Hello, World!
Well. I guess it's finally here. A website to call my own.
Joy.
So, where do we start? Maybe a small introduction. Yeah, that should work.
Hi. My name is Justin. At this moment, I'm a 20-year-old games art student. Yes, that IS as cool as it sounds. I've had video game development "experience" (in the loosest sense of the word) for about 10 years now. Once I'm done with my games art diploma, I plan to either get work or further my studies under games design. My dream? To be a professional game designer, and maybe, just maybe, make a critically-acclaimed game.
Before I get ahead of myself, let's start from the very beginning, then skip all the unimportant bits from there.
As a kid, I grew up as an artist. I'd spend my time doodling on any piece of paper I could find. My parents worked at a restaurant right next to a bookstore, so that became my source of inspiration and my mentor. I'd attempt to recreate the comics I had read, and soon enough, began drawing my own.
On the side, I put my overactive imagination into making, well, "imaginary games", for lack of a better word. It's not unlike tabletop role-playing games, although I've never been exposed to them, nor known of their existence at that time. The skies were the limit, and we could be anything we wanted. 'Course, it was difficult to manage even a few people at a time unless they had the same objective. Nevertheless, this kept me and my friends occupied for a good, long time.
It was around the year 2003 when I had stumbled upon the option of making a virtual game on the computer. Playing with Microsoft Powerpoint, I found out that I could string together slides in sequence to make animations. I then proceeded to make a mock game, which was basically one long powerpoint presentation that gave the illusion of control. Problem was the whole thing was predetermined, so you couldn't really call it a game.
Then I discovered the hyperlink function, where you could link objects to jump to other slides. I successfully made a maze game, where you have to click on the squares to move, and it gave players actual control over the game. Of course, there wasn't exactly an easy way to do it, and my feeble 11-year-old attention span couldn't cope with plotting out each and every move the player made.
Although I never finished it, making the game made me feel pretty good. All those years I had drawn what I'd wanted to. Playing with that program and finding ways around its original purpose tested my creativity more that lying on my bed with a pencil and a sheet of paper. Still, I considered it more of a curiosity than a hobby at the time, and stuck with my comics and sketches.
Soon, I realized I was subconsciously deconstructing games as I played them. It started with simple things like the storyline and how the player's actions affect it, and progressed to logical mind maps on how certain game functions worked. The curiosity grew, and I began scouring the net for easy (and free) ways to make games.
It was about then that I felt that a game would be a much better way to express my imagination, over stories or comics. Interactive storytelling, like my "imaginary games", left a longer-lasting impression with my audience compared to my comics. I started to learn how to program a teensy-weensy bit (mostly stringing templates together), hoping that I would become good enough to make a game to call my own, by myself. After all, I took piano lessons, was considered a pretty good artist, and now I can "code" a game given the right program. "What's stopping me?" I told my young and naive self.
Turns out the hardest part of making a game isn't actually creating one, but finishing it. Even with my comics I kept jumping from one story to another, simply because I've either gotten bored of it, or had a better one pop into my mind. Novel game mechanics and interesting stories kept flowing through relentlessly. One day I wanted to make an RPG, then a fighting game the next. On the bright side, every time I changed my mind, I'd have already learned something new from the previous project, even if it was just an "Okay, let's not try THAT again" sort of lesson.
When I finally left school, I knew what I wanted to do. I just wasn't too sure which path down the road of games development I should take. I could go for games programming, since I was already pretty good on the art aspect. I could then make my own game with both skills in my pocket. On the other hand, I could refine my artistic talent and go for games art, and probably become the best game artist there is. After a bit of thinking, I decided on games design.
Why games design? Well, over the years of playing video games (even though my access to them was pretty restricted), I paid attention to games not because of their graphics or gimmicks, but how FUN they were. That's what games were made to do, and that's what they do best. At least, that's what I believe in. Some people use games as a way to tell a good story, some use it as a way to teach others, and some think that it's a pretty cool way to earn money. Either way's the same. If the player has fun playing it, then it could be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for all I care.
