E3 is HERE!

I know I know... it's been a handful of days since my last post. I've done it again... I imply just can't get the hand of this blog thing.. posting all of my thoughts up there on a near daily basis to try and keep up with all that the gaming world has to offer.

I try though. I will say, with all of the lame crappy stuff I've seen so far from the E3 press conferences and game releases... only one truly stands out to report on.


WATCH DOGS.

It is a new IP open world title from Ubisoft centered around the digital footprint we all leave behind. You play as Aiden Pierce, a hacker who can infiltrate the computers running the power grid, phone system, personal devices and pretty much anything that is connected to a computer. 

Though watching this trailer seems like a game-play trailer of a playable version of TV's "Persons of Interest" the graphics and fluidity are phenomenal. Touted as a PS3/XBOX 360 title, the game certainly challenges the engines of these systems and focuses on the next gen's capability.

It was a refreshing look at a tired sea of FPS's and rhetoric of the same old same old from the rest of the press releases. I hope we see more of this style of art/gameplay in the days to come.

-Chad

Where to go from here?

(From email, sorry no photos)

<I>Article Question:
Which should I post on next? Part II of the next gen article, images and video on the current state of the portfolio, or begin the series on the 2012 computer build?
</i>

Plugging away and working hard at multiple projects at once makes it hard to finalize and complete any single task; especially when they are all large and extended in length; ie. My portfolio for SCAD, studying for the GRE, freelance projects, board game design ideas, UDK level... I'ts hard to complete anything without jumping from one task to another.

As I work on my UDK level for my portfolio entry, (part of the admission process for my MFA @ SCAD) I have been experiencing SERIOUS feature creep. So much so that I had to step back from the process and "cool off". I started with a simple building walk through in a desert setting, then I created meshes and materials, added lighting and terrain and textures to add to the look of the level. Each newly designed static mesh had to be modeled in 3DS Max, textured and exported, then imported and placed. The level still seemed vacant though, so I researched kismet, added some locked doors, and attached triggers to keys and animated the doors opening upon using the correct key. Now that I have "gameplay" in the form of a "lock and key" search I want to build on the premise and create a variety of keys and color code them to different areas in a labyrinth form... If only I had 6 months... As opposed to days! It would certainly move quicker if I had a better system with which to develop on. This 1.8 gHz laptop with 1GB ram crrraaaaawwwwlllllssssss....

Moving on from the UDK level, and the frustration of lag, I figured I would animate some sequences of models and scenes I had developed in 3DS max. Creating fly-throughs and 360 degree model views are also encouraged for the portfolio submission. Sounds good to me. Set up some lighting, a nice smooth camera on a path, mental ray lights/shadows/material, a few tweaks an voila! Oh yeah.... Slow computer. 28 hours later I am 126 frames into the 301 frame animation. Grrrrr. Thank god I'm rendering to stills so at least I can stop start and not lose the time. I wish I could upgrade this machine!

So needless to say, the computer I am working on is too slow. It was, after all, a $400 purchase 3 years ago... Nothing extravagant. Certainly purchased for general use, not as a workhorse. Too bad the Toshiba did fart out... Otherwise I'd be on that and doing fine. But as I close this post I contemplate my next one... Do I finish the 2nd part of the "next ge article"? Do I post images/video of the projects? Or do I begin the series on the new build. Either way.... I have to do all of them at some point, but I ponder which to do first. Suggestions?

-C

Sent on my Sprint® BlackBerry® because Im too lazy to get off of my couch and use my computer...or Im driving.

Time flies

Hey followers-

I know its been a bit since I've posted, but it hasn't been without just cause. I've been wrapped up in UDK working on the level design and "reel" for my portfolio for SCAD.

I know I left you hanging with the last true post pointing at the possible PS4 announcement and my thoughts on the next wave arriving... I haven't forgotten you!

Later today I will post a few videos of the walk-through, and discuss some of my work flow in an entire UDK focused post. It won't be a tutorial, more of a review of how I got to where I am.

Before E3 I will post my final thoughts on the next gen idea, but for now I am on deadline with taking the GRE and finishing the portfolio... Not to mention still teaching and working the other job, and doing the freelance work! Needless to say I am swamped!

I will bring the level design post later today/tonight so stay tuned. Happy game playing peeps!

