Posting... and Week 18 - Game Technology - Sound for Games

I just realised how much blogging I've done since I got back...

Towards the end of last term, my blogs were dying out slowly, with the last one before Christmas being where I wanted to burninate Square Enix for thier shitty work on Final Fantasy X, on the 13/12/06.

Since then, there was a blog on the 5/1/07, then another one on the 12/1/07 when I offically became a Semi-Finalist for Miss Leicester... I still haven't found a sponcer...

Then I postsed on the 15/1,twice... Week I'm not sure which, 12 I think - Returning to DeMontfort is about my thoughts and feelings about Leicester and the course btw Doc, which is what you asked for for the end of last term.

Then on the 16/1 I became a mouse tree... don't ask...

18/1 I started thinking with portals...

23/1 was my week 15 task... ok, ok there was a five day delay there... good, I'm not becoming obsessed... oh... I did week 16 there too... and Yami's smirk of doom...

It snowed on the 26/1 and I blogged about it at a rediculously early hour of the 27/1...

The 29/1 was Week 17's blog...

30/1 was all about my Wii and my Xbox 360 and a scary webcam picture... and items built by me in uni... and Call of Duty...

And today, the 31/1 I rediscovered Nightmare City and am writting this blog...

Oh my Ra...

I am obsessed again.

Well at least I'm doing my work...

Now should I do my task now while I'm thinking about it?

K. Getting on with it...
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Sound in games is blatently important, have you ever noticed that the better Call of Duty players often are wearing headphones so they can hear what's coming or so it doesn't give away thier position? It's similar on Battle for Middle Earth, headphones in to listen to the amazing music and so the other can't hear whjat army you're building or wheather you've just got something like Eagles or Fell Beasts... or worse, if they've found Golum and the damn Ring.

Koji Kondo is possibly one of my favourate composers, since he have basically composed or at least worked on the music for every Legend of Zelda game, and I think all of the songs for Ocarina of Time are some of my all time favourate game sounds ever, especally you know... da, da, da, da!!!! Meh, it's not as cool without the sound... You all know the sound I mean...

Also the music from Kingdom Hearts is great I think, I have the soundtrack on my laptop :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_game_music (Stupid blogger won't let me link)

Gives a lot of the background history of Computer Game Music, about how it's developed and how it is done now, compaired to how it used to be done.

It tells how once the musicians for a game needed to know how to program and everything to be able to music in games, now music is being played at the quailty as CDs, and possibly if I dare to say it, slightly higher.

I think one of my key moments where the music of a game lead me to keep playing was... you know... I can't think of my first time... but the music creates the mood, you could say have FFIX's battle music with say the scene in the game where *SPOILER*
Garnet sees Zidane for the first time after they've saved the world, after thinking he died trying to save Kuja, his 'kind-of-brother.' The mood would be spoiled and everyone would be expecting trouble to break out.

I think the music in Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy VIII are probably some of my faves, though if you look on my Ipod, I have the entire Kingdom Hearts Soundtrack, as well as songs from FFIX, FFVIII, FFX, and even a couple from the much hated FFX2, <--- swearword. However I do like the two songs... unfortunatly the music was unable to save the game from the sheer shittiness of the game. I do wish I had more Ocarina of Time music, but a collegue of mine who had the entire Legend of Zelda Music Collection, which came up to about 90 odd songs forgot to let me rip them off the CDs before I came to Leicester. :(

Ummm, ok, I think that's it...

Sorry for the randomness at the start,

And probably see you soon...

Joey.

P.S. Twilight Princess on my Wii is fantastic :D - Copyright Press Start To Play

I don't mind that everything is a lie...

As long as you love me forever.

Nightmare City -

Nightmare City Catastrophe -

I love these flash movies, they are some of the best I've ever seen.

You have to watch them!

Thank you YouTube for having them after the old site with them on closed down because, i think, they couldn't handle the amount of viewers...

Thank you joker54king13

Call of Duty...

I have just realised that I'm going to have to change my name on Call of Duty.



Whenever I get playing that game I end up laughing maniacly and shooting pretty much anyone and anything, even dead people, lol.

Oh and apparently I have the scariest evil laugh out of the class and it tends to surface while playing Call of Duty.

If I am really evil, then I can't really be Kairi anymore, since the Princess of Heart, and Keyblader, from Kingdom Hearts isn't at all evil...

But what to change my name to...

Items bulit by moi, in uni, showing off slighty :D

This was my first work... a wheelie bin of doom... yes, it is of doom because it nearly cost me my place on this course because I couldn't do it to start with... bloody bin... I hate this soooo much....


