BBelief 2008 – Visual Storytelling

One thing that has bugged me a lot about Quake environments – especially now that I’m taking another look 12 years later – is how sterile they often feel. That’s not a new complaint, of course. Back in ’96, several print reviews expressed the same sentiment – undoubtedly still under the impression of a recently released Duke Nukem 3D, which created a much more intricate world. Most of Quake’s sterility can be attributed to the game’s lack of visual storytelling.

As explained in my earlier post, visual storytelling is all about adding a sense of history and purpose to the 3D environments that the player traverses. A well done 3D level never feels like it was built for the player (or, by extension, for the game). A good environment feels like has its own identity. The more the player feels like he is passing through a living, breathing place (or better yet, the more he feels like he is trespassing), the better.

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Snapshot

Cyber-stalking help, September 2008:

Reading… The Cry For Myth (Rollo May)
Watching… Pinks All Out. Giants – Diamondbacks (1 -1, top of the 8th)
Playing… Started playing Spore but lost interest. Working on (and playing) my Quake level instead.
Looking Forward To… first wedding anniversary
Regretting…that my parents couldn’t make their visit
Fun… meeting old acquaintances in unexpected places

Visual Storytelling

A few months ago, on a private message board, we were discussing Digital Extremes’ game Dark Sector (which I finished – good game, with a few shortcomings), and got on the topic of infusing life into 3D action environments. As part of the discussion, I wrote a personal definition of “Visual Storytelling”. I don’t know if this term is widely used in the game industry yet, but everybody in game development will know what you’re talking about once you start describing it. 

I want to give credit to Harvey Smith for digging up this piece of text in the first place, I’d forgotten about the discussion. But why am I reposting this on my own blog when it’s already been published elsewhere? Because I want to set up a later BBelief 2008 post! So, let’s lay some groundwork. What do level designers, game designers and game writers mean when they talk about visual storytelling?

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Life Update

Two down, four to go.

Unreal 2 Editing Tutorials

My Unreal 2 tutorials had fallen victim to the page redesign. But fear not if you’re still looking for U2 editing help! Hellkeeper has integrated all of my old content into his tutorial page, dug up all of the old documentation, and fixed all outdated links. He’s even translated each tutorial into French, if you feel more comfortable with that. Wanna dig into some oldschool Unreal 2 editing? Go visit the page by clicking on the image below!

Tom Brady…and Grant’s Fantasy Football Team

In response to Grant’s heartbreaking story, here’s my take on Tom Brady being out for the season:

Oh, and everything that Grant said. Not a Brady fan myself, but I don’t wish injuries on anybody. Especially knee injuries. I’m 32 and both my knees are shot (who needs a meniscus?), so I can sympathize.

Spam Poetry

Usually, I just delete the spam that Askimet catches. But every so often the entry deserves special mention for its entertainment value. I was able made only read following message and laugh:

best regards to admins of http://www.worch.com – you have a splendid forum!
I was able made only one blog with the info about a medical preparations
I hope this it is suitable section for my message if there is no that simply remove it and forgive for trouble
My first blog – buy nizoral
exuse me for errors – here is a obscure and I have bad english

Beautiful use of language. And the subtext! Oh, the subtext!

BBelief 2008 – Burning The Midnight Oil

If there haven’t been a lot of updates on Beyond Belief 2008 lately it’s because I’ve resisted the urge to post simple editing blurbs like “And now I’ve added this room! Take a look!” With nobody having played the level those posts wouldn’t make much sense, anyway. And if I explained every little detail you wouldn’t have to play the level anymore because I’d already have spoiled everything!

With that said, my output has definitely decreased in the last couple of weeks, and that’s for a very simple reason: the Olympics are over.

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Pinks All Out

Pinks All Out was filming their 2008 season finale at Infineon Raceway today, and this jet engine car was part of the pre-race entertainment. Really insane. And the video cannot do the volume and air vibration justice. Imagine an F-16 flying right over your head. And then add 100% because chances are, no F-16 jet has ever passed you this close

Yes, I know that the NHRA Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters do the 1/4 mile even faster than this jet car, but they are only half as loud Here’s a few images from the event as well:

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