-C
Sent on my Sprint® BlackBerry® because Im too lazy to get off of my couch and use my computer...or Im driving.

Are we ready for the "Next Gen" of Consoles?

With my last blog I had mentioned the possible release of the new PS4 this fall/winter. It seems to be about "on target" as far as previous release dates are concerned, but are we really ready for a "Next Gen" console release war again? Though the hardcore gamers say bring it on, would the general consensus of the masses embrace a release of a console from the big three in the next 6-12 months, or shun it and stay wed to the system they currently use; and are most likely quite happy with? Or will the power of the new systems just be juxtaposed by the PC computing strength? 

This is Part 1 of a two-part post.

Quick console release history:
(For a complete list, this is a great page.)
The first generation of home gaming systems fell in the 70's with the Magnavox Odessey and the Atari 2600 soon followed. Everything was hunky-dory for a while, then the crash hit. Attribute it to what you will; too many cooks in the kitchen, a multitude of sub-par released cartridges for the systems came out, people generally desiring being in the arcade as opposed to watching cheap 4 and 8 color knock offs on their small TVs at home...What ever the reason you want to blame it on, gaming at home was nearly eradicated. The disillusioned public didn't want to "play".

Then the paradigm shift occurred...1985 brought the release of the groundbreaking and game changing NES to our homes. The race was on. Sega jumped in, NEC wanted some, Atari and even Apple played a part in there too... everyone wanted a peice. Every handful of years or so, ever since the NES, a surge of computing and graphical power is released with a new console system; each one competing for the top of the pile with the faster/prettier system. First we jumped from Atari/Coleco vision to the NES who brought us "8-bit", then we surged again from "8-bit" to "16-bit" with the release of the Genesis, SNES, and TurboGrafix. On and on it went and by the mid 1990's we had 4-5 major players vying for the top slot: Atari's Jaguar, Sega's Saturn, Sony's new Playstation, Nintendo's N64, and the 3DO.

By the 6th gen we had three major manufacturers, and today, here in the7th generation, the three major systems (ignoring mobile and handheld all together for this article) are the Microsoft's XBox 360, Nintendo's Wii, and Sony's PS3. With the advent of technology through the years, systems have fought over graphics capability, hard drive space, processing power, inter connectivity (I'm still curious about all those extra ports on my old Nintendo systems...), WiFi/Networking, web access, BluRay, 1080p... As a consumer, this battle is great. Their war for the best constantly releases new tech to us with better and better capabilities. We Win! But... do we?

PC progress/Mr. Moore
Gaming consoles are just half of the story in the eyes of this writer. The interesting track record of the release of consoles over the last 30 years is that they have been offset by the slow and ever gradually changing curve of Moore's Law and processing power. If we couple that with the increase of RAM Speeds, HDD space, GPU/Video card capability, we find the curve is a trend that is offset by the stair-step of the console release.

Every time a console is released the hardware is fixed, in that none of the architecture inside can be upgraded by simply plopping in more ram, or replacing the cpu. In order to increase power and output, the whole system needs to be updated, hence another generation. PCs on the other hand have the upgradability to be able to grow with a user's desire. Want more ram? Simply replace or upgrade what you have... barring any motherboard (MoBo) limitations. Need more processing power? Pop off the old CPU and replace it with a newer, shiny, faster one (again, MoBo dependant). Same goes for disk space, cd/dvd/bluray drives, video cards, sound cards... all of the components are upgradeable... based on the MoBo limitations of course.

One can assess a computers updatability, or "future proofing", by simply looking at a mother board's capability. If you buy a motherboard that can handle what you need now, but the end of the line is near what you are buying into... you have a short (relatively speaking) lifespan of upgrade-ability. Buy into a decent board with architecture for the future and you have a stable platform on which to build a speedy beast for years to come (Watch for this article soon... "The New Gaming PC build")

But how does this tie into the VG Console you say? Or more importantly, how does this relate to the readiness of consumers to purchase a new wave of consoles starting this winter? Well lets look at the timelines side by side:

Time for upgrade?
If we look at the processing speeds, RAM speeds, and HDD space available for computers starting with 1995, along with their console counter part, you get a good cross section of the average computer available at the time compared to the console. Now, I could spend weeks compiling all of the data and comparing all of the options. (...please, go ahead and do that if you want to, and add to this article... I sure as hell am not!) What I am doing here is a simple comparison on the average, in lamens terms, so as to produce an example to build my premise on. This is a hypothesis in the making from a blogger, not some Scientific American article. :-)


In 1995 a new computer listing might look something like this:
90Mhz CPU
800 MB Hard Drive
8 MB RAM
15” CRT Color Monitor
2 MB Video Memory
2X CD-Rom
...and it could cost anywhere around $2000-$2800 bucks.




