Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
What I learn.
I set a challenge for myself recently on DeviantArt. For 15 days in a row, I will draw one picture a day and submit it to my gallery regardless of quality and completion. One hope is to make a habit out of drawing pictures more, but along the way I found myself overcoming many weaknesses I have had that held me back. These are weaknesses I would outright deny, or even worse proclaim them to be my strengths! Here are the two generalised weaknesses with expanded insight explaining just about everything in the universe: Fear of Failure and Perfectionism. I am NOT trying to write an inspirational piece! This is entirely personal, only fit for me. If anyone else relates to it then that's fine, but there is no gospel here.
1. Fear of Failure.
This one was hard to admit at first, but looking at my results in the past (or lack of) I had to seriously analyse myself and open my mind to any new possibilities if it had a chance of helping me. I'm only up to the 6th day in my challenge and I've already noticed how fear of failure has consumed me in the past.
The way it works is this: I draw a picture and it's chock full of mistakes, I hate the drawing. It doesn't meet the minimum standards of quality I'm looking for and so I discard the drawing. The thing is, my standards of quality are much higher than anything I've ever produced in my life. They are based on other people's drawings that I'm aiming for! In order to reach that standard it takes A LOT of hard work and most importantly, the know-how.
Contrariwise (I couldn't resist), you may learn new tricks all by yourself in your own experimentation, but if you don't know how to do something you actually want to do then you won't always accomplish it through sheer luck. It takes research, practice, mastering, THEN you're open to experimentation. Above all, A LOT OF HARD WORK.
This is what fear of failure is about. I think about attempting what I don't know, but because I don't know then I haven't begun, and all that hard work that could have happened never will happen. The irony of having fear of failure is that in the end you fail anyway.
To overcome the fear of failing, I have completely eliminated the standards of quality I'm after, and I just draw what I want draw without worrying how bad it looks. If I end up hating it afterwards, at least I made something, and the failure doesn't taste so bad after all. In the end the only person I'm trying to impress is myself. I'm more impressed that I can come up with any output at all.
I am in favour of quality over quantity, but I can't handle it. I can't privately draw a thousand bad pictures for every good one I show. Keep in mind, this is only addressing my own personal issues, I wish not to inspire others to think like I do.
2. Perfectionism.
If you think too hard, you may think perfectionism is the same as fear of failure. If you think even harder, you'll find that it's in a completely different league all together. You may have heard many clichés like "nobody's perfect!" or "perfection doesn't exist!". They basically summarise everything I'm about to say, but I would really like to expand on the inherent problem of perfectionism with a couple of examples.
Firstly, perfectionism comes after the step of overcoming fear of failure, and you are ready to start working hard. But where is the point that you will be truly completed? Through the following examples I will demonstrate that no matter what state your work is in, it's always never finished and in a constant state of work-in-progress.
I'd like to use the example of a blu-ray disc I spent a lot of money on recently called Rebuild of Evangelion 1.11 - You Are (Not) Alone. I also have the DVD of Evangelion 1.0 as a comparison, not to mention the original TV series which the movie was based on (virtually identical to the first few episodes). One of the special features was a musical vignette charting the progress of "rebuilding" the Evangelion 1.0 movie into 1.01 (the version 1.11 is rebuilt even further). There are many scenes deconstructed by starting off with an animatic, or a pencil test, or primitive CGI graphics, then constantly reshowing the scene in motion as it's being worked on. The scenes would usually come to a point of being acceptable of being published on the screen, but then it gets taken further and further. More sparkles, more subtle movements, more lighting effects. It becomes excessive. I think the point that they are trying to illustrate (even from the numbering "1.11" in the title) is that there will never be a definitive, final, "perfect" version of the film. There's no reason why there can't be an Evangelion 1.2 or 1.21, up to a 1.99999999 and so on. It's possible to keep it going and going and going until it becomes the most excessively expensive and technically accomplished animation of ALL TIME (as if it wasn't already).
The other example is on another blu-ray I spent a lot of money on, being the "Definitive" Blade Runner. What they have now claimed is that this is the ABSOLUTE FINAL cut of Blade Runner. There are already 4 other versions floating around, so it was time to take all the footage they had, re-master it, fix up some scenes, piece it together under the final decisions of Ridley Scott, release it and say "No more! This is it! The DEFINITIVE FINAL CUT!!". What's to say Ridley Scott could be watching it two years later and thinking "damn it! I liked it when he said "fucker" instead of "father" like he originally did!".
