theological thoughts and ramblings

this idea actually comes after discovering about the abuse hurled by the Westboro Baptist Church at....well at this stage almost everybody. 

the idea is simply this: what really is hell? why do should and shouldn't we go there? the ramifications and reasons are pretty intriguing to me at this point especially after discovering that the Westboro Baptist's own preacher can't really seem to give proper answers based on an interview by the BBC. 


Hell in all its glory.... 

from a broad stroke based on what i've gathered in my limited amount on earth and of a time as a catholic church goer many, many years ago, hell is this fiery, cavernous, dark and completely misery and terror inducing sort of place you would have to be a complete masochist to go to in the first place. the words fire and brimstone are almost always associated with hell because of the fire. the islamic koran's version of hell seems to be not terribly different, as are the chinese, japanese and even jewish versions. hell it seems, visually is always on fire, in a cavern, inhabited by devilish little things, ruled by a king and has an army of demons. 

however, it is the christian version of hell i am interested in this time around. the bible, as cited by most evangelical people and churches, indicates that one shall go to hell in a hand basket if they do not read it, adhere to its rules and live as a good christian should. in this world of neither black nor white, but color and grey shades, how would one determine what is good and what is bad? if there were really such fine, stringent rules set in place to begin with, why is there still so much hardship? that's really a question that begins to delve into sociology rather than biblical texts proper. 


the point of this. 

we all expire, eventually. some of us really don't want to go till we see the world burn proper, like me, but we would go anyway. the question then becomes what would become of us on judgement day? i think, we've all pretty much sinned at one point or another. Gandhi has been cited to have been something of a wife-beater prior to becoming India's national leader and hero and there really hasn't been what anyone would call an angel among men lately. so, heaven is definitely out of the question. 

but then i postulate. is hell really all that bad? i mean really? some versions of the bible state there is a place called purgatory and its function is sort of like a prison correction facility. force everyone into it for an indeterminate amount of time to be punished and then what? you would get sorted into heaven or hell again? well, actually because we were all sorted to head to hell, purgatory then becomes a sort of second chance into heaven. 

once you figure certain things out in life, you really do begin to question certain things that have been indoctrinated into us as children and perhaps teens. i don't think hell will be that terrible. for one, if the churches are all correct, and we are all indeed condemned to go to hell, this means we will all be reconnected again with the ones we've lost. friends and family joining you in the afterlife as one big, semi-happy group of souls. i don't think that's a bad thing then. you would also get all the lost musical stars and the greatest actors in the world down there because of their lifestyle that clashes with all that is good and supposedly holy. huzzah! 

but wait, wait, wait. what about the tortures? what about them? i doubt your soul would carry a nervous system to feel pain with, what with it being a mortal and bodily thing the soul leaves behind, so you really can't feel pain anymore. Another writer, whom i paraphrase this idea and notion from is Terry Pratchett who brings up this truly small but significantly thoughtful idea. so, actually then demons and devils that torment us, really can't hurt us in hell, because we can no longer feel physical pain. this is truly a big thing in my opinion because hell then doesn't become anything much more than monotonous rituals that while are supposed to convey pain, mean nothing at all other than contract devils going through motions satan or god set in place. 


ending thoughts... 

i don't think that i would actually really enjoy heaven. i like the fanciful idea of being among the clouds, flying. that gives a certain amount of freedom i think. but then you realize that once you really do make it up there. there really isn't all that much to do. the modern miracles these days are small, little things that make our fucked up bad days, something less and brighter to look forward to. i doubt these are done by angels because quite frankly i don't think they really give a crap about what we do in our lives, much like god in a sense. god's another issue but my stance is that if god truly does exist, then we are pretty much like an experiment for him in some way, add a little chaos here, some anarchy there; mix with order and a bit of hormones and we'll pretty much get the human race. 

anyway, back to the heavens. i like the idea of heaven as a vacation zone in the afterlife i think. its one of those places in the world that people would rather go for a holiday once in awhile than stay there for the rest of their lives. places like Bali or Tahiti, they're nice to look at and stay for a shortwhile but longterm it would probably eat at your brains. the thought of being an angel is something of a paradox for me. i mean sure, you get a pair of wings, good for mobility but must be a bother to clean what with all the feathers and you also get a nice halo which must be excellent for a night light or reading in the dark, but really nothing more. being an angel is a title, you really don't get any of the power associated with being an angel. 


