Blogs - Vertex7

For some time now I have been on the Zenetech team, doing various things until I found myself in the role of American Team Lead on an exciting international project, which is still unannounced so I cannot divulge any details. However, something has just been launched, something that can be experienced right now: PlayDB.

It's a YouTube channel of the latest mods and indie games being played for up to thirty minutes. It's a great way to have a look at what is out there. Please check it out.

Youtube.com

It has only been a few eons since I last posted . . . much has happened since. I spent all summer working for a nifty little company over there yonder. Sadly, it was not related to games in any way. I did, though, get to work with a great group of guys and the last three of us just so happened to be the very last three summer workers to finally get laid off, and when it did happen it was done with grand honors, which made us all happy we stuck it out all summer.

On top of that, my newest book just so happens to be 3ds Max Modeling for Games (2nd Edition) by Andrew Gahan. If you are 3-D artist with Max and you don't have this book, buyz itz nowz. I am just now tearing into the first few pages in order to build on my skills and wow, this is some great stuff! Andrew is a true, industry-hardened artist and the whole book not only teaches you various ways to use Max to get the fantastic results you want, but also how to use Photoshop, Painter, and UVlayout to do amazing things--like take over the world. ;) It doesn't stop there either as it goes on to maintain it's focus on training you for the industry, going to lengths to ensure you develop a professional mindset while working as an artist. The whole book finally concludes with training you to develop your portfolio and how to assemble it, show it off, and land that first job. Great book.

Also, I am been more closely involved with a great group of dudes at Zenetech as we embark on our first mod. I cannot divulge the details but I am excited about it and will continue to do what I can to move us down the path of awesomeness.

Oh yeah . . . there's this thing called college, too. I am wanting to go, but trying to decide between Entrepreneurship, Entertainment Business, Game Design, or Film Production. Post your thoughts?

When normals maps were not used, where per-pixel lighting was unheard of, when ragdolls weren't used and PS2s not around, those were the days. Some days I wonder what it would be like to make a simple computer game in the fashion of the old with extremely low-poly models, nothing more than diffuse maps, and textures small in size.

To make it really pop though, how about a game using the graphics of yesterdecade, but the animation, sound, and gameplay sophistication of today? Imagine a game old in graphics but powerful in spirit. A game that can run seamlessly on aged hardware. A game that feels like a jewel lost in the past.

I have been away from IndieDB for soooo long. While I was gone I did many awesome things, like buy your grandma an Xbox, buy some land on the moon (can't wait to see it), and had a meeting with my new team, IVid, about making our first title. It feels so great to be part of a team of such awesome people. And yeah, I didn't do the first two things. ;)

But anyways, at the moment I have this idea going through my head for something fun and awesome . . . so let me get back to thinking.

Have fun people and remember to eat your vegetables!

That is the question. And the game in particular right now is Deus Ex. The question I am asking myself is "Is it worth it to invest so much time, energy, and resources into something that has already been done?" We would literally be remaking a hit game (just the first level actually)--from scratch--and hoping not to get foxed in the process. Just the thought of coding all those systems is scary.

The thing is that I could be spending these resources on creating something totally original. The only bad thing about being original is that you might suck. And coming up with good ideas isn't exactly easy. But I suppose the only way to find out if it is worth it is to lean into it and test the waters, and that is actually what we will do. If our prototype turns out to be the result of too much time to create something that isn't really that fun, then the project will be trashed in Cryptozoic-storage (no idea what that is, by the way :P), but if it is awesome, if it makes our blood rush, then we will move onwards. So here's to the prototype!

"In the year 1997 a scientist by the name of Daniel Kruger developed what he thought was a cure for cancer and began testing it in secrecy. It didn't work. But it did do something, and he wouldn't live to see it, as he himself died of cancer. In 2017 it finally happened. It started with intense pain and weakness and pretty soon the children of those who had subjected themselves to the test so many years ago began to drop dead with sudden cancer throughout their bodies. But that wasn't the worst part. They also were spreading cancer--through the air! All options were being exhausted by the US Government and with the new "disease" starting to hit the rest of America seemingly overnight and posing a huge threat to Europe, the government decided on an audacious plan: to change the past, to stop this "cure" from ever being made. They selected you, Kyle Ward, CIA agent, to execute this mission alone. You thought it was would be easy. You thought you could just walk back through time, try to stop this from happening, and if necessary, kill Dr. Kruger. But your talk with him didn't end well, and convinced that he was on the verge of a cure, Dr. Kruger told people about his work. Word got out, he was idolized, and you couldn't just kill him anymore. Worse yet, in all your efforts to convince people otherwise, you have landed yourself in a 1997 funny farm. The world is about to kill itself outside your walls . . . unless you stop it first."

Now that is just the game story that sickens me! Larger-than-life characters, extremely extraordinary events, and extremely extraordinary actions seem to be the essentials upon which so many games are built. I can't imagine how many times people have saved the world in front on their Xboxes.

I understand the counter-argument, I understand that the shorter word for "ordinary" is "life" and we all know how boring that is. I understand that we play games to do things we'll never do in real-life, I understand that we want to escape the ordinary and retreat to a world of fantasy, but seriously, saving the world isn't the only exciting thing out there! I find it discouraging when I walk into a game store and most of the games I see feature dudes on steroids, wearing giant suites of armor, and toting huge guns. This is all great and fun (and I love Gears of War just as much as anyone else), but it's really not cool to see every other new game using this same formula. One thing the movie industry has taught is that most anything can be dramatized, and you don't have to save the world to make a great film . . . so you shouldn't have to do it to make a great game either.

Let's get real people. And remember, the games must be fun!

Yo! I am . . . well, I am not going to give you my real name. ;) Call me Vertex, Vertex7, and I am totally awesome.

In a 3-D model there's nothing really special about that seventh vertex, in fact, most all things have way more than seven vertices, but I just like seven, so, yeah. Anyways, I am well versed in game design, although sadly my modeling, animation, and scripting skills still need work. Scripting is actually my major weakness right now.

I have never made a game.

Yet.

I am working on my very first one. It's code-named Rex. It's about as arcade and cliched as games get, but it being my first and all, I'll just be happy to write that last line of code and see everything work. :) Currently the project is in the gray-box prototyping stage, not even a single art asset has been created yet so I'm afraid I have nothing to show you at this time.

My engine of choice right now is Unity. I absolutely love it's design and power (and it's fee!). Everything works together like you would imagine it to, just like a Mac, which I sadly can't afford. :)

Anyways, I'm full of ideas. If you need a story, if you need a game idea, or if you just can't decide if you should have bananas or grapefruit for a pickup, just hit me up!