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As of my freshman year, I will be posting content centered around a certain topic. You can expect my blog posts to feature well-written sentences.
Brady Bryan
When manipulating the size of an object or using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, tiny squares will appear on the corners or along the lines of the object. These tiny squares are called "anchors," and caten completely change the look of your object based on how you move them around. Seeing these for the first time may lead you to think that they are somewhat of a nuisance to deal with. Unless you know how they function, this will become true, which is why it is important for you to learn how they work. As an example, we will use a circle. As you can see, the circles are selected and as a result, multiple squares appeared around the circle. You can add more anchor points by using the "Add Anchor Point" tool and clicking on a path (one of the shape's lines). Similarly, you can delete an anchor by holding the "Alt" button and clicking on an existing anchor. Deleting an anchor point, can (and most likely will) change the way your shape looks. In order to work with an anchor, you must select it first. If you select an anchor while holding shift and drag it up/down, you can uniformly scale the object up or down so it retains its original shape, as opposed to simply clicking and dragging the anchor, which will cause the shape to increase or decrease in size, but it will not retain its original shape. When using any pen tool (curvature, freeform, regular, etc.), anchors will automatically be created whenever you click. This means that you can manipulate anchor points even when the shape isn't closed (i.e. just a line). Dragging anchor points is another way to manipulate the appearance of a shape or line (ideally, lines). Anchors play a much more important role in digital design creation, especially when using tools such as the mesh tool, which allows for bright/dark color overlays wherever an anchor is present. it's is important that you understand the basics of anchor usage before testing out different tools, especially for Illustrator users. Recap:
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Adobe Illustrator is often overshadowed by it's more famous sibling Photoshop due to Photoshop's more "favorable" features, as well as being easier to understand at first glance. While both applications are favorable in certain conditions, both are extremely useful. Of course, each application has their own special features, and Illustrator has a lot of options to offer. One of Illustrator's main (and most prominent) features are the artboards.
Artboards work similarly to a canvas in Photoshop in that it displays items such as shapes on it. The main difference is that more than one artboard can be present in the workspace. This will look something like this with multiple artboards. They are essentially multiple canvases to work in. You can arrange them in different patterns to help your design. You can add more than one artboard via the "Window" tab at the top of the screen. something like (for example) a brochure or magazine. When exporting your finished product with several artboards, you can select whether or not to use artboards, meaning that all artboards will be present in the exported file instead of the ones inside the original document size. However, if you want the opposite, you can leave the checkbox unchecked. Aside for just serving as an extra canvas, artboards don't confine you to a limited amount of space (unlike Photoshop's canvas). This allows you to place items outside of the artboard, and it will still be displayed instead of hidden. While being able to have several canvases present in your workspace doesn't sound like a life-changing experience, it certainly comes in handy. As previously stated, it can help you create a layout of a brochure, magazine, or a website. This is extremely favorable as Illustrator is recommended to those that are trying to create promotional items. This truly is a feature that you will have to experiment with while using Illustrator, as the day will come when you eventually have to utilize the feature. Consulting Adobe.com will help, since it teaches the basics of properly using an artboard. Recap:
Brady Bryan
Music is an extremely common video game feature, and is also one of the most unforgettable features overall. Nowadays, many people enjoy listening to various types of songs over the years as music changes. This is no different when applied to video games. Older games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong feature tunes or jingles with a short, simple eight-bit melody. However, most games nowadays contain elaborate, "with-the-times" music genres, such as hip-hop, dubstep, and rock n' roll. Some games even contain official covers from real-life bands and musicians for extra appeal. The incorporation of music into video games led to games such as the PaRappa the Rapper series and Just Dance series being created. Aside from just having background music present, rhythm games such as the aforementioned PaRappa the Rapper series and Guitar Hero series choose to have the player press certain buttons on their controller or play their instrument corresponding to the game's prompt. For example, all stages in PaRappa the Rapper have button sequences that show up after being shown once. It is up to the player to press the same buttons with exact timing. The same could be said about Guitar Hero, since you have to time your button (or sometimes, instrument) input to match the sequences on screen. Intermediates and experts will certainly enjoy Guitar Hero, as it features a plethora of official songs such as "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce, "Misirlou" by Dick Dale, and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson. Not only are these creative uses of music in video games, but these are great ways to familiarize oneself with the buttons on a controller. Rhythm games are simple, yet intuitive, and are commonly recommended to neophytes to video games, as well as to those that enjoy music. Music in video games don't always have to be in the background; they can be brought into the spotlight (pun intended). Recap:
