Streetlife in Fuente

During the year of 2001 when I was around 7 years old, my Grandma sadly passed away, so my Mother and I both moved to the Philippines for the winter. It was my 3rd visit, I remember those months being quite a blur, there was a mishmash of both happy and sad experiences that year. Spending Christmas, New Years and celebrating the Sinulog festival without my Grandma was very odd.

I spent my time staying both at my family’s home and in hotels. One of the hotels I stayed in was near the heart of Fuente Osmeña, which is situated uptown in Cebu City. I was heading back in a taxi from doing some late night shopping at Ayala Shopping Centre with my Mum. It was nightime and I was enjoying the solitary air and the delightful lights of signs and stalls scattered around the streets. The beautiful and prestrigious Fuente Osmeña fountain centerpiece exposed itself with illumated jets of water, creating a romantic setting under the mottled shade of narra and mahogany. All of a sudden a enormous swarm of people were coming from all directions, the streets were completely clogged with traffic, I was stuck.

There were groups of very young street children, long-haired and loinclothed, congregating their own circles, sitting on scraps of cardboard playing games. I remember looking over to the other side of the window and seeing a youthful girl, her bruised face was pressed slightly against the window with a handful of little white flowers, her other hand was open in a begging guesture, asking for money and food. I looked back over to my side of the window and a small assembly of street children were chanting tunes about love, hope and Christmas.


290 words = Fail. I tried to keep it as short as possible - sorry!

Steam Voyager - Introduction

I’ve always been afraid of the change I desire…Life could be different.

My name is Maple Greywind. I’m a prisoner of war and I know the truth.

There is a worldwide conspiracy being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group of genetically-related individuals. These people are not the Government, but they rule all nations and control the money and commerce worldwide. They say that they are here to unite the world’s superpowers to secure and maintain global peace, safety and security, when the real intention of all of this is to ultimately bring together a One World Government and one-unit monetary system. This elite entity is called the Nagas.

I know I may sound crazy, but you have to trust me. The population will soon be limited by restrictions on the number of children per family, diseases, wars and famines.. There will be no middle class, only rulers and the servants. No national boundaries shall exist, and those who are obedient and subservient to their One World Government will be rewarded with the means to live; those who are rebellious will simply be starved to death or be delcared outlaws, making them a target for anyone who wishes to kill them.

The 13 bloodline families make up this vast interlocking triangular scheme of the Negas. Their principle is to completely effect and gain control over every human being on the planet and to dramatically reduce the world’s population by 8 million. They’re all beholding to the same secret orders, codes and financers, and they all possess the same thing – Greed and the compulsive drive to possess wealth, power and prestige that we don’t have.

15 years have gone by since my Father, Victor Greywind has fought the battles of Eien with the assistance of my Guardian, Zaurak. The battles of Eien was the eternal fight for freedom, the fight between the government’s military and the real people. There was so much hatred and destruction that they were all forced to flee their homes to the higher skies of our world, Ember. Who knows what the grounds of Ember now looks like below our feet, but I can no longer allow these satanic traitors to rob my health, my liberty, and my life. I’m afraid to find out what will happen if I tell the truth, but this needs to stop. My name is Maple Greywind, and this is my story.

Uber fail

Mmmm

キングダムハーツ - The Making of KH

GRIN's Final Fantasy tech demo? Should Final Fantasy even be westernised?

Part of the "Sound implementation demo" posted by former GRIN employee Jonaton Crafoord. see more here

For all you girl gamers out there...

...if only it wasn't in America.

Applications Now Available for Sony Online Entertainment's 3rd Annual G.I.R.L. Scholarship Program

Program awards up to $10,000 toward tuition and other educational expenses.
US, January 20, 2010 - SAN DIEGO, Calif. – January 19, 2010 – Applications are now being accepted for the 2010 G.I.R.L. Scholarship to help educate and recruit more women into the field of video game production and design.

"The past two G.I.R.L. Scholarship recipients were such a valued addition to our team that we are thrilled to offer this program for the third consecutive year," said Laura Naviaux, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. "Our goal is to continue to encourage and reward women who share our commitment and passion for developing cutting edge online games for all demographic groups."

