The Shelf Life of a Digital Age - November 4th, 2013

In a time where convenience is king and all media is at the click of a button, what is the long-term effect of the explosive popularity that is digital media? For years now people have been able to access virtually any music album, movie, TV show, video game or software application. It is the identity of pop-culture in today’s society and yet you can’t help but wonder if by the time our children grow up we’ll be able to share all of our favourite forms of media the way our parents shared them with us. Where VHS and now DVD seem to be close to obsolete and digital is the way of the future, is it really?

People are gathering more information at a faster pace now than they ever have before. Our hard drives are getting bigger and the rate at which we actually consume and delete this information is also increasing. With the next thing always just around the corner, rarely do we take the time to actually reflect and admire what has come before. We need the room to download the latest season of Game Of Thrones.

It makes me wonder where we’ll be in 20 years’ time. Adding to the problem is the shortening of attention spans everywhere. In fact I’ll bet that almost nobody makes it this far into the article for that very reason. This is a widespread realisation of the modern world we’re currently living in and it won’t be long until the real world turns into a personification of the attitude that many frequent internet users have. The internet at this stage is just a constant recycling of old material with a new spin to fit in with the latest meme. Internet memory is short. Things happen two years apart and people believe the latest occurrence to be the first of its kind. More and more a constant presence is required to stay relevant in people’s minds so how long will it be until people have never heard of recent Oscar winning films or the latest hit CD?

Looking at it from another perspective, a few decades ago the mere premise of what has become the modern transaction would have come across as pure lunacy. You exchange real money for a product which you never physically have and at best all you’re doing is borrowing said product for the full price of acquiring it yourself. You never truly own these forms of media because if the company selling it to you goes under then which servers do you think you’ll be streaming and downloading from?

In essence what I’m asking is how do we preserve the sophisticated and complex world we live in on a few pages when nobody reads books anymore? If a civilisation far off into the future were to dig up remains of a USB stick holding every secret our society has to manage but inevitably technology has surpassed that of our own, how are we remembered?

An Interesting Occurrence

I was in the city the other weekend and on the way back home on the train I noticed something unusual. In a carriage full of people, everyone was listening to music, playing on their phone or tablet, and some were even on a laptop. Everyone except the man sitting in the row next to me. He was just sitting there twirling his thumbs. It's 2013 and this man didn't have a device to keep himself busy?!

But then that thought had me reassessing how the general population lives and what we perceive to be normal. While yes we are living in a constantly evolving world where technology is expanding and becoming more and more popular, do we really need to preoccupy ourselves from the outside world in every waking moment?

I'm probably the worst person to be commenting on this. As I type this article I'm surrounded by a TV, Mac, Xbox, iPad, iPhone and even a 3DS. Who am I to cast down criticism on others for doing exactly what I do? Hell, I've even been known to be checking Facebook on the computer when deciding to go to bed, only to then be on Facebook again on my phone.

Video Game Design Course - 3D Modelling

I've said in the past that I'd document how things progress in my video game course as a way for me to look back and reflect on where I've come from, plus if it shows others out there that anyone can do this, from knowing nothing to releasing a retail game, then all the better.

This week we've finally gotten around to 3D modelling. We're just doing a basic male model in 3ds Max during the video tutorials with the aim being for us to use that as a platform to build from as all the students begin to create characters for their respective games. The experience so far I think has been the most enjoyable of the course. After all of the theoretical lessons and setbacks as far as changing curriculum goes, I'm finally seeing an actual physical representation of my work and it feels great.

Up to this stage we've worked on the necessary Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) to get it out of the way, as well as some level and world prototyping plus just generally getting used to the various software we need to use. To say it's been slow going is an understatement, but that's understandable seeing as it's really the colleges first year running this particular course and I'm one of the lucky guinea pigs. 3D modelling is a blessing now all of that is behind me.

At this stage I've created the mesh and I'm currently in the process of unwrapping and applying textures, which I'm not exactly looking forward. I can imagine it being a lot of work, but then again I'm not exactly expecting to reproduce a model as detail as a Master Chief for example. After this I'll be working on completing a weapon. Anything past that seems too far in the distance right now and if there's one thing I'm learning, it's focus.

Until next time,

Scott

GTA V Timelapse Screenshots

While editing the GTA V timelapse I took some screenshots of this beautiful game we all know and love. It continues to astonish me just how much detail is present in the latest iteration of the franchise and it really is no wonder that development time for the title was five years. Even with the six month delay from the initial release date, I am more than pleased with the result and I for one am glad they took the time to really polish this game up to show off everything it has to offer.

