they bite off the heads of males when mating, wow

I haven't done a cartoon doodle in quite some time, this is the best i have done lately. I really should draw bugs more often, it's fun.

the machine is your friend

I don't think i ever expected to be in the position that i am now, i am actually contemplating my third year of uni. It actually seems rather incredible to me, i think only because i doubt myself so much, and yes i know i shouldn't but a lot makes me believe that i am not destined for the games industry. I don't know where i am destined for but i will be trying my hardest to create a game that i truly am pleased with in my third and final year.

I have been working hard taking down notes every time something pops into my head, sketching down ideas for characters and environments and i am pretty sure i know what kind of game i want to make. I have also been looking at games engines that are suitable to help me easily implement my designs into a program that can let me stitch a game together. I am sure this is now going to be harder than i expected, but i have said it before i relish a challenge. Besides this could push me to go way beyond what i feel is my limit and that is only good right?

I would say something about what i want to create but i think it is better to hold off just a little while longer, i will say that i am studying short stories that can be adapted into the type of video game that i am making. This should be the most stressful, and yet interesting year of uni yet. My teeth are bared, my fists clenched, my eyes are staring into the darkness but i can see a faint light and that is what i run towards!

All this jumping is making me dizzy...

So we are now pretty much at the end of this project and it's been really crazy, there has been lots going on and regrettably i have not had all that much time to be keeping up to date writing what has been going on. The project has been a really good test of skills and although the build does not have everything we wanted in it, what has been done does look good and i am pleased with it.

I have enjoyed the role of producer but if i ever end up working in a group with people again i imagine i would take a role where i am less involved in being the voice for the group because speaking is good but i would like to get more down to the nitty gritty of the work and be less involved in the organising of tasks as at times i don't know whether that was my strong point. Well i imagine on my project for the final year i will be working alone and I'm looking forward to the struggle and learning curve of doing that and how much i will be able to create when it is just me working on my own game.

Seeing the future before it's happened

So i am steadily falling into a rich working pattern of tasks to complete and then moving onto more tasks. Recently i found out that in all the time that the course has run this project nobody has ever created a working demo (at least i think) in any case true or not it spurred me on to want to create a working demo that i am really pleased with in the time we have. Our idea is ambitious but i have my hopes that it is possible. We have produced a concept document and also a complete walk through for the level. I have included below just a few of the concepts that i did for the main Tempora boss character, but i think really the best of the ones i created, and pleased with them. I'm excited to see how this will all end up looking.


I'm finding that being a producer can be tough work, but it's a refreshing and ultimately interesting and challenging experience that i do welcome. Having the power is always fun, knowing how to keep everyone in order but not wanting to kill each other in the process? Well that is something else entirely.

Prepare to go on an adventure in time!

Truth be told it has been a long while since which i have had a moment to update this here blog of mine, but i thought that i really should or else it just looks like i am avoiding it like the plague. (which i was not by the way)

I also should point out that i am a producer on this project, it's a very new and quite daunting role for me but i am prepared to take full advantage of the responsibilities that it entails and work to the best of my ability, fun times!

So basically the current project we have been given is to design one level in a game based on a fictional tv show called TimeWarp. A fairly plain and boring "i've heard it before concept" i hear you cry. Well perhaps, which is why we intend to make it our own and i believe we already are. The aim is to get a working demo by the end of this project and we have just the small time of the rest of the secound year in order to do that. I still have to write up the concept document and have assigned tasks to all on the project including myself for us to complete by this coming tuesday, it's all quite fun.

I shall check back here to put up concepts as i go on with designing them so it remains clear the direction this is going in. Also if you ever feel like checking out where we are at, or want to see just how everyone is working together we have a team website which can be found at this address.

a running wonder

The project looms on, and i realised it has been a small age since i have updated on here, so let's see. Thanks to the wonder that is milliput and some most excellent garden wire, the model (as you can see) is fully positionable and we have a green screen. (which should be better lit but we don't talk about that) We should start animating any day now and then try to pull it all together to literally make our thought process come to life, let's just hope it's in time. I shall remain optimistic!

An explosion of stop motion!

After continuing work on the 30 secound vignette project, I am starting to realise that because our idea is quite ambitious the workload is high, but the pay off should be excellent as i know what we will produce will be really different and a good example of our skills.
But hey, enough of all of that, it's scary really not much time left and we are just sort of bringing everything together, downloaded Istopmotion and made a plasticine figure.
We played around with the stop motion techniques and created a little video, here it is for your enjoyment.