What if Street Fighter II was released in 1982?

I've just checked out this clip and what if Street Fighter was released for the atari and here is the results:

Anyway this just proves that people back in the days has to use imagination to think whats happening.

Corrupted Data

If you remember some time ago, I've researched on glitch/corrupted games.

So I tried to find a way to recreate this certain look and check out below:

After this scene, it leads to the red screen of death.

I'm happy with the blocks of corrupted data but I couldn't found the size to change them but at least I've made it look like corrupted.

Here are two video clips I've looked at, in attempt to recreate a freeze/glitch moment:

The background scenery progress

Based on my previous post on the design of the level. I've used Flash to make the background because flash is vector and when you size them, it's still keeps its smoothness:

I've tried importing the swf file to After Effects whether it works. But as you can see below, when I resize the image it becomes blurry so I guess I have to animate the background in Flash:

I've been looking at existing old games to see how to make more old school 8-bit and below are two NES games, someone manage to create a wide image of the games level:
Noah's ark:
Milon's Secret Castle:

Text based narration

Here is a quick update status on my short film. I've used the same model cartridge.

And I've made a quick sticky label in photoshop:

Here is a mental ray render of the cartidge:The pixelation of the image:

Lastly putting it in the composition:

This is the style of text narrations plays out:

More 8-bit crazed Music Video

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/15-music-videos-that-rip-off-games-magnificently/a-20090430101727215006

Mindless Self Indulgence - Animal

Director - M dot Strange

Beck - Bad Cartridge

Director by Wyld File
The song is a remix of one of Beck's more recent hits, E-Pro. The remix was done using the Game Boy sound chip, so direction of the video seems a no-brainer. The fake game itself in the video is honestly pretty hard to follow and would probably get a 5 or a 6. Hopefully you enjoyed this video and did not have an epileptic fit because of it.

Dealership - Forest

Director - Aaron Novak

We wanted to keep this list confined to real videos made with the artists' involvement, but we're including this independently made one for Dealership's Forest, a song about Zelda (just listen to the words). It's a an adorably false NES game set to a song about Zelda for a band with one member, Jane Pinckard, a former games journalist and current industry professional. It is almost too meta to exist.

Xiu Xiu--Boy Soprano

Director - Jose Perez III

This song might be too out there for some listeners, as omnisexual group Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoe-shoe) prefers odd noisemakers and off-tempo beats to a clear verse-chorus-verse set-up. Also, even with a lyric sheet, we still aren't too sure what singer Jamie Stewart and his bandmate/cousin Caralee McElroy mean in the song.
But the video is pretty straightforward, right? It's the one on this list most suited to the theme, as it's a complete play-through of the fake 8-bit Xiu Xiu game, from start screen to game over. However, the blurbs of character dialogue are strange and the game itself is depressing. We'd give it a 4, because it also looks frustrating.

How to animate 8-bit

I've been looking how creators of 2d game developers of creating their games, here are two useful information I've found:

Sprite (computer graphics)
Sprites in video games are usually the character itself. Eboy done a Sprite sheet poster which made it very unique design.

Sprite sheets:

So it's sort of like flash movie clips symbols.

For more information for Sprite please check out the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)

Parallax scrolling:
This is how they composited the layers of the game to create an indepth perspective:

For more information for Parallax scrolling please check out the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_scrolling

Tutorial & The Angry Video Game Nerd (Sounds like Beauty & the Beast)

Eh yesterday tutorial was somewhat OK, however one of the attentions that was brought up was can my film appeal to other audience? It's hard to say when many people don't play games much. One of my notes was that it had potential for comedy and was to always reflect on my aims and learning outcome.
But the success of my tutorial is that my work so far looks very technical, I mean one of the issues was that people's work was too vector/too cleaned and my old television effect clearly worked.

Below is the Angry Video Game Nerd. He is a fouled mouth game reviewer who reviews only old classic games.

It brought to my attention that early video game requires you to use your imagination because of the blocky graphics while today everything has to be photo realistic.

Whats useful is how he discuss how terrible and how nostalgic are these games in a humorous way.

Also games in the 80's don't have spell check so there are many problems with the spelling.

The glitch scene in production

It's the end of April, just thinking back that this project started like February/March and now it's coming to the end. But luckally the deadline is pusheed back a week but it doesn't mean I can relax but I have to hasten myself.

Without spoiling too much, the glitch scene will have a Red screen of death. Something that anybody experience from games and computers.

