Ending March

So this has been a pretty crazy March for me. I've not gotten to work on Axis Mundi much, but I think that's ok. Whenever I have breaks, I feel like I come back with better ideas for the film. It's refreshing. I'm not going to let myself feel guilty about taking a long time to make it. I'm sure that when it's finally polished and ready to go, it will be worth it.

This is the end of March Madness. We didn't break the record. Oh well.

Seeya next time.

Crylulz

I have been posting a lot about Crytek lately. Let's continue this trend, shall we? I saw something today on their website that is pretty hilarious. On their page showcasing the CryENGINE 3, they have the following pictures:

Typical beach scene from Crysis anyone?

Hate to break it to you, but the image of the faces that is used below is older than the CryENGINE 3 by just a few years.

These CryENGINE 2 pictures are being used to promote the CryENGINE 3. There are a couple others pictures that actually are from CryENGINE 3, and some completely pre-rendered graphics. Then there's this:

I would be willing to bet a ton of money that the nanosuit in the above picture is pre-rendered. It is waaay to detailed*, and matches too precisely with this other pre-rendered graphic that is on the same page:

I don't think it is very forthcoming of crytek to photoshop a pre-rendered graphic into an actual real-time screenshot, and then use it as promotional material for their engine. Talk about false advertising. I'm really more amused by this than anything. Crytek is giving me the Crylulz.

*Unless that's actually what Crysis 2 will look like when the DX11 patch comes out. Ha. Ha.

Haha.

A Fancy Post

I have decided that I want to talk about Fancy Pants. I will, from this point in time, assume you are up to date on the news about Fancy pants.

SO. It has been a while since I last thought about the Fancy Pants series. By "a while" I mean a couple of months. In those couple of months, I have experienced CaveStory. CaveStory reminded me that the best things in life are free. In those couple of months, I also saw Crytek sell out to the consoles. This reminded me of how even the supposedly "faithful" developer can betray its fanbase.

And I just put two and two together now: the circumstances surrounding development of "The Fancy Pants Adventures" is the perfect storm for consolization/betrayal-of-fanbase fail. Just think about it. If the truly great games are free (CaveStory, the first 2 FP games) and even the faithful developer can go bad (Crytek seemed to care a lot about PC development), then the same thing could happen with FPA.

Now, there are a couple of differences that are important. Brad Bourne communicates with his fanbase. He does it A LOT. And that's AWESOME. If Crytek had actually communicated to its fanbase about all the stuff that was going to happen, then people may have been disappointed that Crysis 2 wasn't going to have basic features that Crysis had, but at least they would not have been mislead. And at the moment, there's no word about a DX11 patch for Crysis 2. Everyone from Crytek must have been instructed not to say a single thing, because there are no comments from any of the official outlets (e.g. Mycrysis.com). With Brad, however, there's no feeling of being shut out.

Hhhhmmm. I think I might be stopping mid-rant. But I felt like ranting some more. About stuff that doesn't really matter. 'Cause I don't have anything more serious to worry about. 'Cause for some reason, everything in my life seems to be going exactly how I want it to. Which is an undeserved luxury piled on top of my stack of already undeserved luxuries, which are all sitting on top of - and dwarfed infinitely by - the biggest undeserved luxury ever.

A Crysis Crisis

OK. I don't think that I'll be buying Crysis 2 if this is not fixed. I recently came across screenshots posted by a member of crymod. I'll get to that in a minute. First, take a look at these pictures of the CryENGINE 3 released by Crytek:

Wave propagation seems to be a pretty awesome feature, eh?

Like I indicated, I don't think that these screenshots look any better than Crysis 1, but I have to admit the screenshot below which - take careful note - is labeled as "Extreme spec," looks pretty darn good.

Now on to the deal breaker. The member of Crymod posted screenshots from the actual retail game of Crysis 2, at the "Extreme" preset (Which, by the way is all there is in Crysis 2. Only presets. No detailed graphics settings):

This screenshot looks NOTHING like the claimed "Extreme spec" that Crytek themselves released. Not only is the lighting less... well... good-looking, but the ripples don't have a fraction of the detail that the ones in the CryENGINE 3 screenshot.

The water ripple thing is (I think) a tessellation effect, which is a feature of DX11. Now, Crysis didn't ship with DX11. This would explain why the water looks so much worse in the actual game. Hhhmmm, why would Crysis 2 ship without DX11? Because the consoles don't have DX11; why bother to spend the effort to put something extra into a PC game that isn't on the consoles? The logical answer is: because it would be awesome. But Crytek apparently doesn't care.

Now, even if this is fixed in the future, serious damage has already been done, in my opinion. Crytek has gone and done exactly what they said they would not do! They said that the PC version came first, and that the console versions would not dumb-down the PC version. YET THIS CRUMMY SCREENSHOT EXISTS!!!!! Crytek clearly have their priorities straight. Just like every freaking other game developer out there, they put console development first. The version for the PC platform is an afterthought.

DX11 is now probably going to be included in Crysis 2 via a patch. Man. I. Freaking. Hate. This. Patch. SYSTEM!!!!! That's all there is these days!!! All of the PC releases nowadays are broken in some manner on launch day, and then we get patches that may or may not fix the problem afterwards.

Like I mentioned, I might still go for Crysis 2 if they update it with DX11. But even if they do, like I also mentioned, the damage has been done. I trust Crytek significantly less than before this debacle.

Man I love ranting.

