Posts by Corwin

- I don't believe portfolios need a "news" page, especially such a small one. If you want to post news, you can always add a sort of devblog page, but visitors should reach directly the core of your work, namely what's called "3D" now.

- The 2D page is too empty to be an asset in your portfolio, you should get rid of it until you have much more 2D content to show, or at least not put it before 3D in the menu's order.

- Your Sklare logo is alright, but considering how small your content area is, the logo gets in the way of your assets. Generally, I don't see why your content area should be limited in height. It wouldn't be difficult to have it fit the text and pictures, and would feel much more natural to browse.

- The 3D page that lists your levels isn't "visual" enough. Since that's the first thing people will see of your website (assuming you follow the advice to make it your homepage), it should catch the eye instantly. I suggest keeping the previews static instead of showing them when you hover on a link, and have one preview per level. You could possibly print the level name onto the preview to save space. That way, that first page would show the variety of your levels at a single glance , will be more straightforward and speak to the viewer more than text does.

Here's an example of what I suggest (the gradient background got screwed up and the logo's blue-on-blue makes it hard to read, but you get the point):

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I didn't enlarge the content area, but by doing so you could put bigger pictures directly below the text, and save the visitor a few clicks to check them out. In most cases, it's better to have to scroll down than to click. So another suggestion would be this (again, without the background glitches)

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Finally, but that's minor: that double arrow next to the level's name is used to go back to the levels list. I would suggest using this opportunity to ease navigation even more by having a left double arrow that shows the previous level, right double arrow that shows the next one, and a "up" arrow that takes you back to the list. That way, you can browse all levels without having to go back to the list x-times.

I believe it's because you assign a sub-material to the rock instead of a material. When in the material editor, you have to select the parent for instance, rock_beach_basalt, instead of rock_beach_basalt -> rock. Else it looses the reference of the parent material on reload, and can't find a material called simply rock.

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":2b5g5j5r]Not if you get it on steam I guess.

That's not out of question, GTA4 on steam still had you log in Games for Windows LIVE. Which frankly is stupid.

worse! there's a picture of a cat a few posts above and nobody seems to notice!!!111 we need more nazi moderators

Quote from Gloglebag

Also what did I miss, because as far as levels are concerned you start over, so what do you get if you had lv 60 in the original.

I read an interview today in a mag that said that there would be bonuses for people with the proper saves, for instance, one if you're over 50, one if you're over 60, etc. They didn't mention what these bonuses might be, but I'm guessing it's just something like a few more points to assign to your skills or an instant level-up, things like that. Dunno if there's been official statements on that, but I guess we'll know soon enough.

Quote from Skjalg

They cant seriously expect you to 1) purchase MS Word or 2) download a pirated copy and copy paste your CV into a word document, just so they can read your CV.

Well, you could always get Open Office and save as .doc, but I agree with both of you, PDF are safe and sound while there are multiple versions of .doc and depending on the version you saved in and the Word version they use to open it, it can be messed up (large spaces pushing your content onto an additional page, etc). Plus PDF includes the fonts in it so I really don't get why use .doc. Maybe it's because they want to be able to add comments on the resume before passing it to somebody else or something?

Quote from 2d-chris

Nice! Lighting needs more contrast though and the map looks like it's inside a giant shadow If you're not disabling the shadows they will cost you the same as seeing all of them using standard lunchtime lighting.

I'm still undecided when it comes to the lighting/ToD. The map was designed to begin at night and slowly get the sun to rise as the players progress towards the sea, but not to go beyond 7am. I gotta admit though, it does look a tad too dark on these shots, but I've been playing with the ToD settings for a few hours and I can't seem to find a good fit for the level. All the objects and terrain's colors were picked for that early-morning ambient lighting, it doesn't look as well when the level gets brighter, and toning them all down would take me weeks. I'll keep playing with the ToD and rely on the testers to tell me wether they like it or not.

Oh alright, thanks for clearing that up, I seem to remember reading somewhere on Crymod that both you and Vulture worked on the same level(s), that's why I assumed you'd need to credit him or other members of the team who may have created props and all. No need to mention any credits then, all the better. Trailer's great by the way

I think the same advices that were given to Vulture stand for you aswell. You should consider weither you consider yourself more of a level designer (gameplay, fun, scripting and documentation) or more an environment artist (models, beautification, textures). The game industry now does the difference between the two because of how much effort both aspects of a level need with the current engines. You mention in your post that you do level design, but your portfolio doesn't convince me about that.

While Vulture's portfolio really looks like an environment artist's one because there's no gameplay shots or videos or any depiction of actual gameplay, I think yours is a bit more lost in the middle, if you see what I mean. There's not really gameplay either, but since you show characters on most of the screens, it's a bit confusing wether you designed these characters so you want to show them off, or if that was an attempt to show the level in action.

I think pictures like the 18th or 20th (Petrograd City Outskirts) are good because they show some good enemy setup and patrols, but in the 21 and 22, one wonders why show a character in the middle of the screen? It takes attention away from the nice environment. I think that Petrograd mod's attention to detail and atmosphere are really great, professional-level great, so that's a great start. I just suggest you clear some of the pictures from your portfolio and replace them with either scenery shots (without the standing characters) if you aim for an environment artist job, or gameplay shots if you aim for a level designer one.

About improving yourself, I think you should again check the comments one Vulture's topic, cause they're about the same: work hard, learn more engines, create more varied stuff, and have the balls to push your way into the industry.