The possibilities of reworking the film are endless! Scenes could be taken out for pacing, or scenes could be re-arranged. How about putting the Unicorn dream at the very beginning, opening shot of the film? Harrison Ford wakes up to it, and as for the actual opening where the last blade-runner gets shot, that information can be slowly divulged over time when they re-play the footage throughout the movie! I only just thought of that on the spot! Of course, just about every scene would have to be re-arranged to play out differently, all I'm saying is that it will NEVER be perfect. Never truly, definitively, finally completed.
Everything produced is always still in its work-in-progress, this includes work-in-progress itself. Say a film is only half completed, the rest is only shown in storyboard animatic, or missing footage, unrendered CGI effects etc. That to me is just as valid as a product you will see on the screen in the cinema (half the time they are even reworked further for the home video release). It may not look as spectacular, but the point is that it's there. The point is - there is another point relating to the last point.
If nothing is ever "complete", then when is the best time to stop working on it? First answer: when you're exhausted (either your health or even your funds). Second answer: when you hit the deadline. If you have no more time to spare, that's that and that's it. You may think you have no deadline, but that's where you're wrong. We all have a deadline, if you think about it. My deadline for this particular challenge I'm doing is midnight every night. You can set your own deadlines for yourself if you're unsure. Working without a deadline is like working without anything, but if that must be the case, then you might as well go with the first answer. I usually stop drawing when I'm completely exhausted, then I go and watch a movie or play a video game for the rest of the night.
Overcoming perfectionism is coming to accept that there is no completion. Every species on the planet is still evolving. Everything you do will always be work-in-progress (WIP). You must accept that early stages of WIP and later stages of WIP are one in the same blanket. When you need to stop, then just stop! You can always re-work it later when you've gained some know-how, or you can just move on to something else!
Lastly.
A smaller thing for me to overcome right now is laziness. I just generally feel too tired a lot of the time to ever work on anything. Firstly, I know there is no such thing as "artist's block", it's just an excuse for your laziness. If I'm out of my own ideas, then I'll draw some fan-art. My mind is always banging on about something, so it's not hard to draw anything related to what I think about.
An obvious improvement over laziness, even general fatigue, is analysing your own diet. If food is supposed to supply you with energy, then why do I get tired when I eat so much of it? Firstly, it's hard to have energy when you're not up and exercising physically, and drawing pictures or writing isn't about developing your six-pack no matter how you think about it! Secondly I'm eating too much crap and I'm not eating enough vegetables and raw fruits.
I read some blog post from a vegan talking about how milk isn't good for you unless you have four stomachs like a cow, and how his health has improved after he started eating more vegetables and raw fruit. I was slightly irritated by a sudden turn in vegan-preaching, but simultaneously I was desperate enough to try something new anyway. I went down to the fruit-store and bought some pears and mandarins and experienced it myself. I started feeling a bit ill, which is apparently normal as the "toxins" were being "flushed out", but then I felt fine a little while later, and rather energised too! To me it felt like a cleansing process, and the thing about me is that I kind of like the cleansing process, enough to go "play in the dirt" just so I can get cleaned out again. I still drink milk, I enjoy my calcium, but I make sure I eat some raw fruit afterwards. I've taken it upon myself to eat more fruit, I feel it's done me well. You don't get an energy "kick" like a caffiene buzz, but it's more like a healthy energy spread out over time, which is exactly what I want for non-physical exercise and long-lasting concentration.
Overcoming laziness is the biggest challenge, but the best way I can think of is through the art of habit. We live our lives by habits, we make them and break them all the time. Most habits are formed without us even realising, but the most important thing to remember is that you can make your own habits. It takes patience, hard work and fanatical dedication, but you can do it.
The trick is to give yourself at least 30 days for the challenge (this is also a trick some advertisers try when they ask you to "take the 30 day challenge", so that you form a habit of buying their product intuitively against your will). Keep repeating your action over and over, mentally aware of it at first, every day. Eventually you won't have the mental awareness, it will soon become second-nature. You will just keep doing it out of the plain fact being it's what you do. Breaking habits is just as much a mental task as making them. Personally I'd like to say it's 15 days, but I haven't really tried it seriously until now, so we'll see.
Nohow.