i am actually much more comfortable in the dark i realized as i got older and older. a comforting sort of blanket, this darkness. heavenly light cannot exist without inky darkness, but i like it in the dark. the dark used to make me scared of the uncertainty and that a monster or murderer can sneak in. however, what i then realized is that because it is the dark, you were also able to utilize it against monsters and murderers as it provides a somewhat even playing field, everyone is blind in the night, humans especially. the light is sometimes too blinding in its intensity, much like religion in general. the forced indoctrinations and the relentlessly near pointless rituals, sometimes it just makes you want to find a nice nook to ease yourself into and disappear from sight while you contemplate why humans invented religion and still use it despite its flaws, or wonder why humans in general seem to be so stupid as a race. 


final point. hell is going to be generally warmer as opposed to being so cold higher up in the atmosphere. hell is going to have almost everyone i ever knew in it, so i really don't have to search all over the heavens for friends. lucifer is also probably a really cool guy at this point, because lets face it, he's been in hell receiving everyone who ever lived and then died, so he must have picked up some interesting things from people along the way. he must also be some host if he has to organize so many people and his own minions. 

author's notes
------------
i'm not saying i have embraced christianity or its direct response, the church of satan or become an antichrist. no, i haven't. i'm just trying to think about why people seem to dread hell when if we think about it, it may actually not be such a terrible place as the heavens to people like us is plainly quite unreachable. humans are by nature, evil creatures, but then almost everything is justifiable when you look it the other way around. i'll probably do some more in depth research and reading if this line of thoughts continue to entertain me.

a selection of various tests

you know....to see if my character can work. Now, the jungle cat has been developed and is being called the acosador, Spanish for stalker, more pix of that later on.

now i want to show you guys what i've been slaving away for the past few months on. bear in mind that only the hunter, Redding, has been completed fully and the environment just needs to be textured. 

an update!

been working a lot harder as of late. seemingly slacked for some of the earlier months, the lack of updates since is proof of that. very well. i do believe a proper update is in order. 

here's what i have at the moment. more to be released as the workload lightens. as a note, this model is actually about 1-2 months old now.

A look at: Payday: the Heist

I understand that the game has been out for awhile now but bear with me. i've also decided to quickly review the game in what little free time i have now at the moment. let's get started. 

The Gist of it

right, so Payday: the Heist, not what you'd consider as an interesting name for a game but you would actually change your mind once you get your greasy mitts on it. For a start, there have always been a lot of games out there that have allowed you to play on the side that opposes the law and all things constitutional, however, no one really did think about actually making a game based on the concept of 'cops and robbers' more literally than Overkill. childish as the term cops and robbers sound, that actually sums up the game quite well. play as 1 of 4 robbers, each with different little quirks and characteristics about them and unleash hell on the cops who would try to stop you from getting rich quickly but not legally. 

the game fundamentally plays somewhat similarly to L4D in that your team mates are highlighted in green and it is technically an objective based survival shooter. assuming that you have decided to throw out a little rule book called 'realism' out the window, then this game is for you! you will be faced with quite possibly hundreds of police who will come in all shapes and sizes who will attempt to either cuff you, taser you or put so many holes in you, you'd win a swiss cheese contest. This is a rather refreshing game for those who have played too many military or zombie shooters because you basically now get the best of both worlds, a tonne of cops who shoot at you while being ridiculously easy to kill and they keep coming at you. 

The good stuff

Now, for the game mechanics. most people would notice that mainstream games typically employ the E button on the keyboard to allow your player to operate machinery or interact with just about anything. This game changes it to F as E is now a pistol-whipping melee button which happens to be rather well placed. the F button is a very important tool, not just because it allows you to interact with objects in the game, but it enables you to very quickly call a team mate who will be helpfully highlighted in radiation green. It is also terribly important in that it allows you to yell at hapless and rather brainless civilians or normal people, making them lie down on the ground as a firefight rages over their brainless heads. Press F again on a civilian lying down on the ground and you will tie up his or her hands with a cable tie, turning them into a hostage; useful as a bargaining chip if ever you find one of your robber colleagues taken down town by the police. 

Now, like an actual game of cops and robbers, the cops CAN tag out a robber in several ways: shooting him into oblivion, neutralizing him with a roundhouse kick or taser or simply waiting for the robber to screw up and then cuff him. for most of the part, the police are all too willing to shoot you into hell....or the police station in this case. should a robber find themselves taken into custody by the authorities, his colleagues if they are cunning or caring enough, may choose to take a hostage and swap the hostage for their friend back. a ridiculous proposition you say, but then again, you threw out realism already in any case. 

there is actually a more fun method of taking hostages; forcing a lawman to cuff himself, the ultimate thrill and humiliation to the police. simply damage a cop enough when they aren't attacking you and then yell at him as much as possibly till he wees himself and cuffs himself. bear in mind however, the standard cops have bigger brothers who won't piss themselves at all but will make you shit bricks instead. but we'll get to that later. 

As mentioned earlier the F button is of great importance, you need it get about anything done in the game. you need it to yell at thankfully invulnerable VIPs to get them into specific vehicles or places; you will need it to grab thermite, place drills, reactivate drills, set up C4 and very importantly yell at your buddies for help. 

