Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?

I think that this a subject I go over with myself on a daily basis but to put into words is difficult. So here goes.
I believe as a course when I chose it, I looked at it as an opportunity to get an insite to what it takes to survive in the games industry. In a quick summary I beleive that I was far from ready before I came to uni, but know I feel I can look at it in a different light and see how that just from one year that as a whole, the group are ready for alot more. I think some could even cope with industry standard work.
I have got more confident as this year has progressed and I believe that to be uni life in general, but course wise I have become more confident in my work and can only see that as getting more precise and inventive or should I say more creative.
As for the next 2 years I beleive that the skills I have gained can only become more refined and that as technology advances so will my skills. I feel at the moment I learn something knew on the computers and think that will continue and help me to improve.
After I finish at uni I would be happy to go to a reasonably good company as a games artist.
I would love at sometime to say I want to be lead artist but find it at the moment to be a little ambitious for me to go straight into that kind of role.
Another idea was that I wanted to look at becoming an art director, but decided that if I did that that was going to be in the distant future.
If I was to fail getting a job in the buisness right away, I would I think look at taking another degree in computers so as to prove that I know what I'm doing.

The company that has been mentioned by a few people as somewhere they dont mind working is Blitz Games. I myself have thought about it too.

But It got me thinking what games would I really enjoy working on and I think that I would love to work on the Resident Evil games.

When I found out about the group project it got me very excited and thinking about how it would be great practice and find out if I really would enjoy it as much as I think I would. Then I remembered that it is capcom that make the Resident Evil games and started to search for games they made that I would not of enjoyed making and thought well I will just have to hope they dont make sequels to them.

Till next time cya.

Creativity and what is it?

This has taken me some more thought than usual and as a result it is a bit late but this is what I have found on the subject.

Simply to start, creativity is described as being something that is thought of and would be considered a new idea or concept. But it can also be already existing ideas that have been re-worked and mixed between other ideas, wether that be a new or another existing concept. The creativity would exist in the final result or to word that better exist in the mind of the one who visualised the final result of that combination.

So if creativity is something that can be visualised can it be a process as well?

I think that it can, because if you look at people who work on the art for games for example, they must have an image or thought upon what that they are making or drawing is going to look like. They need some form of thought process, for them to create something that doesn't already exist. And that same amount of imagination and thought is required when changing something like the Reservoir Dogs from a film to a game, because the way in which you interact with a film is completely different to how you would a game.

You watch a film but you play the game so the way in which the game progressess is due to the player but the film continues on its own. The creativity between the two is simple to see, the thought process that is creativity lies within the use of a game and how the player would interact with a film of which was completely out of their control.

Is creativity hindered or enhanced by technical advances?

I dont think that it does either, I beleive that with the correct amount of work and thought gone into an idea or concept creativity will always be their. The only thing that will be effected by technical advance is the final reult of that creativity.

After reading Dan Grossman's site about creativity I was impressed by how he mentioned Robinsons oppinon on the current educational system. He in short mentioned how he thought that it was ( for lack of a better word ) a waste and that they cultivate a narrow set of skills–typically related to mathematics and language–at the expense of many others.

I myself got a D in maths at year 9 and decided then that I knew that I was never going to use any form of maths complicated enough to include letters. So instead of concentrating during maths I would use my math book as a way of doodling new ideas for art. What im trying to say is that unless you feel you need something like long division you should have the choice to flourish in something that you find inspiring and that you will use in a future career.

Robinsons fear is that we are stuck in one frame of mind and not preparing ourselves for the future. And I would have to agree on the principle of only wanting to do well in art and not in maths because I found it boring and un-inspiring.

I myself rate creativity very highly as it is what drives me to do what I do every day and I think that as a country we dont encourage it enough.

Cya next time. Keep creative!!!