Brady Bryan
During the pre-production phase of video game construction, many rough drafts will be created. Whether it be for the characters, the settings, the items, or the like, rough sketches will be produced. This is accomplished in order to come up with a final design that will appear in the game. Most games include screenshots of concept art within their game files, and while being interviewed, game designers will have pictures of early designed assets to show. As you may tell, concept art is one of the most crucial parts of the pre-production stage. Most popular games such as Overwatch reveal that certain characters and maps were originally going to look different than the official design through their concept art. Some even reveal characters that were planned to appear in the game. A slideshow of Blizzard's (the company that produced Overwatch) concept art can be found on this IGN article. One of the most notable difference in one of the images is the change of appearance for most of the heroes. One of the heroes that resemble Genji, a playable robotized-ninja, appears to be female, despite being male in the official release. Next to that hero appears to be a reskin of Mercy, another hero that resembles an angel. Another notable feature of the concept art are the names given to the heroes. All names but one are different than the final product. The one name that seemed to stick was "REAPER," which is right above a character design that's almost a one-to-one product with the final design. The only difference is that the mask looks more like a skeleton head than the official design's. The only character that seems absent from the image is referred to as "SPEC OPS." While there is no illustration to depict that character, they come listed with their hypothetical arsenal of weapons, as does every character shown. Some of the listed weaponry appear in-game, such as the Grappling Hook, Large Sentry, and Jetpack. The next images depicts more early character and stage designs, as well as their names and weapons. If you take one glance at the final designs in Overwatch, you will be able to see a major difference between then and now. This proves how useful concept art can be when designing certain aspects of a video game. It can assist in deciding what direction you want to take your game. For example, do you want your game to have a serious tone, or do you want your game to appear beginner-friendly? In the grand scheme of things, it's defines how you will display your game to an audience. Concept art should never be skipped during the pre-production process, so don't gloss over this crucial step. Recap:
Brady Bryan
Whether you've played one or not, video games are extremely popular in today's society, and it's clear to see why. After all, they have a lot to offer, such as memorable characters, unforgettable settings and music, and more. At the very core of every video game lies the video game assets. These include characters, settings, objects, and the like. These are arguably the most crucial parts of a video game, or even in the grander scheme of digital media such as television shows. However, there are a handful of games (mainly older games) such as Pong and Tennis for Two that lack a "real" setting, character, or music (in the sense that they aren't just represented by a single intangible symbol or solid-colored background). The inclusion of more video game assets such as characters show the evolution of video games since almost all video games nowadays have at least one character within it. This is important because when someone sees a character on a video game's case, they may think that there is also some sort of goal within the game that the character is trying to accomplish. Otherwise, the prominence of the character would be unnecessary. Characters also give the player a sense of relatability due to their personality and/or appearance, which will entice the player according to their tastes. In short, characters are one of the components that give the game personality. Another video game asset that gives the game personality is the setting (preferably the main one). Within the setting itself are different components that make up the setting, meaning that rocks, grass, and the like can be video game assets in and of itself. Most of what was said about the character's inclusion can be applied to the setting(s). In fact, these two go hand-in-hand when being advertised, as there should not be a large contrast between them. For example, the modern Doom game's cover features a smoky, seared background with darker colors in order to convey a dangerous tone. The character in the midst of the background has a shotgun, a cracked helmet, and what appears to be blood on their right shoulder, which (when paired with the dark colors and their posture) also conveys a dangerous tone. While playing the game, these features become more prominent as you advance. Characters and settings are the most prominent video game assets, so it would only make sense that the developers put extra time and effort into making them as appealing as can be. There are many other video game assets such as the title, missions and objectives, and more. However, the main objective is ensuring that all of the assets correspond and harmonize with each other. Recap:
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AuthorBrady Bryan is quite familiar with blogs since he had to frequently post on his blog in 6th grade. Although its been a long time since then, he still knows what a proper blog should look like. Archives
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