Of course, I make games as an outlet to express my creativity, and maybe become rich and famous in the process. But what I genuinely want is to see people having fun with the games I make. Bring a few smiles to a few faces, or give them an experience they'll never forget. I guess I've quite a bit to learn before I can pull that off, but I'm working my way towards it. I've started to sample as many games as I could get my hands on, and see what makes each of them success or failures, fun or boring. I've even managed to complete one or two games, thanks to the help of my lecturers. They're not much, but they remind me that my dreams are still a possibility.
Huh. I think I've gone on long enough about myself. I plan to upload some of my works here, just to keep track of what I've been doing lately. I'm not exactly the best at keeping track of things. If you're reading this, thanks for dropping by. Hopefully I get some things up and running by then.
Joy.
So, where do we start? Maybe a small introduction. Yeah, that should work.
Hi. My name is Justin. At this moment, I'm a 20-year-old games art student. Yes, that IS as cool as it sounds. I've had video game development "experience" (in the loosest sense of the word) for about 10 years now. Once I'm done with my games art diploma, I plan to either get work or further my studies under games design. My dream? To be a professional game designer, and maybe, just maybe, make a critically-acclaimed game.
Before I get ahead of myself, let's start from the very beginning, then skip all the unimportant bits from there.
As a kid, I grew up as an artist. I'd spend my time doodling on any piece of paper I could find. My parents worked at a restaurant right next to a bookstore, so that became my source of inspiration and my mentor. I'd attempt to recreate the comics I had read, and soon enough, began drawing my own.
On the side, I put my overactive imagination into making, well, "imaginary games", for lack of a better word. It's not unlike tabletop role-playing games, although I've never been exposed to them, nor known of their existence at that time. The skies were the limit, and we could be anything we wanted. 'Course, it was difficult to manage even a few people at a time unless they had the same objective. Nevertheless, this kept me and my friends occupied for a good, long time.
It was around the year 2003 when I had stumbled upon the option of making a virtual game on the computer. Playing with Microsoft Powerpoint, I found out that I could string together slides in sequence to make animations. I then proceeded to make a mock game, which was basically one long powerpoint presentation that gave the illusion of control. Problem was the whole thing was predetermined, so you couldn't really call it a game.
Then I discovered the hyperlink function, where you could link objects to jump to other slides. I successfully made a maze game, where you have to click on the squares to move, and it gave players actual control over the game. Of course, there wasn't exactly an easy way to do it, and my feeble 11-year-old attention span couldn't cope with plotting out each and every move the player made.
Although I never finished it, making the game made me feel pretty good. All those years I had drawn what I'd wanted to. Playing with that program and finding ways around its original purpose tested my creativity more that lying on my bed with a pencil and a sheet of paper. Still, I considered it more of a curiosity than a hobby at the time, and stuck with my comics and sketches.
Soon, I realized I was subconsciously deconstructing games as I played them. It started with simple things like the storyline and how the player's actions affect it, and progressed to logical mind maps on how certain game functions worked. The curiosity grew, and I began scouring the net for easy (and free) ways to make games.
It was about then that I felt that a game would be a much better way to express my imagination, over stories or comics. Interactive storytelling, like my "imaginary games", left a longer-lasting impression with my audience compared to my comics. I started to learn how to program a teensy-weensy bit (mostly stringing templates together), hoping that I would become good enough to make a game to call my own, by myself. After all, I took piano lessons, was considered a pretty good artist, and now I can "code" a game given the right program. "What's stopping me?" I told my young and naive self.
Turns out the hardest part of making a game isn't actually creating one, but finishing it. Even with my comics I kept jumping from one story to another, simply because I've either gotten bored of it, or had a better one pop into my mind. Novel game mechanics and interesting stories kept flowing through relentlessly. One day I wanted to make an RPG, then a fighting game the next. On the bright side, every time I changed my mind, I'd have already learned something new from the previous project, even if it was just an "Okay, let's not try THAT again" sort of lesson.
When I finally left school, I knew what I wanted to do. I just wasn't too sure which path down the road of games development I should take. I could go for games programming, since I was already pretty good on the art aspect. I could then make my own game with both skills in my pocket. On the other hand, I could refine my artistic talent and go for games art, and probably become the best game artist there is. After a bit of thinking, I decided on games design.
