Coding for Dummies: Enter Playmaker

Playmaker is a visual scripting tool for use with Unity. Highly recommended by UK developers, Ninja Theory (when I attended Appsworld '13).


A great article over on Gamasutra provides inspiration for any of those games designers out there who don't have strong coding skills: Suck At Coding But Make Games That includes me!

Android for Games Developers Talk

Yesterday I attended the Android for Games Developers with Google at Skills Matter in London.

The Google tech guys talked about Android 4.3 and it's new features and Google Play Games. Most of it was presented from a back end point of view so there was a lot of Java that went over my head, but I did pick up some key points.

Android 4.3 now allows you to connect to low energy devices via Bluetooth LE. They even gave out bluetooth controllers during the event (No, I didn't get any. Prizes went to the geekiest members of the audience). However, there is no bluetooth android to android connectivity as yet.

Another key feature of 4.3 is Restricted Profile which is music to the ears of parents that want to prevent their children from making unauthorized in-app purchases. This is currently only available on android tablets though. Developers can add restriction options in the back-end of their game and there are new class of restriction entries: Boolean type, Choice, and multi choice.

Google TV now supports latest version of Android so we are advised to make sure our apps are TV ready. I think this is an important development, especially as the latest market research shows that a majority of users are playing mobile games in their living rooms.

Next hot topic was there recent release of the Google Play Games service. There are no two ways about it, you need a Google+ account to utilise this service but once you have that, all the features GPG offers are quite exciting.

The obvious benefits are sharing Leaderboards and Achievements with specific Google+ circles. There is also Cloud Save, which allows the player to save level progress and for that to be synchronized across all their android devices. PGP is cross-platform so you can view achievements on iOS as well. However, my favourite feature must be Real-Time Multiplayer where you can have 4 player P2P action. With that there is automatic or invitation based matching. Other features were Custom Libraries, Anti-Privacy and Badging (based on usage). One tip for developers was NOT TO USE API CONSOLE when setting up your game for GPG.

At the end of the conference, I asked if they had any tips for promoting the game. Creating YOUTUBE video seems to be the best way of making a wider audience aware that you have a great game in the play store. They also said that using Blogs to promote the game and Ad spending would be beneficial.

If you have any questions or would like to share your game with the google guys here are there google plus accounts :) :

+DanGalpin
+BrunoOliveira

Also for sample code, go here: 

https://github.com/playgameservices

Ice breaking

Hey people!
I've been away from the blogging for a bit so let me cut to the chase and tell you about some things that have been happening in my life...

Dark Cow Rises
In my previous posts you may have remembered I was working on a CG animation for a TV production company in Sweden. Well, production on that was suspended due to some major technical issues.
The good news is that the Cow will return as all the technical shizzle is now sorted!

DIY PC maintenance

She's back! Much more to come!

Graphic Design projects
I've been designing publications for a few businesses. It has been a worthwhile experience and challenge (especially when working on an office PC with 1gb of RAM!) and I've met some truly wonderful people. My most proud achievement was creating and designing a mascot for the children's cancer charity, Neuroblastoma Alliance UK.

Mascot for Neuroblastoma Alliance UK

Character development

3D version of their logo for possible 'bouncing ball' animation

Drawing, drawing, drawing
Recently, I've been asked to design a tattoo of an Egyptian sphinx (the part female, bird and cat one). Surprisingly, I haven't designed a tattoo before so it's a new challenge that I'm excited about completing.

Initial design for tattoo, flying lady with deadly sharp nipples

'Team Edward' cartoon. What's life without humour?

Run Forest, Run!

I've always been keen on fitness and challenging my physical limits but never keen on going for runs outside as a supplement. I usually preferred running on the treadmill in the gym as it put less strain on my body. However, since the beginning of 2012, I've totally scraped the gym and decided to go for regular runs outdoors as well as use breakdancing techniques to stay in shape. It's much cheaper anyway!

I'll also be dancing at the Paralympic ceremony (missed the main Olympic auditions) and rehearsals have been a lot of fun and met some cool people. That's all I can say on the subject at the moment because it's proper top secret and I'll be kicked out if I reveal more!

taking a breather after a run in the local park

strawberry picking my way!

3 is the magic number!