The second was a house, which was actualy much easier, though it decided to insert polygons where I didn't want polygons and made me rush to finish it....


And now a tree... and this was in fact very easy, and I think I'm one of the first to finish it... makes a change...

Hehe, ok, showing off a little bit, but it does feel good to see that I can actually make things while having fun at the same time...

Joey

Scary webcam picture...

Scary webcam picture... so glad my digital camera arrived today... guess who I was on the phone to... my friends should get this right first time :D

Joey

Bad, Bad Joey...

If buying things is bad, why does it make me happy?

I have now had my Nintendo Wii for a week, after not expecting to get it until March I had a lovely phone call while I was in work a week Saturday just gone, "Oh Hello Miss Lawrence, I'm just phoning to tell you that your Nintendo Wii has arrived and that you have 72 hours to pick it up."



I was almost late for work the next day because I went to get it before work...

And thank you to Nintendo Offical Magazine for the Decals that now grace my Wii and my Wiimote.

And that's not all I've bought console wise recently...


I'm sure you all remember Joey and friends struggling with a very large bag about a week into term? This would be because Joey - once the biggest hater of the Xbox series ever, has treated herself to an Xbox 360.

Bad, bad Joey...

Week 17 -- Game Engines

All hail the hypnotoad.... - Futurama :)

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As far as I can tell, Games Engines are what makes the game work, as the graphics will come out wrong if there is a fault and things will end up miles from where they're supposed to...

Wikipedia says that - "The term "game engine" arose in the mid-1990s, especially in connection with 3D games such as first-person shooters (FPS). (See also: first person shooter engine). Such was the popularity of id Software's Doom and Quake games that, rather than work from scratch, other developers licensed the core portions of the software and designed their own graphics, characters, weapons and levels—the "game content" or "game assets."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine

In other words, they used game engines to make creating games easier, and though I haven't yet worked out how much easier it makes it, I'm guessing that since it allows the Game Art and everything else to happen in one space it makes things a hell of a lot easier, allowing Games to be run on many platforms, for example the PS2, the Xbox360, and the Gamecube (though I much prefer the Wii, which I own muahahahaha!)

Game Engines help reduce time and money, which in the Games Industry means a lot, though the licencing of such technology has become very, very expensive indeed, with it ranging from $10,000 to $3,750,000 (Warcraft III), and the Unreal Engine has become very popular, as well as highly sought after and highly priced.

Games Engines are also the reason for strong separation from other types of games design, artists make up 4/5 of a team in a typical game.

It is also sometimes known as Middleware, because it is like a middle man for helping to create games.

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On a weird note,

I wonder what sort of Game Engine you would need for the game me and my friends were talking about not that long ago, a Pokemon MMOG, imagine the fun and games that would be, and the expansions that would be released everytime they came up with new pokemon, it would be interesting and cool.

However I wonder, would they do it turn based or RTB? And would they let Trainers fight each other, or make the fatal mistake of making it non PK, well I suppose in a Pokemon game it wouldn't strictly be PK, but it could well be Trainer battles for real players instead of just against the NPC, there are only so mnay ways a computer can use a set of pokemon before you know thier moves inside out back to front and upside down.

And what pokemon would you start with, would you have to start with one of the Starters, Charmander, Squirtal, Bulbasaur, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Chikorita, Torchic, Mudkip or Treekco? Or would you have other ways of getting your starter, and how would it be decided? Cause I'd really like either a Charmander or a Vulpix...

And... wow, I've just realised I've put too much tought into this.

But an MMOG would be a facinating way of moving the pokemon world forward, not that Battle Revolution looks absolutly fantastic, just... I have to wonder, ya know?

Oh and final note to self, buy Battle for Middle Earth 2, I'm fed up of getting my ass handed to me because I don't play enough real time stratagy games...

Goodnight,

Joey

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God !!!!!

It's 12:26 and I have just come in from a snowball fight that has to have lasted a good three quaters of an hour. It was fantastic! And it would still be going if the security guards hadn't been called by some boring fart who didn't like the fact we were having fun. However the fight was fantastic... and so...

It is offical.

Leicester is now perfect!

Joey.

Oh God, I know that smile, we're gunna die!

Hehe, ok, yes, I'm admitting to watching the Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie while doing my blogs, but the above look is one that scares even the most hardened of Duellists, it's the scary look and if he gets that look it's game over man, you will in fact get your arse handed to you.

No idea why I'm mentioning this now... but I'm having a day of random Yu-Gi-Oh!

And I love that look, it's so much fun.

And so is the reactions of the duellists he's fighting against.