1. Fear of Failure.
This one was hard to admit at first, but looking at my results in the past (or lack of) I had to seriously analyse myself and open my mind to any new possibilities if it had a chance of helping me. I'm only up to the 6th day in my challenge and I've already noticed how fear of failure has consumed me in the past.
The way it works is this: I draw a picture and it's chock full of mistakes, I hate the drawing. It doesn't meet the minimum standards of quality I'm looking for and so I discard the drawing. The thing is, my standards of quality are much higher than anything I've ever produced in my life. They are based on other people's drawings that I'm aiming for! In order to reach that standard it takes A LOT of hard work and most importantly, the know-how.
Contrariwise (I couldn't resist), you may learn new tricks all by yourself in your own experimentation, but if you don't know how to do something you actually want to do then you won't always accomplish it through sheer luck. It takes research, practice, mastering, THEN you're open to experimentation. Above all, A LOT OF HARD WORK.
This is what fear of failure is about. I think about attempting what I don't know, but because I don't know then I haven't begun, and all that hard work that could have happened never will happen. The irony of having fear of failure is that in the end you fail anyway.
To overcome the fear of failing, I have completely eliminated the standards of quality I'm after, and I just draw what I want draw without worrying how bad it looks. If I end up hating it afterwards, at least I made something, and the failure doesn't taste so bad after all. In the end the only person I'm trying to impress is myself. I'm more impressed that I can come up with any output at all.
I am in favour of quality over quantity, but I can't handle it. I can't privately draw a thousand bad pictures for every good one I show. Keep in mind, this is only addressing my own personal issues, I wish not to inspire others to think like I do.
2. Perfectionism.
If you think too hard, you may think perfectionism is the same as fear of failure. If you think even harder, you'll find that it's in a completely different league all together. You may have heard many clichés like "nobody's perfect!" or "perfection doesn't exist!". They basically summarise everything I'm about to say, but I would really like to expand on the inherent problem of perfectionism with a couple of examples.
Firstly, perfectionism comes after the step of overcoming fear of failure, and you are ready to start working hard. But where is the point that you will be truly completed? Through the following examples I will demonstrate that no matter what state your work is in, it's always never finished and in a constant state of work-in-progress.
I'd like to use the example of a blu-ray disc I spent a lot of money on recently called Rebuild of Evangelion 1.11 - You Are (Not) Alone. I also have the DVD of Evangelion 1.0 as a comparison, not to mention the original TV series which the movie was based on (virtually identical to the first few episodes). One of the special features was a musical vignette charting the progress of "rebuilding" the Evangelion 1.0 movie into 1.01 (the version 1.11 is rebuilt even further). There are many scenes deconstructed by starting off with an animatic, or a pencil test, or primitive CGI graphics, then constantly reshowing the scene in motion as it's being worked on. The scenes would usually come to a point of being acceptable of being published on the screen, but then it gets taken further and further. More sparkles, more subtle movements, more lighting effects. It becomes excessive. I think the point that they are trying to illustrate (even from the numbering "1.11" in the title) is that there will never be a definitive, final, "perfect" version of the film. There's no reason why there can't be an Evangelion 1.2 or 1.21, up to a 1.99999999 and so on. It's possible to keep it going and going and going until it becomes the most excessively expensive and technically accomplished animation of ALL TIME (as if it wasn't already).
The other example is on another blu-ray I spent a lot of money on, being the "Definitive" Blade Runner. What they have now claimed is that this is the ABSOLUTE FINAL cut of Blade Runner. There are already 4 other versions floating around, so it was time to take all the footage they had, re-master it, fix up some scenes, piece it together under the final decisions of Ridley Scott, release it and say "No more! This is it! The DEFINITIVE FINAL CUT!!". What's to say Ridley Scott could be watching it two years later and thinking "damn it! I liked it when he said "fucker" instead of "father" like he originally did!".
The possibilities of reworking the film are endless! Scenes could be taken out for pacing, or scenes could be re-arranged. How about putting the Unicorn dream at the very beginning, opening shot of the film? Harrison Ford wakes up to it, and as for the actual opening where the last blade-runner gets shot, that information can be slowly divulged over time when they re-play the footage throughout the movie! I only just thought of that on the spot! Of course, just about every scene would have to be re-arranged to play out differently, all I'm saying is that it will NEVER be perfect. Never truly, definitively, finally completed.