Quad-biped cow designs

Some more character development for that cow that has now invaded my dreams.
Research on quadruped anatomy, not just cow anatomy, was essential.

closer to final design

Cockney Cow

Cow concept art for a recent project.
A cow with the personality and style of Pat from the British TV soap, Eastenders. A bit muddy and rushed, but just a concept. 'Av it!

Moo cow - caricatured designs

These are my early character designs for a recent project. The initial project brief didn't specify the characteristics for the cow so I explored many ideas. None of these will be developed further as we have now gone for a more realistic look.

very animatable

Yes, it looks more like a pig

??? Odd, but one of my fav designs

safe

Character Animation - Francis Walk cycle

Recently I've been going back to basics and practicing walk cycles for various rigs.

The walk cycle in this post was created using my own Maya rig, Francis (featured in my Arnold Schwarzennegger lip-syncing animation http://youtu.be/jgxBRFdHzyY )

Francis the 'Baby' - minus the face paint and lion suit

This is a regular paced walk on 12's (half a second per step). I blocked in the four core positions (contact, down, passing and up) using stepped keys, moved to splined curves then continued to build from there. I left most of the overlapping action until the keys were splined to avoid it getting too complicated early on.

Below are a couple of playblasts of the blocked walk and completed walk. Could do with some more tweaks and the head looks like it's just nodding up and down. May add some side nod overlapping action from the head through to the spine to add some more weight as well.

Brody: Speed painting and Character Design

Here's a quick speed painting of Adrian Brody. 

Previously, I had only used Photoshop's default brush set for painting but I decided to explore something new. This Brush Set worked wonderfully for my speed painting. I mainly used the brushes in category no.4 with pen pressure turned on.

I used a couple of Overlay layers to give it a little more depth and texture.

The last design in the image above is actually based on an old character of mine that I'd like to revisit. If all goes well, there's an animation in store for this chap.

Freshers: 3-Panel Comic Strip (pilot episode)

"When I grow up, I want to be a Comic Book Artist"
When I was a young boy, I was fascinated by comic book stories and one of my goals at the time was to be a cartoonist or comic book artist. (*start the violins*) It's a shame that I didn't get the support and encouragement I needed at that tender age and to be honest I was constantly told it was not a respectable career path. I often stuck my middle finger up at the disbelievers and continued to draw, but when it came to key decisions for university/college and high school, I often chose a Scientific or Mathematical option. I wish I was more stubborn, but I guess the negative comments had a subconscious effect on me. (*tears*)
Fortunately, I still have the passion for visual story telling. My degree in BSc Interactive Systems & Video Games Design may not sound like an 'arty' course, but due to the eclectic disciplines within the games industry and understanding tutors, I was given greater control over what subjects would be beneficial to my career path. I studied programming, web design, game design and scripting but I found my true calling in my 3D animation and concept design modules. In these modules, I was able to awaken and develop my dormant artistic skills. I feel like a kid again, with a finger in every artistic pie and the confidence to delve into new things, like Comic creation... (*cheers and applause*)

I'd just like to make clear before I move on: As this is my first real comic strip, I regard myself as a rookie comic artist so I don't assume I'll conquer the world with my strips. It's just an enjoyable hobby and part of my exploration and growth as an artist.


Freshers
This 3-panel comic is loosely based on my experiences while at university/college in the UK.
I created a stylized character design for my characters. I've called it Freshers, but the name of the comic isn't set in stone yet so I'm open for suggestions.
I shared the completed pilot with friends and contacts via email, twitter, Google+ and Facebook and received a lot of positive feedback, especially from, comic artist, John Sanford and games designer, Louis McLaughlin (he doesn't know this but the slim character on the right is based on him!).
My main concern was getting the humour right so I'm glad it was funny for the majority of viewers. The background could do with some more detail to give that student bar atmosphere and youthful character.
Alex, the one on the left, is an older student with a bipolar personality. The other dude (hasn't got a name yet) is a cynical brain-box with a dry sense of humour.
I have already created sketches for new comic strip stories so it shouldn't be long before episode 2! In later episodes I will develop their characters a bit more and introduce some new younger student characters.

Short and sweet: Twitter feedback from John Sanford

Louis McLaughlin's feedback on Facebook

Original rough sketch of comic

Hardcore and Popcorn Posts

Where have I been all this time?
Well you'll be glad to hear I haven't been sitting naked in a dark corner twiddling my thumbs. I have a bumper pack of posts on the way!