I used Fractual noise effects to create a TV noise.

I also downloaded this cool plugin called digieffects damage. It is an After Effects Plugin that allows you to create damage/corrupted clips. I've also looked at Hex Editor, that allows you reduce the bytes of files and giving them a corrupted file look. I gave it a go but I couldn't figure out how to use it.

I have to mention Metal Gear Solid because the battle with Pyscho Mantis (Boss of the level) was just beyond words. When it was released alot of people thought how to defeat him when he knows the player's control. Simply switch the controller port and the screen screen changes to below:

It reveals Hideo in an AV channel mode which I thought to myself at that time, the game switched off. You can watch the battle clip below:

Also from Metal Gear Solid series, in the second game there is a bit where Snake has to load up the old computer:

Eboy

Yesterday I was at the illustration department and I've found this cool pixelated illustrator called Eboy, his work can be purchase at 1973:

http://www.nineteenseventythree.com/index.html

Eboy
Graphics collective eBoy is Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital and Kai Vermehr who have been collaborating on cards and wrap with NineteenSeventyThree since 2004. Their highly recognisable unique form of artwork features a complex world of pixellated cityscapes and characters. Most recently they have designed the cover artwork for Groove Armada’s new album Soundboy Rock and single Get Down. eBoy has previously teamed up with a host of famous brands such as Adidas, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Computer Arts Magazine, DaimlerChrysler, Diesel, DKNY, Egg, Honda, Kellogs, Levi’s, Microsoft, MTV, Nestle, Nike, Paul Smith, Pepsi, Renault, The Face, The Guardian and The New York Times Magazine. To find out more about eBoy click on this link: hello.eboy.com

So when I have the time after making the film, I could made posters like these to promote my film perhaps...

Some stuff I looked at

Oh boy we have have 4 weeks till the deadline that is scary stuff. Anyway the process of my animation is going so and so, I've finally animated some parts and animated about 30 seconds.

Killer 7:

Goichi Suda is the mastermind behind this crazy game, I like the ending credits of the animation (shown above).

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle Game:

Man this man is so in the 80's, it was released on the NES and I found the ending cutscene where it is a text base narration. When the text rolls out, the music in the background is like a typewriter.

Vector render

OK guys check this out, does this look like flash/MS Paint crappy block drawing? And yes it's a self-portrait of myself.

Actually this is from Maya with the vector render and yes I tried again and played around with the setting. This time I've changed the vector renderer to one colour fill and it looks like flash animation now. And with this new setting the render is very quick and accessible.

The print screen evidence to show that it's not made in Flash/MS Paint.

David OReilly animation that has fluid seemingless transition between 2d and 3d animation:

G.U.4 logo

Hello folks, Nixon here. Keeping you guys updated, I'm working on the logo and I have to say it's very gold bling.

Here are some research I've made while looking at video game logos:

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-visual-evolution-of-game-logos/a-20090219123030500042

The retrospective of Megaman:
http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-ultimate-mega-man-retrospective/a-2008062794557758069/p-3

Captain Planet game in the 80's:

The logo of 8-bit games I've looked at have several things in common such as:

• Gradient colour
• Big bold lettering/typeface
• Dynamic look
• Shadow

  

I don't like it at the moment but I think I'll increase the size of the pixel to look more pixalated.

Glitch

In my short film, the glitch is the cause/cataylst of making my character feel self aware of his surrounding. I imagine it to be some crazy visual effects.

The visual will be something like this:

The Pokemon glitch in the Game Boy.

I also like the pixelating of this corrupted image:

The rainbow colour glitch:

Here is a tutorial on how to make a Digital glitch effects which I found in Computer Arts.

Game Covers

I've noticed that when I hand in work it's always a last minute burn DVD so I don't go for the extra mile. But this time will be different. For example I am going to make a DVD cover for my final thing.

I've looked at Kotaku website and found this interesting article that someone is making classical covers of modern games:

The person who started this creative repackaging is Olly Moss.
http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Classic-Covers-for-Video-Games

I really like the texture of the game covers and also the simplicity of design, colour and layout.

Here are some real classic Artari Game covers, so I can have a reference:
http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/04/21/fun-from-yesterday/

I also looked at another article about making fake atari games:

And finally a tutorial on how to make a artari game cartridge on photoshop:
http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/super-retro-game-cartridge-design/

Game Boy-inspired screenshots of recent video games

Recently (and by “recently” I mean “over two years ago“) Pixelation ran a little contest on their forum to see who could create Game Boy-inspired screenshots of more recent video games.