Everything produced is always still in its work-in-progress, this includes work-in-progress itself. Say a film is only half completed, the rest is only shown in storyboard animatic, or missing footage, unrendered CGI effects etc. That to me is just as valid as a product you will see on the screen in the cinema (half the time they are even reworked further for the home video release). It may not look as spectacular, but the point is that it's there. The point is - there is another point relating to the last point.
If nothing is ever "complete", then when is the best time to stop working on it? First answer: when you're exhausted (either your health or even your funds). Second answer: when you hit the deadline. If you have no more time to spare, that's that and that's it. You may think you have no deadline, but that's where you're wrong. We all have a deadline, if you think about it. My deadline for this particular challenge I'm doing is midnight every night. You can set your own deadlines for yourself if you're unsure. Working without a deadline is like working without anything, but if that must be the case, then you might as well go with the first answer. I usually stop drawing when I'm completely exhausted, then I go and watch a movie or play a video game for the rest of the night.
Overcoming perfectionism is coming to accept that there is no completion. Every species on the planet is still evolving. Everything you do will always be work-in-progress (WIP). You must accept that early stages of WIP and later stages of WIP are one in the same blanket. When you need to stop, then just stop! You can always re-work it later when you've gained some know-how, or you can just move on to something else!
Lastly.
A smaller thing for me to overcome right now is laziness. I just generally feel too tired a lot of the time to ever work on anything. Firstly, I know there is no such thing as "artist's block", it's just an excuse for your laziness. If I'm out of my own ideas, then I'll draw some fan-art. My mind is always banging on about something, so it's not hard to draw anything related to what I think about.
An obvious improvement over laziness, even general fatigue, is analysing your own diet. If food is supposed to supply you with energy, then why do I get tired when I eat so much of it? Firstly, it's hard to have energy when you're not up and exercising physically, and drawing pictures or writing isn't about developing your six-pack no matter how you think about it! Secondly I'm eating too much crap and I'm not eating enough vegetables and raw fruits.
I read some blog post from a vegan talking about how milk isn't good for you unless you have four stomachs like a cow, and how his health has improved after he started eating more vegetables and raw fruit. I was slightly irritated by a sudden turn in vegan-preaching, but simultaneously I was desperate enough to try something new anyway. I went down to the fruit-store and bought some pears and mandarins and experienced it myself. I started feeling a bit ill, which is apparently normal as the "toxins" were being "flushed out", but then I felt fine a little while later, and rather energised too! To me it felt like a cleansing process, and the thing about me is that I kind of like the cleansing process, enough to go "play in the dirt" just so I can get cleaned out again. I still drink milk, I enjoy my calcium, but I make sure I eat some raw fruit afterwards. I've taken it upon myself to eat more fruit, I feel it's done me well. You don't get an energy "kick" like a caffiene buzz, but it's more like a healthy energy spread out over time, which is exactly what I want for non-physical exercise and long-lasting concentration.
Overcoming laziness is the biggest challenge, but the best way I can think of is through the art of habit. We live our lives by habits, we make them and break them all the time. Most habits are formed without us even realising, but the most important thing to remember is that you can make your own habits. It takes patience, hard work and fanatical dedication, but you can do it.
The trick is to give yourself at least 30 days for the challenge (this is also a trick some advertisers try when they ask you to "take the 30 day challenge", so that you form a habit of buying their product intuitively against your will). Keep repeating your action over and over, mentally aware of it at first, every day. Eventually you won't have the mental awareness, it will soon become second-nature. You will just keep doing it out of the plain fact being it's what you do. Breaking habits is just as much a mental task as making them. Personally I'd like to say it's 15 days, but I haven't really tried it seriously until now, so we'll see.
Nohow.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
RED NINJA video game review
Firstly I watched the opening movie, laughing at how corny it is, probably written by a 13 year old boy, being appalled by its choppy Uwe Boll-esque editing, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of personality or charm in the main character, a shame because she's designed so cute.