Now there are a number of heists to play, in fact almost as many as L4D has, if not more. the best part is the massive variety in how each heist plays out. Each heist is first and foremost, different. however, what does ensure each heist is different is a system built into the game that makes certain things behave randomly. there is a mission which was shipped in their free update called No Mercy of L4D fame that enables players to actually interact with Bill for a short moment in the very same hospital that L4D's own No Mercy is set in... obviously your heist here has something to do with it. This interaction with Bill is completely random in nature as is where the civilians are stationed. Another heist which takes place on a bridge you will blow up has an armoured prisoner truck which may slide perilously close to the hole you blew into the bridge. 

The enemies themselves spawn about as randomly as the civilians who are placed in the maps initially. The enemies range from the simple men in blue, to normal SWATS, to bigger SWATS and then mercenaries based on the now defunct Blackwater security company (actually now called Academi). like L4D there are also 4 special SWATS to literally give the robbers headaches in some cases, they may also share some resemblance in certain areas. 

The Taser functions almost exactly like the Smoker from L4D in that he can stun-trocute a robber with a taser built into his M4 (AMCAR-15 in game), get electrocuted for 10 full seconds and you're down and out. Tasers are visible from their yellow-striped or wasp jackets and their very audible charging of their tasers. The Cloaker looks like a Splinter Cell rip-off but is actually a very clever implementation on the designers' part. Like Sam Fisher, if he manages to get close to you, he can KO and cuff you in a single kick as opposed to getting an elbow to the head from the back. Cloakers are easily noticeable thanks to their very visible green NVG, which for some reason, they also wear in the day time. Cloakers in a way function similarly to Hunters from L4D in that they can easily take down the lonesome robber quickly and suddenly if they are allowed to creep up on you or drop in suddenly. 

Now for the non-L4D special SWATS. any good metropolitan police department has a riot control section, so it is natural that riot shields would be deployed in a pinch. enter the Shield, quite literally. among all the special SWATs, their weapon does the least damage because it is in essence a full-auto beretta. However, Shields do as their name implies, soak up damage. the riot shield is made from metal and therefore in game terms, indestructible. nothing short of a grenade courtesy of the new update can kill a shield from the front. Shields take special maneuvering around to kill, usually the best idea is to team up with a team mate where someone acts as the lure and the other circles around. otherwise, it is still possible to kill a Shield by out turning him, or my personal favorite, running towards him, jumping onto and then over his shield behind him and blast away. Shields aren't a very serious threat until they are supported by other police who will then hide behind the Shield and take pot shots at you. there is a slight advantage to this though, kill the Shield and his riot shield will most of the time remain standing up straight and its still bullet proof; an ideal makeshift barrier, at least till it de-spawns. 

the final and most aptly named special SWAT is called the Bulldozer. In some way, the Bulldozer functions like L4D's Tank, being nigh difficult to take down and dishing out massive damage at close range. however, unlike the Tank which requires immense firepower to kill, robbers can choose to either do it like that or aim for his faceplate. Shattering the Bulldozer's faceplate renders his head vulnerable to headshots and his otherwise steady movements allow one just enough time to do serious damage or even kill the Bulldozer before being taken down by the Bulldozer's shotgun. a Bulldozer is easily one of the most recognizable special SWATs next to the Shield thanks to his bomb-disposal looking suit and large helmet...which houses his head with a white balaclava...making him look like a skeleton in a suit of modern armor. a scary opponent to face at any rate. 

the not-so good stuff  

Now, there has yet to be a game that is completely faultless and bug-free and Payday definitely isn't it. Payday does have a single player mode in which your co-robbers are AI controlled sods who are incredibly accurate but incredibly dumb. they follow you around dutifully enough and surprisingly stay still until needed in the Diamond Heist mission which is a big bonus mind you (play the game to find out why). enemy or police AI is reasonably good in that they will actively seek you out or liberate civilians and hostages whenever possible. the only issue would be their unusually low health but that can be fixed in the harder difficulties where they can and will overrun you. The issue here then is not the enemy AI but the display that you get when you do get shot. unlike CS or TF2 where a portion of the screen glows red and stays that way for a bit when you are shot from a certain direction, Payday flips out an orangey semi-circular strip that blinks once whenever you get hit from a certain direction, this simply enough time to respond adequately or determine where the shot originated from. 

