Posts by Thrik

I see. It always seems to elicit such strong reactions when things like rape are touched upon in games, yet it's a relatively common theme on TV, in films, and in books which is no surprise considering it's one of the most common violent crimes out there even in highly civilised society — and it usually has no real context or meaning in real life either, being an opportunistic and animalistic thing that can just come out of nowhere to any woman in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Incorporating themes like this into games is a sensitive but important thing IMO, and while I wouldn't want to see rape in something like GTA I do think it has a place in attempts to tell a more serious and meaningful tale like they're apparently doing with the new Tomb Raider. It's a very real dimension of being a woman in a hostile environment, and most games take the naive and fairytale approach of pretending it isn't.

Did I miss some controversy?

What a wonderful piece of art, I can imagine it making a great map. Are you planning on actually building the map or are you focusing on the planning and design stage specifically? The layout looks great whatever the case, maybe if I'd taken the time to plan out my maps like that I'd have made it as a level designer.

I certainly think that when it comes to portfolios, having work that is almost entirely yours is important. Or to put it another way, if you have something visual on display people shouldn't need corresponding text to tell them what exactly you did — they should be able to just assume you were responsible for what they see. As your career develops I think it's less critical, because if you've got something like 'Assassin's Creed' in your portfolio employers are going to understand you wouldn't have worked on it by yourself, but then at that point the fact you've even worked on such a game will give you a huge leg-up as a candidate.

By all means work on the projects, but I would ensure the stuff you actually use in your portfolio is mostly yours. If you have to choose between producing one or the other, go with the independent stuff IMO. Being able to demonstrate high competency in all relevant stages of producing a level is good because then employers know they can utilise you where they think is best.

All that said, having some evidence of collaboration is also important as employers will want to know you can slot into a team and work alongside others. Just don't make it the majority of your portfolio.

Crytek transitioning to fully free-to-play company

Considering that most people associate Crytek with pretty much defining high-budget AAA games with obscene levels of visual beauty, this is a bit unexpected. I know Crytek have been dabbling with Warface for some time, but I always assumed it'd just be a fun side-project that wouldn't ever become a particularly prominent part of the company's focus.

Of course the article emphasises that the studio won't be lowering the quality of its technology or games and will be producing them to the same high standard as always, and while that's probably what everyone says I do think Crytek's resources focused on the F2P market could stir things up significantly — and of course Crytek will find ways of making money through other means.

My F2P experience isn't too broad, but I did play PlanetSide and Tribes: Ascend which have both been really good examples of F2P IMO because they're totally free to play, but the incentive to buy in is always there because it means you get access to stuff faster. Tribes is particularly good at giving you plenty to toy around with, but it keeps things out of reach for just long enough to tempt you to buy the fucker instead. It's done the community good too as I don't think the game would be as thriving as it is if you had to buy it to try it.

Going to be interesting, anyway. Hope this doesn't mean Crytek goes purely MP though, which is where most of us have probably experienced the F2P model. Maybe Crytek will seriously mix up the single-player market by finding a way to make it work with as F2P?

[Blocked Image: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7347369204_3285ca6c24_b.jpg]

Haaaaahaha, the black guy in the second video at 3:10. Not content to be socially awkward as hell, it looks like they don't even like each other.

Oh my God there's another one:

This has to be one of the most awkward videos I've ever seen:

Quote from cincinnati

that's not what i was getting at.

disney owns pixar...it uses pixar tropes...just seems to fall more under pixar's brand.

It's pretty funny how Pixar became the new Disney after Disney really dropped the ball during the 2000s and failed to put out many worthwhile films — the assumption of total quality people once had for Disney films became Pixar's thing instead.

I think Disney is trying to undo the damage of their weak last decade (especially in comparison to the amazing stuff they put out in the 90s) by once again becoming a family film powerhouse in its own right. The last two I've seen are The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, and they're both splendid. This looks like it'll continue their new trend of quality films.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Di ... on_Studios

This looks great! I get a genuinely lovely vibe off the trailer and feel kind of nostalgic now, it's clearly something of a love letter to those of us who grew up with these kind of games in their prime. Hopefully they bring some of their CGI-meets-traditional-art techniques over from Tangled (actually a really good film that deserves to stand alongside all Disney's 'typical' princess films).

Quote from e-freak

Naomi Rapace. Where does it say it would be Ellen Page?

In the first 10 seconds of the trailer.

Is the 7-minute clip all the God of War there's been? I watched it and it looked like pretty much exactly what I expected, although certainly a big jump in graphics from GoW3 — everything looks significantly smoother and more detailed IMO, although the video quality could be a factor. I can't imagine them really making it less epic than GoW3, plus as it's a prequel it means we get to encounter the gods all over again and at their most powerful. Remaining optimistic!

New Splinter Cell looks great. Seems some influence has been taken from what Metal Gear Solid has been up to, and hopefully this will somewhat stand independently of the previous stories as it felt like it was developing too much baggage.

Isn't the path system just a presentation thing? Surely you could always go back and try another, like in C1 and C2?

Quote from Sentura

i don't being guided towards certain goals like that. i don't know about heavy rain's story that much, but in this story it would definitely feel out of place.

What do you mean by guided towards certain goals? Are you not guided towards limited goals in pretty much every game? Plus if you think of Heavy Rain as an adventure game — a genre traditionally as linear as it gets — is it still so bad?

I really enjoyed Heavy Rain and even its predecessor Fahrenheit, because while it clearly had some faults (I still can't believe some decisions with the control scheme) it delivered an incredible atmosphere, a compelling story I genuinely got addicted to, and characters I felt invested in. That alone is more than many games manage nowadays.

Holy shit! Looks like we have our next big IP.

I think Quantic Dream's next title looks promising, although there's not much hinting at how it might play. Probably will be a lot like their previous stuff, but if the difference between this and Heavy Rain is as big a leap as Fahrenheit to Heavy Rain, this could be something pretty fuckin' special. At the very least, the facial animation looks far better.

Jesus, looks incredible! I love the depth and absolute brutality to each encounter, as well as the hints at you not necessarily being a 'good guy' like in most games. This is going to be awesome.

Looks awesome, great job those who worked on it. Loving the look of this new definition of 'concrete jungle'.

Good to see that at about 1:27