"This is the toughest move I've ever had to make, but this ends now... Black Skull Dragon... Molten Fireball Attack!" (Yugi vs Joey, Duellist Kingdom)

Week 16 - Gaming Cultures

Gaming culture is a very wide subject, after all I don't suppose that I belong to the same culture as some of my classmates, for example, while I could possibly fit into the white female category, I suppose I belong to a whole different culture which would be the gay white female culture, and then do I belong to gay white female RPG fan culture?

Something I have learnt that this university, it's the people of all different shapes, sizes, genders, preferences, all love games just as much, if not more so, as I do.

Playing computer games can no longer be seen something that people who like to hide in their bedrooms never see the light of day do for fun. For example I have been computer games of the quite a long time but then I've always enjoyed going out and having a game of football as well, in fact football is one of the things, in fact no the only thing I miss from my senior school.

Gamers cultures and game playing, I suppose pretty much dominates my life, any one of my friends on the course can testify, as my room is pretty much constantly a tip, however you can always get my laptop and my consoles.

I used to play on online wargames, belonging to Fenrir Alliance, and at one point being one of their top members, however once I got my final major project for college, I felt I could not do my alliance justice and dropped out of the game, although at the time I didn't realise it would be a pretty much permanent decision.

Andy aka Raven, Jamie aka Laser and Robert aka Strike will all people who were also top members of Fenrir Alliance, and though I do not speak to them as much anymore, I do sometimes talk to them to find out how the alliance is getting on.

Yamita, who was me, was quite possibly one of only eight girls in the Fenrir Alliance, and to start with it was admittedly hard to get the respect of the others members of the Alliance. I suppose it's because it's a different culture to to the one I am used to.

I know for a fact, I belong to the fanfiction culture, as I've been writing for over a year now, and do not have the single story that has not been read less than 200 times and some of which have been read over 3000 times. Not to mention the 50 odd reviews of an unfinished story.

Games culture is a hard thing to talk about, there were so many different types of cultures in gamers, that it's pretty much impossible to be able to describe all of them.

I guess that's it from me this week, well until Wednesday that this,

So this is Joey signing off.

"If you want to get to the King of games, you'll have to go through me, the uhhh... Godfather of games, capshe?" (Joey Wheeler, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie.)

Eeep - Week 15 - From generalist to specialist...

In the industry at the moment, I can throw my head back and laugh at my friends back home who have always been Nintendo bashers, after the release of two best selling consoles.

The DS and Wii.

Both of which I now own.

Muahahahaha!

And I have to say being a Nintendo girl has never been sweeter, I love Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess, and Wii Sports.


Currently in the gaming world, Nintendo are easily on top, with Sony and Microsoft a close 3rd. Yes, Nintendo is 1st and 2nd :p

Listening to guest lecturers and reading things on the internet, a single person could no longer possibly match up to games companies, who deliberatly gather Games Artists to work for them, or Outsource thier work to people from either other companies or other countries. A single person would not have the skills nessesary for game art, game animation and game programming, they could at best create a very bad game, and that would take a very long time.

Inside the industry, the passion for making better games and getting more money, I quite like that idea, since the better games side of things means better games for the many many consoles that I own.

Challenges I suppose for the industry is living up to the specs of the new-gen consoles, and the new technology of the Wii, and the PS3, games can be designed to work with motion sensors but it's important for the games to usefully use it instead of using it because it's there, ya know?

This is something people will have to think about in the near future.
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Playtime is now over Panik, it's time to duel! - Yugi Muto (Vs. Panik) (I think it's more Yami talking, this is pre them switching and when they're still merging souls)

Now you're thinking in Portals...

I found the clip that the guest lecturer showed us at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59B_4gIimEk

Are you thinking with Portals?

I am a mouse tree!!!!

Don't ask, actually do.

I've been reading a webcomic called Fox Tails, which is about Kitsunes, you know Japanese Fox Spirits, and Kaze, a five tailed Kitsune, was tricked when he was a kit, by Miyo, who used to be a nine tailed Kitsune but now only has three tails, into believing that if he buried the mice he caught they'd turn into a mouse tree.

Hehe, silly little kitsune.

As it is, I now am in love with the phrase, 'I am a mouse tree!!!'



(Copyright Fox Tails)

Check out the comic, it is really good @

http://foxtails.comicgenesis.com/

Week I'm not sure which, 12 I think - Returning to DeMontfort

"I gave them the wrong warning, I should have told them to run, run and hide, 'cause the monsters are coming, the human race!" (The Doctor, Doctor Who, The Christmas Invasion, Dec 2005)

Well, I'm back.

