Thursday, February 14, 2008
Maybe the space suits weren't flexible. |11:59 PM| I finished Mass Effect the other week, and I enjoyed it. It had some great moments, but something that bugged the shit out of me was how static everyone's standing position was. Their cut scenes showed that the animators were aware of joints on the body beyond the elbow, but every conversation was about as dynamic as the elevator transitions.
(these interstitial elevator rides hid loading screens, which was a neat idea, even if the rides seemed to be a bit awkward; The characters standing around, unmoving, like someone just made a really inappropriate comment)
Now, I understand how not knowing where the player characters might be at all times might interfere with say, random leaning against walls, but I don't think anyone's hands are raised above a shoulder level in any conversation. Almost no one walks around, looks at points of interest, or expresses anything non-verbally outside the plot related cut scenes.
Whenever you talked to Liara or Kaidan on the Normandy, there was this brief dialog-free sequence of them noticing you, and turning to face/acknowledge your presence. It's a little surprising, given that every other interaction in the game immediately launches into the blah blah-ing. It's also more striking when the dialog starts and the NPC's suddenly go back to "I cannot nod and I have no waist" movements. While it gets boring since it's repeated every time you speak to them, that few seconds makes the character seem much more real for a brief period, thus throwing other interactions into sharper contrast.
The character's faces were damned impressive looking, but other than the occasional switch from "neutral" to "ironical smirk" I don't recall any real facial expressions.
No one fidgets. Again, in contrast, the alien kill-machine Wrex encounters a moral conundrum, and after the introductory dialog wanders off to "think". He starts shooting at fish in a nearby lake. It's great, and it's one of the few times a character isn't just standing still waiting for you to talk to them.
Since every interaction and conversation was spoken aloud (and none of them in an alien language, allowing for re-use of sound clips), the conversations went well beyond "a couple dudes scripting/writing some text dialog". Writing a script, getting voice actors, recording that audio, syncing in-game, that makes any dialog a big deal. With that level of involvement even in small side quests, why then was there no change in the animation of the character models for those sequences as well?
(2) comments
Another exciting Moment in Exile |10:52 PM| While resolving a warrant issue last week I surrendered my leatherman pocket knife to the officers guarding the court. I intended to to retrieve it, but not only did the guard station close (I showed up at the court 4 minutes before official closing time that evening, despite meteoric driving speed, and the hiring of a pedi-cab, the only way I could have gotten there more quickly would have been to skip parking and just smash my car through the front door.), but also I totally forgot about it.
Now I'm constantly having little incidents in which I need to open a computer, cut open a package, etc. I reach for the knife and...feel strangely naked.
Dinner this evening:
Brendan: I went to get the soup can and stick it onto the coffee pot's theoretical heater. I thought, I should open the can up to be safe. [Gesture of reaching toward pocket goes here]
FUCK
THE LEATHERMAN IS STILL GONE
I don't have an actual can opener.
So, I have a can of soup I cannot open.
There have been several cartoons about this sort of situation.
I have access to nearly all of the world's incorrect information, pornography, and communication at my finger tips...
Alicia: but no way to open dinner
Brendan: I suppose I could crack this case open, pull metal out of it, and forge a can opener in the sink over the heat of a battery fire
But it's mostly aluminum in here, I'm sure
Alicia: or you could y'know...go get some food
(0) comments
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
This bird had flown |12:51 AM| I built a video capture computer this past weekend, for $200. A handful of years ago $200 would buy you CD-ROM drive. The future is awesome. I'll admit some pretty serious ignorance regarding the deeper video capture workings of Ubuntu, but with sufficient research almost anything can be built. I knew about all the other components, and I've installed Ubuntu before.
Anyhow I was trying to think of a way to describe the process without boring the living shit out of everyone, because I'm proud. I could, perhaps, (a public service) make a post correcting all the incorrect information I ran into, but until the whole thing works that'd be kind of prematurely arrogant. Especially since like 10-15 tutorials were involved.
The issues were so nebulous and outside of my experience as to approach a surrealistic painting. The status messages might have been errors, some of things that were working would just vanish before my eyes, I was a babe in the woods.
The first idea on explaining the process was, imagine a house with no windows, and there is just one door. You want to get into the damn house. The door has no knob, just a big green button. When you press the button it clicks, and you hear what sounds like a backwards cuckoo clock. The door does not open. You make some phone calls, a guy with terrible grammar shows up, and hands you hinges. You are still doomed.
Perhaps:
It's like trying to bake lasagna but, the recipe is scattered across 8 cookbooks, in different languages. You can identify the shapes of words, you start to recognize when they're repeated. Eventually you figure out that you probably don't need all these eggs.
The oven keeps making that damn cuckoo noise.
But these are not helpful. I was ignorant, I am less ignorant, but I still don't totally understand how some of this shit works. I have pages of notes, 18 bookmarked websites, still more to learn, and it's absolutely wonderful.
(0) comments
Monday, February 11, 2008
...can kiss my ass |11:20 PM| Isn't it Valentine's day soon? I think I'm legally obligated to feel lonely.
Rebellion.
