Inspirational moodboards

This is a collection of images that I've saved that I thought were funny or inspirational. Actually its just the first one thats funny. the rest are things that i liked the look of that I may call upon in the future.

Fable 1's art team was wasted

Just reading on Kotaku about how Fable 1 didn't really know what they were doing because things weren't planned out too well.

For a start there was apparently no concept art so the modellers didn't know what they were making in the first place. And then the artists couldn't put the models into the engine and thus submitted the assets blind without knowing what they would look like. According to the article 40% of the games assets had to be scrapped. I guess from either taking too much work to redo or them being far too far from what they were going for.

Fable II knew about this and completely changed it all and had a better way of working and only wasted 2-3% of assets.

It's strange how important concept art is. But then which parts of the game need concepts? Just main areas? Big areas? Atmospheric areas? General areas? I'm a bit cnfused but it does make sense. Doing the work for the group project I couldn't really see how my assets would work in the unreal engine unless I submitted them. They could use work after but it woulda been nice to know before hand.

So there we go, even the industry can make mistakes like this sometimes. Gotta know whats happening and how to do it effeciently.

Picture unrelated, it's Kite 3D model from .hack

Zelda and the Spirit Tracks

So here it is, our new Zelda game has been announced and I must say its not quite what i was expecting.

It's Link

On a Train.

Link the Train driver.

But I dunno, it works the exact same as the phantom hourglass. And the only gripe I had with that game is the Temple of the Ocean King having to be visited like 5 times throughout the game. It got repetitive and was a bad move in my opinion. And now I can't really finish the game because I don't want to learn how to do all the puzzles again.

So if Spirit Tracs doesn't have another Temple like that the Ocean King, it could be a very enjoyable game. I just want to know how limiting having a train is going to be. But maybe thats the point of the spirit Track. Drawing your own to go wherever you want. I'll give it a go but I must see just what is going on with it in the coming months. Maybe games need more trains...

Important games for me

Skies of Arcadia: A timeless RPG for me that is about Pirates. Not just any pirates; Sky Pirates. And not the whole crusty long john silvers; pretty stylish characters who get away from the eyepatches and wooden legs. Though Vyse does have an eyepatch but that has a zoom on it and Drachma who has a metal arm because it was bitten off by a whale. A game about exploration and seeing different cultures across the world. The tagline is pretty much "Seeing what lies beyond the sunset" and there is pretty much loads of people to see, the Arabian "Nasr" continent, the Amazonia continent "Ixi Taka" and the Japanese "Yafutoma". There is also the alaskan "Glacia" and the standard Valua and Pirates Isle areas too. It's a very well made game even if each area has a town and a dungeon to it. Its definitely fun flying around in the airships that everyone has, starting off in a tiny two man dingy and eventually stealing the latest ship from the Valuan Armada along with the  Prince of Valua. Of course it does turn into the Save the World biz but its fun still having the brave young Vyse turning into a heck of a pirate.

Jet Set Radio: Jet Set Radio is here for 3 whole reasons. 1) The cel shading. One of the first games to feature cel-shading was JSR and it even did it well and was original without trying to be a game of a cartoon. 2) The music. JSR is pretty famous for this and Hideki Naganuma being the composer of these fine techno tracks. They are love 'em or hate 'em but I love all the tracks though it is a bit annoying you can't chose what you listen to during each level as some of them are a bit lacklustre compared to the others. 3) A skating game that isn't a sports title. JSR is a game about being a deliquent really. You begin tagging up your bus terminal after a rival gang comes over. Then you tag other peoples turf. Then you do it more while avoiding the police, the army, tanks, swat choppers, suicide bombers, exploding cars, pyromaniacs with flamethrowers, guys on flying bikes and a group of Assassins called the Golden Rhinos. The thrill of the game keeps you playing. "Shit they just sent in the tanks to stop me from graffittying up a wall" then seeing how things progress from there. A complete thrill ride to see if you can finish tagging a wall for max points before you get jumped on by the bombers. It's a fun game if not short. JSRF didn't live up to the challenge that was JSR but still a fun series. Roll on the Wii version. 

The World Ends with You: TWEWY proves that the DS isn't full of 10 hour play it and leave it family games. Drawn by Tetsuya Nomura, all the characters have size 0 waists but also hard and thickly outlined edges. It brings a great style to the game and fits in perfectly with the music of the game which is another marmite job. It fits with the mood and this game demonstrates great writing from start to finish. Starting as Neku with no memory (yeah yeah) you learn more and more about where you are and why you are there. The game is also structured into Days with everyday after the first leaving with you a major cliffhanger making you want to start the next day even if you have to go to bed. The game also introduced the Dual Screen battling. You controlled neku on the bottom screen, moving him around with the stylus and drawing different symbols on the screen to unleash the numerous attacks you have while on the top screen using the d-pad (or face buttons) to control the character on the top. They fight the same enemies but you  must control both to win. It's a very fun way of fighting and keeps you engaged making sure neither of your characters die. Gameplay, music and writing, this is definitely one of the best games on the DS.