So I started playing the game, I figured out the right analogue stick controlled the camera, so I immediately went for the up-skirt and felt I've accomplished all I needed to in this game. I proceeded to turn it off and put it away, forever.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Ponyo ~ a review (pictures to come)
Yesterday I decided to make the trip to Dendy cinemas in Portside, since it's the only place screening "Ponyo" in its original Japanese language (with subtitles). I am of the opinion, although it still lies at the heart of the fundamentals of animation, that the voices must be recorded BEFORE the animation and not after. The animators must make a performance based on the voice work! If you add voices after an established performance you are going to ruin it!!!!! The last (and only) Ghibli film I heard in English dub was "Spirited Away" which tore at my heart like a rain of knives. It's worse than listening to a ballad by Britney Spears! (I was going to say "shards of glass scraping across a blackboard" but I concluded that that might sound pretty cool)
So anyway, the movie, in its original Japanese...it's beyond words. It's what animation should be, and so much more, to the point of being excessive (which is a good thing). But what should animation be? Let me explain. Animation is about giving life to the drawings on your piece of paper. Animation should make you put aside your disbelief of what's real and what's not real - without you even realising it! This involves more than just illustration principles, there is also heavy reliance on sound-design, and also good story-telling. In this sense an animator is more like a wizard, a grand conjurer, a mage who defies the laws of energy-conservation and creates something from nothing. Hayao Miyazaki has shown with "Ponyo" that he is the grandest, most majestic magician alive. From the opening sequence of sea-life, watching hundreds of jellyfish moving across the screen all individually, and all of it drawn by hand!! It is absolutely captivating from start to finish. When Ponyo is running across the water, chasing the car, I was truly overwhelmed.
I love how Studio Ghibli is one of the last few Japanese studios to practice FULL animation. It doesn't associate itself with any of the other traditions and clichés that have befallen the rest of the market, which in turn has alienated the dedicated fans of the 80's and 90's pre-"Love Hina" anime who found something decent to escape into, but now is tainted with a system of executives and market-research to find out what "sells". Studio Ghibli still concerns itself with good, unconventional story-telling. The mood of Ponyo is like a rollercoaster that doesn't stop. All the characters are lovable, even Ponyo's father (who plays a bit of a villain, but not in a generic "evil" way). This is important, it makes me want to keep watching, knowing I'm in safe hands without awkward uncomfortable moments like heart-break and betrayal, the kind of Disney/Don Bluth stuff that rapes you and tries to hug you afterwards. Some people might crave that kind of stuff but I've been through it too many times, I'd rather a true sense of purity like a Miyazaki film, and then his own sentimentalities that come out (i.e. caring for the elderly and pollution in nature) have much more effect.
In summary, "Ponyo" was amazing. If you had any decent sense you would make it your NUMBER ONE priority to watch this film (providing it is in its original Japanese).
In other news I bought a scanner recently and I intend to use it.
So anyway, the movie, in its original Japanese...it's beyond words. It's what animation should be, and so much more, to the point of being excessive (which is a good thing). But what should animation be? Let me explain. Animation is about giving life to the drawings on your piece of paper. Animation should make you put aside your disbelief of what's real and what's not real - without you even realising it! This involves more than just illustration principles, there is also heavy reliance on sound-design, and also good story-telling. In this sense an animator is more like a wizard, a grand conjurer, a mage who defies the laws of energy-conservation and creates something from nothing. Hayao Miyazaki has shown with "Ponyo" that he is the grandest, most majestic magician alive. From the opening sequence of sea-life, watching hundreds of jellyfish moving across the screen all individually, and all of it drawn by hand!! It is absolutely captivating from start to finish. When Ponyo is running across the water, chasing the car, I was truly overwhelmed.
I love how Studio Ghibli is one of the last few Japanese studios to practice FULL animation. It doesn't associate itself with any of the other traditions and clichés that have befallen the rest of the market, which in turn has alienated the dedicated fans of the 80's and 90's pre-"Love Hina" anime who found something decent to escape into, but now is tainted with a system of executives and market-research to find out what "sells". Studio Ghibli still concerns itself with good, unconventional story-telling. The mood of Ponyo is like a rollercoaster that doesn't stop. All the characters are lovable, even Ponyo's father (who plays a bit of a villain, but not in a generic "evil" way). This is important, it makes me want to keep watching, knowing I'm in safe hands without awkward uncomfortable moments like heart-break and betrayal, the kind of Disney/Don Bluth stuff that rapes you and tries to hug you afterwards. Some people might crave that kind of stuff but I've been through it too many times, I'd rather a true sense of purity like a Miyazaki film, and then his own sentimentalities that come out (i.e. caring for the elderly and pollution in nature) have much more effect.
In summary, "Ponyo" was amazing. If you had any decent sense you would make it your NUMBER ONE priority to watch this film (providing it is in its original Japanese).
