fish. Once the bait has been bitten the indicator lights on the shell of the rod signal as such and a button is pressed which projects the harpoon out, piercing the fish.

And so, after a few more minutes of colouring and about thirty or so minutes total, I present the concept of the alien fisherman:

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Gamer's Log - Mirror's Edge

A shining example of why not all games should have a story.

I wanted to like Mirror's Edge, and I did for the first few levels; I was free-running across rooftops, sliding down pipes and wincing every time I pressed the wrong button and fell hundreds of feet to the ground below. Mirror's Edge at it's core is a fun, beautiful and innovative game. It's a shame then that the whole experience is marred by an intrusive, linear and inherently boring plot.

I need to stress that the core gameplay of Mirror's Edge is fun, you play in the first-person as what we Earthlings refer to as a parkourist although within the world of Mirror's Edge they are known as "Runners". Unimaginative name aside, this is where the game truly shines. That is, the running. In Mirror's Edge you are running a lot and you are required to constantly think about where you're going while doing your best to avoid the platitude of obstacles the levels throw at you. It's amazing what a change of perspective does to differentiate Mirror's Edge from Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed, the rush you get from jumping over a thirty foot gap between buildings intensifies tenfold when seen through the eyes of the character doing so. Likewise, the horror of not quite making it the full thirty feet is intensified just as much when seen through the eyes of the plummeting protagonist. It's a good thing that the experience of falling is a notable one as it will happen many, many times. Death is a frequent occurrence in this game as one would assume in a game where split second decisions are always required and the difference between pressing the left trigger 0.1 seconds after you jump and 0.2 seconds after you jump is the difference between life and death.

Another positive attribute Mirror's Edge boasts is its beautiful art-style. The world you play within is entirely white, with patches of red, blue and green added to not only break up what would be a monotone landscape but also to direct you where to go with a concept known as "Runner vision". Runner vision is the equivalent of an arrow pointing you in the direction you need to go, though not as blatant. When you build up speed and momentum in Mirror's Edge, the objects in the world which you are able to interact with become red and therefore stand out like a sore thumb. These objects may include a box you can jump off, a pole you can climb up or a plank of wood you can leap from. Runner vision is a great way for players to have their hand held through these levels without them feeling like they have no control or choice in where they're going.

If the two preceding paragraphs were all there was to this game it would be fantastic, there could be the 20 or so levels to complete, each with their own time trials and online leaderboards to compare your time with others. There could have even been a level-editor to ensure eternal replayabilty. Nope. Instead of the game being centred around a solid gameplay mechanic we have a dull story about a city overrun with corrupt officials and a rebel group trying to blah blah blah... It's been done hundreds of times before and this instance is no more interesting than the last. Regardless of the fact that the game has an unnecessary story albeit a horrible one at that, the major problem is how much the story interferes with the playing of the actual game. Despite the cutscenes placed between each level, on occasion the game will suddenly break away from the fast-paced adrenaline-fuelled gameplay to an in-game cutscene filled with nothing but dialogue where you can't even control the direction your looking. In a game with such a heavy emphasis of the concept of the player being the avatar they control it is such a slap in the face whenever I'm brought out of my immersion and placed within a scene where I have no power. It's incredible how different these scenes are when you are able to walk and look around, the Half-Life series did this to perfection; seldom was I not moving around the room thwacking everything with my crowbar (people included) when I was forced into an area of pure dialogue, and guess what?

It was fun.