Unlike L4D which kindly scatters weapons about the map, Payday allows you to customize your loadout prior to starting a heist. One might think, oh this isn't an issue, if a cop is carrying a nicer weapon than me, i can just swipe that. no, you can't. once you select a weapon set, you're stuck with it throughout and must rely on your team mates should you be carrying power weapons with little accuracy and long reload times. This isn't the true issue however. the main issue here is the unlock system. If anyone is familiar with a skill tree then they can understand how this works in Payday. in order to unlock new weapons, you would need to level up 1 of 3 perk categories: sharpshooter, assault, support and more recently added the technician. each of these perks grant specific passive effects and more kit for you to use in game. for instance, leveling the assault perk, makes all your weapons dish out more damage, gives you extra cable ties for hostage work and even gives you an ammo bag to replenish the ammo of yourself and your fellows. The issue then is the fact that it takes a long time to level up the perks and that there is a level or reputation limit which means you have to plan your leveling or look for specific weapons you want to unlock at the risk of potentially not being able to field the weapons or your skills to their full potential. this probably forces you to play games with other players with different specialties but then again, why make the technician perk a must-buy DLC? the technician perk should in fact have been free from the get go seeing as how it unlocks a class that can aid the team. make extra weapons for each class and put that in a DLC but don't lock a class and force people to pay for it. 

as with most multiplayer oriented games, team work is a very important factor, moreso when you are 4 bank robbers against hundreds of cops. unlike other games that allow you to use a set of in-game voice commands to yell at your team mates to get into specific positions or follow you around, you are left with the F button which if you hover your cursor over a team and press, makes your character yell at them to follow you....and that's all. voice commands would be good in that you can tell your team to keep an eye on hostages and civilians, tell them to engage the police, yell at them to run away and even yell at them to deploy a medical or ammo bag. a guaranteed fix to this is to get yourself a decent mic and yell at the human players yourself, but realistically only so many people can afford decent mics that don't shatter themselves in 3 months. voice commands, necessary but unavailable. 

as with any other multiplayer game community is also important. so far, payday's community is looking rather good in that they can be helpful....most of the time. i'm more likely to blame the free weekend for attracting so many unintelligent morons with no inkling of what to do at all despite instructions being spat out to them from both players and the game itself. this seems to persist to a degree like any other game. fortunately, unlike TF2, payday is a paid to play game, so the likelihood of a continuously large influx of inbreds is low. therefore, the community is still good and polite, friendly even as this is a PvE styled game... although the occasional fool who doesn't seem to understand english and doesn't know what they are doing will appear, then again, i live in asia and we're not exactly big on english or learning english. like i said, earlier, a small pinprick to be expected in all gaming communities. 

at the moment there are 4 robbers players can choose: british Hoxton (personal fav), american Chains, swedish Wolf and american Dallas. each of them have their own masks and there are multiple sets of masks to put on your robber of choice. this one isn't a large issue as the characters are all very well fleshed out with superb voice acting and each having a rather infectious personality of their own. this is minor pin-prick in that i would much rather like to see a bigger range of masks to choose from considering that this is a $14.99 game. 

verdict?

my final thoughts and verdict.... payday is definitely a good game to get. it has much potential to become much more than what it is currently, which is fine because unlike CoD and battlefield which suck at your wallets for each game released, Overkill does actually update their game and they do bring in some good things, much like Tripwire and their 'Killing Floor' game. however, payday is somewhat buggy according to long time players, though i mercifully have not yet experienced anything major other than long loading times. for its price however, i feel that the game should have included much more things to do. the initial 5 map will get boring after you play them for the 20th time although the randomness system....whatever its called does keep it somewhat interesting some of the time, staving the inevitable boredom and repetitivity somewhat. the heists themselves are quite entertaining although difficult to pull off without the right help as each mission has a bit of a story as well as a very interesting scheme. the game is filled with little references from movies and other games as well (i'll leave you to find those yourself), which is somewhat nice. However, the team mate AI is rather unbecoming in that they are slow to locate you and resurrect you. never mind that their aim is infallible, their inability to get to you sooner is an issue in itself. also mentioned earlier is the lack of ability to communicate quickly and effectively without a mic. the most you can do is point out if a special SWAT is coming in. on the plus side though, as a game, payday is like a refreshing fart in the middle of an overly overwhelming garden of tulips and strong smelling flowers. its new, its genuinely fun and it is an actual multiplayer game that works. i would recommend it though i would advise people to wait for a sale first because as the game is, it feels incomplete despite the superb voice acting and decent music score.