In other news I bought a scanner recently and I intend to use it.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
I get lots of cool ideas, but when the opportunity comes to write them down it never crosses my mind and I'm sidetracked ALL the time. I might as well do it here right now while I have blogger open.
Firstly, before I get to the game, I should mention one idea that's been brewing lately: Tap-Dancing Metal. If done right and taken seriously enough it would be brutal as hell! Just think about the blistering-fast tempos!
I guess the world isn't ready for it yet. Oh well, back to the game.
I won't go into the details of the inspiration behind this, I'll just start right off the bat with the premise.
I call it "Roleplay Overlord". You begin with your character (I'm thinking you customise their look) with enough money to buy 1 of 3 different RPG's from the video-game store. In the start there are a total of 5 RPG's you can buy but you'll have to save up enough money to get them all. To make money you have to play your RPG (a game within the game) until you build your characters strong enough to enter tournaments (kind of like Golden-Sun battles or like Pokemon battles), which start off as local tournaments (a prize might be another RPG game), city-wide tournaments, state-wide tournaments, country-wide tournaments then you get accepted in the world-wide tournaments. For those tournaments you need to make enough money to buy a 2-way ticket, and if you lose the tournament you don't get your money back so you better be really good at your RPG! Once you become the world champion, you get an e-mail inviting you to the underground high-stakes tournament where it's REALLY difficult and expensive but you get A LOT of money if you win.
Now, these 5 RPG's are all different and equally rich in depth as each other (maybe the more expensive ones have more depth), you carry around a save-card that holds your character data to take into the tournaments. There are particular secret bonuses and items that can cross over the RPG's for extra advantages, so keep that in mind. When you have mastered all 5 RPG's you will unlock the 6th RPG, which is a game where your character has enough money to buy 1 of 3 RPGs in the video-game store, but in this game (within the game) there is only a total of 3, but over-all it works the same as the main game described in the above paragraph, not to mention there are items and bonuses can carry over to the original 5 RPG's. These 3 RPG's should have simpler graphics, all in 2D and 16-bit colour pixels which will make them distinct, but they still are rich in depth as the original 5 RPG's in the main game.
Now, beating those 3 RPG's within the game within the game, you unlock a 4th RPG, except it doesn't start with you buying RPGs and entering them in tournaments, it's just another typical fantasy RPG but it's REALLY HARD, you're expected to grind for HOURS before you can move to the next area and there are confusing mazes that require you to draw your own maps, and all the items are really expensive so you have to grind even more. The bosses are next to impossible and they kill you every time, unless you grind for DAYS or WEEKS and if you beat the bosses then you get super secret special items that can carry over into the previous 3 RPG's and even the main 5 RPG's. There is a special place in this ultra-hard 4th RPG where you will get the opportunity to play a simple text-based RPG, so now we have a game within a game within a game within a game and this is the ULTIMATE challenge, because it's REALLY SUPER HARD and there are barely any graphics, just large 8-bit pixels of a guy reading a page (he's kind of like the "Dungeon Master" of a D&D game) and occasionally your dice rolls. It would be a good idea in the "4th RPG" you're playing to collect as many dice as you can to give yourself the upper hand in luck. In the ultimate text-based RPG is where you find the real beneficial bonuses that will make you near-unstoppable in the other 3 RPG's or the main 5, but not so much in the underground high-stakes challenge where most players will probably have these items anyway.
In summary, here's the hierarchy:
"ROLEPLAY OVERLORD"
. . . . |
. . . . |
RPG1--RPG2--RPG3 -(RPG4) -(RPG5) ((RPG6))
. . . . . . . _____________________|
. . . . . . . |
(rpg4)- rpg1-rpg2-rpg3
. . . |
. . . |
text based RPG
The idea is that this game is to be the most time consuming game ever made. Ever.
Firstly, before I get to the game, I should mention one idea that's been brewing lately: Tap-Dancing Metal. If done right and taken seriously enough it would be brutal as hell! Just think about the blistering-fast tempos!
I guess the world isn't ready for it yet. Oh well, back to the game.
I won't go into the details of the inspiration behind this, I'll just start right off the bat with the premise.
