With no immediate projects to keep me busy, I thought I’d wire up the playstation 2, which I bought almost half a year ago, and give the games a try.

Kratos vs the World

I’ve been hearing friends talking about God of War and God of War 2 being super awesome. So I tried GoW 1 first. I got stuck many times. And I have no patience at it. So I went looking for cheats. Having found none, I had to resort to the walkthrough. I did complete the game, under easy, and after a lot of frustration.

I play games under easy because I wanna get through it and see what its all about. I know, people say games are meant to be played under normal difficulty, at least. But when I bought the ps2, the deal includes getting over 100 titles. Thus, naturally, I have a desire to play them all… quickly.

Anyway, God of War is awesome. Gameplay wise and also storyline wise. I dislike all the irritating reattempts at puzzle-like, platform-style elements of the game. But that’s just me. People seem to like those parts too.

I wanted to know the rest of the story of Kratos, so I played GoW 2 right after I completed GoW 1. And guess what? I got impatient too. I started looking for cheats and walkthroughs again. Then I found this awesome cool idea on youtube.

Someone actually recorded the game as he played it. He then uploaded it to youtube as ‘walkthroughs’. It’s damn useful man! Not just to use it as walkthrough, but to just watch, fast forward, and skip to parts that you wanna see in the game, without having to go through the game itself. At first I used it as a guide, but later, I stopped playing entirely and skipped through the videos to check out the storyline.

Real gamers would be really disgusted by now if they’re reading this post.

So why oh why did I study in the game development and multimedia course?

One reason is because I THOUGHT I liked playing games. Apparently, I’m more of a story guy. Games need an awesome story for it to succeed. That’s one of the criterias for a successful game. For me, I just want to have a taste of the gameplay and move on to the story. I just wanna sample the gameplay and then get the whole idea of the story.

But one thing I do realise now, after the course, is that it’s super difficult to make games. I really appreciate every single thing I see in God of War. The smooth combat controls, the camera following, the level designs, the in game animations, the AI, and so many others.

And once I completed the game, there’s a making of video that was unlocked. I really respect those guys man… It takes 3 years to complete the game. And to see how it develops… brings back memories back when me and my group made Rift, my first ever game.

However, there is one genre which I like above others. Real Time Strategy. I don’t mean I like this genre only, sometimes I get sick of it too. When that happens, platform or fighting games would be refreshing. But otherwise, I think I’m more of a PC gamer, playing on my mouse and using hotkeys. Even so, I hated Warcraft 3, which so many people loved. But I do love titles like Company of Heroes (best!) and Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Starcraft (classic!), Command and Conquer (classic), Red Alert (classic!). C&C Generals too.

I also like SIM games or games with micro management. Well, to a certain extent.

Oh man, hands hurting from typing and holding the controller. I’m done.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Here’s the poster.

CD casing design at the wow safari blog. It’s at:
http://suadrefstudios.com/safari/blog

Check it out yeah?

More later…

Popularity: 6% [?]

RIFT is complete. The demo, that is. And everything went well. This is actually a very long overdue post.

The presentation was pretty good. And I guess we’re all pretty darn proud of ourselves for pulling through on such a short time.

We can’t make the game playable for all, coz the game engine we’re using is a bloody trial version, which doesn’t allow us to compile the game into an executable. So, to play it, you’ve gotta install the damn engine and run it from there.

But no worries, I’m thinking of putting up an in-game video montage. When? I don’t know. Probably after my exams.. which is coming in 4 days time!

Speaking of the exams, I really have no mood to study. This semester had been extremely fun, challenging and taxing. With all the heavy duty assignments completed, I really can’t find the motivation to ’study’ the very logical/common-sensical subjects of game development and 3d modelling. Well, not 3d modelling, but how the hell are they gonna test that kinda subject on paper?

Today, I went for a wedding, a friend from JC’s. The other day, I went to my NS friend’s wedding. Tomorrow, another JC friend’s wedding. A lot of people getting married around me. Everyone’s moving on with further chapters of their lives. Cool.

Right then, some more RIFT stuff.

Looking forward to the holidays, hope to get some paying assignments.