(0) comments
Maybe the space suits weren't flexible. |11:59 PM| I finished Mass Effect the other week, and I enjoyed it. It had some great moments, but something that bugged the shit out of me was how static everyone's standing position was. Their cut scenes showed that the animators were aware of joints on the body beyond the elbow, but every conversation was about as dynamic as the elevator transitions.
(these interstitial elevator rides hid loading screens, which was a neat idea, even if the rides seemed to be a bit awkward; The characters standing around, unmoving, like someone just made a really inappropriate comment)
Now, I understand how not knowing where the player characters might be at all times might interfere with say, random leaning against walls, but I don't think anyone's hands are raised above a shoulder level in any conversation. Almost no one walks around, looks at points of interest, or expresses anything non-verbally outside the plot related cut scenes.
Whenever you talked to Liara or Kaidan on the Normandy, there was this brief dialog-free sequence of them noticing you, and turning to face/acknowledge your presence. It's a little surprising, given that every other interaction in the game immediately launches into the blah blah-ing. It's also more striking when the dialog starts and the NPC's suddenly go back to "I cannot nod and I have no waist" movements. While it gets boring since it's repeated every time you speak to them, that few seconds makes the character seem much more real for a brief period, thus throwing other interactions into sharper contrast.
The character's faces were damned impressive looking, but other than the occasional switch from "neutral" to "ironical smirk" I don't recall any real facial expressions.
No one fidgets. Again, in contrast, the alien kill-machine Wrex encounters a moral conundrum, and after the introductory dialog wanders off to "think". He starts shooting at fish in a nearby lake. It's great, and it's one of the few times a character isn't just standing still waiting for you to talk to them.
Since every interaction and conversation was spoken aloud (and none of them in an alien language, allowing for re-use of sound clips), the conversations went well beyond "a couple dudes scripting/writing some text dialog". Writing a script, getting voice actors, recording that audio, syncing in-game, that makes any dialog a big deal. With that level of involvement even in small side quests, why then was there no change in the animation of the character models for those sequences as well?
(2) comments
Another exciting Moment in Exile |10:52 PM| While resolving a warrant issue last week I surrendered my leatherman pocket knife to the officers guarding the court. I intended to to retrieve it, but not only did the guard station close (I showed up at the court 4 minutes before official closing time that evening, despite meteoric driving speed, and the hiring of a pedi-cab, the only way I could have gotten there more quickly would have been to skip parking and just smash my car through the front door.), but also I totally forgot about it.
Now I'm constantly having little incidents in which I need to open a computer, cut open a package, etc. I reach for the knife and...feel strangely naked.
Dinner this evening:
Brendan: I went to get the soup can and stick it onto the coffee pot's theoretical heater. I thought, I should open the can up to be safe. [Gesture of reaching toward pocket goes here]
FUCK
THE LEATHERMAN IS STILL GONE
I don't have an actual can opener.
So, I have a can of soup I cannot open.
There have been several cartoons about this sort of situation.
I have access to nearly all of the world's incorrect information, pornography, and communication at my finger tips...
Alicia: but no way to open dinner
Brendan: I suppose I could crack this case open, pull metal out of it, and forge a can opener in the sink over the heat of a battery fire
But it's mostly aluminum in here, I'm sure
Alicia: or you could y'know...go get some food
Labels: exiled, goddamn chatlogs
(0) comments
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
This bird had flown |12:51 AM| I built a video capture computer this past weekend, for $200. A handful of years ago $200 would buy you CD-ROM drive. The future is awesome. I'll admit some pretty serious ignorance regarding the deeper video capture workings of Ubuntu, but with sufficient research almost anything can be built. I knew about all the other components, and I've installed Ubuntu before.
Anyhow I was trying to think of a way to describe the process without boring the living shit out of everyone, because I'm proud. I could, perhaps, (a public service) make a post correcting all the incorrect information I ran into, but until the whole thing works that'd be kind of prematurely arrogant. Especially since like 10-15 tutorials were involved.
The issues were so nebulous and outside of my experience as to approach a surrealistic painting. The status messages might have been errors, some of things that were working would just vanish before my eyes, I was a babe in the woods.
The first idea on explaining the process was, imagine a house with no windows, and there is just one door. You want to get into the damn house. The door has no knob, just a big green button. When you press the button it clicks, and you hear what sounds like a backwards cuckoo clock. The door does not open. You make some phone calls, a guy with terrible grammar shows up, and hands you hinges. You are still doomed.
Perhaps:
It's like trying to bake lasagna but, the recipe is scattered across 8 cookbooks, in different languages. You can identify the shapes of words, you start to recognize when they're repeated. Eventually you figure out that you probably don't need all these eggs.
The oven keeps making that damn cuckoo noise.
But these are not helpful. I was ignorant, I am less ignorant, but I still don't totally understand how some of this shit works. I have pages of notes, 18 bookmarked websites, still more to learn, and it's absolutely wonderful.
(0) comments
Monday, February 11, 2008
...can kiss my ass |11:20 PM| Isn't it Valentine's day soon? I think I'm legally obligated to feel lonely.
Rebellion.
(0) comments
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