Why games design? Well, over the years of playing video games (even though my access to them was pretty restricted), I paid attention to games not because of their graphics or gimmicks, but how FUN they were. That's what games were made to do, and that's what they do best. At least, that's what I believe in. Some people use games as a way to tell a good story, some use it as a way to teach others, and some think that it's a pretty cool way to earn money. Either way's the same. If the player has fun playing it, then it could be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for all I care.
Of course, I make games as an outlet to express my creativity, and maybe become rich and famous in the process. But what I genuinely want is to see people having fun with the games I make. Bring a few smiles to a few faces, or give them an experience they'll never forget. I guess I've quite a bit to learn before I can pull that off, but I'm working my way towards it. I've started to sample as many games as I could get my hands on, and see what makes each of them success or failures, fun or boring. I've even managed to complete one or two games, thanks to the help of my lecturers. They're not much, but they remind me that my dreams are still a possibility.
Huh. I think I've gone on long enough about myself. I plan to upload some of my works here, just to keep track of what I've been doing lately. I'm not exactly the best at keeping track of things. If you're reading this, thanks for dropping by. Hopefully I get some things up and running by then.
Power
Power. An interesting word with many different ways of interpreting it. Now the thing is, I've been tasked to make some media mashup of some sort that has something to do with the idea of power, and it has to be related to videogames. Hey, sounds easy enough. The problem is what I'm actually capable of doing. I want to get the message across, and not stretch myself thin while doing it.
I decided to go to the basics. The most common way power is shown through videogames is through graphics. You could play a videogame without sound, but without graphics? Wait, actually, there was this one game where you- No, wait, let's not get sidetracked. So yeah, showing power through graphics is good and all, but I'm focusing on what makes the PLAYER look powerful. There are many techniques in doing that, but good old-fashioned 8-bit, 16-bit or whatever-bit pixel art will always hold a special place in my heart.
I decided to go to the basics. The most common way power is shown through videogames is through graphics. You could play a videogame without sound, but without graphics? Wait, actually, there was this one game where you- No, wait, let's not get sidetracked. So yeah, showing power through graphics is good and all, but I'm focusing on what makes the PLAYER look powerful. There are many techniques in doing that, but good old-fashioned 8-bit, 16-bit or whatever-bit pixel art will always hold a special place in my heart.
So, I began my research. Started with a well known classic: Mario. I found out 2 ways they managed to show power. One, when you grew bigger with a mushroom, they flickered the sprite back and forth from the inferior to the superior version. Secondly was the star and fire flower, which merely flickered his color pallete, probably from negative to positive. So far, so good. That would be the first part of my .gif. Wait, did I mention I was doing a .gif? No? Well, I am. Moving on.
I moved on to Pokemon next. I was hoping to find something direct, but, being a Pokemon game, the sprites stayed constant, save for when they evolved. Then I realized something. The Pokemon sprites themselves weren't the ones that showed much power, it was everything else around them. The way the screen contrasted when you evolved, the flashy attacks that played with the color, zoom, scale and screen... Noted, noted. It'll definitely come in handy.
Next on the list was... Metal Slug. Damn, Metal Slug. Great game, incredible design, awesome art, what's not to love? Still, I found that there weren't many ways that they made the player look powerful directly. Sure, the game made some enemies flee when they see you, and you do beat giant-ass bosses and large waves on enemies, but not much can be said about the character itself. But, in the game, there are vehicles you can ride that not only allow you to dish out lots of kick-ass, but they look pretty damn cool as well. Mostly. Besides that, they had scale. Most of the time, your avatar is puny compared to the rest of the game, but have you seen the bomb attack when you're a zombie?!
Well, now I'll need to continue my research on other things, such as pop-up words and perhaps consider skills / attacks to be part of the .gif. I'm searching for an old .gif I made a long time ago that I could refer to, buried deep within the bowels of my computer. I'll see if I can dig it out for reference.
Well, now I'll need to continue my research on other things, such as pop-up words and perhaps consider skills / attacks to be part of the .gif. I'm searching for an old .gif I made a long time ago that I could refer to, buried deep within the bowels of my computer. I'll see if I can dig it out for reference.