6/10, worth it in every sense of the word, but wait for a sale, it isn't worth its full price yet.

pros: 

- good voice acting
- characters with personality! 
- refreshing take on zombie and FPS shooter games in general, good concept 
- interesting and fun heists to play 
- relatively cheap in comparison to big studio games like CoD

cons: 
- very limited arsenal of kit and weapons 
- poor team mate AI that can apparently get lost in some maps (diamond heist)
- very limited number of maps to play on
- NO voice command system or quick message ability to communicate better (get a mic, but sometimes voice commands would work better, do you really want to listen to a 12 year old or a nasally nerd who thinks his e-peen is bigger than yours?)
- repetitive gameplay despite a system to keep it random (that only works for so long before you really do start getting bored) 
- limited number of masks to choose (minor thing, but the small things do count sometimes) 
- technician perk needs to be bought! (i understand the need for a gimmick here, but when you offer a new perk to be used in game, shouldn't it be free as an update? it's like asking a new born if he wants to learn how to walk) 

CS:GO, a review of sorts

By happenstance, i managed to play the relatively new CS:GO over the weekends to see what the hype was about. Steam had a free weekend for it and i thought why not? 

menu, sir?

i think the first thing you'd notice is that the menu is now styled much like L4D's....not a big issue... till you realize that it takes some getting used to. right-click now functions like the escape button.

casual vs 'competitive'

eh.... so, i played the game for 2 days. Not the best experience and not the worst. if you're familiar with CS, don't play the 'casual play' mode. it's bad because all the settings are dumbed down. never mind that you can't shoot team mates and can walk through them. killing an opponent becomes gambling, literally. this really isn't the same feeling as the old games as it takes more bullets to kill one another and the buy menu is also different. if you're familiar with the numbers or the layout, buying should not be a problem...still small insignificant thing to be expected from an update.

however, DO play the 'competitive play' mode. This is exactly like CS 1.6 or Source. the new weapons are a nice touch even if they removed all the silenced weapons. however,... the entire point of the Aug and the SG 445 ....scoped assault rifles was to deliver accurate powerful shots on full auto. they've dumbed it down so much now that its now useless. the entire point of such scoped rifles was to fill the niche between the full attack AKs and M4s and the sniper rifles like the G3 or the AWP. These rifles used to be able to deliver a punch that actually hurt while being mobile, a form of accurate fire to back up the attackers when a dedicated sniper rifle is unsuitable or unavailable. The rifles are now garbage. firing on full auto sprays the rounds randomly, firing slow and steady means that the other guy with an M4 can cut you down in a quick burst. you would also notice that when you purchase these rifles, they have a marked decrease in power. how useful is that? 

new bag of flash bits

an interesting new weapon added for both sides is an incendiary grenade. this weapon blocks off a small area for a short while with a blanket of flames. useful for maintaining choke points or just burning the crap out of someone. some of the new weapons happen to include a shotgun that actually works for once, unlike the shotguns from previous CS games in my own experience. the CT semi-auto sniper rifle has been replaced with a SCAR for some odd reason and an odder thing is that the SCAR is semi - auto....a battle rifle now sniper rifle basically. people who favor the CT team would also notice that silencers on the M4 and USP are gone. in fact, the USP itself is gone. being replaced by something called the P2000 which isn't a bad hand gun. although all hand guns are overshadowed by the Desert Eagle which literally obliterates enemies in short to mid-range fights, even those with assault rifles. people who have indeed played CS 1.6 and or Source would also noticed the tactical shield is gone from the inventory. Not a bad thing since the shield was indeed, indestructible  and therefore, one sided. the dev team have also swapped the TMP for an MP7, the MP5 for an MP 9 and they've added the bizon, a nice SMG with a large mag count but horrendous stopping power; stick to the P-90.

the misc. bits

the map choice in CS:GO looks limited to the same classic map packs that made it an icon in gaming initially. however, this being CS, expect people to create their own maps and then run them. so, the map shortage is actually remedied rather easily by its own community.

team balancing in game. is also an issue actually. there doesn't appear to be an auto-balance function, so expect to play matches with teams of a 5 : 1 ratio.this seems unusual coming from valve, especially after tf2. but i suppose that its the dev team that came up with this. on the other hand, this is CS. kind of to be expected. 

a nice touch i feel is the fact that the map now dictates which skin and voices the terrorist and CTs get. if you're in de_dust, you get the L337 krew vs SEAL team 6. each map has a different combination of CT and terrorist skins. the voicing isn't too shabby either, however the l337 krew seem to suffer because their voice actor for some reason decided it would be cooler to sound like a china man rather than a middle-easterner. still.... its just a small smidge. 

the visuals have as to be expected as well, updated. it does look stunning if its compared to the older games and does look on par with CoD in that CS is cleaner and a tad more industrial looking than CoD's grungy, dirty and dark feel. no issues here other than the fact that in some maps, the CTs have a seemingly inadvertent added advantage in that their suits actually DO camouflage into the map's environment.

it should also be worth noting that CS:GO has an interesting method in finding games for you. it can now connect you to a random game online, connect you to a game with friends or you can manually select a server yourself, though be forewarned that this IS CS; expect to be booted from clanner servers. the issue here is that when connected to an official server when you're too lazy or confused to go find a server manually, the game has a tendency to disconnect you from the server rather haphazardly and randomly, but based on my own experience, you'd get in about 40 min worth of game time before that happens. what's up with that?