For comparison, the Playstation (Released in 1994) came with:

MIPS R3000A-family R3051 @ 33.8688 MHz
Games came on Black CDs (700 MB)
Memory cards for saving game data ran in 1, 2, and 4 MB sizes
1 MB Video Memory
2X CD-Rom with a 128 kB buffer
...and it cost around $300 bucks for the September release. It dropped to $200 in May of 1996.

...And the N64 (Released in 1996) came with:

93.75 MHz NEC VR4300
Games came on cartridges with saving capability upon them (4MB to 64MB)
Memory cards for additional save data ran in 1, 2 and 4 MB sizes
4 MB RDRAM Memory (expandable to 8)
Video support for SDTV up to 480i (A majority of the games used the 240p/288p)

...and it cost $250 when it released in September of 1996.




 Now, lets jump forward five years... 2000/2001. Home gaming systems were in full swing, Pc gaming was on the rise commercially, and the home computer/dot com boom was thriving. Gone were the days of the PC being a "worker's tool" or only for "businessmen", as students and parents used them for everyday enjoyment and personal use. The rise of the prevalence in the home computer was making the need for speed, and cost effectiveness more commonplace. The gaming system, however, was still just that... just a gaming system... for now.


In 2000 an average computer listing may have offered these options:


300 Mhz  - 500 MHz CPU
12 - 20 GB Hard Drive
16 - 64 MB RAM
4 MB  - 8MB Video Memory
8X CD-Rom
...and it ran at about $1800 - $2400 when purchased new.





The Playstation 2 (Released by Sony in 2000) came with:


64-bit "Emotion Engine" clocked at 294.912 MHz

40 GB HDD available (as an add on)
8 MB Memory cards for saving game data.
32 MB RDRAM
GPU clocked at 147.456 MHz
DVD/CD-Rom for games, music and movies.

...and it cost around $300 bucks for the September release. It dropped to $200 in May of 1996.




Nintendo's Game Cube (Released in 2001) had:


IBM PowerPC "Gekko", 486 MHz
Games came on proprietary GameCube mini disks with 1.5 GHz capacity

Memory cards with various sizes (16 MB, 24MB, 32 MB, 64MB...)
43 MB total Ram (16 MB DRAM, 24 MB "Splash" ram, 3 MB embedded ram within "Flipper")
162 MHz "Flipper" LSI GPU
Video modes of 240i, 240p, 480i or 480p @ 60 Hz

...and it cost $200 when it released in November of 2001.



The XBox from Microsoft (Released in 2001) ran with:


Custom 733 MHz Intel Pentium III "Coppermine-based" processor
Games came on DVDs
8 - 10 GB HDD formatted to FATX
Memory cards for additional save data ran in 4, 8 and 16 MB sizes
64 MB of DDR SDRAM @ 200 MHz
233 MHz "NV2A" ASIC GPU
Video resolutions of 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i

...and it cost $300 when it released in November of 2001.

As you can see, the new computer was still a little slower than the console at their release, depending on the components you purchased and how much you wanted to spend. Remember though, start small and grow with the times in the case of a computer, but purchase once and never upgrade with the console. In 2000/2001 a new bench mark was set with the consoles and over the next few years the computers slowly caught up.

Stay tuned for part two of this article which will review the 7th generation console release in 2005/2006 along with a side by side comparison on the average computer available then. I will also reveal my opinion/position on the possibility of the release of the 8th generation of console based on the current PC computing market and my thoughts on the 8th gen's release in the next 6-12 months.

Chad is an Adjunct Faculty member teaching video game design in Boston, MA. He is currently a freelance designer and owner of Phlume Artist Management. He can be reached for comment at chad @ phlume.com.

PS4 for xmas 2012?

