SWOT

I have decided to write up a quick SWOT analysis to take note of my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is important to know these when looking for work and making projects.

Returning from a long Summer.

After a long summer holiday, I have finally returned for my second year of College. While I havn't been as production as I would of preferred during the holidays I have done a fair few things.

5th Stage

The start of my holidays began very busily, as I was in the middle of creating my novice round animation for NATA. My open round animation Paradox Pandemonium focused a lot on humour and dialogue. Not wanting to appear like a one trick pony to the judges, I went for a more serious animation. Originally the characters were going to be more realistic, however I knew the competition i was facing was tough and I didn't want to work out of my comfort zone. Instead I opted for a more simple design, to allow easier animation and hopefully to stand out more to the judges.

Unfortunately I hadn't used my time well during the tournament and ended up working up to the deadline for forty hours straight. With a few scenes cut I managed to get my animation 5th Stage completed. I managed to get a total score of 81.3 out of 100, while my opponent got a mighty 91.3, knocking me out of the tournament. While I was quite disappointed to be out so early, I was in a way glad to be free of NATA as it was taking up the vast majority of time. Not to mention I would of been lying if I said I didn't expect the outcome!

Click for animated

Click for animated

After the tournament I spent a long time relaxing. The hectic timeline of NATA had taken its toll on me. However I also spent time drawing and animating little gifs to keep myself practiced. I continue to put up a lot of work on my Tumblr page, though admittedly not at the rate of which I used to update it with.

New computer  

I also got a whole new computer! After the monitor broke on my old computer I thought it was time to finally get a new one, especially considering I have had the old one for roughly 8 or so years. I also got a new tablet  as my old one was not suited for wide screen use. I'm very happy with the new set up, it's certainly faster a less problematic than the old one!

I've been playing a lot of games over summer, specifically I have been heavily getting into Rouge-likes such as Dungeons of Dredmor and FTL: Faster Than Light.

Dungeon Of Dredmor

FTL: Faster Than Light

Rogue-likes are characterized by there randomised scenarios and their often brutally difficult gameplay. The idea is to die frequently throughout multiple playthroughs and slowly learn the patterns in the game. Each time events or items are randomised so each time you play it is a new scenario. I have been sinking a lot of time into these games as they are exceptionally addictive and very satisfying when you finally get luck on your side!

And of course, I have been making silly videos over summer. But I sincerely doubt that will ever stop happeneing! c:

Team Buddies

In video games, cut-scenes are used for a variety of different reasons and are shown in many different ways. They are often used as rewards for players who have gone through a part of the game, or as something to help explain a mechanic or move the plot forward.

They can utilize the game engine to show the cut-scene or it could be a pre-rendered scene using a completely different software. Some allow the player to keep control of there characters and let them choose what they want to see, while others use 'quick time events' to integrate gameplay into these normally unplayable scenes.

I have been looking at the intro to one of my favorite games on the PS1: Team Buddies.

The scene is pre-rendered and serves to introduce the characters and concept of the game. I chose to look at this as it has very simplistic characters and could be easily replicated by someone like me! The game throughout has small pre-rendered scenes at the end of every set of levels. These act as a reward and as an introduction to a new character you can use. They were often humorous and lampooned various movies such as The Terminator.