Game & Emotion

Last night, I was showing my friend some series of pictures I took from my high school in China. I did not look at those pictures for so long… I was surprised that I was happy in my high school in China… I always thought it was any pretty memories to look back … but yes, I did. Amazed by the pictures, I’m ready to record down more pretty memories in Drexel :)

Tie it up to games, games need to have emotions. For me, the best game may not be the game that most fun to play with, but games with memorable atmosphere. Say Pokémon, it seems to have really childish plot and world setting, but it works. Pokémon has a world you can travel and explore through. People like to travel, collect and breed animals to fight with others. Pokémon never seems to discuss any serious issues or have any complicated characters. It achieves simplicity and integration pretty well.

It’s really hard to think of a counter example … so I am just going to give another example. Disgaea 1 was a few games that I spent at least 100 hours, partly because the random maze system was amazing and new to me. I still remember the story and how I was touched by it. I think the best a game can achieve is to be remembered. You may agree with me that no matter how much new games you play, there are always a few games you want to play it over and over. Each time you play it, you find the things touched you before or find more touching moments. Then, you are a lucky gamer.

My concern on RPG games

I have been playing Digaea series for a looooooooooooooooooooong time. That was why I started a review on it. It turned out...... I went back and play more when I started the review. :p 
So.......instead of a formal review, I will post something I notice with RPGs and strategy games occasionally.

Many RPG games have a pretty linear way to level up your characters to the strongest. What do I mean by strongest? “Strongest” means to deal maximum amount of damage, to reach maximum attributes, or to kill enemies much more efficient. The time I started Disgaea I say “Wow, there are so many choices of weapons and different weapons have different special attacks with different ranges and it is so cool!” However, as I explore further into the game, my choice of weapon pretty much countdown to swords, firsts and stuffs. The core elements of Disgaea series never changes, so I was a little disappointed about the weapons.

Don’t do me wrong, Disgaea 4 is improving. Stuff many still be the most efficient weapon in the game, but the MP cost to cast spells increase a lot compare to past series. I think Disgaea is still trying to balance the game better. J
I guess I will post some more next time~

Demon Xu

New finding!!! A possible future path!!!

I would like to become a 3D texture artist when I graduate from college. A new finding of Owen Demers' book and art works inspired me to take this path.

The DIGM110 assignment this week was doing a digital painting. Because I never did a sophisticated digital composition before, so I decided to borrow some books from the library to learn some tips. The first book I found was "Digital Texturing and Painting" by Owen Demers. I read the introduction and chapter 1 and look at the pictures in the book. HIS ART WORKS WERE AMAZINGLY REALISTIC! When I played 3D game, the thing bothered me the most were the sloppy textures on the characters and environment. Seriously, if people had that much time to develop the game, why couldn't they put more believable textures on them. I glad that most of the AAA games don't have much of this problem, but there is always some way to improve the textures on the models.


3D texture has many connection with traditional sense of artistic observation, so I may keep taking some traditional fine art and design courses and get a minor in fine art. I never thought I would like to become a traditional artist, but I needed those knowledge to make believable textures.


I recommend all digital media students to take a look at Owen Demers' book(you can also borrow from the library):
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Texturing-Painting-Owen-Demers/dp/0735709181/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
and Owen Demers' review:
http://www.afterartcollege.com/2009/09/owen-demers.html
He worked as lead texture painter on film "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Watchmen". I can not find what project he is working on now, but hopefully I will see his work coming.

Personal Review: Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten

I'm a big tacit game fun and I absolutely adore Disgaea series. The series has the most creative game play I have ever seen and always pushing the limits. Have you seen a game with Level 9999 at top? A game that you could beat up the judges if you dare to? A game that you can travel into item's world and level up the item? A game that you can go to somewhere in the map by throwing your team members around? Nippon1 company is good at using those features to lengthen their game. I will start my review on the new features in Disgaea 4.

As a grid-based strategy game, Disgaea 4 will have player to summon team members from a starting. Any surviving member can go back to the starting point and summon another member to the battle field.