"An Alien Who Travels Through Time and Space... In a Police Box?"

Aaaaaaaand we're back!

With a new and improved TARDIS no less!

 It's taking some getting used to; I had hoped to arrive an instant after my last post, however the coordinates appeared to drift somewhat mid flight, there was some trouble with a Sontaran fleet... plus I keep getting lost on the way back to the console room from the swimming pool...

 Ah well, three months late isn't too bad!
Though don't get me started on the kitchen facilities...

Overall, I'm rather pleased with how the overhaul has turned out.

 The 1996 TARDIS prop (that this model is based on) and its Gothic steampunk interior were designed by Richard Hudolin, famous for his set and prop designs for Stargate SG:1 and the revamped Battlestar Galactica.

Time And Relative Dimensions In Space

 Good Lord! I almost forgot I had one of these blog thingamies!

 So, a lot has gone on since my last post, and I don't feel I have much to showwwTARDIS!!!

 I built said TARDIS over a year ago, and am currently in the process of re-texturing it (the original's unwrap was an abomination.) This particular TARDIS is based on the police box prop used in the TV movie in 1996 (my personal favourite.)
 Built, as always, in Maya and textured in photoshop.

Website Powers Activate!!!

It's a website, I have a website now, websites are cool ;)

Created with Wix.

Take Five (companies)

And finally (thank God; I was running out of "five" puns), we have: Valve Corporation.

 Valve Corporation, (a.k.a. Valve Software/ Valve) is a Games Developing company based in Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A. It was founded in 1996 by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, former employees of Microsoft. They are known for a range of franchises; Portal, Half-Life and Left 4 Dead.

 Though this one is also based in America, the open and creative way of working once again attracts my attention greatly. Their policy of working till the game is as good as it can be, rather than working to a corporate deadline, is exactly the way I like to work. I also love the style of their games; the storytelling, design and humour of their games are things that inspire me greatly, so I would be more than happy to work for Valve.

High Five (companies)

Up next: Bungie.

 Bungie is a Games Developing corporation based in Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A. although they were originally based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in 1991 by Jason Jones and Alex Seropian. In 2000, Bungie was bought out by Microsoft, and together they spawned one of the most successful game franchises ever: Halo. The Halo series would become Xbox's flagship, or "killer application," and is worth billions of dollars. In 2007, Bungie split from Microsoft and became a privately held independent company (though Microsoft retained the rights to Halo.) They have since incorporated a publishing deal with Activision.

 Bungie are appealing to me due to their informal and creative way of working. I would love to work in that kind of environment, and even though the company is based in America, I think I could be willing to move out there for this team's personality. Also, the epic style of their games (Halo, Destiny) intrigues me a lot, and are the type of games I would love to work on.

Five (Companies) Alive

Next up: Rocksteady Studios.

 Rocksteady Studios is a Games Developer based in Highgate, London, England, founded in 2004 by Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker. In 2010 they were bought out by Time Warner. They are best known for the Batman: Arkham game series. Thanks to the enormous success of their first Batman game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady were named studio of the year at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards.

 Batman. Batman is the reason I would like to work for Rocksteady. Well more accurately their portrayal of Batman. The gritty, stylized look of these games has captured my imagination for years, and so I would love to be able to work on a game with that look and feel. The fact that they are a British games developer helps also.

The Magnificent 5 (Companies)

 Next up in the list of companies I'd like to work for is Hello Games.

 Hello Games are independent Games Developers based in Guildford, England, founded in 2009 by Sean Murray, Grant Duncan, Ryan Doyle and David Ream; all of whom have had previous experience in the games industry, having worked for developers like Criterion Games, Electronic Arts and Kuju Entertainment. At the 2010 Develop Awards they won Best New Studio and Best Micro Studio. The same year, they were also listed in The Guardian's poll of 100 most innovative and creative companies of the past 12 months. Hello Games are best known for their Joe Danger series.

