Posts by blackdog

So downloaded first season and downloading the second.

Since i'm moving i'm stashing some goods because I know i won't be able for a while.

LMAO, genious!

Well, this is the stepping stone to build a Steambox, i guess we were all expecting it (it was rumored back then)... just we weren't expecting it deserving an announcement of its own.

As per the Source 2 i expect something similar to what Nysuatro said, even though they could easily go "classic" and license like Crytek/Epic do, with a free+royalties, or paid license. What i'd like to see is a multiplatform SDK, so people can turn a Linux machine in a competitive game production workstation.

I'm really curious what they mean and expect as user generated content, how they see this "Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want".

Family sharing is really a letdown, but was already known to be on the same machine.

Friend of mine is betting for a Steam for PS4 in the announcements.

Why in the last circle the container "[ ]" disappeared. Damn the viral stuff

I'm just happy it's in seven hours, I can watch them dropping the bomb.

Quote from Thurnip

(oh! and... when i was planting the tanks, i remembered about Fang zu and how i was using guns to make the stuff look cool hahah)

Eheh

(but that's a tip referring in particular at character/vehicle design )

I'm reading on an Italian forum that several users find the story weak, that GTA 4's was better.

I'm also reading they detest Trevor because of his behaviour and the annoiance of "cleaning him up" before being able to use him.

So, this just confirms i was right to have zero expectations on story, since I can't think of something more boring of GTA4's campaign, and also that there's some truth in what the Escapist magazine wrote about the characters...

On the last one, what Sentura said. Add for example a checkpoint, do you remember those sentinel towers in HL2? Or maybe add a bottom part and have an airplane/spaceship passing underneath. Etc.

Without color is totally unclear the scene is populated, those car lights look like snow to me.

Quote from Sentura

I wasn't referring to Thurnip's recreation, I was referring to the original. But even so, looking at the original image, was your thought ever that it was supposed to be a peaceful image?

Thurnip answered already and i agree with him. I don't want to appear like those who contradict for the sake of it, but to me the iceberg picture looks "breathtaking", which doesn't mean scary nor peaceful. I dunno, it is maybe because I know everything's fine, because you don't get that close if you are not sure you are safe... i was in similar situations: sailing that close to huge rock cliffs (i've been lucky enough to navigate a huge chunk of the Mediterranean coast with my parents during summer vacation on our small boat ).

Quote from Thurnip

cincinnati maybe...... i should saturate all the comp around, or desaturate the ice. The main problem is that it's not fitting, right?

That's it. I'm not planning to come back too much on the same comp. [...]

I think it's totally fine to work on as many pieces... the important thing is to learn something every time. There was another concept I found original and important watching a tutorial one time: you don't have to get attached to your stuff, the guy showed that after making a complex study... he deleted the file.

As per the saturation argument (a) looks perfect for a glacier scene (b) ties well in another tip from, sorry i'm a broken record, Feng: he shows that he uses a white layer in "Luminosity" to switch to a grayscale painting to always keep values to the right amount, making sure things are lit properly. And that's a general principle, i have used it for blocking out a website, a teacher I got suggested to do so. You can even work in greyscale and then color the thing.

If you have some time to spare, i really suggest you to follow FZDSchool YT channel and watch the earlier lessons because these concepts are repeated over and over, while seeing a professional work and explain many different techniques.

This looks like the first Splinter Cell with more interactivity. So I am sure I can play it. (Tried the very first on PC after playing Splinter Cell and I couldn't even beat the first room even if i did the tutorial, MGS was clunky as hell at the time.)

Outstanding, congratulations guys! Really happy for you all.

Looks great, congrats! Looking forward to try it.

From the screens, the only thing i'd change are the wood textures (palm pots, crates, etc) that are a bit too clean and stand out.

The only stylistic downer is the "!" at the end. Upped

Quote from Sentura

in the interesting design resources thread there is a link to the principles of neuroaesthetics, which I have been using as one of the main sources of inspiration and theory. I suggest you take a look at it.

I've downloaded a couple of pdfs from there, haven't read any of the material provided... it's in the reading list btw!

Thanks for the heads up.

Anyways, I completely agree on the theory you explained... it's just I disagree about the aim of the painting. I mean, how do you know? There's no assignment or brief shared by Thurnip; the picture doesn't transmit danger to me, as an exercise it seems a good reproduction of the original. Sure, if he said "i wanted to render a dangerous scene" i would totally agree with you!