I've taken 3 images and made a comparison to it's original game. The games are Bioshock, Final Fantasy XII and Ico.

I think the whole Gameboy style visual is pretty nice expecially the lighting is green which gives a mood. For example in the Matrix, the lighting is green because it represents Matrix world while in the real world it is filtered blue.

Demade with 8-bit graphics

I've read an interesting topic about modern games been demakes into 8-bit games.

Healthy Wave:

Check out the video below, they used Anamanaguichi music:


Silent Hill: GTA IV:
Team Fortress 2:
I think with these visual, I think it fixes the issue of adding 3d animation in my 8-bit animation. I just like the contrast of the differences in the two style.

I think it would work because my character in the fim would be more self-aware when he journeys and progresses within the story.

MGS4 - Revived Trailer

First of all, I didn't post anything yesterday because of a certain party I had to attend. So I pretty much broke the cycle...

Hideo Kojima is a genius when it comes to making video game. He is well known for his creation Metal Gear Solid series. I remember when I first watched this trailer, they first shown the history of Metal Gear Solid from the playstation era to the newest form in Smash Bros: Brawl.

And yes Kojima, I did like it.

Watch it below:

It created an emotional response when I watched it, I remembered when I first played the playstation game and the Gamecube Version until they shown the new videos of the PS3 MGS4. I was amazed and speechless and so many memories resurfaced.

I really liked the transition of the Playstation Snake to the old Snake near the end. I looked framed by framed to see how they done it and I've found out that it was a quick fade away so the transition looks natural.

And yes Hideo Kojima knows how to tease the fans.

Resident Evil 5 - Chris Redfield Character Evolution

I've found an interesting video of Resident Evil. It a compliation of the series of the character Chris Redfield.

What I found interesting is that there is a highly difference in each generation. For example the first game, the character animation is really stiff and the voice acting for the character is really bad and unconvincing.

So the point is that I might include a 3d character in my short film and this would be a good visual reference on the style.

The final week with Chris Shepherd

I have the Flu at the moment so I couldn't do much work so I might blog some crazy stuff because because I'm very dizzy and headache.

Anyway back to the main point, I had a tutorial with Chris Shepherd today.

Basically I've told him about my story and planning, he said that I've done enough research and need to move on to the preproduction.

He shown me two animation and told me that if I can figure out the structure/logic, I will have a solid film.

Right now I guess the theme will be the interaction between the Player and the Game character. Even though it's not what I had in mind but I guess it's simplistic enough for a short film.

Manipulation

Director - Daniel Greaves

Manipulation is an animation about a animator drawing a character who tries to get away from the animator. The character interacts with it's environment such as the red paint and the cartoon character think of uses on how to use it.

The main obstacle for the cartoon character is the main animator who often stops the cartoon character from escaping till the end. I liked the way, the 2d character turns into a 3d to escape into the real world.

What makes the film funny is the anticipation and the sense of the unexpected, and the way in which it playfully comments on the animation process.

What I can apply to my film is the structure such as the character introduction (how it is made, it's personality), it encounters the animator, several attempts, it was thought it was destoryed when it was crumbled, form into the real world and finally escaping.

Looney Tunes - Duck Amuck

Director - Chuck Jones

What I liked about Looney Tunes Duck Amuck, it was surreal and was fun to watch because of it's dramatic irony.

At first it shows the Daffy being tricked by the animator because he keeps changing the environment when Daffy is about to adapt to it's environment therefore we know whats happening before the character and that makes us feel absorb into it.

The unexpecting funny part was when Daffy plays the guitar but it makes an unexpecting sound, this leads Daffy building up anger and constant struggle between the animator and Daffy.
In the end it revealed Bugs Bunny who was the animator which makes it even funny because these characters has been constantly arguing.

To conclude:
So in the end I have to add a series of challenge for the game character who wants to stops the manipulation.

Cheers for Chris who has been coming into our university and giving us guidance.

Need to do storyboard/animatic asap.

Retro Game Challenge

I've looked at sample of classic 8-Bit games and I've found this game for the Nintendo DS where it has most of the old forgotten game all in one. Check it out:

I've just watched the sequel trailer for the next game "Retro Game Challenge 2":

I really liked the short scene where it shows two player in the living room playing the Famicon (NES), it really does make me feel very nostalgic.

But I think it's very useful for getting the 8-bit feel as a visual reference.