Do said skills pay the bills?

Righty i think its time for another creativity post i think,

the other day somebody said, and i won't name names although this certainly seems to be split down the middle of the group that sharing knowledge be it for modelling or drawing or any other key skill for the course is a bad idea as that person would then become, effectively in the lecturers eyes as good as the person who originally taught them this seems to terrify some people who like a clear and level pegging between certain groups and people.

Which got me wondering why it worried them so much, obviously theres the element of grades being threatened if more people are at the same level but its almost as if they've learnt up to a certain level and refuse to go any higher.

New skills and knowledge means more opputunity for creative output, instead of the same tired stuff being churned out learning new techniques even if there crap the first time around is much more appealing.

Additionally if more and more people are learning more and more it simply means you have to constantly push yourself and we don't end up in a creative rut

Carters theme

Its 7:27 in the morning, i've not gone to sleep and the only thing keeping me going apart from not wanting to look a fool for this presentation is this amazingly catchy intro theme which i've been playing over and over again,

Never bet on Duke

So i've just seen the new Duke Nukem Forever teaser im convinced its only shooter that seems to be working backwards in terms of gameplay looking at the older trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=omOPjBoClw0 it has all the staples of a modern fps- scripted triggers, pseudo pysics (logs down a hill!!), vehicle sections, AI sidekicks and a crappy storyline that takes itself far too seriously.

Looking at the newest trailer okays its a teaser but still, theres no mention of any of the above just 'kerazzy' graphics (again) and alot of blood oh and a amazingly homo-erotic scene of Duke weightlifting with sweaty abs. A game like Duke Nukem just dosen't work now, sure it was funny when he was stuffing dollar notes into strippers and being casually sexist in the early 90's but that beast died when half life was released colour me not impressed - no sir no

modelling update

Okies decided to start learning the basics of creating a character specifically for the unreal 3 engine and the Queens building project next term - its Ranger off the original Quake also im liking my nerdy quake character in Unreal ironies - but thats just me.

Making the high poly first as opposed to vice versa

Waving it all in your face

So i had my modelling assesment recently and got a C, im not gonna be a prick and mope about how they were wrong and i deserve higher or whatever but i do kinda regret how the ways in which i work negatively affect my grade, final or not.
I often put long hours into modelling at home mainly because i enjoy it but also because im constantly wanting to improve myself, i have this constantly nagging feeling that if i just shoved all this up onto the lab, make it more visible, I'd get a higher grade but i have issues about blowing my own trumpet as it were so I thought i'd post up a few bits and pieces of stuff i've done so far - so long as its up here on the net its visible i guess

Okay you also get a mass of jumbled images - next time i do this, posting updates not whinging, im gonna slap them on a template or something make them a bit more legible

Ironic re-release: Daikatana

Gametap is offering the whole of Daikatana for free to download, now this is the gaming equivalent of free arsenic but its the best example of what hype over proper design can lead to I can vaguely remember playing the demo and finding it ridiculously hard even though it was the first level and I was (still am y'know?) into Quake.
The level design is hard, not in its complexity although due to murky lighting and repetitive textures i didn't know where to go half the time and everywhere is poorly signposted but the way the level throws you down ledges and slopes ever so slightly too steep or too high meaning you lose health even before you run into the robotic frogs or the mosquito's that take two impossibly well aimed shots to kill - two being the least number of shots to have any effect upon the world it would seem

So yeah every aspect of the game is appalling bit its a good opportunity to download simply to see what too much hype can lead to




Daikatana

Started painting

Well i started painting up the Sculpey fungus thingy, then suddently realized i really REALLY had to sleep i'll probaly finish it up later today

Also what the hells with Blogger making you download images now? Most vexing

..even a new tablecloth

Seeing as i've found a new wind of life for the blog I decided to make a fancy new banner for it im going for the whole dry humour approach something which sadly comes far too easily to me

I R SPEEDPAINT

I've noticed a few other ppl are posting there speed paints on there main blog presumably to pad them out but im not gonna swamp my blog with a load of my pretty poor images, thats what this is for Speed painting blog

I am however gonna post up some of my favourite pics I've done over a few weeks into a single image, this way its all nicely contained in a single post,

Image on the left is for 'Omnipotent' i figured a satellite is pretty close to that surveying all of Earth at a time, this image was completely unfinished the satellite looks more like a fridge and the Earth looks poo im pretty happy with opting to leave out any stars and stuff in most of the image making it look all the more remote and distant. The image on the right is for 'Augmentation' had been thinking of mudboxing up some Giger stuff recently so it made sense to do something close - a beauty machine that takes more from you than gives back

What really is creativity?

I've realised I've been blogging about creativity when I haven't really exlored what it really means, according to Wikipedia creativity is, 'Creativity (or "creativeness") is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.'
Which makes sense creativity be it for any task or project is always new and original other than emulating something else, something games i guess could learn from i guess

BUT

people who always say 'ooh games need to be more original more creative' etc don't often consider that new creative ideas are horrible half baked ideas often the result of somebody with a 'great idea', im pretty sure this applies to all aspects where creativity and design go hand in hand. The closest example i can think of is the Car industry and the Fiat multipla.
Despite being displayed in the Museum of Modern Art at New York, sales worldwide were absymal with Top Gear voting it the 'Ugliest Car' car of 1999 Fiat eventualy restyled it back into a more traditional looking design and sales started to increase.
Showing more than anything people want familiarity not a car you would find in a pretensious modern art house, evolution not revolution i guess.
But creativity to solve a problem is a truly mysterious thing some spark of inspiration that completely rewrites the book and has everyone copying you until the next big wave of creativity