But....is it good?

in short, nothing has improved besides the graphics. its pathetically average for a game with such a lineage. this is not forgetting that the people who play it are probably also the same prats who glory about CoD MW3

garbage, 4/10

pros:

- some new toys to play with

- somewhat better game balance than the earlier games

- VOICE ACTING! 

- flashy graphics (like any other game upgrade)

cons: 

- scoped rifles are now mushy garbage

- the community is pretty much still the same, full of prats

- team auto-balancing issues during matches 

- rubbish 'casual mode' 

- being timed-out from official servers rather randomly 

- seemingly over-hyped with lack luster follow ups

creature development 2

The creature has been finalized at this point. there was a point where i stalled for a bit regarding the creature; would it be more interesting to go after a completely mythological creature like a dragon or big foot, or would it be more interesting to go after an animal that looks like you've seen it before? 

i asked around and most of the people said they'd rather go after an animal that looks familiar. friends and family mentioned they'd would rather go after something based on a lion or tiger. and so, research on the subject went on at length. references for skeletal structure and different types of cats, big cats and wild cats led to this. 

i'm now considering the colour scheme for the big cat and i'm leaning to the dark, multi-colour spotted one; previously like the yellow chevrons on black simply because its an almost reversed tiger color scheme. might call the cat flecktarn puma, seeing as that particular colour scheme is based on the german flecktarn camo scheme. 

more environmental works

just to show that i am heading some place. 

creature development

I was about to finalize the development of the creature my hunter/poacher guy would be fighting. it was to be a large predatory cat based on a tiger and leopard. and then i realized something. that was what i wanted, not the audience. so back to the drawing board to come up with more ideas for creatures. not recommended to do so at such a later juncture, but then i want this animation to come out well. 

here are some big cat designs i had in mind initially. 

some refinings before finalizations

Here are some updates as of late. 

refining stuff

the hunter is being refined more. additional pictures to follow.

some added developments

So what's happened now is that i've consulted lecturers, friends and family on different issues about the project. 

the body shape of the hunter has been confirmed along with part of his personality which will be up later along with his reference sheet, colour cues and et cetera. so here are some of the other stuff that has been more or less finalized. 

so, here's the brief run down. the hunter is a pretty enthusiastic game hunter. he's middle aged, stocky, aggressive and irascible. with that in mind, a rather savage but still refined looking shotgun works for him, lever-action probably. 

more gubbinz as promised

as promised here are the added character and prop pictures. so, we have a hunter, sketches for his weapon and vehicle which maybe deleted altogether and soon to come, the jungle-y or forest backdrop. 

more to come, this isn't all of it.

new stuff!

right, we begin again this blog with some new stuff. a final school project of sorts. here we go, i'm going to post up some environmental works first because i haven't got as many character designs as i'd rather have on disc.

Dissecting Brave

So.... i watched brave last week and i feel compelled this week to dissect it to see what went wrong and what went right.

Spoiler Warning, unless you really want to know what i think about the movie.

The movie starts out like any other (pixar) movie. Establish the main characters, fast forward some years later and introduce the rest of the cast. It feels a little unfortunate at this point in time because i cannot tell what are the names of the important characters, even if they are side characters. The clan leaders are necessary for the progression of the story at this point, so really would like it if we were able to hear the names a little clearer. At this stage, not a big issue, might be just need to turn up the volume a tad.

As the story progresses, we understand that there is conflict between Merida and Eleanor, daughter and mother respectively. We also notice how much clout the queen has, or perhaps it is the other worldly powers women receive when they turn into mothers. whichever the case, a challenge is issued to the suitors from each of the 3 clans to determine who will marry Merida. The characters are all well established at this point, all their quirks are there. Probably the somewhat expected part was that Merida would win the challenge so that she could defy her mother's will. The manner is of course stylish and well executed.

Conflict between the clans and mother and daughter ensue with Fergus doing what he does best, making more of it by joining in even when he's supposed to diffuse it. Let's just flash forward to the part after Merida runs away and reaches the witch who for all intents purposes functions like Merida's moral compass. The witch with a seeming bear fetish is quite refreshing after Tangled's portrayal of the classic stepmother in all her ugliness. Like one of the witches from Hayao Miyazaki films but with more appealing head proportions. Pomp and witchery create a magical cake thingy which at first, doesn't look like a cake thingy; i blame the tongs used to bring it out from the cauldron. It genuinely does look like a superheated metal landmine.

