Destony Game Trailer & Presentation Done!

One step at a time...

I just had my presentation today and I spent a lot of time preparing for the presentation and stressing out about it as there was just so much to cover that I have done over this year and I find it really hard to do with just 10-15 minutes. Particularly because my project is so broad and based on 'Game Aesthetics' although i managed to put together a presentation which i am proud of and it went really well and I managed to answer the questions in a clam and intellectual manner so I am overall quite pleased. Some feedback I received was:

"Great work on the game, everything was polished to a high degree"

"Aesthetics is a problematic word as it is very subjective"

"Would like to know how you managed to get to the certain art style you developed in more detail"

"A great critical framework, to be able to have a criteria so specific is great"

On top of that, I managed to create a more succinct trailer of my game which showcases the game in 2 min 30 seconds and shows it in it's best light. The trailer too me a whole day to create although it certainly is worth it as my other video play through of the game was 9 minutes long. You can see the trailer bellow.

Post-Inspiration: Dundee Showcase & Obsolete

DJCAD Degree Show 2013

After I handed in my dissertation, I went to visit the Dundee showcase in Dundee Univeristy in combination with Duncan and Jordanstones. In all honesty, it was one of the most mind blowing and eye opening experiences in which I saw a level of dedication to the arts and crafts from students that I have never seen before. It really put things into perspective for me that a University just a few meters away has so much talent and skill and makes me feel so inspired to keep trying and doing what I love as the students in Dundee are also doing.

Also, importantly  the showcase being 1 week before Abertays showcase allowed me to see what exhibitions would look like. I studied and took pictures of other peoples work and the way they set it up to help me again a better understanding of what looks better and how to present my work. One key thing that stood out for me was that most of their work was presented in a 3D way in which their artwork would pop off the wall due to their use of 3D foam square stickers, due to this I decided to buy my own and am excited for showcase day which is soon to come.

Although first my presentation is tomorrow and I have been working on my presentation since yesterday and am looking forward to it. The Dundee showcase video is bellow:

Vimeo Staff Pick - Obsolete

Obsolete from Smoking Robot on Vimeo.

I also stumbled upon this animation recently which I felt was really relevant to my game Destony and for future work for my game, I would love to use the same colour scheme and vibe that this short animation uses. It captures the exact feelings of trying to find the positives in a dark world and set yourself free. If I had more time, I would have loved to make a game out of these same visuals and the same emotive design, so this was a late inspiration but i thought it was worth sharing the visual significance of this.

You can see the screenshots of the animation bellow. The great use of colour contrast of golds and blacks.

Dissertation Printed!

So today, I handed in my dissertation and the feeling of relief was amazing and now I feel so much more free and able to relax a little bit. It has been 4 months in the making since I started my dissertation and to finally see it printed in a tangible form beings a lot of joy and almost a tear to my eye.

Here is what an Abertay printed and bound dissertation looks like. I actually paid £38.80 for 3 copies including the use of a £4 voucher I received from filling in an Abertay survey. Quite expensive, although I got every single page printed in colour 0.25p per page as opposed to 0.03p for black and white. 

A close up of the title page which needed to be sent in separately as a word doc so they can re-position it.  

The list of tables and list of figures which I added in towards the end to make it easier to find the where the images were.

What the colour printed sections looked like.

Some more images I added of my game once better screen shots were taken.

Business Cards Arrived!

So today my business cards finally arrived, and it came 2 days early also. I am very happy with the way they turned out, Moo.com sure does pay attention to detail and value professionalism within the way they present their business cards.

This was the box that came in the post, and it was actually delivered to the wrong place and the woman was nice enough to find me and hand it to me.

Opening of the box. Once opened, you see that there is a sample pack of all the other business cards they print as well as my 200 cards (which I think might have been too much) and a really nice and professional black box which holds around 50.

Finally, here is a close up of my cards, there are two different versions, the one with my character and the one with the User Interface. One is more for graphic design and general 2D artwork and the other is for UI, particularly for games.  

Abertay Showreel, Time is almost coming to and End

My Work is in the Showreel

Time is most certainly coming to an end, the Abertay Showreel was just posted online and my work is also in it. As an artist, particularly one who animates, having a showreel is an essential asset in order to showcase what you are capable of. Fellow artists are not naive and can tell the difference from someone with experience and someone who is just starting out with being professional pretty quickly.