Pages

Friday 23 October 2015

Why Game Development, Oli?

The power of entertainment media astounds me. The fact that a person can get completely immersed in a new world, be it digital, or in your own mind (induced by the written word) is amazing.

One of the reasons I became focused on game development is because when I was having a difficult time, I was constantly looking for ways to lose myself, and entertainment media helped me so much. I could forget all about any problems I was having, I could be someone else, I was someone else: A hero, a villain, a lovable rogue (depending on which game I was playing).
Video games became one of my main escapes. I think a lot of people underestimate just how much video games in particular can help a person who needs an outlet. Sure, TV shows and movies can help with escapism as well (LOST will forever hold a special place in my heart), but there's just something so personal with gaming. You are involved, interacting, and in some cases; actually shaping the world, rather than simply watching things play out with no input from yourself.
Anyway, back to my point, I'm focused on game development because I would love the opportunity to make a video game that helps people who need that escape, who need to forget themselves for a time. Not a game specifically made for such a purpose, perhaps, but as long as something that I worked on helps someone feel better, even if it's just for a while, it'll be worth it.

I Submit to Peer-Pressure

Over the past few weeks, I've started to learn how to model using 3D software (specifically Blender). As I've mentioned before, I am aiming to be an artist for the gaming industry, so learning 3D is essential.

Luckily for me, there are a butt-load of tutorials all over the internet, or y'know; YouTube. I've been using these tutorials to make models of dinosaurs, houses, fields, low-poly landscapes, and I've recently started working on a lightsaber. To be perfectly honest, most of the models I have made so far are, in my opinion, terrible. SO TERRIBLE IN FACT, THAT THEY SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY! Hence the the title of this post. One of my friends has told me that I should actually go right ahead and post screenshots of anything I'm working on.
Most of these models are still works in progress, and really don't look very great, but hey, I'm only a beginner, and I'm putting in the work to improve.
Anyway, enough of my babbling bullshit, here are a few examples of what I've been working on so far:

Okay, first up is the throne of Erebor. This was actually the first model I worked on without the aid of a tutorial. This image is slightly out of date as I've now replaced the floor. I'm going to sort out fixing the textures whenever I work on this next.
If I had the money, I'd commission someone to sculpt me a real Erebor throne.

Okay, next up is a low-poly lonely volcano in the middle of a sea. This was purely intended to be practice for lighting, water, and node-compositing. I feel the lighting is a bit off here, but overall, I'm happy with how this has turned out so far, particularly the water. I think I'll add more features to the volcano and lava.
I don't think I'd like a volcano lair. Too much maintenance.

Finally, here's the lightsaber that I've been working on. This is my current project, so it's far from finished. I still need to add textures, improve the lighting, and piss around with the nodes. Obviously the blade is supposed to have a much more impressive looking glow to it, but I haven't reached that stage yet; that's done in compositing. I'm happy with how this is going.
I'd also like a real, working lightsaber, but I doubt that'll be happening any time soon.
I'd show off the 'work in progress' T-Rex, and Hobbit-Hole, but they still require a lot more to be done.
So yeah, there are three examples of what I'm working on, and hopefully soon, I'll have the completely finished versions to show you, as well more 'in progress' models.

Cheers.