First draft~
Yes, this is the first draft. I was testing my ability to make a .gif manually in Photoshop, like I used to do. I found out that it wasn't going to work, if I were to do it frame by frame, layer by layer.
So. New plan. Instead of arranging all the effects and props in one .gif, I'll make each individual effect a .gif. I'll compile them in a Powerpoint Presentation, then take a video using fraps, THEN convert that video into a .gif. Yes, sounds complicated, but it just might work.
Oh, this is by no means near complete. I expect this to be much longer, much bigger, and much more badass. Explosions. Numbers. Special effects. Character growth. All that good stuff.
Just in case, I'll include a video of some of the more epic skills that can be found in Maple Story, the game that this sprite is based off. I won't use the skills, but you get the idea how they may turn out.
So. New plan. Instead of arranging all the effects and props in one .gif, I'll make each individual effect a .gif. I'll compile them in a Powerpoint Presentation, then take a video using fraps, THEN convert that video into a .gif. Yes, sounds complicated, but it just might work.
Oh, this is by no means near complete. I expect this to be much longer, much bigger, and much more badass. Explosions. Numbers. Special effects. Character growth. All that good stuff.
Just in case, I'll include a video of some of the more epic skills that can be found in Maple Story, the game that this sprite is based off. I won't use the skills, but you get the idea how they may turn out.
Second Draft
Now here's the thing. Ran into a slight problem. I've successfully extracted about 60% of the graphics I needed. Problem is, their alphas are broken. Not too much of a big deal, though. Since they're all separate .gif files and are yet to be compiled into a single .gif, I'll post whatever graphics I have at the moment. Well, not ALL of them, but the important ones, at least. And the epic ones.
TRUE Second Draft
Ladies and gentlemen, the REAL Slim Shady.
This was put together in Powerpoint, as intended. I later scoured the internet to look for a .pptx to .gif converter. Alas, I needed to pay for those, so I opted for the original plan: .pptx -> .avi/.wmv -> .gif.
Apparently, the only video recording software I had at the time could only record in .avi, and, being a bulky file that wasn't fond of being uploaded onto the internet, it forced me to go with .pptx -> .avi -> .wmv -> .gif. Fun fun fun.
But, as you can see, it turned out fine. I've already got my conversion method down, so now all that's left to do is to finish the whole thing. Lots of .gifs to be cleaned, lots of timelines to be synchronised.
Hooray, white space.
This was put together in Powerpoint, as intended. I later scoured the internet to look for a .pptx to .gif converter. Alas, I needed to pay for those, so I opted for the original plan: .pptx -> .avi/.wmv -> .gif.
Apparently, the only video recording software I had at the time could only record in .avi, and, being a bulky file that wasn't fond of being uploaded onto the internet, it forced me to go with .pptx -> .avi -> .wmv -> .gif. Fun fun fun.
But, as you can see, it turned out fine. I've already got my conversion method down, so now all that's left to do is to finish the whole thing. Lots of .gifs to be cleaned, lots of timelines to be synchronised.
Hooray, white space.
Final Draft
It's here. It's finally here. I present to you, MY FINAL DRAFT OF POWER!
"But Justin!" I hear you cry. "I thought this was supposed to be in a .gif format!" Well, it WAS, but I ran into some... complications. The whole point of the .gif was to make it easily accessible to everyone on the internet, regardless of plugins and whatnot. UNFORTUNATELY, the .gif that was generated came out at a whooping 1.2 GB. That's, like, WAY bigger than the .avi, even.
So, here's the finished video in .wmv format. It's also loopable, since it was made to be a .gif, but YouTube doesn't do that kind of thing. Just in case, I'll go over the ways that my video showed power pertaining to games, even though it SHOULD be clear enough~
Firstly, the mushroom part. Yes, for all the people who are clueless, it was an obvious Zelda reference. Anyway, during the days of old, the most games could do to give a character emphasis was flashing colors and size increase, amongst other things. Our favourite little blue hedgehog shows us that even that small change is enough to get the message across.