I call it "Roleplay Overlord". You begin with your character (I'm thinking you customise their look) with enough money to buy 1 of 3 different RPG's from the video-game store. In the start there are a total of 5 RPG's you can buy but you'll have to save up enough money to get them all. To make money you have to play your RPG (a game within the game) until you build your characters strong enough to enter tournaments (kind of like Golden-Sun battles or like Pokemon battles), which start off as local tournaments (a prize might be another RPG game), city-wide tournaments, state-wide tournaments, country-wide tournaments then you get accepted in the world-wide tournaments. For those tournaments you need to make enough money to buy a 2-way ticket, and if you lose the tournament you don't get your money back so you better be really good at your RPG! Once you become the world champion, you get an e-mail inviting you to the underground high-stakes tournament where it's REALLY difficult and expensive but you get A LOT of money if you win.
Now, these 5 RPG's are all different and equally rich in depth as each other (maybe the more expensive ones have more depth), you carry around a save-card that holds your character data to take into the tournaments. There are particular secret bonuses and items that can cross over the RPG's for extra advantages, so keep that in mind. When you have mastered all 5 RPG's you will unlock the 6th RPG, which is a game where your character has enough money to buy 1 of 3 RPGs in the video-game store, but in this game (within the game) there is only a total of 3, but over-all it works the same as the main game described in the above paragraph, not to mention there are items and bonuses can carry over to the original 5 RPG's. These 3 RPG's should have simpler graphics, all in 2D and 16-bit colour pixels which will make them distinct, but they still are rich in depth as the original 5 RPG's in the main game.
Now, beating those 3 RPG's within the game within the game, you unlock a 4th RPG, except it doesn't start with you buying RPGs and entering them in tournaments, it's just another typical fantasy RPG but it's REALLY HARD, you're expected to grind for HOURS before you can move to the next area and there are confusing mazes that require you to draw your own maps, and all the items are really expensive so you have to grind even more. The bosses are next to impossible and they kill you every time, unless you grind for DAYS or WEEKS and if you beat the bosses then you get super secret special items that can carry over into the previous 3 RPG's and even the main 5 RPG's. There is a special place in this ultra-hard 4th RPG where you will get the opportunity to play a simple text-based RPG, so now we have a game within a game within a game within a game and this is the ULTIMATE challenge, because it's REALLY SUPER HARD and there are barely any graphics, just large 8-bit pixels of a guy reading a page (he's kind of like the "Dungeon Master" of a D&D game) and occasionally your dice rolls. It would be a good idea in the "4th RPG" you're playing to collect as many dice as you can to give yourself the upper hand in luck. In the ultimate text-based RPG is where you find the real beneficial bonuses that will make you near-unstoppable in the other 3 RPG's or the main 5, but not so much in the underground high-stakes challenge where most players will probably have these items anyway.
In summary, here's the hierarchy:
"ROLEPLAY OVERLORD"
. . . . |
. . . . |
RPG1--RPG2--RPG3 -(RPG4) -(RPG5) ((RPG6))
. . . . . . . _____________________|
. . . . . . . |
(rpg4)- rpg1-rpg2-rpg3
. . . |
. . . |
text based RPG
The idea is that this game is to be the most time consuming game ever made. Ever.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
GEORGE CLOONEYTHON AT MY HOUSE
Come to my house on the night of nth of m, 20xx and we will watch the following:
From Dusk Till Dawn
Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind
Good Night And Good Luck
Leatherheads
Syriana (optional)
See you there or maybe not!
Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind
Good Night And Good Luck
Leatherheads
Syriana (optional)
See you there or maybe not!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Video Game reviews.
Even though I have a full-time job, this doesn't mean I can't spend late nights enjoying emersive video games. Here are a few reviews for recent ones I picked up:
FALLOUT 3
This game is really good and found myself playing it up until the point I stopped playing it, then I found I haven't played it since then. I do hope to pick it up again soon!
Now apply this same review to LITTLE BIG PLANET, DISGAEA 3, RHAPSODY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE and METAL GEAR SOLID 4.
Here are a couple more games:
DOKIDOKI (heartbeat?) MAJO (witch) SHINPAN (hunt-down) DUO (2)
I don't know what it is with the Japanese and their witches but they seem to really like witches, especially cute little girl ones or sexy ones that aren't really witches by definition and don't do anything witch-like, and ones that attend middle-school and worry about un-witchly things like romance with a boy who has no personality and looks really creepy when you rarely see them. I think the Japanese have done as much research on witches as they have done on chimeras, behemoths and the laws of physics.
But as for this game, you'd only appreciate it if you're a pervert, and even then you'd have to be dedicated enough to beat this game without knowing how to read walls of Japanese text (pro tip: hold down the Y button to zip through the text). I've beaten this game twice.