My new schedule, and Crysis 2

Today I started my new job, so I haven't worked on Axis Mundi. I'm just too tired right now. But I'm not working full time, so once I get in a groove I think I can still be productive at my job and productive with my film making.

AND, in videogame related news... It appears that Crysis 2 does not really look any better than it's predecessor (graphically). Maybe it's unfair of me to say this when I have not actually played it for myself, but judging by the preliminary screenshots of the different graphical settings on PC, there is not really an improvement from the already awesome looks the CryENGINE 2 possess. I'm not totally decided yet on whether or not I should be shaming Crytek or praising them. We will see. If I am convinced to buy Crysis 2, then you will be getting my informed thoughts on the matter. And considering the fact that I almost made enough money to buy it at my job today, it is a very real possibility that I will be playing Crysis 2 in the future. That is of course, after I replay the first installment on my kick-butt desk-note that's the not actually the size of a desk-note that I'll hopefully be getting soon.

Good News Bad News

Yes, it's that time again. Time to relay multiple pieces of information in succession with the qualifiers of "Good" and "Bad." It's time for...... Good News Bad News!!!!

The bad news is two pronged:

1. I have not worked on Axis Mundi for more than an hour or so since I made my last post this March.

2. I have not yet broken my March Madness post count from last year.

Now, if you are an extreme pessimist, you may be thinking "What sort of news could even COME CLOSE to POSSIBLY offsetting this world-ending, tragic news?" Well, just wait and see. The good news all happened between my last post and now and is 3 pronged:

1. The day after I made my last post, I was able to overcome my musical creative block, and I made some pretty awesome music.

2. I got a job.

3. I found out that I got a full scholarship to college.

See? There was some good news after all.

Yeah. I get to go to college for free. That's pretty awesome, I must say. And what makes it even sweeter, is that I am going to college to study computer animation. This needs to be repeated in italicized, bold font. I am going to college to study computer animation. Basically, what I am doing now as a hobby will eventually become what I will study in school, and even get paid to do after I graduate. I can't really think of better news than that.

Frustration

I tried to come up with some music again today. Still couldn't make anything great. Maybe I'm not putting my heart into it or something. HHhhmmm. Or maybe not enough time. But it is hard to spend a bunch of time on work when you are in a creative slump. And not working just makes your slump worse. And your slump being worse makes it even harder to do any work. Hhhmmm. I think I spot a vicious cycle.

I hate those things.

A regular update

Today there is no review of an awesome game, nor rant about the random things flying around in my head. Today there is only this: that I tried to make music, and failed.

Of course, I will immediately be trying again. Or you could say that I am continuously trying, and so far I have not come up with anything. But I will come up with something eventually. There is, after all, a finite number of crummy melodies that one can make (for a given time interval). Eventually I WILL run out of them. And then all that will be left are awesome melodies.

Cave Story

So you guys deserve a post. Well, sorry to say it, but I didn't really work on Axis Mundi at all this weekend.

I was distracted by a video game...

It has been a while since I played a game that was this hard to put down. The game I am talking about is called "Doukutsu Monogatari." The English translation is "Cave Story." Man that is a humble name. The truth is that this game deserves more fanfare than ANY game that I have seen in the past 10 years. The creators of Cave Story have achieved something that is basically never seen in the commercial realm of video games: perfection.

Perfection might seem like a bold claim, but let me assure you that it is absolutely true. This game is freaking perfect. I cannot put it any more simple terms than that. The art direction is awesome, the game play is silky beyond imagination, the weapon/inventory system is intuitive, and the story is amazing!

The only real way that you can know what I am talking about is if you play this game for yourself. The game does not cost anything at all; Cave Story is freeware. Don't look at any screenshots, trailers, or any other stuff. Just play the game. It starts out without any indication of how awesome it will be. Just keep playing until you pass the addiction event horizon. You will be sucked in. You will not be able to escape. At least I can't. And that's why I didn't get any work done this weekend.

Go to http://www.cavestory.org/ and go to the "Downloads" section for the game. Also check out the "Game Info" section for a description and review of the game (even though you just got one from yours truly ;D).

Tongue Twister Tues.... Aw crap, it's Wendsday

I didn't get to do that shot yesterday. So that's what I did today. I did the shot that I said I'd have done by yesterday, today.

Try saying that 5 times fast, haha.

That's pretty much it... I can't give many details about the shot, except that it was pretty short, and required impeccable synchronization between Animated CSOs, and the fireworks mixmaster. We're talking an acceptable margin of error of 1 frame. And I got it in 2 tries. BOO. YA.

Post 2 of March Madness, COMPLETED!

March Madness

Well, it's that time of year again, whether I am prepared for it or not. That's right! It's time for....... MARCH MADNESS!!!! It's time for me to make a crazy amount of posts in one month! I have a feeling that I will break last year's record, considering how I am starting at the very beginning of the month this time. It may very well also help me make faster than normal progress on Axis Mundi, since I am having to post so much! I know it has made a difference today, because I got back to work today because it was the beginning of March Madness!

So, about said progress; as of the writing of this post I have finished one new (animated) shot today. I will probably get another one done tonight, though. Also, the last time I gave a length of time for the film was a while ago, so here's a new one: 4 minutes and 16 seconds.

That's about 36 seconds of new footage from when I made this post, which was the last shot that I did before I stopped filming to do Research and Development on the Animated CSO aspect of the production. So you could say that I have done 36 seconds since January 15th, which is pretty much when I was able to start animating.