Next comes the part after the first level up, before the character attacks the dummy. His face slides across the scene in an epic close-up, coupled with a pretty colored background to boot. This is a homage to fighting games and their over-the-top super special attacks, where the camera would normally get a little too close for comfort.
During the first two attacks, we see two things: Text, and flashy effects. Text was used in games with limited graphics to portray power, since sometimes, that's all you have. Huge numbers, big, capital letters, things like that. The other, more common idea of flashy effects pretty much speak for themselves. Power exuding from the character as lights and particles explode from his mighty frame! Overdone, maybe, but effective nonetheless.
The robot flies away, and BAM! He comes back, more badass than ever. Note that the screen shakes during his landing, indicating a hard, heavy hit. It's very subtle, but it's EVERYWHERE in games.
So far, the character has been growing visually. From a small, shirtless man to a laser-firing robot. Progress is visible, from his armor and damage to his attacks and size. This feedback is important to show the player that 'Hey! You're getting stronger!'
And now, for the final part. The first half is pure scale. Size matters when it comes to showing epicness and power, and hell, that's a pretty damn big ship~ The second half of it was when the whole screen went white. Something happened that was SO HUGE, SO DESTRUCTIVE, it blinded the camera. Good old-fashioned Dragon Ball stuff right there.
And thus, my ordeal is over. To the people who's jimmies I rustled over the Zelda/Sonic/Mario mix-up, well, I have no regrets. Stay powerful, people.
So, here's the finished video in .wmv format. It's also loopable, since it was made to be a .gif, but YouTube doesn't do that kind of thing. Just in case, I'll go over the ways that my video showed power pertaining to games, even though it SHOULD be clear enough~
Firstly, the mushroom part. Yes, for all the people who are clueless, it was an obvious Zelda reference. Anyway, during the days of old, the most games could do to give a character emphasis was flashing colors and size increase, amongst other things. Our favourite little blue hedgehog shows us that even that small change is enough to get the message across.
Next comes the part after the first level up, before the character attacks the dummy. His face slides across the scene in an epic close-up, coupled with a pretty colored background to boot. This is a homage to fighting games and their over-the-top super special attacks, where the camera would normally get a little too close for comfort.
During the first two attacks, we see two things: Text, and flashy effects. Text was used in games with limited graphics to portray power, since sometimes, that's all you have. Huge numbers, big, capital letters, things like that. The other, more common idea of flashy effects pretty much speak for themselves. Power exuding from the character as lights and particles explode from his mighty frame! Overdone, maybe, but effective nonetheless.
The robot flies away, and BAM! He comes back, more badass than ever. Note that the screen shakes during his landing, indicating a hard, heavy hit. It's very subtle, but it's EVERYWHERE in games.
So far, the character has been growing visually. From a small, shirtless man to a laser-firing robot. Progress is visible, from his armor and damage to his attacks and size. This feedback is important to show the player that 'Hey! You're getting stronger!'
And now, for the final part. The first half is pure scale. Size matters when it comes to showing epicness and power, and hell, that's a pretty damn big ship~ The second half of it was when the whole screen went white. Something happened that was SO HUGE, SO DESTRUCTIVE, it blinded the camera. Good old-fashioned Dragon Ball stuff right there.
And thus, my ordeal is over. To the people who's jimmies I rustled over the Zelda/Sonic/Mario mix-up, well, I have no regrets. Stay powerful, people.
Winning
We gamers are naturally competitive folk. We love to see who's better, and we strive to prove ourselves, pushing and honing our skills for recognition and acceptance. So it makes sense that we love winning. Then again, what constitutes winning? I mean, not all games have the same winning conditions. Some are less obvious than others. Most of the time our rewards differ from game to game, genre to genre. But we are all familiar with the core sensation of victory.
Now, games do a lot of things to make you feel like you just accomplished something great. They normally lay out a challenge, rewarding you for beating it, sometimes penalizing you when you don't. This makes the taste of victory that much sweeter.