Also, since it seems you weren't working alone on that petrograd level, you might want to mention exactly what you worked on in the comments. It's always a good idea to give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

Great work anyway, I especially love your lighting work in these shots.

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I was there once actualy. I remember the harbor because there was a huge ass meeting of sailing ships, war ships etc. Not the most beautiful city in the Bretagne but i guess i have to blame my own countrymen for that.

Yeah, it takes place every 4 years. Next one is "Brest 2012" I think.

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the people seemed friendlier and less cocky towards non french speakers then in other parts of the country

french can be such bitches when it comes to foreigners, but bretagne's a bit cooler

Haha, yeah, go visit my hometown! It's not at all buttugly and frigging grey all the time!

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I'm glad to officially announce the Crysis singleplayer level I've been working on for close to a year: Mandate of Heaven

It is set in a Chinese public park, and mostly based on reference pictures I took during a trip there.

The modelling and texturing aspects are pretty basic, but since I define myself as a level designer, not an env artist, I don't want to spend all my time improving my modelling skills when I could be working on a new gameplay project.

I'm reaching the final stages of creation, namely polishing the cutscenes, balancing gameplay and pickups, and generally preparing it for testing.

If any of you would like to help test it, I'd be happy to send you the link when it's online, probably within a week or two.

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Nice job, while the harbor and forest are a bit too Crysis-ish to really stand out, both cities look way more original and Petrograd's atmosphere is especially awesome. I'd suggest you give a try at UnrealEd to increase your chances at getting job interviews. Looking forward to see what you can do next!

Also, I think you should include some gameplay shots or videos, because right now it looks more like an Environment Artist's portfolio than of a level designer.

Favorite one: Croatia (the coast, mostly)

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And the bit of Bosnia I've seen was amazing aswell, although the amount of bullet holes in houses' walls removed a bit of its charm.

Quote from Steppenwolf

I always prefer to read stuff in the original language. Something always gets lost in translation. Same for movies/tv shows etc. I even utterly despise subs nowadays but in germany they are unfortunately everywhere. So what happens is that i basicly watch no shows and movies on TV anymore. Instead i download british/american/canadian shows that interest me and watch them in english.

I do exactly the same. Although usually the choice of english books in the local shops is very limited, or does not match what I'm looking for, so I order novels and comic books on amazon .uk or .com

Any creation is always better in the original version because it usually loses depth or quality as it gets translated, so all the movies I watch are in original version (subtitled when I don't know the language or when I watch them with somebody else)

Quote from Steppenwolf

I notice something similar when people ask me to translate stuff into english. I know perfectly what it means but i have trouble to instantly find the german words for it. I think that is because my english has become good enough that i don't need to translate stuff in my head anymore. I'm able to think and to understand in english. So when someone asks me for a translation thats something i'm not used to anymore.

The same thing happens to me, and I think, besides what you mentioned, that it's partly because there's no perfect translation, but you try to find it still. Once you really start grasping english, you get subtle meanings and why a word was used instead of another and all that, and trying to translate that in your mother language simply doesn't work. The opposite situation is true aswell, french has a lot of synonisms for a single object or action but none of them truly have the exact same sense or usage, so translating french to english is also a pain and you lose much subtlelty.

I find it really easy to learn how to read and understand english, but practicing in france is proving quite difficult. Trying to speak english with people I know (be it family or friends) always proves to be harder than it should be. So once in a while I try to go back to the UK, so I'm not completely rusty when an interview comes up.

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british charity shops

I haven't got HL2 installed atm, but I really like the atmosphere from the pictures!

Only thing I can spot in these shots is that 1) the green texture under the grass is too green, I mean, the trees are almost dead and the grass is brown, but the floor under it is healthy green? 2) that black area on the right of the windows on the first shot looks like a render issue and sticks out compared to the second one.

Good work!

Quote from Rick_D

so steam AND IW are both retards.my account is english, my address is english, all my games ahve been bought and are set to english. but all of a sudden when i buy mw2 on steam it gives it to me in german.

and deleting the zone files means the game simply crashes on launching, instead of downloading missing files.

i even gifted the game to a non german friends' account. and he has been given the german version.

fucking failures, every man and child involved.

Not wanting to sound condescending, but have you tried to right-click on the game in steam and set it's language to english? I can set it in German, so I supposed you could do the opposite.

Cool panel of british actors in there. Might have to see it just for that reason.

Quote from Furyo

Well I found the movie was very average to say the least...Technically astounding, but it's only a series of postcards and technological prowess that doesn't help serve a sub standard Pocahontas plot that you can see coming a mile away. Extremely Manichean concepts and characters that are barely developed or explained. James Cameron is talented enough that the movie never falls into Bruckheimer/Michael Bay bullshit territory, but as a movie it fails to capture my imagination beyond a few very cool character concepts, all related to the fauna and flora of Pandora (connecting with fiber optics via the hair of all living species is very cool for instance)

Agreed, I found the movie technically amazing but the story and characters smelled old. I mean, the GI-Joe bad guy is one of the most undevelopped villain ever, he simply hates everything in the world except order and violence and could be the son of hitler for all we know. Also, most of the story "twists" were predictable 30min before they happened and you never really fear anything will happen to the main character because it just feels like that type of movie where everything ends well for the good guys.

I think it's a good film, but besides its visuals and the world they created for it (I loved the colors, animals and vegetation), it still feels like another hundred high profile holywood movies, just a damn pretty one.