One skilled student will win up to $10,000 to be applied toward tuition and other educational expenses at the school at which the student is currently enrolled, and an optional internship of up to 10 weeks at one of Sony Online Entertainment's studios (room, board, transportation and living expenses not included).

Source: http://uk.games.ign.com/articles/106/1062182p1.html

Micro micro micro - Company of Heroes

Okay. I admit, as a games artist in the making, I've never really attempted to play computer strategy based games such as total war and Civilisation. Embarrassing, I know. But it must be done!

So, I gave Company of Heroes a shot. As I didn't have much idea on the game play I went through the entire tutorial - basic training, infantry combat training, base operations and armor training - which took just over an hour, but it's well explained and well worth doing if your a beginner, like moi.

I went straight to campaign mode afterwards, and I did not expect the amount of difficulty and intensity put into this game, I barely lasted out there. The tutorials I previously went through were nothing compared to the actual thing. I found this very mind boggling! I am clearly aware that practice makes perfect in this game, because I suck at it.

I think CoH was a great game, the highly detailed graphics and the camera angles really puts you in the game. You can even explode a few dozen men and watch bits of bodies whizz around the screen, class! It's a shame I felt that I didn't get the full experience out of it, simply because it's a difficult game. I will practice however, and I shall keep you posted (hopefully) :)

Goodnight peoples, cya tomorrow!
x

Merii Kurisumasu!

Hope ya'll having a great wintery holiday. Merry christmas and a happy new year!

Web Authoring - The final straw!

Stephaniemclean.tk - check it out!

Not the best site i've made but it only took a few hours. I'll add some more shiz like a questionnaire form for you lot to fill out later in the week - if you dont mind!

Peace out ya'llllll

Rubix Cube Championships - I'm dazzled!

I had a dentist appointment today in case you wondered where I wandered off to today, getting my brace soon. Ahh! Almost finished the 1.1 Assignment, my back is killing me from lack of movement T___T The only thing I need to work on are the recruitment advertisements, and I have no idea where to start!

Watch the video below - Wish I had the skill to do that shiz...

"Naughty" video games - according to China?

After having every game with a gangster in it getting banned ever since July, The Chinese government launched a campaign to ban & censor illegally operated games featuring "unhealthy" content. It has been told that over 200 games have been investigated, and 45 have been completely banned. Here's the details:

http://gamerlimit.com/2009/10/bad-news-for-china-45-online-games-banned-since-october-1/

The government of the People's Republic of China often places a higher value on censoring content pertaining to political issues rather than moral concerns.

A few ideas & links on certain banned/censored games in China:

• WoW is being held back by government approval
  WoW re-launches in China with government-enforced changes. According to MMOSite, bones have been replaced by sandbags & the colour of blood is now black.
  http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=220966
  http://news.mmosite.com/content/2009-07-29/20090729175936714,1.shtml
• Command and Conquer Generals
  Banned for "smearing the image of China & the Chinese army."
• Football Manager 2005
  Banned for recognizing Tibet as a independent country. An edited version globally was later released.
• Hearts of Iron
  Banned for portraying Tibet, sinkiang & Manchuria as independent countries and Taiwan as under Japanese control.
• I.G.I-2: Covert Strike
  Banned because of "intentionally blackening China and the Chinese army's image."
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#China_.28People.27s_Republic_of.29

^Me and my bf's cute kitty cat^

How're you all getting on with the assignment?

Completely finished my assignment a few days ago although I spent a few hours tweaking it up today O.O Now I can finally rest! So how're you all getting on with the assignment pplz? Have you all had a holiday & halloween? This week has gone by so quick, its been a fun & crazy week for me :)


See you dudes tomorrow...!

If your reading this Kelly - stephy shall not be late for tomorrows lesson. Heh!