My project on winning will be a tad different. I'll skewer the ratio for effort to reward, turning your victory into a bittersweet experience. Imagine if you did something menial, something pretty easy, and you're bombarded with fanfare and pictures and whatnot. And you can't skip the sequence. Sooner or later, you'll feel like you're punished for winning instead of being rewarded...
Now, games do a lot of things to make you feel like you just accomplished something great. They normally lay out a challenge, rewarding you for beating it, sometimes penalizing you when you don't. This makes the taste of victory that much sweeter.
My project on winning will be a tad different. I'll skewer the ratio for effort to reward, turning your victory into a bittersweet experience. Imagine if you did something menial, something pretty easy, and you're bombarded with fanfare and pictures and whatnot. And you can't skip the sequence. Sooner or later, you'll feel like you're punished for winning instead of being rewarded...
Winning draft
So, some research has been done, and graphics are being compiled. We do, however, have the game idea down. Something simple, something menial, something not worth celebrating.
I present to you, Jan-Ken-Pon.
I present to you, Jan-Ken-Pon.
Familiar? It should be. Just scissors paper stone. A for scissors, S for paper, D for stone. If you get to the red or green screen, press space to restart the game. The link, just in case: http://www.friday13games.com/play.php?game=636
Now, the mechanics are present, and all that's left to do is compile all the assets. Below are some of the examples that we'll be taking from to give us an idea of what we'll be making. Take not that I didn't bother on great art or anything, and for good reason too. This is meant to be a satire on games, so I'm not going to actually make you feel like you achieved something. Stay tuned for the final version.
Now, the mechanics are present, and all that's left to do is compile all the assets. Below are some of the examples that we'll be taking from to give us an idea of what we'll be making. Take not that I didn't bother on great art or anything, and for good reason too. This is meant to be a satire on games, so I'm not going to actually make you feel like you achieved something. Stay tuned for the final version.
Final winning submission
Ladies, gentlemen, and the other denizens of the internet, I would like to present to you Malaysia's most patronizing game EVER! Behold, Jan-Ken-Pon! Try not to win too many times in a row, alright?
Just in case you guys don't get what the winning parts are, I'll go through them. The first part was done as a fighting game, if you didn't guess by the loud "KO!" during the start. It's followed up by a close-up pose of the character and a witty line they always say. Extra point for those who got his reference.
Then comes the scoreboard. Number, numbers and more numbers. This is a standard technique of showing your overall score at the end of the level or game to signify its end and your victory. And yes, the more points the better. Usually. Also, an achievement popped out during that sequence, which a lot of people seem to like nowadays.
The final part is pretty well known for the much older people, so if you're a kid reading this blog and have never found the need to play Solitaire that was already pre-installed in your computer, you'll never know that feeling. Also, throughout the whole time, a collection of Final Fantasy's signature winning fanfare is intentionally played annoyingly throughout the whole thing. That sound is synonymous with victory, so it was the best candidate to be used to convey the message.
Well, I hope you had fun playing the game for a while. If you found my winning sequences anything BUT boring, then... I have nothing else to say, except play it until it hurts. Good day~
Then comes the scoreboard. Number, numbers and more numbers. This is a standard technique of showing your overall score at the end of the level or game to signify its end and your victory. And yes, the more points the better. Usually. Also, an achievement popped out during that sequence, which a lot of people seem to like nowadays.
The final part is pretty well known for the much older people, so if you're a kid reading this blog and have never found the need to play Solitaire that was already pre-installed in your computer, you'll never know that feeling. Also, throughout the whole time, a collection of Final Fantasy's signature winning fanfare is intentionally played annoyingly throughout the whole thing. That sound is synonymous with victory, so it was the best candidate to be used to convey the message.
Well, I hope you had fun playing the game for a while. If you found my winning sequences anything BUT boring, then... I have nothing else to say, except play it until it hurts. Good day~
Edit: I uploaded a gameplay vid for those who don't want to download the sorry excuse for a game. Here it is~
Edit Edit: Yes, the hosting site came back to life! Have fun~ Just in case, here's the link to the game. http://www.friday13games.com/play.php?game=637
Edit Edit: Yes, the hosting site came back to life! Have fun~ Just in case, here's the link to the game. http://www.friday13games.com/play.php?game=637