The whispers are getting louder... but are they worthy of listening to? Remember... "Secrets don't make friends."

("Leaked" launch video and countdown are at the bottom of this page. Scroll down to view it, or click here.)

Of course we all KNOW the next gen consoles will be reaching their release dates soon. Sony has had a history of around a 6-year cycle for it's ever revered console. It started with the release of the original Playstation (now aptly named PSOne) in December of 1999; in Japan only, though. We here in the US had to wait for our release until September of 1995. The PS2 was announced in 1999 and then released in 2000. We were graced with the PS3's announcement at E3 in 2005, and then it's Japan/North America launch was in November of 2006. Rumor has it we may see the new PS4 (Or "Orbis" as it has been rumored) by the end of 2012...just in time for jolly ole' Saint Nick to drop in and deliver it to millions of screaming kids...and their Dad's ;-) It follows a routine cycle of every 5-6 years. The eve is upon us!

CONSOLE	USA RELEASE	JAPAN RELEASE
PSOne	1996	1995
Playstation 2	2000	2000
PS3	2006	2006
PS4 "Orbis"	2012?	2012?

So what does this mean? Well, realistically, nothing. It only means that about 6 years have passed since the PS3 was released in November of 2006. What we could speculate (and we aren't alone in doing so: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3...) is that Sony is going to announce the PS4 officially very soon. My guess is hat it will most likely be announced at E3 in about 8 weeks.

The last thing I want to do is jump onto a train of the what if's and should/coulda/woulda in regards to the hardware specs and what "should" be in there. We all know it needs to scream...leave it at that. However, the interesting thing that I did read is the story behind the possible name: "Orbis". Following in the footsteps of the "Vita", the Orbis has a latin based name. Put together and the two signify "Circle of Life" That can't be just a coincidence. Could Sony be marketing the consoles capability years ahead of it's launch?

With the release of the Vita (Life) last year, and the possible release of the PS4 Orbis (Circle) this year, the pairing of the two would create a "Circle of Life" gaming console which could quite possibly compete directly with the anticipated Wii U. Imagine this... the Vita plays games, cool, but what if the true "hidden" functionality of the handheld was a virtual conduit to the Orbis. What if the Vita can be used as the controller for the Orbis with all of your game "sub menu" information, not to mention the GPS, WiFi, touch controls, storage, streaming video, tilt/motion sensitivity, cross-play functionality and so forth? Of course you could play the Orbis with the included, or previously owned controllers, making the Vita a hardware peripheral device for the Orbis... but with added functionality of gaming on the go. It's no secret or surprise as some of this functionality exists already with the PS3 and the Vita... "Gaming everywhere" I think is the current slogan. But imagine the depth of the new immersion with a handheld device like the Vita as the console's controller/conduit.

One can only speculate what the Orbis has in store, but it is an interesting theory to think of the Vita and Orbis as nearly one-in-the-same when it comes to the next next NEXT generation of consoles and their capabilities. For now we just have to sit back and wait... Most likely only until E3 though.

Chad is an Adjunct Faculty member teaching video game design in Boston, MA. He is currently a freelance designer and owner of Phlume Artist Management. He can be reached for comment there. http://www.phlume.com

BSPs, Brushes, Static Mesh...Oh my!?

No, unlike the thousands of other blogs out there dedicated to game engines, this isn't a post or tutorial on how to make them. It is more of a introduction if you will, or a report on a great tutorial site that has helped me immensely.

Last year I was working with UDK for really the "first time". I became very frustrated with the lack of valuable documentation on how to learn the cryptic program. There wasn't a book out that was up to date with the newest build. Most of the docs and forum posts were for those who had a running start from Unreal Tourney 2004 and it's editor. I searched forums and sites and it seemed there just wasn't any awesome "noob" stuff available...not that I could find at least. To make things worse, the newbie stuff I did find was more of a kick in the pants because any of the online videos were too fast to follow as the creator was a noob themselves on instructional design... most likely they were great at UDK, but pretty shitty at instructing! They either spoke too fast, were sloppy and had lots of unedited retracing of steps and "oops" moments, glossed over major steps leaving me wondering where they were, or they simply rambled on about needless stuff swerving ever further off of topic. So I put the program away for a while and averted my attention back to the rink and puck, my portfolio stuff, or tended the garden or something. I just wasn't ready for the learning curve that was required... yet.