Flash forwards to after Merida gets her mum to eat the cake thingy and Eleanor changes into a bear. This part here kind of bugs me a tad. i understand the need for there to be some sort of contrast with Eleanor's stuffy, uppity and decidedly chaffing prim and proper attitude but i think bears are a little overused. We've had Kung Fu Panda 1 and 2, Over the hedge and Brother Bear 1 and 2 just to name a few. Back to the Brave; so the brothers for some reason recognize their mother and are able to help smuggle her out of the castle. So, now Merida and Eleanor are forced to find a way to cure Eleanor. Conveniently, the witch has disappeared and leaves a relatively cryptic clue that most of us are able to decipher if we are savvy enough. Merida doesn't know what to do and so tosses everything into the cauldron. This part i liked. the frustration and desperation come out very nicely here. However, then comes the part i don't like.

Now that she is a bear, Eleanor must learn to adapt. She humorously attempts to. i think the gag here went off a tangent that i would have done personally in an animation project of my own, this means the gag doesn't work because of the exaggeration going on. That mama bear Eleanor set the table as a bear is already humorous enough, it went too far with her trying to use a fork and 'knife'. Saving grace was the poison berries and dirty water. The training of Eleanor begins with her trying to catch a fish. She fails. Merida shows her mother that her skills in the wilderness are, in fact quite useful.

After frolicking and the danger of being a bear are shown, Merida and Eleanor bear make their way to some destroyed ruins and meet Marduk the bigger, badder bear for the second time in the entire movie. This is the part that made me realize something is amiss. Tapestry. What does it have anything to do with bonds? There is either some sort of folklore i am unaware of or the producers made another error in judgement. Eleanor and Merida decide they must get back into the castle to fix the tapestry that Merida destroyed earlier on. And so, they go back.

the 3 boys have now turned into little bearlets aren't they cute? They are still little terrors regardless. This part is actually very important because this shows the reason Eleanor wants Merida to act like a princess, coupled along with the destroyed castle from before. This part is executed brilliantly. Actually, the entire castle part here is done quite well. All the characters behave as they should.... the funny part seems to be that Fergus did not notice his wife's absence for an entire day until he finally entered his room to discover the damage done by Eleanor getting used to her new frame. This is the only thing marring an otherwise brilliant scene overall.

Fergus locks Merida up for her own safety and again, the 3 boys prove to be quite useful in getting her out. Now, we reach the grand finale. Tapestry is stitched up, Merida rushes to help her mother who is being hunted by her own father and clansmen. Wisps leading her on, she arrives just in time and then... Marduk appears. Not sure what to say here really. i cannot figure out what's wrong with this part on a fundamental level. Marduk has to appear because he is the main antagonist. If he doesn't appear, Fergus will gut his own wife. Merida would not have had a satisfactory ending at all and the 3 boys would still be bears, not that it changes anything. It just seems so convenient for him to appear at the time... perhaps it is the lack of Marduk skulking around like when he did it the first time in the beginning of the movie, a palpable aura of fear.

They defeat Marduk, Merida and Eleanor come to terms and Fergus finally figures out Merida is not a crack pot after all. The clans leave satisfied. Happy ending, the end.

Now, i have listed several faults in the movie but chief among them is the use of wisps, the blue and very literal forest GPS device. i would rather they not have used the wisps in this manner, its very... deus ex machina. Characters get lost, a trail of blue little guys appear. The reason they appear is because of fate, supposedly. Not so much fun for the audience as we can roughly guess where the wisps will lead us. I have criticized much and now it is only fair i give a list of suggestions to maybe fix the thing.

Eleanor turning into a bear. Of all the creatures in Scotland to be used...a mother bear? Doesn't really suit Eleanor i think. I would rather she turned into a fox or a wolf perhaps. Eleanor doesn't look good stompy at all. She can rush about like a wolf or fox since those would be closer to her personality and yet still be brutish enough as an animal. Of course, it means Merida would have to teach her mother hunting instead of fishing, not a big problem at any rate. The cake that transforms Eleanor originally should not have glowed when it came out from the cauldron, or since its magic, maybe it should have floated out.

one thing i would really like to know early on. the names of the clan leaders and the 3 brothers. personally, i think its an audio issue. but if others agree with me that they didn't get to hear the names. then it's not an audio issue. Regards to the problem about the tapestry, i don't think Merida is that dense when she hears the words: "mend the bonds". of course, sewing up the cloth was probably a good idea considering Eleanor would be naked when she transforms back. Merida might have probably come to that conclusion early on when she hears it the first time, or Eleanor even. If they understood what it meant, were they both denying that their bond is broken? i doubt that is the case. if they knew, they would have gelled back together as mother and daughter proper from that moment on.

