The Pull of Azeroth

I’ve been awful this week, playing Warcraft solidly, rather than doing anything that could be related to work. Behind on the following things;

3D coursework & worksheets…

Entertainment Design sound effects…

Character Animation storyboards and animatics…

Concepts of Composition research into my chosen ident and musical theory…

So yeah. This weekend will be compromised of making this list two items shorter. The animations stuff will be done on Saturday, as it won’t take long at all if I do it in flash. Secondly, the research into the ident will be written up and ready for handing in by Sunday. The 3D stuff I’m wanting to get together with some guys from class and smash through in one go and the Entertainment Design sound effects need to be discussed with the guys in my group before I launch myself into them. Namely, the kind of movements our little character and his disgusting friends will be making in-game so that I can make a definitive list of sound effects. That way, I can get it all done in one go.

By next weekend, the to-do list will look like this;

3D coursework designs.

Entertainment Design sound fx.

Character Animation finished animations.

Concepts of Composition ident design & essay on sound design.

The finished work will look like this;

3D worksheets.

ED sfx list and music.

Animation scripts, storyboards & animatics.

Concepts research into TV idents and notes on “Once Upon A Time In The West”, Sergio Leone.

Funtimes, for next week.

I just have to limit my Warcraft time. It’s like an addiction – I may one day need professional help.

The Beeb

That went so very, very well. The BBC pitches, I mean. You know – yesterday?

Yeah.

Even though Dad’s worked for god-knows how many years, it still surprises me how informal they can be. Maybe that’s why it surprises me; seeing how Dad’s professional life always seems so serious. Or at least, it did, when he was in England. Probably because England sucks.

Chris opened the pitch 2 minutes after we finalised the art work for presentation, which I found a bit hilarious. We should really have had a PowerPoint presentation, but it seems to have worked to our advantage that we didn’t, as we were able to just show the pictures and talk about them naturally, and I think our obvious enthusiasm and understanding of the project carried us better than any procession of automated slides could have done. So we were introduced to the guys (or more precisely, a guy and a girl) from the Beeb, with Euan and Dayna sitting in on it too.

Chris talked about the concept design and logistics of the project, Jonathon handled lead art and animation details with Ryan tackling the environment art and concept art. Which led to me discussing the audio. Now, I don’t mean to get all egotistical on you here, but I really think the work I’d done sealed the deal, so to speak. They loved the concept from the word go, completely fell for the art design and the game’s happy-go-lucky attitude, but the fact that we have an on-board dedicated audio ‘team’ kinda filled a gap. I let them hear one of the tracks I’ve created, which is actually almost finished, and I swear their eyes lit up. Even Johnny, who’s heard it so many times, couldn’t help but laugh with the hilarity of the track. It’s so retro it’s unreal. And it fits the game style so well. I’m pretty proud of it.

^_^

Anyway. Other news. I forgot my tablet pen for the Wacom today, so I’m just writing this and going home, as I can’t get any other work done. *facedesk* Should give Dean a phone tonight to see how he was on Monday morning, after our little adventure on Sunday night. Or Sunday afternoon. Bloody 6 nations – drinking solidly from 2:30pm onwards is not healthy. I’m surprised I got up in the morning for the pitch.

Pitch it to the Man

Sound design can be a tricky thing to wrap your head around. T’s week five, the BBC pitches are in about an hour and I should really have a list of components created by now. But I haven’t. What I do have are a couple of tracks to let them hear at the presentation. So I’m not that worse off. But I do have to figure out what to say about the audio when it comes time to do so. Pretty much, the audio for the game is designed to complement the game play, and will be implemented to time with environment animations, and keep the player interested in what is going on.

I want the music in the game to reflect the environment too, so from the heart and lungs, the track will be mostly drum and bass, with a rhythmically timed beat to emulate a heartbeat. It will be very bass-oriented to push the idea of that system’s function and the power that your heart has. Where the environment pulses, so will the music. The same works for the brain, with the nerve endings and electric pulses marked in the music track. Sound effects follow the same route, and will be integral to player enjoyment. If you can listen to something that follows the actions onscreen, then it seems more real, doesn’t it?

I’m creating the music and sound effects from scratch, rather than use a sound library on the internet, because doing so will allow me a greater control over the content I produce. It will also allow for completely free creation, without the worry about copyright infringement and the like. As a writer, I hate plagiarism, so this is quite important for me even on an audio front and, in fact, probably more vitally on an audio front.

But that’s in half an hour, now. And I’ve still a lot to get done. So it’s good bye for now and a more detailed post tomorrow. There will be lots to tell, I’m sure, after the pitch.