Certainly UDK is a powerful program, and a great engine to know if you are a game developer, but the monthly release schedule they have in place leaves the engine and it's interface changing constantly so it made it quite difficult to keep up with. The last download I yanked from Epic was the February 2011 release; I refuse to update monthly... lol or even YEARLY as it seems, because last month I fired up the old bitty and made a concerted effort to jump in and learn the frickin package... well, at least begin to scratch the surface of learning.

I opened the program and anything I had learned the previous winter was a distant blur that was too hard to recall. So...back to Google I went. I typed in "UDK BSP creation" and the expected list of blah blah blahs from the Epic Games forums or you-tube-eries was not delivered. Instead a new site that I had yet to discover found it's way to the top... "World of Level Design"

Upon opening the first tutorial on the list I was greeted immediately with a pleasant and professional sounding voice; though there is a slight accent which may be hard for some to decipher. The pace with which the instructor (Alex) presented the information was both comfortable and informative. I learned more watching the first three videos of his series than I had during 2 weeks worth of book/forum/youtube learning sessions during the previous winter.

After watching a few of Alex's videos I subscribed to his site and gained access to two "free" pdf files to assist in level design and game creation. Both of them sit unopened on my desktop because I have a feeling they may rehash most of the material I already teach my students in class (Game theory, pre-production, map/character creation, etc...) but I thought it was pretty cool that he offered these up to fledgeling designers. I will open them eventually and who knows, I may be pleasantly surprised with what I find.

Now even though this tutorial series is great for a beginner...and the use of Builder brushes and BSPs...it still moves past a few of the crucial components of developing Static Meshes. Perhaps the problems I had were due to my pre-production pipeline, but I had a huge issue with bringing in a model and it's textures from Max to UDK. Granted, the model was not built for a game, and this may be the culprit, however, following the different sites and tutorials I found still didn't solve the issue for this particular model.

I built an office chair in Max and mapped it to my likings to be rendered in a max scene environment. I placed materials onto the seat and back using bitmaps for the diffuse and bump channels. I used procedural maps for the plastic components and chrome components and the whole model looked quite nice. After following the step-by-step process of baking the textures and exporting the.ASE file I switched over to UDK to import the Static Mesh and when I did, it came in all checker-boardy.

"Huh. That's not what it's supposed to look like" I thought. So I went back to max and played around a bit with the model and read a bit more in the tutorials and tried exporting as a different file, this time the .FBX. Similar results. This time the Plastic worked, but the chrome and seat didn't keep their texture. So I stepped back. Perhaps it was in the process of how the model is put together? I decided to start from scratch with a simple bookcase.

This time, when creating the model I reflected back on some of the text from the tutorials; They spoke of "Attaching" the editable polys under the Edit Poly modifier on the stack. Hmmm... Perhaps rather than creating multiple editable polys and attaching them, I would try creating a single polygon mesh. Starting from a simple box, I created a bookcase with the editable poly using the extrude modifier. I added the UVW mapping, and then unwrapped the UVWs as instructed. When I mapped the item though, I used a multi/sub-object map for the case. I wanted the grains in the wood to go in different directions, based on the back/sides/shelves of the unit. So rather than have three maps for the one case, I figured one mulit-map would be easier.

Once the map was applied to the different channels of the case, I rendered the material to texture (baked it) and then exported the whole unit as a .FBX file and then imported it into the level I had developed. Sure enough, the bookcase was imported with the textures intact. Now... I can't say if it was one, or the other, or both that caused the texture to import properly, but I can definately rework through the problem with the chair and try to map the entire model with a multi/sub-object using the "Attach Poly" method.

I can't imagine every model having to be a single object in order to map it properly. I may even have goofed in part of the baking process, however as this is a lesson in mistakes and trials and error, I offer only my experience as fodder for your learning. And certainly, should you KNOW the answer the problem I am having, please comment and let me know your solution.

Later this week I will show you the iterative process in which I created the level this scene/screen shot is from. It's mostly a build off of the WoLD tutorial I mentioned earlier (Rooms, lighting, maps) but I have an idea that I want to take to completion. What better of a place to share it than here, no? Until then, happy gaming! I'm off to go spelunking in a Dwemer Ruin.