PANGYA! GOLF WITH STYLE a.k.a. SUPER SWING GOLF
So here we have more Japanese witchery (the girl in the foreground of the above image). Here is a game that I have been obsessed by for the past few weeks - and I don't even like Golf! I must say the concept of "fantasy golf" is more appealing than "EA Sports Tiger Woods Generic Golf Game Two Million Seven Hundred And Ninety Six Thousand Four Hundred And Eighty Eight This Time With High Definition Grass Texture!". But why am I so obsessed with Pangya!?
I'm not ashamed to admit that I have a gross fascination, shall I say "fetish", with the concept of dress-up games. I never played with dolls, but somehow I feel I've missed out on so much enjoyment when it comes to dressing up characters in little cute costumes, then throwing them out into the world and make them do things. This game gives me the pleasure of dressing-up, but at a price. The game is incredibly slow-paced, the costumes are incredibly expensive and what's worse is that I have to play freakin' GOLF to make my money! ("pang" as it's called in this game). AND LOTS OF IT.
When I unlocked the final character, Kaz, who is a really cool demon-looking boy with sharp hair and sharp eyes with razor sharp dress-sense, the game got pretty interesting. But I've reached my thresh-hold, I'm now playing against perfect calculators with little margin of error. No matter which way or how strong the wind blows, no matter what ground the ball is on, no matter what club is used, the ball will perfectly go straight towards the hole in god-like shortcuts that I've broken my knuckles punching walls from frustration in trying to replicate. I've reached my thresh hold in sheer frustration and I doubt the rest of the costumes are worth unlocking anyway.
I see that there has been a sequel released in the US and I really want to play it!
FALLOUT 3
This game is really good and found myself playing it up until the point I stopped playing it, then I found I haven't played it since then. I do hope to pick it up again soon!
Now apply this same review to LITTLE BIG PLANET, DISGAEA 3, RHAPSODY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE and METAL GEAR SOLID 4.
Here are a couple more games:
DOKIDOKI (heartbeat?) MAJO (witch) SHINPAN (hunt-down) DUO (2)
I don't know what it is with the Japanese and their witches but they seem to really like witches, especially cute little girl ones or sexy ones that aren't really witches by definition and don't do anything witch-like, and ones that attend middle-school and worry about un-witchly things like romance with a boy who has no personality and looks really creepy when you rarely see them. I think the Japanese have done as much research on witches as they have done on chimeras, behemoths and the laws of physics.
But as for this game, you'd only appreciate it if you're a pervert, and even then you'd have to be dedicated enough to beat this game without knowing how to read walls of Japanese text (pro tip: hold down the Y button to zip through the text). I've beaten this game twice.
PANGYA! GOLF WITH STYLE a.k.a. SUPER SWING GOLF
So here we have more Japanese witchery (the girl in the foreground of the above image). Here is a game that I have been obsessed by for the past few weeks - and I don't even like Golf! I must say the concept of "fantasy golf" is more appealing than "EA Sports Tiger Woods Generic Golf Game Two Million Seven Hundred And Ninety Six Thousand Four Hundred And Eighty Eight This Time With High Definition Grass Texture!". But why am I so obsessed with Pangya!?
I'm not ashamed to admit that I have a gross fascination, shall I say "fetish", with the concept of dress-up games. I never played with dolls, but somehow I feel I've missed out on so much enjoyment when it comes to dressing up characters in little cute costumes, then throwing them out into the world and make them do things. This game gives me the pleasure of dressing-up, but at a price. The game is incredibly slow-paced, the costumes are incredibly expensive and what's worse is that I have to play freakin' GOLF to make my money! ("pang" as it's called in this game). AND LOTS OF IT.
When I unlocked the final character, Kaz, who is a really cool demon-looking boy with sharp hair and sharp eyes with razor sharp dress-sense, the game got pretty interesting. But I've reached my thresh-hold, I'm now playing against perfect calculators with little margin of error. No matter which way or how strong the wind blows, no matter what ground the ball is on, no matter what club is used, the ball will perfectly go straight towards the hole in god-like shortcuts that I've broken my knuckles punching walls from frustration in trying to replicate. I've reached my thresh hold in sheer frustration and I doubt the rest of the costumes are worth unlocking anyway.
I see that there has been a sequel released in the US and I really want to play it!
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