Oh ya, forgot to talk about my poor scooter. Hmm.. lazy. Maybe next time.

The main character, Azeriel, looking smug.

The animated Main Menu

What the final game looks like.

Post presentation THANK YOU image.

Popularity: 9% [?]

remodelled characters, for Animatics.

Things To Do:

1. Cinematics or rather, Animatics
2. Cutscenes (victory and loss)
3. Rift Design n Animation
4. Monster Animation
5. People Animation
6. Sprites:
   Fire
   First Person View arm
   Portal
7. Poster Design
8. Art Documentation Cleanup

All that, to be done in Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Submission by Wednesday. More sleepless nights lies ahead…

Meanwhile, more screenshots!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Eirana, Riftwalker

I’m still compiling my level. It’s been a whole freakin’ day. It’s been compiling from 10 pm YESTERDAY till 7 pm TODAY. What the bloody hell.

I’m gonna stop with the level design. This will be final.

On to more models, documentations, and there’s still the other subject to worry about.

But hey, look at Eirana… Pretty hot eh? I should’ve used the method of modelling hair with the main hero. Saved so much time. Why didn’t I think of that.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Starcraft Ghost game intro movie.

This is a video of the gameplay. Anyone noticed how the voiceover is extremely familiar? Optimusly familiar?

I’ve been out of the gaming loop for a long time. But one game I truly loved was Starcraft. Played it in my secondary school days. Tasted the first online multiplayer gaming with the game. Loved the storyline, concept and everything to do with it. Then Blizzard decided to do Diablo II and Warcraft III, which was… okay, I guess. The thing is, they’ve already announced Ghost way before Warcraft III. They’ve even got all these trailers, videos and teasers. But where the hell is the game!!!

Warcraft III was released, and I find it a little disappointing. Then they went on to do World of Warcraft, which got me interested till I found out that you’ve gotta pay and all just to play it.

But where’s Starcraft GHOST!?

Then they said they’ll return to the Starcraft universe, with Starcraft II. Yeah, it’s sure as hell been anticipated for a long time. But where’s Ghost? That’s a damn good idea for a game, which never got released.

Popularity: 3% [?]

This is madness. Everyone’s talking about it. Halo 3 is out. Xbox players are shrieking in excitement. And I’ve only played Halo 1. That’s just sad.

I’ve been so backdated with the one thing I’m ’supposed’ to like: playing games. For a game development student, I’m not playing enough games as I’m expected to. Well, that’s just my theory. But really, it’s been so long since I keep up with what’s hot in the gaming world.

When people speak of Halo 3, I can only relate to the one Halo game I’ve played. The graphics was so smooth, the concept, original, the gameplay, unique. I really liked it. Master Chief was just.. cool. And that land rover/buggy kinda thing… damn nice.

I didn’t miss the Halo 2 hype either. But all I could do was to watch videos of it on youtube and such internet media with my mouth watering. Once, I tried playing it at a friend’s house. I actually tried to stop myself from enjoying it coz if I did, I’ll be sad when I get home and realise I’m unable to play it whenever I want.

Not so recently, I went to the Game Convention, and saw how freaking far the technology had developed. Everything was so… graphic heavy. Sometimes people tend to forget on the important aspects of a game and dump all their energy on creating breathtaking gfx. Stuff like storyline, gameplay, loopholes, are often overlooked.

For example, warcraft 3. I know it’s old. But I’ve never liked it. And yet, the game kept spawning and evolving and getting more and more people playing it. I’ve played warcraft since warcraft 1, back in the days of 1.44 inch floppy disks. I loved the storyline and concept. And when warcraft 2 came out, the jump was so big that I couldn’t contain myself. Warcraft 2 was awesome. It really expanded the warcraft universe. But when warcraft 3 came out, and I got the game, I was thinking: This MUST be some preliminary testing version! The game can’t be as sucky as this!?

But anyways, for Halo fans out there, here’s a cool clip on some guy with a really realistic masterchief costume. The bg music’s nice. I don’t know where it’s from.

Also, I was browsing through the google trends website on the day of Halo 3’s launch. And people are already searching for cheat codes. Pfft. Pathetic.

You can find more wallpapers here.

Popularity: 3% [?]