I really like your paiting Thurnip. I agree with some of the previous comments, especially the ice-blue looks to be from an highlight marker. But picking it up just as an exercise, it really has the same atmosphere of the original picture... read: not everything should necessary be dangerous to look good (so long that in Feng Zhu design school they forbid the drawing of guns, except when explicitly assigned – "it's easy to make something look good with guns on it").

Same for texture and materials, how realistic the painting must be depends on the target, imo (ie: stylized game vs realistic). Also, details can always been added, another tip from Feng is "the painting must always be in a deliverable state (so don't spend all your time in detailing just one area)".

In conclusion, i think it would really be great exercise to take this stage and see how can you turn it in a different scene from the one in the original pic, so like Sentura says, making it menacing.

From the Escapist:

“The subject matter or the protagonist's morals are skewed too far from the norm to be comfortably witnessed.
That's what it's like to play Grand Theft Auto V. The three men you take control of throughout the game aren't even anti-heroes. They're just scumbags.”

You'll probably think i'm getting moralistic, but since my uncle was very recently killed executed apparently by gangsters, an aside thought I've had is if I'm ever gonna enjoy this kind of videogames or movies. (Gangsters is one of my favourite movie-genre.)

Aside from this, I have quite low expectations in terms of narrative after the boring GTA4.

Just to be clear, i'm not trolling.

Quote from AtsEst

FirePro is a series of cards (2gb should be enough memory, considering most mobile gpus are slow as it is).

650m should be considerably faster, but don't take my word for it, check out: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-…ards.130.0.html

and look around notebookcheck in general (I found them to have decent reviews and good info all round).

Awesome website, it may be very helpful.

Yeah the FirePro is a serie, i was making an assumption as I always heard that "pro" VGAs are no good for games (but that also sounds odd to me).

The machines mounting it those chips have

Graphics: AMD FirePro M8900 Mobility Pro Graphics with 2GB GDDR5

or the M6000, on 17" displays.

I'm curious if there are benchmarks on notebookcheck.

Quote from Marcem

I was under the impression that it worked as a regular drive. There are larger ones available, I was considering one for my computer after I noticed the slot on my mobo.

Yeah, looking at the specs seems like it, but i'm reading it's transparent to the OS :-/

Thanks everyone for contributing

Quote from AtsEst

If you want to drag it along and work on it then it is pretty much the perfect size(don't expect much of a battery life though). The bad thing about the display is that is quite low resolution.

I got myself a 15" dell xps ~2 years ago with a 1080p screen which is decent but definitely does not replace a multiple display setup. Also dragging it along with its huge power brick isn't comfortable at all. also the GPU in it is a 540m which is pretty much the same spec as 630m, should be more than enough for Hammer. But it will likely choke up if you throw anything heavier at it (Cryengine SDK for example).

yeah in fact i'm looking first at 15", i'd take a 17" if a good deal is available. An additional display is not something i'm considering atm, it could be something to invest between the shift from laptop to desktop, when i'll be settled.

Thanks a lot for the info about the GPU.

Is there a mobile GPU that could work with the Cryengine? Other than an Alienware with SLI cards

Are the workstations i also found in the outlet with ATIs FirePro M with 2gb of GDDR5 rubbish, in terms of gaming?

What about the 650M found in Macbooks?

Quote from Marcem

mSATA is internal, really small:

done a quick Google search and I understand it's something like a cache. I wonder how does it work, i've read about hybrid disks that use some solid memory to shift around stuff accessed more often.

But especially i wonder if there's a slot compatible with that much memory or the 32gigs are actually there.

Among the DELLs, this machine struck me, seems pretty good. Pity the 14". Thoughts?

Vostro 3460
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM (2.2GHz, 6M cache)
Windows® 8 Pro
32GB mSATA3 SSD for Minicard Slots [Blocked Image: http://forum.multiplayer.it/images/faccine/confused2.gif]
750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz Memory (2 DIMMs)
Display : 14.0 inch High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with Anti-Glare
LCD Back Cover : Silver
Graphics : 1GB nVidia GeForce GT 630M Discrete Graphic Card
Back Up Media Not Included
Windows 8 Professional (64 Bit OS)
Wireless : Intel Centrino Advanced-N 2230 (2x2, a/g/n) + Bluetooth
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
Battery : Primary 6 Cell 48W/HR
Internal Qwerty Keyboard

Woa, the last pic looks like a painting!

Why in the interview with Sessler the clicking and terraforming felt alright, while the Cinical Brit makes it appear a huge annoyance? Is Peter able to exercise the same "distorsion field" of Steve Jobs?