Game Element Analysis

Final Fantasy VII - Dirge of Cerberus is a third-person action roleplaying shooter game. This game includes various elements, for instance:

• Customization
• Tutorial Mode
• Checkpoints
• Temporary Save
• Limit Breaks
• HP & MP
• Real Time mode
• Additional Online Mode
• Rail-road Shooting
• Multiplayer
• Statistics
• Transformation (Power up)
• Extra Missions (E.g. collecting items)
• Bonus material
• Results & Final grades

I love Vincent Valentine! ^_-

Concept Artist

A concept Artist is a person who produces a visual design for an item, character, environment, etc. These artists are known to work in film production, animation production & most certainly game production. It is important that a concept artist must not only have the compulsory skills of a professional artist, but also have the capacity of a graphic designer.

What responsibilities do they have?
Work with, and take direction from the Art Director & Lead Artists within the team, to help in unifying the art vision throughout all areas of the product
Work on both high level concepts depicting game activities and vistas and specific concept designs for individual art assets
To create additional material for marketing purposes throughout the development of the project.
Take responsibility for producing artwork to a high standard and to any agreed schedule.
Maintain communication with other artists and relevant project staff, and report to team and line managers as required.
Present design ideas and artwork in such a way as to communicate these ideas clearly.

Qualifications Required:
Degree or diploma from Art College in Games Development, Fine Art, Design or Art related course (Preferred but not required).

Experience Required:
At least 2 years experience in entertainment, games or similar industry.
At least 1 year of experience as a Concept Artist.
Knowledge/Skills Required:
Must have extensive knowledge and experience with industry standard 2D applications such as Photoshop and Painter.
Should have excellent 2D concept skills working in a variety of styles.
Must have strong 2D art abilities, exhibiting excellent illustration and drawing skills.
Excellent understanding of colour/composition to create images that work in a variety of media including promotional folders, posters, trade stands and web applications.
An excellent communicator who is as comfortable and confident in talking to team members and project designers.
Must be very strong organisationally including the ability to multitask, ensuring all work being carried out is to an equally high standard of quality and continuity.
Must be able to work well within a team or individually.
Must be able to internally and externally promote the art vision of the game and ensure this is delivered in its entirety at the end of the project.
Must be highly motivated and enthusiastic about this area of work.


What’s the salary?


The average wage for a Concept Artist is around 40k but this depends entirely on how talented you are.





Resources came from http://www.gamesrecruit.co.uk/, http://forums.gametrailers.com & http://www.indeed.com/salary/Concept-Artist.html

Another normal, standard day today...

Haven't got up to much today (sorry to bore you). Last night I got soaked through by the rain because I missed the bus. The one time I forget to bring an umbrella and it rains..BLAH. Currently watching Monkey Dust, about to hit the hay. Tomorrow's my first web cast lesson which will be interesting.

BAI!

My confetti Experience & Mario Assignment

Confetti has been an awesome experience so far! GS9-2 is a great group, Everyone's friendly & In the past 2 weeks i've learned so much. The next 2 years shall be a blast!

I can't wait to get my Mario assignment over and done with, I've worked solidly on my presentation and I can officially say my brain is about to overload, ughh. One more night of work and I can put myself at rest :)

Peace out!

Computer Game Platform & Technologies - CSS or CS 1.6?

Counterstrike Source & Counter Strike 1.6....I have to admit I find both of these games great! They both equally have they're own unique way of making the game fun. Although CS is a lot older (which obviously meant that their capabilities were limited), It has been told that 50% of the counterstrike community still enjoys playing good old CS 1.6 (source from ebuyer forums).

Although CSS is similar to CS 1.6, it is easy to tell the difference between the two games just by looking at it. I have read so many complaints on numerous forums about how slow the game play is in CSS. They made the weapons far too easy to use along with the huge head boxes, where’s the fun in that? The main advantage that I could easily point out with source is the HUGE improvement with the graphics & the physics engine. It enhances the gaming experience, making it look more appealing.

The one thing I have realised is the competitiveness of CS 1.6; I have noticed some people prefer this game rather than the other purely because it is not aimed for beginners. 1.6 have a smaller hitboxes, where as headshots happen all the time in CSS. This means you’ve got to be extremely lucky or have a hard-earned skill in order to get headshots.

In conclusion, I really do find 1.6 better than Source, simply because I would rather pick gameplay over graphics.