And already it's only been a week and I feel like I'm home.

It felt a little weird, coming back here after being home, but I realised that while I enjoyed being home, Leicester is more home to me then Bristol ever will be again, nice for a holiday, but I don't really want to live there at the moment.

As for the course... well, what can I say?

It's fantastic, I really do love it, and though to start with I felt like I'd been thrown in the deep end before I could swim, I'm getting there, and getting much better now, there's still some faults with my work, but I'm only a freshman, I'm not going to become an expert in my first term, for me to expect otherwise would be very very stupid.

Coming on this course is the best thing I've ever done, I have more friends, I enjoy life more, and I'm finally doing something I love.

I'm finally me, more then I have been my entire life, Anne Lawrence, and the Joey who walks through the classroom door are two completely different people, and I love the new me, I love being Joey, who can be herself and be treated with respect and friendship and trust, instead of being Anne, who was always bullied and could never be herself without having the piss taken.
The new Joey is better then the old Anne.

And as for this blog, well, a lot of things that I'm too scared to say in person, or don't want to sound like I'm bragging about, it all goes on here, all my feelings and worries and every... well... almost everything I think is amusing from discussions with friends, hense the Nickname blog a while back.

And the tasks are normally pretty easy to understand, so I'm almost always up to date, because I can understand what I'm supposed to be writting about, and can write my way, in my style, without having to stick to some strick code or write in some obscure technobable that leaves me thinking wtf.

All right, all right, I'll admit to once or twice being behind schedule, I'm unfortunantly good at that, but I have never left a blog more then two weeks, even if I'm distracted by shiny things the course is more important to me then anything else ever...

Except my friends and some of my family... they'll always come first.

Some of my blogs are mine, I'm pretty sure Miss Leicestershire has nothing to do with designing games, but I feel more cmfortable writting about things and the tasks here, instead of having the tasks set as evil essays-of-doom, esspecally since I'm a well known procrastinator when it comes to essays.

Life here is great and I can't wait to deal with the tree, this time things will go my way instead of making me rush at the last minute because polygons appear where they're not menat to! (How my house did that I have no idea, I have a horrible feeling I missed something when I was rushing to complete the texturing), this term will go smoothly and if it doesn't, I'm going to work my hardest to make it do so.

Question, do you like my hat?

And can everyone who reads my blog tell me so I know how many people actually read the stuff I write... pwease?

Anyway, I think I've rambled long enough, so I'll say g'night now,
Joey, signing out.
P.S. My flatmate just told me she's not drunk, yeah right, that's why she's slamming around and screaming, if she's not drunk, I'm the Queen of Sheba!

"Low life" (Sora)
"You're too kind, kid." (Hades) (KH2)

Not much to add till I understand the week's blog...

Just the webadress of my new DeviantART page.

http://blaze-pheonix.deviantart.com/

Top 50

Wow, I Anne Joey Lawrence, am offically one of the Semi-finalists in Leicestershire for the Miss England regionals... Well, Anne Lawrence is registered as a Semi Finalist. Now I have to wait for the results of the semi finals to come in and pray.

Once that's done, if I make the cut I'll have to get a sponser... or sponsers... eep... Sainburys, Game, E-play or Gamestation maybe... no, not Gamestation I don't spend enough there.

And that's not right anyway, they said I should start looking now... Do I dare ask in work tomorrow?

Dunno, but this a very bouncy Joey signing off.

Post Christmas Bordorm

I'm sat in my bedroom right now, thinking. I love Christmas, I love the run up to Christmas, I love the New Year... What I've decided I don't love is the limbo period between New Year and reality kickstarting.

What I have decided I like is the fact I think that over a three week period, I've managed to catch up on the sleep my flatmates were denying me at the end of last term. Unless I've had work this is the first time I've been up early on a morning. Great fun.

Anyway, back to Christmas.

I had an awesome time, I got one over on my aunt on New Year's Day, she was threatening to start her usual complaints about my cousin's fiance. I told her that she'd go out in the garden if she started again, she went all o.0 on me and didn't mention it all day. : )

Christmas presents were mostly things for University, like a new duvay (sp?) cover, nightdresses, paintbrushes, cooking books, alcohol and chocolate. (I would like to point out now that I don't drink half as much as my flatmates).

However one of the best presents was from my little brother.

My first driving lesson. He paid for a two hour driving lesson, I just have to arrange a time when I get back to Leicester. How awesome is that? :D

I'm looking forward to Sunday, coming home, back to Leicester, a day early so mum and dad can bring me back, so by Tuesday, I'll be set up and ready for a new university term.

So I'll see ya Tuesday,

Joey