Blogs - SinKing

0 comments by SinKing on Jan 22nd, 2012

I'm still waiting to start working on the project I've been signed for. The bigger the project, the harder to release its budget, it seems. While I'm upset about the wait, I also learned something important; even though you are getting payed work, don't stop there - look for more projects, always!

My current projects are:

- AAA title, budget on hold 
- MMO fairly known Korean/Japanese MMO, which needs more assets and new worlds; anime style
- Mech Override - A.D. 2078, my pet project for many years is about to see a trailer this year

I'm learning, always learning (concept art, modeling, sculpting...), but it's hard when things aren't moving forward. Sorry doesn't seem to be the hardest word, money does. I wonder, why companies keep losing money while deciding if they should really do a project, if most projects could build a workng prototype with a fraction of the time and money the discussions take. It's annoying and non-sensual to produce games like this.

0 comments by SinKing on Nov 8th, 2011

Hi everyone,

I have just been cast onto a 20 member strong, commercial development team and I will earn money doing what I love. 

It's been a bumpy road, but considering I didn't draw as much as a twig five years ago, and I was looking for a concept artist myself back then, this is some major progress. To be employed as a Concept Artist when I only started concepting, because I couldn't find decent, reliable concept artists, is pure irony.

Of course I enjoy it and understand how much more Concept Art is than pretty pictures. Infact prettyness is only a tiny part of the whole deal. And the cinematic, moody concepts have their right to be, but by no way are they the majoritiy. 

I cannot talk very much about the project or company, as I am bound by Confidentiality Agreement. The game will be released in December 2012. Until then I will work part time as Concept Artist, while developing my own project "Mech Override" and finishing my 3D school with a degree. Man, I will have serious chores in 2012...

0 comments by SinKing on Jan 18th, 2011

As of today, I joined the team remaking Duke Nukem 3D, as Storyboarder and Concept Artist. I'm very happy this position was offered to me, since these are two things I want to experiment with. In case you're intersted, check out the website of this team:

Dukenukemreloaded.com

I think the game has great potential and it is already watched and approved by Gearbox, who gave permission to use the IP. Hail to the king, baby!

0 comments by SinKing on Jan 6th, 2011

happy new year to everyone - most of all to me: I really need it!

2010 was ups and downs. Friends got married, I joined a mod with little to no leadership and got flamed for trying to progress it. It wasn't easy, all in all. 

I'm still studying 3D, learning animation and several editing software to make and edit movies. 2D is still the most fun to me, but I see how I can enhance my 2D with 3D skills. It's becoming more interesting all the time.

I wish I had more time and what little I have wasn't wasted on people, who have no appreciation for other people's commitment. I'm writing, painting, working, going to the school/workshop and I still try to find time to help others. Maybe I should just stop doing that. I'd make a lot more money and frankly I start to believe that some people cannot be helped; actually most of them.

0 comments by SinKing on Aug 15th, 2010

Hey reader,

I'm working with the Athena mod team now. because organisation of the Space 3102 project was lacking. I'm very happy with Athena, since the Mod Leader is also a very capable coder and does his best to progress the development. It's actually a very nice and different feeling to be in a mod team, which has a capable leader. I guess those other guys have to fail or learn.

If you like, please comment on the concept art for Athena and visit the mod's development page:

Moddb.com

What makes Athena most likely to succeed as a project is that a lot of code is already working ingame. We're more or less just busy with artwork and models, which is a supercomforting situation!

Seeyas,

Sinking

1 comment by SinKing on May 29th, 2010

important headlines deserve important messages: I have finished my new feature film script "The Suicide Diaries". As you'd would expect it's a sci-fi script, which takes place in a future where everyone wears an interface to paint the world to his likes. It draws a lot from the concept of Augmented Reality and the question is of course: what is real in a world you can change with the press of a button.

Actually it takes even more than less, because the interfaces are implants and react directly upon your thoughts and to your brain chemistry. It's quite a wicked story, which takes a few crazy turns, before it presents you with a choice of endings. Been thinking about this script for almost three years, and I'm glad it came out well.

On another note, I am still painting, trying to improve my skills and making some progress, too. I joined an indie team, in order to produce Space 3102, a Sci-Fi game, featuring realistic spaceflight and hand-to-hand infantry combat.

The development is fast-paced and I'm spending a good deal of my time with it. I hope in the near future, I'll have finished the most urgent concepts and we put the modelers to work. Then I can start on an excessive Matte-Painting, depicting the ESAD HQ, vehicles and environment. I'm really looking forwards to this, but at the moment there is still a lot of other things to do.

Thanks for reading and please become a watcher of this sure to be awesome game:

Moddb.com

Created with Unreal Development Kit.

2 comments by SinKing on Dec 6th, 2009

Hello,

I don't presume anyone is following this blog, but I'm documenting the past progress here, nonetheless. Mech Override is dead as a mod/machinima, but alive as a commercial project. I am trying to raise the money we need to start a development of the ful 90+ minute feature film. With the help of some friends I found really good people to join the development, and I have recently learned that it's perhaps more important to find a good producer then to have good artists, when you are about to start a development.

It's very hard to get anywhere with this project, but it would be easy to gather a team and start a worldwide development (so that studios can work continuously 24/7). We have the organisation and the story, we just need an investor...seems this is the hard part.

There are some investors in question, most notably Rotana,, a very big production group in the middle-east. I'd be happy to say they are interested, but that I can only say after the 16th of December when we sent them our production documents and a projection of sales and benefits from this project.