Persona 3: The latest game that I can thank for many sleepless nights. The Shin Megami Tensei Persona games are games that balance RPG elements like fighting monsters and using magic, with going to school, living a normal life and harbouring friendships. It's a great mix and I thought it worked well. It was always fun talking to the friends the main character had made in order to advance them as characters too.  The characters that you had in your party were also totally seperate and very well developed (considering the game lasts an ingame school year, you do learn alot). The student council president, captain of the boxing team, a 10year old genius, the deliquent first year, the girl with family problems, a monster fighting robot, a dog whose master died 10 years ago and Yukari (There is just no bracket to put her in).  The main draw of the game is the story that from the off is about saving the world. However even the story only gets exciting towards the end. The largest draw is the large amount of people you can learn about, especially since there are around 30 well developed and individual characters. It is a fun game I must say and its definitely hard nowadays to find a game that will last 90 hours on a standard first run through . Onto Persona 4 now.

Team Fortress 2: Talking of game length, Team Fortress 2 never gets old. A game I have already put around 250 hours into and never thought I would like. TF2 is an FPS, an online one at that but its a totally balanced game. Every class has their own strengths and weaknesses and is good against at least one other. There may be a learning curve to some but its very easy to pick up and play. I also like the graphics. TF2 has to be the first RPG without an overabundance of grey. It suffers from a red flood though. They need to stop doing deserts and go with alpines. The characters are just that, characters. A different personality floods through each one that isn't a Recoloured Masked Soldier. The environments are nicely put together and it avoids being many FPS cliches. Overall its impossible to say it isnt a fun game, the graphics are great and a great try at something new (See battlefield heroes lolololol) and it's gameplay is fair to everyone and promotes teamworking which does lack alot online.

Visually striking characters in games

Nathan Drake (uncharted): One of those everyday heroes, the kind that is unrealistic without spikey hair (Oh wait, he does). A plain grey long sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans he really is normal but with those chiseled good looking features in his face. IT may also be part of his voice acting and his lines that complete the character but he's still one of those top normal characters to me.

Neku Sakuraba (twewy): Drawn by Tetsuya Nomura so he looks like an stick with a 0.5 waist size but then that is just the style of the game. His character design is pretty striking, not many characters can pull off wearing purple and yellow, not that many even really try. The collar he wears covering his face and his large headphones point out how much he hates others.  

Vyse (SoA): Vyse the Sky pirate. Its pretty rare to see pirates that don't try too hard to look like pirate cliches. Then again he still has an eyepatch but not because he only has one eye but instead it is a glass eyepatch with a zoom feature. Har Har, they sure turned that around. The also his blue top with the separted sleeves attached with buckles. I wish i had a top like that, and his red kneckerchief. Lets also not forget his dual wielding cutlasses especially the one he holds on the handguard. 

Roxas/Final Form Sora (KH2): Roxas gets a vote from me for once aagain being a relatively normal character.  A mostly white and black costume  with offsets of red to keep it interesting. A jacket that looks alot like a shirt and a shirt that looks a bit like a wetsuit (to tie in with sora). And being first shown in the game trailers, he was also dual wielding is also a big plus for me.

Final Form sora has the main form of sora but using a strong use of white on everything and using black elements for the details and seperate designs. These are taken from Roxas. It seems I'm mostly drawn to any characters that have strong white elements. It's a colour that can be powerful if used well but not all over like an Ice maiden. And once again dual wielding but instead the blades are kept in orbit of him and attack with mind control.

Bayonetta (Bayonetta): Bayonetta is the product of the Devil May Cry creator not doing DMC. So she is a bit like Dante that she uses pistols and they both star in Hack and Style games. What makes a change is that B is not a 18 year old chest and high skirts character. Well she is sexy but she is definitely in her late 20s which makes loads of difference. A funky hair accessory keeps her hair tidy (It transforms into things like dragons and i think I read that her hair is her leather suit). Those pistols of hers are pretty ornate and special too. Kinda rare to see pistols with two barrels and they certainly add to the look. Lets not forget the pistols in the heels of her boots that she fires while doing handstands.

Orpheus (Persona 3): Not even an important character in the series, hardly even a character at all. He is the Main characters first summoned monster in the game but visually he is a strange character. A jet black face with two glowing red eyes topped with pure white hair. A body of pale sea green and white arms and legs. A strange organic face and a mechanical body also make him seem strange, paired with his non existent feet. (keeping with the old jap robot style). Orpheus also has a red scarf/necktie that breaks up the monotony of his costume. Finally his giant lyre, his weapon, is linked to his greek mythology.

Zack (Zack & Wiki): There is something charming about Zack. He leaps off the page being a small child in large clothes. His colour scheme being the 3 primary colours helps show how child friendly he is. His yellow coat  flies around him as he runs. His giant red hat seems to be made of paper as it only covers the front of his head, with a nice rounded skull on it. He's a very cool character, he is bold, out there, eats chocolate all the time and is of course a pirate.