While opinions on the storyline narrative have been somewhat divided, nobody can deny that Rockstar has created one of the best open worlds to date, rivaling the likes of Skyrim in recent memory. Click on the pictures below for larger versions.

GTA V: Fun With Trains (feat. Space Monkey Stunt Man)

GTA V: Fun With Trains GIF Post

Current Video Game and Personal Developments

If you've read my 'About' page then you know that I'm currently working my way through a video game development course (Diploma in Digital and Interactive Games to be precise). I did some research before starting this particular course and read about how to tell the good courses from the bad and what I should be looking for in the curriculum before signing up.

I'm happy to say that Evocca College has ticked all of the boxes so far with the only exception being the majority of my time so far has been spent in UDK and 3ds Max, whereas some other courses divvy their time among a wider range of 3D software and game engines. The principals are generally the same though and as students at Evocca College we have been given access to many alternatives to try out at our leisure as well. I strongly recommend giving Evocca College a shot if you're interested in trying it out (and make sure you tell them that Scott Beeby sent you), especially if you happen to be located near one of their campuses. If not then they also have an excellent distance education program.

I started the course way back at the start of this year and as this is the first year that this particular course has run it seems like my classmates and I are the guinea pigs. There have been a couple of bumps along the way but it has all been smoothed out now and I'm a better (future) game designer for it.

This has been a big year for me personally, one of huge development. I moved interstate on a whim late 2012 so this is my first full year living by myself. On top of that I started this course and more recently have decided to start jotting down my notes with this blog and making a few gameplay videos on YouTube. I don't plan on making this blog too personal but I feel it helps for the readers to know who I am and what I'm doing to put things into context.

This year alone I have started really digging deep and playing around with many programs including:

• Photoshop
• UDK
• 3ds Max
• Sketchup
• Premiere Pro
• Audacity
• Hauppauge Capture
• Mudbox
• Illustrator

As of this article I am also trying out pixel art for a possible future project. I'd like to think of myself as a very well rounded individual when all is said and done, but I'll have to try out Maya and Unity, as well as open source alternatives such as Blender, before I think I could really call myself that.

Now for the exciting stuff, what I'm working on. The course calls for creating an RPG from start to finish which includes all of the environments, textures, characters and more. As you can imagine coming at this with very little knowledge of the above listed programs was very daunting at first but luckily I've had a great tutor and the tutorials have served me well.

My game for the course has a working title of 'Perception Is Everything' with the tagline 'because who doesn't like P.I.E.?' A bit dorky I know but I think it's the contents itself that will do the talking for me. Everyone has a revolutionary idea but it's those who act on them that count and that's what I've started to do. 

The game revolves around a modern day dystopian world where the population has dwindled down to only a few thousand spread across a handful of cities and towns. We've seen our fair share of Greek and Norse mythology before such as Thor and Zeus, but rarely do we see mentioned Roman mythology. In my world it's these mythological creatures from Roman times that stalk the land. I'm talking about Chimeras, Tara (mother nature), Hippocamps, Cerberus' and more. It's not as flashy or popular as the world of Hercules but there's still history there that I can draw from and a story to tell.

There's also three distinct settlements spread across the continent, each residing in a separate biome to make them easily identifiable. Tying into the whole Roman angle I decided early on to make these three populous' take on the three traits of the Dark Triad. Narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism (named after the Italian historical figure Niccolo Machiavelli). The combinations of these three personal traits spread across three different biomes while also throwing in the mix of these ancient creatures in modern times I believe can make for a great narrative, which is my number one priority. Some people prefer the best graphics or great music, and while those are important I much prefer to explore some great characters with some unique gameplay mechanics thrown into the mix.

The gameplay is actually where the title of this game comes into it. "Perception is reality" is a quote from 80's politics in America and while I wholeheartedly couldn't care less about the world of politicians, bills and parliament, that quote for whatever reason has always stuck with me. In the game I aim to tell the story from one character's point of view and once the storyline has been completed you then begin chapter two which is played from the perspective of who the player perceived to be the bad guy the first time through. Suddenly things aren't so cut and dry and it gets the player thinking about their actions on the first playthrough and how that actually impacted on your character the second time around. Now it could be the initial character who was really the bad guy. On the plus side for me as the game designer, I now get to use the same assets and extend the game by 100%. Win-win in my books.