I'm really  eager to finally get this over with. I have not much to add to the current script, which has been revised at least a dozen times (also with the help of native English speakers from Moddb). It's time for Mech Override to be made - we're ready, even though we are not a team any more, just a few people, who stick with the project.

While I'm waiting, I write another story, called "Plasticity", which has touches of the Matrix and Terminator, but can stand on its own. It's quite complex and I try to expand the knowledge gained from writing so many drafts of Mech Override and put this experience into the new script.

Waiting is a drag. Don't ever wait for things! Just go on doing what you do best and don't put all your money on one horse. If this works out - fine! I hope it will. However, if it doesn't, the only thing I will have wasted is the time I spend talking to interesting people. Not really a waste - the next project is always the best one :)

Take care and stay true to your dreams without repeating yourself over and over again!

0 comments by SinKing on Jan 8th, 2009

Hello Everyone, I know it has been terribly quiet about MechOverride in the past three months.

There are many good reasons for that, because the project had to be entirely re-structured. We finally, and with great regret, took leave of the Rotoscope Filter for Unreal 3. Our project will no longer be a mod based on a game, but is "just" a normal CGI production now; all our scenes will be pre-rendered and post-produced (finalizing, color grading, effects...)
The reason, why we chose this way is because it is impossible to gather enough modders to complete this project. Another reason is that I am not into modding deep enough to lead a team on all regards. I can much better organise a film-team, as I still have contacts and knowledge about making films.

So with great relief we announce the rebirth of Mech-Override as an Episodical Shortfilm Feature, with episodes of 4 minutes duration, each. The one we start working on, starting January 20th, is the prolog, which will introduce you to the great city of Talon. All Episodes are connected, even though they are not in chronological order. It's a most challenging screenplay, which evolved from our original screenplay "MechOverride", which you can read in Moddb's Writer's Club, now!

Our team is smaller, now. I put everyone I thought fit in other mod teams, so I didn't desert anyone, who didn't deserve it. We are now eight people, have a great new concept artist and Motion-Capture proved to work flawlessly and will make it a piece of cake to create new scenes, once all the assets are done. Even though we are not a mod any more, I'd like to keep our place on Moddb, for we still feel like being part of this community.

Thanks for your patience with us. Go, read the old script and you'll surely find some quality in it's story. Expect the same for each of our episodes and don't underestimate the effects of non-chronological writing. It's my very own speciality and it ill vow you over, once you start undestanding the complexity.
See you soon, stay true to us. As a small teaser, I'll post a small update of our revamped soldier model, including a near-finished exoskeleton. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

1 comment by SinKing on Oct 18th, 2008

Heya,

I'm updating a bit about what's going on behind the scenes. Apart from me picking up some skills in Photoshop, several new artists have joined the mod, as we can't have enough concept art (ever) and you can never find enough concept artists.

It's getting tough now, because some actual action is required by our Motion-Capture Studio, which is getting delayed by real-life projects of the studio. Most of the problems we suffer from derive from personal problems of important members, who can't dedicate their time to the project as they used to. I'm trying best to bring back the creative spark and igniting the desire to move on with the project.
We already missed two chances to enter th Make Something Unreal Competition and I really would like us see enter the third phase, even if it's only with a teaser-trailer.

Modding is no easy task at all. I find that out every time I try doing something for my project. It can be rewarding to see other people get inspired and start discussing features among each others and with me, but these pleasant situations are alway stalled by a lack of art or direction. We are only slowly moving towards a proof of concept, which has a lot to do with the difficulties of imagining the world we create in Rotoscope style.

The shader decision has still not been made, but I'm over the top with work already and I don't want to invest my available time in shader problems, when we still have trouble with the production pipeline. I know it would be better to have everything working from the start, but if we can't get the shader to fit our needs in the end, we still have the option to drop it and revert to realistic looking textures.

A lot of work and many things left to do are no reason to stop working. I can only support the team with fresh art and some artists I recently recruited. It still feels like there is a world out there to draw and I admit I didn't realise that creating a new universe entails to create a whole world, which may not fall appart after looking at it. What we do has to be believable, even in it's immensity.

0 comments by SinKing on Jul 12th, 2008

Hi modders of all kinds!

I'm posting a little update on our project MechOverride, which has been joined by some excellent people in the field of mapping and animations, lately. So, what's going on behind the scenes?

- the new, and final, script will be released in Episodes. I'm about 40% done with it. First three Episodes are written.
- Concept Art of our first biped Mech, nicknamed "Ike" has been approved of and gone into blueprinting
- Modeling on said Mech will be done by Toast, starting next week
- Texture Artist Kraphik3d has taken up his work on Rodas face texture and delivered stunning results
- Citizen_J is remodeling the characters head, because the WIP has some geometry problems
- Fábio has finished both versions of the gun and is working on the LOD model
- while waiting for the final head version, Kraphik3d is texturing the gun
- Angelo and NPX have been busy creating environment sketches and moody takes on our cityscapes,. I'm updating our image gallery soon
- Xenobite is rigging and animating the first models
- Brian Shipp is creating the sandbox map for all our testing needs
- Andrew aka Baldemyr is creating a corporate look for a evil empire (in clothes) and also designs our female lead's stealth-suit. After that he's on to Character concepts (General Aecius).

That's what's happening in the background and we steadily work towards a first release in November. I hope you'll enjoy watching this project a lot in the future, when you get to see details of the production process and come to understand our film's philosophy. We want to entertain you the best way we can. So order your MechOverride Popcorn - Maker, today!