-Chad

Chad is an Adjunct Faculty member teaching video game design in Boston, MA. He is currently a freelance designer and owner of Phlume Artist Management. He can be reached for comment there. http://www.phlume.com

WAKE UP!

I know... I Know...
It's been a while since I've posted ANYTHING. Please pardon my absence.

Last fall was a busy time for me with teaching and school starting (not me just yet).Then Skyrim came out and EVERYTHING was put onto the back burner. Then Christmas came and went. More Skyrim. I worked on my own games and portfolio for school... Needless to say, the absence has been long enough and I am back to write for you again.

A lot has been happening in the game world and I haven't written a single thing about it. GDC came and went. PaxEast came and went. Releases of skyrim, MW3 and a whole host of other games... to talk of them now would be old news. E3 is on the horizon and though I have my passes, for a second year in a row I will not be able to attend. It just costs too much to fly out there form the East coast. I will get there soon.

There has been a bunch afoot in the PC/CPU world as well. I started a series on building a gaming rig and got two postings into it before my hiatus from blogging. Now that I am back at it the foretold LGA 2011 in that posting is now out and available, Intel is slated to release Ivy Bridge any day now, NVidia launched the new GeForce GTX 680 GPU ... I may as well start fresh and rethink the build from the start... well, It will still be Intell, not AMD. ;-)

A lot has happened in my world as well. I am continuing to finish the application process for Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in the hopes for a June start for my MFA. I have been designing two games for part of the admission process... One is a board game based on the music industry and the trials and journeys of a small band from a garage to stardom. be the first to earn $1,000,000 and reach the "stars" and you win. The other "game" really is more of a level design created in 3DS max and UDK. I am also working through the book "Game Development with Unity" by Michelle Menard (SCAD Alumni) and I am enjoying the learning process.

Now that I have "caught you up" it is time to focus on the future of this blog and my plans for how to roll out new posts on a schedule. I want to put forth a concerted effort to post at least once a week about one of three things:

1. My thoughts and experience regarding the use of UDK, Max, or Unity.
 As I work through Michelle's book, design/develop my UDK level, or refine my models in Max to be static meshes in UDK, I will post my findings, hurdles, hang-ups and resolutions here. Not only will this force me to write on the blog, it will share what I have found from other blogs, videos, and help files. It will not necessarily just be a rehash of other posts, but rather a finite look at my specific issues and problems and how I worked through it. I continually find that I have to watch four or five videos and read 2-3 articles to actually find all of the information I need to complete my project. Helpful places/videos will be placed onto the "Links" page.

2. Talk/Write about the process of refining the board game.
 Since this is board game is a work in progress that I plan on refining to be a possible product on the market, I need to tread carefully on the actual postings of the design process. Rather than discuss specifics about the game, I will talk about some of the design principals surrounding the process and how I handled the challenges, rule sets, systems and design. Hopefully within a few months it will be an actuall game available on the market and you can buy it from me!

3. Thoughts on the PC I will build for my enrollment at SCAD for my MFA.
LGA 2011 is out, Ivy Bridge is due to be released in... did it come out today? April 23rd? I don't know... Any day now it's due out. How much RAM? What Video card(s)? SSD or HDD? Monitor choices, peripherals, drives, case, fans, cooling... The works. As I "sus" out the computer and research the components, I will discuss them here. I will link to other forums where I post my thoughts and you can follow the threads about my ideas and other PC builder's input about them. I will also place a link to my newegg.com "Wish List" so you can look at the exact specs and prices to the items I want to buy, and it saves me rewriting them here!

Lastly, as time rolls on and I begin (hopefully) my Master's program in Interactive Design and Game Development at SCAD, I will do my best to report out on the classes, my experience and projects I complete through the schools top rated eLearning program. Recently the school was given a #7 on a Top 10 list of "Who's Who" for game design degrees. For those curious... Full sail didn't make the top ten. My first choice, "Guildhall" at SMU was #5, however they do not offer a distance learning option. MIT was at the top, but that was more of a coding and software engineering focus.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more with you as time rolls on.

-Chad

Chad is an Adjunct Faculty member teaching video game design in Boston, MA. He is currently a freelance designer and owner of Phlume Artist Management. He can be reached for comment there. http://www.phlume.com