Moveing

This blog is now here just to have. There is some loads of crap I posted over the years so just ignore it as crap really. I just want to have it around still.

http://www.matnelson.net/blog

Getting Into The Games Industry Diary’s Part 2

The past few weeks have been spent in Source working on a survival map for level 4 dead. It’s my first map in that engine so I have also been running though video tutorials in order to learn the basics and how to all the l4d only things. I think the early design had a few problems as in it was easy to jump out of the playable map area which forced me to block off area with extra high walls. An idea that’s just a cheap work around so I have a few idea on how to change up the map tomorrow in order to fix this.

Anyway back to Curseyard which I had just finished when I was writing entry one. I am very happy with how that one turned out and a lot of people gave me great feedback and said I was making great process which was nice. I think the lighting style that I originally had planned ending up getting changed a bit more that I would have liked so I think that was one of the week points.

It’s going to be my last unreal map for a while to because I don’t find the core game of UT3 very fun to play and The Haunted is a mod that I really love but I have done two maps for it and its time to move to a game I like to pay a lot. So yea L4D.

I am also working on getting a portfolio set up for when I will need it this time next year and am building a data base of studios that I think would be good for me to apply to, but a lot more on that next time when I post a longer update.

Piracy

It’s a real hot topic at the moment isn’t it? On one side you have the industry fat cats who want to make as much money as possible and are probably making out that it’s a much bigger problem than it really is. Then you have the people who want to pay for fuck all and think its fine to download as much music, games and movies all for free.

Isn’t it great to share media around so that more people can experience great artists and studio’s works? But if more and more people think it’s just fine to share it around all the time and never pay for anything then we are quickly going to run into the problem where studios cannot afford to continue to produce their work. You are simply a fucking ass hole if you take the attitude that other people are paying for it so i will just take it for free all the time and never give back.

Going to a site like the pirate bay or whatever to download whatever you want for free, all the time is just wrong and don’t try to dance around that. But let’s look at the other side of the other side of the problem. DRM still holds people by the balls and even though Apple removed it from the i-tunes store some people had to pay in order to remove the DRM from music they had PAID FOR before the new rules. Yea that’s a great way to make people want to support the artists.

Another issue is price. Software like Photoshop costs hundreds of pounds so no wonder only big company’s and freelance workers are the only people who pay for it. £25 for Photoshop, final cut or whatever sounds like a good price to me, considering if you charge much more people are just going to download it for free. It’s not that hard in this day and age. What about being able to pay to watch a film online at the same time as it’s out in the cinema. I know for a fact many people just like me would watch a lot more films if we could download it that way. The cinema has its place for social events or seeing that special film on the big screen but, if i could watch new releases for say £3 in HD or pay a subscription to watch as many as i want. Everyone would be much happier. Even an add supported option would be good.

Then there are some clear examples of company’s trying to milk the fuck out of us. Let’s look at Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Activision know that’s going to be one hell of a seller so they set the RRP for the normal version of the game to £55! All most makes you want to download it for free.

There are some great and upcoming ideas like spotify, a totally legal and free to use music service but action is needed by all of us to make this situation right. The industry needs to realize change needs to come in both price and how we consume the product. It’s also not the end of the world to share things around a bit. But consumers also need to know that it takes money to make these things and we have to pay up but it’s got to be fair for BOTH sides.

Sleep And Browser’s

When you wake up at 1100 or even later its a real waste of the day if you do it often. When I tend to get up early I get so much done and still have loads of time left over. After a bing search on sleep I have decided I am going to try something new. I am going to bed at 1200 or 0100 at the latest and then will get up around 0800 or 0900, depending on how I feel each day I will differ between the two. Some extra hours in the day could really give me a lot more time to work on projects and think about things and new ideas. Even though when I get back to college in late September I most likely wont start till 1100 I am still going to try this through out the year as getting some things done before going in could really give me a massive amount of free time when I get home.

The next thing I am going to try is selecting a new web browser for my PC. On the Mac I use Firefox as its the best one on that system but for PC I have a few more to pick from. I have always used IE as my main with Firefox and Chrome installed as backups but this week I am going to try out the other two as the main and see if I like any of them better. Its going to be two days of Firefox and two days of Chrome and then pick between the three on Monday.

This Summer Life

I am glad it’s coming to an end. I will have been off college for three months when September comes and I can’t wait to get back. Its been great to have all the free time for level design and other development, but its good to have something to go to everyday. Something out side the house. That’s why I am glad summer is all most over. This also means bills and money to sort out. Car insurance is up and I did get a scare when it was going to cost a “LOT”, but now its going to only cost a “lot”. So that the crap stuff when September comes round.

How ever it also kicks off the massive wave of new releases. Lets take a look at my list:

Software
Windows 7
Snow Leopard

Games
Halo 3: ODST
Left 4 Dead 2
Forza 2
Modern Warfare 2
Uncharted 2
Section 8

DVD/Film
District 9
Mission X (DVD)

Yea that’s a lot of stuff. Going to limit my self to that number of games to make sure spending does not go mad. Mission X I should say is an Indie film from Scotland that I am really looking forward to seeing on DVD in October. Windows 7 is going to be really great too, I can’t wait to get a clean install on both my PC’s. The desktop is starting to get a bit all over the place with programs and files. Will be nice to clean it all out.

Getting A Job In The Games Industry Diary’s Part 1

This coming June I will be done with college, out the door and wont be getting a letter two months later telling me when I start back. So that means no more boatloads of Holidays and three day weeks. Its going to be into the job space for me. So this is a Diary I am starting of my progress towards getting into the games industry as a level designer. The plan is to do as much mapping as I can over the next year and apply like mad and hope I can get a position with a studio in the UK.

Unreal is all well and good and in my opinion the best engine to work with, everything from the packages to the basic tools are very nice to use. But I feel like its time to expand out a bit and try some single player and more scripted type stuff. Its also important to work with a game that you like and enjoy playing so that’s why I am going with Left 4 Dead. Having played the game a lot on PC and 360 I know how it plays and how a campaign should feel and flow. I have however never used the source engine so thankfully Alex from world of level design has a nice selection of video tutorials for L4D that I am in the process of running though as I finish up my current Unreal map.

We will cover that one at a later date but one thing I will express is the importance of critical feedback. Mapcore and World of Level Design have been so, so helpful with all the people there who have taken time to look at the screenshots and give me a few ideas on how I could improve it and what needs to change. Honestly its the best way to learn in my opinion. It can be hard a times and I know I got stuck during the years of 2007 and 2008 but with a new year I said to my self right I am just going to do it and keep at it. That sort of attitude really helped me to improve a lot faster and by not looking back at the crap stuff I had made it keeps you going wile at the same time you need to carry the lessons of where you went wrong. I think that apply’s to any kind of work really.

Going back to Left for Dead I plan to build a very small map to get into the “zone” with source and then have my first short campaign done in September. I have taken a lot of source and inspiration from the area around where I live in fact and am excited about the idea I have. So lets leave it there for now and I will talk more about the map I am finishing up at the moment and where I would like to go in the future in the next one.

To be continued….

Life Update

So it’s time for a little update. Honestly I have been thinking a lot about this time next year when I am done with college. After talking to a few level designers in the industry I will more or less be working flat out in my spare time to build maps and just apply to a load of places when I finish college. So yea that’s the plan. I will also not be using gearsofgames.net as a portfolio instead I will be building a separate site for that due to launch next year. Might be an excuse for me to print some cool business cards too .

So a side from development I have not done a huge amount apart from being away for as a few days as I said before. Think I am going to come up with some more interesting posts for the blog too. So that’s it good bye for now.