Lair Media Blowout

You can find all sorts of flashy new Lair media on the web if just look around a bit. The two videos I’d like to point to are the guided developer tour that Gametrailers posted. I think they show off the polished game in the best light and give you a good idea of the finished product. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

What I learned at the Giants game today:

• Not getting a single run out of bases loaded with no outs is of the best ways to motivate an opponent team that was showing all the signs of getting beaten into submission.
• Speaking of which, you probably won’t go very far in the season (or deserve to win) until you get at least one run out of bases loaded with no outs.
• Barry Zito is a great pitcher, but having played in the American League sure shows when he’s at bat.
• Recording 1-2-3 innings against a pitcher who was at 50+ pitches after two innings is a good way to keep that pitcher in the game much longer than he should have been.
• Barry Bonds might still be a great hitter with an outstanding OBP, but his diminished speed is hurting the team. He only got to frst base on the “double” that drove in Aurilia, and he was out at 2nd base in the same inning when other players would easily have made it.
• I don’t really care that the Giants are 1-5 and were swept by the Dodgers. It’s early in the season and they have lots of time to pick up the pace. I kinda like that peace of mind, it’s too early to get upset
• Taking the Larkspur ferry to the ballpark and watching a game is an awesome way to spend Easter Sunday.
• Not putting on any sunscreen – even if the entire day was overcast – is an awesome way to get sunburned in the face. This is San Francisco, after all!
• Reading an interesting book is a great way to pass the time in the ferry. The ride never felt that short before.

And finally:

• I love going to games with my fiancee.
• And she looks great with a Giants hat on.

Mailaf kenn ich gar nicht, nur Olaf

Hidden in the depths of my 9000 song iPod shuffle there’s a selection of the best Deep Dance CDs. Most of these mixes date themselves quite convincingly – and the music is cheap and fluffy dancefloor techno, which will never earn anybody a spot in the music hall of fame. But in my late teen phase these CDs were my some of my most priced posessions, and when I’m in a good mood I listen to whatever mix comes on. Especially if it’s one of the yearly summery mixes, because those are a fun (and often depressing) reminder of what music was hip in Germany in the early 90s. Most of the songs are crap, but ever so often I’m reminded of a song that everybody loved back then and that became a pervasive part of German pop culture.

So yesterday the 1991 mix came on, and here’s the one song that I was pleasantly reminded of when listening:

Frighteningly bad performance, isn’t it? (Psst, I don’t think they’re really singing!) But the song was quite a phenonemon when it came out, and exactly the kind of stuff that we, as teenagers, would latch on to. Plus Diether Krebs, the late great comedian from Essen, deserves a special mention on this webpage. I can’t think of many other comics who have left their mark on German comedy as prominently as Diether Krebs. Think of him as a German Benny Hill – but with a serious acting career to go along with the slapstick. Krebs died of lung cancer (ironically enough, “Krebs” is the German word for cancer) when he was only 53 years old. He leaves many iconic characters of German TV history. And of course this, “Ne Pikfloete!”

Verfall

Am Abend, wenn die Glocken Frieden läuten,
Folg’ ich der Vögel wundervollen Flügen,
Die lang geschart, gleich frommen Pilgerzügen,
Entschwinden in den herbstlich klaren Weiten.

Hinwandelnd durch den dämmervollen Garten
Träum’ ich nach ihren helleren Geschicken
Und fühl’ der Stunden Weiser kaum mehr rücken.
So folg’ ich über Wolken ihrer Fahrten.

Da macht ein Hauch mich von Verfall erzittern.

Die Amsel klagt in den entlaubten Zweigen.
Es schwankt der rote Wein an rostigen Gittern.
Indes wie blasser Kinder Todesreigen
Um dunkle Brunnenräder, die verwittern,
Im Wind sich fröstelnd blaue Astern neigen.

(Georg Trakl)

Torture

You know how you sometimes wake up with a song stuck in your head that you really don’t want in there? What’s even worse is waking up in the middle of the night and having a song stuck in your head, and you can’t go back to sleep because your mind is racing around that song.

I had this stuck in my head at 4am last night. If you didn’t watch German television in the 90s it might not quite have the same ring to it, but let me tell you – as funny as that skit was, you do not want it in your head! What’s worse, the only song I know that will reliably purge an unwanted song on command is Duran Duran’s “Rio” – and having that in your head instead isn’t exactly a picnic, either. I feel kinda drained this morning…

While we’re on the subject, mehr Hape in Reinkultur.

What happened to the GDC videos?

Work happened. I want to record these videos ASAP, but have been busy as hell with Lair. Please bear with me…

GDC 2007: More Than Just A Pretty Map – Creating Next-Generation Materials for LAIR

Speaker: Matthias Worch (Game Designer / Technical Art Director, Factor 5, LLC)
Date/Time: Wednesday (March 7, 2007)   9:00am — 10:00am
Location (room): Room 3007, West Hall
Track: Visual Arts
Format: 60-minute Lecture
Experience Level: All

Session Description: Next-generation materials are more than just an accumulation of color and normal maps. Join us as we take an in-depth look at the techniques that were used to create the highly detailed materials in LAIR. The focus of this session is on the artist. It will present multiple ways to quickly and efficiently create color, normal and height maps for realistic materials. It will also demonstrate different ways of acquiring source data for these maps, for example by scanning real world surfaces. To address the bigger picture, we will look at the material creation process from a technical art director’s perspective. We will review different approaches to a company-wide shader authoring system, and discuss ways to spread authoring knowledge throughout the team.

Idea Takeaway: Attendees will acquire techniques that help them to quickly and efficiently create realistic-looking materials for next-generation games.

Intended Audience: Texture artists and art department managers working on next-generation 3D games.

GDC 2007 Downloads

Local Shockwave Version
Adobe Acrobat .pdf (2.4MB)
Original OpenOffice Impress File (4.5MB)
Powerpoint File (4.7MB)

GDC Downloads

Powerpoint presentations have been added to the Articles page, but I haven’t had a chance to finish the workflow video. Been battling a cold for the last week and my voice still isn’t exactly where it should be. I don’t want to sniff every 10 seconds

GDC Downloads

The Shockwave and Acrobat versions of my GDC slides are now posted on the Articles page. Expect the Powerpoint files and workflow videos during the weekend!

God of War II

Wow. If anybody had been shown this game in 2000 and had been told “This is a Playstation 2 game. This is what this console is capable off!” they wouldn’t have believed it. God of War II looks and plays fantstatic. Of course the game doesn’t look as good as a true PS3 game, but who cares when one is so sucked into the experience? I think I’ll be ready to completely move over to PS3 after God of War II – if this isn’t the swan song for the Playstation 2, I don’t know what is. Awesome job, guys!