 The main reason I would like to work for this company is for the personality associated with it. The guys in charge of Hello Games seem like the kind of people I would count amongst my friends; their attitude and sense of humour makes it seem like a very warm environment to work in. Also, it being an independent company means that creativity takes precedence. Something else that has captured my attention is their latest project: No Man's Sky.

 I love the style of this game. Science fiction is a passion of mine, and the stylized look of this sci-fi epic is something I would be ecstatic to work on.

5 Companies to Rule Them all

 Sooooo as part of my business studies I have to pick five Game Developers that I would like to work for in the future, write stuff about said companies and then explain why I would like to work for them.

 Yeah I don't know why either. (Hi Gerald!)

So first up is The Creative Assembly.

 Creative Assembly was founded in 1987 by Tim Ansell, and is based in Horsham,West Sussex, England. In 2005 they were bought out by the Japanese corporation Sega, who now act as Creative Assembly's parent company. They are primarily known for the immensely successful series of strategy games known as Total War.

 The reason I would like to work for this company comes in the form of their most recently announced project; Alien: Isolation. Though I am a huge fan of the franchise, it isn't simply the fact that they are making an Alien game that is enticing for me; it's how they are making it. Creative Assembly's attention to detail in this game reminds me of my own attitude with my work; perfectionism. It's clear from the gorgeous screenshots and game-play posted that they are passionately dedicated to making this the best game it can possibly be, rather than looking to make some money out of an already popular franchise. I would like to work for a company like that takes its fan-base seriously.

 Also, having seen interviews with the Creative Assembly team, I feel I would fit in well with them, and I also find the prospect of working with a small unit rather more attractive than being one of a hundred workers in a corporation churning out work.

Death to the Daleks

 This is the Dalek with simple blinn textures to illustrate the colour scheme. The scheme is based on the paint job featured in the 1974 serial Death to the Daleks (my personal favourite paint job).

Built (as always) in Maya, I'm fairly pleased with how it's looking so far.

Daleks Conquer and Destroy!

 For those of you who don't know me, GO AWAY.
  ...
 Nah, I'm just messing with ya! You can stay! Just as long as you're quiet and don't touch the shrubbery...

 Those of you who do know me will be aware that I am heavily into Doctor Who, (though not Steven Moffat's embarrassing excuse for a continuity) so naturally it was only a matter of time before I built a Dalek:

The Dalek has been an on&off project for a little over a year now, though I first conceptualized the redesign a few years earlier. It is still very much a work-in-progress; I want to work on the polycount, the mid-section needs tweaking and I have yet to unwrap it, but currently this is much more of a hobby piece, so no estimates on when it will be finished. More to come!

Major Project Progress

 Here be me character for me major project! Yaaaargh!

"What's with the pirate impression?" I hear you ask! Well...

I haven't a clue.


 Built in Maya based on a design I originally conceptualized in school, I decided to re-invent the character for my major project; creating new/ updated gear and a new backstory.

  Cet Scarlowe is his name; an ex black-ops agent turned investigator. He lives in the mega city of Bliss, fighting crime and corruption wherever it lurks. If you crossed Batman with Dirty Harry you would have the basics of Scarlowe's psychology.

 And here's his hand cannon:

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the models currently, now it's on to texturing!

Crystal Clear logo progress

Some further development in the logo for Crystal Clear. I'm rather pleased with the background, though overall I think it still needs work.

Crystal Clear

Soooo, I've been working on my friend Angharad's game, called Crystal Clear. Among other things, I have been working in photoshop on designs for the logo:

And menu designs:

 Because the game is based in a mystical jungle... thing, I tried to capture the atmosphere of the environment in the background whilst echoing the theme of crystals in the title type. I hope to use aftereffects to animate the menus at some point.

Batman Beyond Again

Some more stills of my Batman Beyond model.

Cos Batman.

And here's an early render with prototype textures:

Batman Beyond

 So I was quite pleased with how my Batman Beyond model turned out. It was built in Maya, and at 2043 polys (4066 tris) it's not too dense, and pretty accurate.

 The face was the most difficult part as none of the reference images I found matched up, and so the final head ended up as a combination of the different representations I had been using. I think it works.