I've decided to label my posts either Popcorn or Hardcore. I took Popcorn from the slang term used to describe entertaining films that don't require a brain. The Hardcore label was inspired by gaming, not porn.

Popcorn = Posts that were put together fairly quickly but still worth a read, short posts, slight deviation from career path.
Hardcore =  Posts that are more in-depth and took more time to produce and prepare, Some of my best work, linked to career.
I decided against calling posts that fall in the middle, Hardcore Popcorn...

Caricature - Sean Connery

A long long time ago, I used to draw caricatures for fun but then for some strange reason, I stopped. Now many years later, I have decided to pick up the pen (well, tablet in this case) and reignite the passion. You only live once after all... or is that twice ;)

I was inspired by the amazing artist, Jason Seiler. I recommend checking out his work for a visual feast.
Before I began painting, I collected various reference images of Sean Connery so that I could build a greater sense of his character and 3-Dimensional facial structure. I then drew quick thumbnail sketches of his head to warm-up and get some ideas flowing.

Thumbnail Sketches

With this photo as my main source of reference, I decided to put emphasis on his large forehead, thick eyebrows and pouting lips. I'm not a fan of the extremely exaggerated caricatures so my aim was to make mine look humorous but less offensive than these. However, in hindsight, I feel I could've played about with Connery's features a bit more.
I believe the hair could have fit better with the rest of the painting but I struggled with that part. With practice I'm sure there will be a noticeable improvement. I added some finishing touches to the portrait by applying some depth of field and noise.
The next caricature/portrait I will paint will be a toss between the United legend, Ryan Giggs, and the star of BBC's Luther series, Idris Elba. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun with whichever one I choose!

Tools used: Photoshop CS5 + Wacom Tablet

Blocking values1

Painting values2

85% complete - adjusting and more painting

Wicked Princess - Concept and Idea Development (CID)

Recently, I have been working on a project where I will create conceptual art for a potential video game. The game is based on the story of 'The Wicked Prince' by Hans Cristian Anderson and the artwork will be finished by May 3rd.
Here are the list of the assets:

Environments
-Magnificent Ship Interior
-Magnificent Church Interior
-Devastated Peasant Village Exterior
-Heavenly Exterior

Props
-Prince's Primary Weapon
-Magnificent Ship Exterior (as vehicle)
-Prince's Army's Tools of Destruction
-Statue of Prince
-Prince's Treasure Item - inanimate or dead
-1-3 x Mundane Props from Devastated Village

Characters (one non-humanoid)
-Prince/Princess Protagonist
-Numberless Angel
-Priest (impoverished or otherwise downtrodden)

I've been wanting to design something that has influences from West African culture so will use the culture/traditions/people/architecture as my main reference. However, I want this to be a fictional game world so will combine with reference from other sources too. At the moment, I have created mood boards (see below for examples) for each asset and  made some initial sketches.

Village Exterior

Priest

Wicked Princess

Princess Statue

There's a lot of free-flowing experimentation at this stage - no idea is set in stone. Below are a few of my initial thumbnail sketches (I've highlighted my favourites) for my version of the 'wicked prince'. As you can see, I've gone for a female protagonist.

Silhouette thumbnails are good for focusing on the form of the character and less on the fine details. This is a new technique for me and not what comes naturally to me, but I have given it a try in these initial drawings. Still needs improvement but I can see the benefits - a strong silhouette is a key asset for any character concept.

My recent projects

Hi guys,

Here is a collection of some of my project work from the past year.
In Nov 2010, I completed work on the Xbox Live game, Big Tidy Up game, for the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. For this project I was lead artist and animator. Louis McLaughlin (Lead programmer), Tim Newsome (Team Leader), Chris Trott (artist) and Chris Owens (programmer) were the other members of the team. As well as our main duties, we all had a hand in the game design process which was a fun and fruitful process. We won numerous awards for our game and were very close to winning a year's contract with Rockstar North at the Game Republic Event.

In Dec 2010, I created an animation short with the focus on lip-sync. It was my first attempt at lip-sync, but it was a fun and challenging process. I also designed, modelled, textured and rigged the character, Francis the 'Lion'. I'm happy with this first attempt, but I feel the animation could be a lot stronger with a few more tweaks.

An on-going personal project of mine has been an original cross-platform product called, Sacred River. The project has been put on hold many times due to lack of inspiration and change in art direction, but I'm hoping to show you more very soon! Here is a concept image of the main character.

Let's get cracking!