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NEXT: Duane Loose Joins GameCloud
Yogi Berra once said: “When you see a crossroads…Take It!” or something like that.
Not so much a crossroads as an opportunity that is too good to pass up: I’m joining GameCloud/Augmentum as a Senior Art Director in a start-up game studio they’re establishing in, of all places, Temecula. 20 minutes down the road.
They are a fine company, led by great people and I know I’m going to enjoy this next step in the journey.
alphaZED will continue to exist as my personal website. I have stories to tell, tools to learn and art to make – not to mention the odd opinion here and there. So please feel free to stop by now and then for the further adventures of Insane Duane. Weed Pottle will continue to master the website. He was doing it for free anyhow.
I have to say that I’m grateful for the many people who have helped me on the way in the past 3 years. Thanks to all. I’ve learned a lot of important lessons, some of them twice.
See you around the blogiverse
Dr_D
Civility, Common Courtesy and Compassion in Online Communication
Is it just me…
or are we all seeing the decline of civility, common courtesy and compassion in our online communication?
At first I was kind of shocked to see how brutal people are to each other – especially to those who may be seeking advice as so-called ‘noobs’ . I see this on forums I contribute to… artists making their first foray into 3D, asking questions, being put down, demeaned, denigrated for just being beginners. I think people forget what it was like to know nothing and having that burning desire to know how to use the tools to make cool images.
I’ve read that one of the first symptoms of a culture or society in decline is the coarsening of language. I’ve also read profanity is the effort of a weak mind to express itself with force and blasphemy being the last refuge of lower order intellects bereft of higher order consciousness.
I think we can be kinder to each other, more civil and courteous. And definitely more compassionate with those that may be standing where we stood many years ago – on the threshold of realizing their dreams.
regards,
Dr_D
Creating ART for iPhone Games: part zero
I’ve been thinking about the process and tools of creating art for iPhone games. Having just finished Ghost’s Attack for Tarver Games…the learnings are fresh in my mind and now would be a great time to write about it. I don’t know if this will go beyond blog posting but if I can ease the way for artists who, like me, are fascinated by this gigantic little platform then I will have been of service.
So.
Here’s some first thoughts.
If you’ve made games before…everything you know will be useful. Modeling, Texturing, animation, pre-viz/concept development, visual effects…all the skills that go into making art for games will serve you well.
There isn’t a lot of information out there to inform the technical process…most of that pipeline stuff – how to get your art into the game – was a lot of trial and error, with some hints along the way and a dedicated team to swarm and solve the issues in near real time. The tools, many of them great (I’ll write about them as part of the process), are useful and excellent. But figuring out, for example, why the mesh I just animated in 3dsMAX rotating in a 360* loop clockwise shows up in the export tools and in-game rotating counter-clockwise??? Well it was a mystery…sort of.
I’m thinking that it will be useful writing about these kinds of problems and how they were solved. Perhaps some will say. “well yeah, duh! Anyone knows that!”
Well, yes, anyone does probably…but I didn’t and the journey of discovery was very rewarding. So, at the risk of opening myself up to ridicule and scorn I’m going to write anyway. Maybe someone will benefit from knowing how to fix the jacked up UV’s that happen sometimes when using Max’s UnwrapUV modifier and the PVR tools for exporting collada to POD files. Basic stuff like that.
…and then there is the totally shcizophrenic experience of creating art on a PC and building on a mac. Twisted my mind all up. Sort of. Not that it wasn’t twisted before…but
OK
Here’s a list of Basic Tools – PC based unless otherwise noted (mac)
- 3ds MAX
- After Effects/combustion
- Photoshop
- PVR Shaman
- Collada2POD
- PVRTexTool
- UI Builder
- Quartz
- XCode
- Git
- GitX
- GRAB
- SKYPE /SKYPE
I’ll cover these tools in the context of making art and getting it into the game and some of the problems encountered. And how I survived and thrived making art for a really cool project with some great people.
regards,
Dr_D
TARVER GAMES: GHOSTS ATTACK
Ghosts Attack is the game I’ve been working on with Chris Cross at Tarver. It’s my first foray into the iPhone world and has been an awesome experience developing for this amazing little platform.
We just rec’d a glowing review from Chase Gharity of Blast Magazine. Here’s an excerpt and you can read the full article here.
There is now confirmation that the iPhone is a legitimate (game platform), all thanks to Tarver Games’ new production, Ghosts Attack. This game, which should be released in the coming week, is probably one of the deepest and most interesting releases I’ve seen. From the interface, to the gameplay, to most everything in between, Ghosts Attack is one upcoming iPhone App that I am quite excited for.
This title has shown the potential that iPhone has as a gaming platform. Furthermore, the fact that Ghosts Attack came from a smaller developer like Tarver Games is just icing on the cake. › Continue reading
aZs: ONLINE
Well – aZs is back online! I’m still updating and uploading all the content but the site is functioning and that feels GREAT!!
It’s been a great Summer and so far a great Fall at aZs. Lot’s to talk about and I’ll be blogging about it in the next few days. I can’t believe it’s November already and tonight we turn the clocks back…I’ll use that extra hour to get some more work up on the site.
regards,
Dr_D