Chapter 2 ends

Flying toasters!

Yesterday was the final day of the VFX course and that picture is one of the frames from my final shot. It only lasts a bit over 6 seconds because the original clip wasn't too long. Anyhow, I think I did a fine job, well over my initial expectations. The shot could still use some tweaking but as Lee says, our work is never finished. It's always work in progress and we're getting better all the time so it's hard to get an ultimate version. In the end this was what I have accomplished in the time I had, at this moment in time.

When I get it online I'll publish the link here.

The course was intense. I still believe it's not possible to learn these things at a higher speed than this without the brain exploding into pieces, killing all your classmates and damaging the school's equipment.

I survived!

Balloon Bliss

At last "Balloon Bliss" was released.

It represents the first step of an independent videogame development team called Vortix Games into the casual game industry. I feel proud to have followed at least part of their journey until they got here. This motivates me and is yet another proof that good planning and motivation will get you where you want to go.

BigFishGames' website info on the game:

"Imagine that you are looking at a balloon rising slowly into the bright blue sky. As you focus your eyes on it, it pops, and slowly you start to feel your feet rising off the ground. Your toes tip up, if only by an inch. Amazed by this recent discovery, your gaze rests on another balloon, and again you start to lift towards the clouds. Suddenly you are flying and discovering the scintillating joy of Balloon Bliss. Curl your fingers around the strings of these bright balloons--feel as if you're actually flying in this gravity-defying Match 3 puzzler.

• Legendary storyline.
• Artistic Match 3
• 2 amazing game modes
• Joyful simulation"

link here.

Go Vortix!

Frets on Fire

If you'd like to play something like Guitar Hero on the PC and for free take a look at Frets on Fire.

It's a Guitar Hero clone and the songs are created by the users (yes, you can find all the songs of the original Guitar Hero titles all over the place) and it's highly customizable. There are even MacOS X and Linux versions and a version you don't even need to install.

If you think it is not possible to enjoy the full awesomeness of Guitar Hero without having the guitar controller, then look at this!

I am hooked on this game yet again, though not being as geeky as it's supposed to be because you cannot hold a laptop's keyboard like that. It's really addictive because it's one of those games in which you know you can do it better than the last time and obviously you try again.

...and again.


....and then you notice it's 4:00 AM and you need to get up early on the next day.
(not that it happened to be of course!)

Play.com live

Guess what is happening in Wembley Stadium.

Oh snap it's in the title. Jeez, I always forget that.
Anyway I spent the afternoon there trying out new and a few other games that have already been out for a while. So far this was the biggest videogame expo I have been in but not the most interesting. It was mainly a consumer fair but there were a few nods to future game developers like the almost private Far Cry 2 demonstration I had the chance to see. There was not enough room so I sat on the ground, on the front row.

A few people dressed as mascots reminded me of the summer! There was Mario, Sonic and on a more serious note Darth Vader, Sophitia and a hot girl on a bike, always relevant. Sonic and a kid posed for me and I don't really know why but I took the photo anyway.
Also, booth babes.

There was some cool videogame merchandise such as replicas from Halo weapons and lightsabers and the food was so expensive there. 2£ for a small bottle of water and 4£ for a sandwich? My hunger was suddenly gone.

On a swag point of view it was modest but nice. I got a few pins and cards, the trial for LOTR online, a Stuntman Ignition license plate and keychain, a Conan limited edition mini-comic, Ratattouille keychain, Guitar Hero 3 necklace keychains and Ice Age Extreme Cool Edition DVD (wich I believe is to make us be aware of the fact we don't have the blu-ray version or the huge screen in wich they were showing it there).

Main cool games: LittleBig Planet, The Bourne Conspiracy (I can't believe it either but the game looks really promising), Rock Band.

Main let-down: Star Wars: Force unleashed will only be there tomorrow. Wankers.

I can't believe I found it here

Last Sunday I was coming home using the tube and the line where my stop is got closed because of something so I had to improvise my way back home by bus. After a while I didn't know where to go next, walked a bit and saw this.

I love British humor.

Have a toast!

I came across lots of new things in the past two weeks and I do mean A LOT. Camera tracking in three different programs, dynamics, particles, shaders and MEL scripting.

I believe I didn't write about it but in the first day Lee showed us the student showreel from the last course and their work was amazing. In one shot he actually had to point out what was CG in the scene and show us the original footage. Right after that he told us it was best to start our final project as soon as possible. That's right. On day one.

After some random ideas Bhaumik (teaches dynamics) suggested something that led me to a really interesting internet search that brought me to....the classic flying toaster screensaver! My final project will be a VFX shot that has a lot to do with that. Just you wait.

Meanwhile have a toast.