I'll be updating this blog whenever I post another video or add more details about my first game so be sure to bookmark my home page. Exciting things to come!

The Future of Gaming

While writing a recent article about my thoughts on GTA V, I found myself going on a bit of a tangent about where I think video games in general are going and why certain games are perceived the way that they currently are as compared to not so long ago.

My overall opinion of the latest Grand Theft Auto is that Rockstar have taken on a huge project which by and large they have carried out with a lot of success. It has all of the elements that make up a Grand Theft Auto game, even taking it up a notch in many areas, but I can't help but take from it a slight feeling of being underwhelmed.

I think it could be due to the fact that audiences are becoming more intelligent by the day and are generally starting to realise how plot points work. More and more I'm seeing people point out how certain tropes are frequently used and how stale they are in comparison to years gone by when they were being used in gaming for the first time. In a modern day world where attention spans are dwindling and information is always at hand, we thrive on being inspired through creativity as quickly as possible.

It's no surprise that cult hit games such as Halo, Minecraft and Trials all have one thing in common. Custom content creation. Once the planet has been saved, the dragon has been killed, and the quadruple backflip has been performed successfully, players can then move on to what has become arguably the larger portion of these games when looking at the big picture of a game's lifespan.

Making maps and the social interactivity that comes as a result feeds a player's need to stay in that universe while also adding their touch to the familiar surroundings. The feeling of accomplishment in completing one of these projects, from concept to creation, and the feedback from other gamers is what makes the experience so worthwhile.

It's for this reason that I believe creation-based games are going to become more and more common over the next decade. In fact you only have to look at Spark, a game that was revealed at this year's E3 event, to see that the lines are slowly blurring between video game and game engine. Where the entry point for using software such as UDK or Unity has seemed so daunting before, suddenly putting in place many of the same mechanics, making it more user friendly, and disguising it purely as a game, the premise becomes much more approachable to the general public. You thought it was surreal now that almost any kid of any age can pick up an iPad and navigate around it with ease? Just imagine when shortly we'll be seeing a 5 year old create a working and playable game level from scratch within a half hour or so.

GTA V: Lamar & Franklin, Niggas For Life

Halo Reach: Biggest Dummy Spit in Halo History?

GTA IV: Ambulance Chaser

Thoughts About GTA V

It's been a great week with the release of GTA V in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. By Thursday night I had completed the main storyline and I was ready to be unleashed on the unsuspecting general public of Los Santos.

By far the character of Trevor has been the revelation of the game. As I'm sure many other players would agree with, Rockstar's approach to this lovable redneck has been a breath of fresh air with the company not being bogged down by having to be politically correct all the time. Examples of stereotypical accents and overenthusiastic bouts of violence during cutscenes show what makes this series a staple every generation. You can never make everybody happy but here I think Rockstar gave a little extra to their hardcore fans which in my opinion is always a great thing to see and should happen far more often.

One of the biggest things I took out of the game, something that has been vastly understated, is the sheer potential for GTA V, even on a console, as a machinima engine. With all of the cinematic angles, detailed assets and subtle nuances of the in-game world, it becomes the perfect backdrop to really come to life through the creativity of others. I'm really looking forward to what comes out in the coming weeks and months.

I've been recording up a storm the last few days, so much so that I have over 30 hours of content to cut down and turn into something worth watching. So far I have released a short supercut of the relationship between Lamar & Franklin, but there is so much more planned in the immediate future. With such a huge in-game world there are many areas to explore and expose to the world.

So many walkthroughs and guides have popped up on YouTube for GTA V that the market has become saturated. I too had initially planned on doing something similar before coming to the realisation that without an already established fanbase there was little chance of the videos being seen. So instead I plan on editing together some more interesting clips showing some of the more unique activities one can do or at least showing things from a different perspective.

Keep an eye out for more content coming shortly. Having recently started my own YouTube channel and this blog my hope is that the readers out there will see my videos and articles develop and can one day be used as a reminder of where I came from. Ultimately I just want to get my name/brand out there so that when the time comes and I finally release a fully fledged video game, no matter what platform it's on, as many people as possible will get to enjoy it because isn't that what we're all here to do?

GTA V Midnight Launch

Excited for the GTA V midnight launch tonight. One benefit of being in Australia is getting the game more than 12 hours ahead of the US, even if it does cost $50 more, which gives me a good head start on recording some footage and getting it online earlier than the rest of the world. Look out for some videos coming out soon.