Not the entire film is bad, i liked it a lot actually considering that there has been a spate of pretty not so good movies out there as of late. The world they created for Merida is truly wonderful. its a place i think i would be quite at home with considering they drink and fight a lot; also, bagpipes. the gags with the 3 kids and the cakes are plenty funny and quite original, which is better because they hardly speak. All the characters are very well fleshed out including Marduk though his motives despite being explained as greedy and selfish, remain cloudy in my opinion. Out of all the characters, i especially liked Fergus. there's a man who knows how to raise children and have fun doing it at the same time. i would give the film a 6.5 out of 10.

doubts and uncertainty

While I was having a late lunch at Somerset 313, I chanced upon a Mr. S.C. who happened to be the partner of the Japanese restaurant I was eating at. Quick note about the place first. It's called Tokyo Pasta Mario, nice Japanese fusion food and of course curry at a fairly reasonable price. http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Tokyo_Pasta_Mario__313_Somerset_/

But, that's besides the point. Talking to him I realized he had at one point in time owned an animation company which was based in Manila, Philippines. Of course, he had to sell it off when he started incurring losses. Which brings us back onto point. The animation industry in Singapore may not do as well as the government thinks it will. In Mr. S.C.'s experience, he has had to bring in jobs from overseas, mainly from America's Hollywood. Local South East Asian jobs were mostly for advertising companies looking for local animation houses. Those advertising firms he charged them for quite a large fee seeing that he had a slight niche market and monopoly in terms of animation industry in SEA, but that was about 10 years ago now. He had a slight edge over the competition due to his company dabbling in early 3d software.

He fondly recalls having worked on some Disney titles though I'm not sure which ones exactly. He also recalls the labour force he had under him. According to him, while Philippine artists are in fact brilliant, their poor living standards meant that their weekly salary tends to go missing before the week is up. Sadly, his studio began to make losses so he had to sell the company to an Indian company which apparently has a larger compound space than LASALLE in Singapore.... well, it is India I suppose.

In our discussion it was noted that the animation industry in Singapore may not be as successful as many may think it will be. Indeed, Mr. S.C. who at one point in time was offered a 50% subsidy to help create a Mr. Kiasu animated film by the Singapore government can attest to the growth of the industry. At least from a business perspective. The argument from his side is that Singapore on its own is too small to have large growth in animation. This may also stem from the fact that the mentality in the country regarding animation is to not hold it in high regard. But I digress, the animation industry in Singapore has many hurdles to overcome despite government assistance.

Personally, my feeling about the animation industry in Singapore is well..... uncertain. On one hand, you have the large animation houses such as Lucas Arts and its cohort, Double Negative studios and maybe to a degree Ubisoft....which does require animation in their games. On the other hand, you have rather apprehensive parents and a slightly myopic society who regard animation as something useless and unable to produce money. This creates a rather unusual situation in which people can find themselves questioning whether it will be worthwhile to pursue a career in animation in Singapore.

As a Malaysian in Singapore or any other foreigner in Singapore for that matter, the situation does tend to get worse. Singapore in its zeal to acquire manpower has now brought in too many of us foreigners and risk the anger of their citizens. To be fair though, we are technically encroaching on an already small island and must share income with the locals. Already the government is taking certain subtle steps to reduce and improve the quality of manpower coming into Singapore, meaning that only the best will be employed and even then that might be a large maybe. Have we come into Singapore too late? I certainly hope not.

With Mr. S.C.'s advise fresh in mind, I shall now share it with you. Finish up your studies and bonds in Singapore and search for your fortunes abroad. Most of us are still under 30 or just about there, so it might not be such a bad idea to pack up and relocate elsewhere such as New York or Canada. As for the situation for us in Singapore, I currently doubt that it will improve tremendously over a short period of time, but there will be improvement. The one thing that helps me look forward is the fact that Singapore has in fact opened itself to all sorts of animation companies and recently game companies as well. So, there is that for us foreign animators in this little red speck.

Author's note:

Mr. S.C. is a relatively excitable but generally polite and friendly gentleman in his 50's who is a partner of the Tokyo Mario Pasta in Somerset 313's 5^th floor in Food Republic. He seems to know much about business and as such, the comments he made regarding the animation industry maybe more towards it as a business venture and not in general. In my opinion anyway, at least until I can get it from himself.

Cheers comrades.

And now for something different

Matchmover time! 

School side-project done with matchmover and maya.

Enjoy

Months of work for this animation. not bad considering the time constraint we had. 

 

the end draws near, what we got so far.

And by next week a more or less completed trailer project will be done, what we have so far:

the current work in progress video and 2 MAYA fluids test. thrown out the nDynamics particles i found it to be too heavy to simulate and rather ridiculous to animate, some of the fields don't seem to be giving the correct effect i want, so until someone really good in nParticles does a tutorial for sandstorms, fluids will do.