The artwork is amazing. There have been a few sketches and concept pieces released over the years, but nothing as extensive as this. It's just pages and pages of sketches and color tests and outfit designs and facial configurations... as a fan and an artist, it's just amazing to see. Mass Effect may be borrowing from all the sci-fi that has come before (as sci-fi is wont - references and sharing galore!), but it has become its own thing, distinct and expansive. Hell, it's even got mech and weapon designs. I'm in love with this thing and I look at it constantly.
And they've kindly sectioned it according to the game, so ME3 has its own section that I don't need to look at until I've played the game myself! :D
Speaking of which, I played the demo today. Very short, but amazing and touching. Not going to spoil anything, but pewfjoiwjfowiefjoiawejf . That's how awesome it's turning out to be. They've successfully, in my opinion, managed to morph the ME1 and ME2 weapons systems into one. I can't wait to see the actual gun modding. The faces are nice.
I've heard they're trying to go for replayability in ME3, not length, and I think that's an important distinction that hasn't been made enough in the game world. I'd rather a game be 40 hours (as opposed to the expected 100 hours or whatever for an RPG), but for me to want to replay it 3, 4, 5 times. I'm excited. I mean, the ME series has its flaws (for example, they were "writing as they went", which is never a good idea for a trilogy) and it could use some tightening and rewriting around some derpy plot points, but it's a really expansive setting that has a lot of stuff to think about even outside the games.
My upstairs neighbor is watching something or having a party or I don't know what, but it is LOUD and ANNOYING. >| And now I think they're arguing or SOMETHING. Jeez, sit down and listen to some music through a HEADSET or something. You know, they wake me up every weekend at like 8:30 with their loud music. It's not even music I like. Give me at least until 10, guys. :(
Anywho, I'm in 2D animation this month, and I'm having fun. I'm also in physics, but... it's a gen ed class, so there's not much effort behind it. The class is designed to let us finish our work in class, so that we can "scan" it in and make a video. I've been having fun doing intellectually and creatively stimulating work during the day and then coming home and doing my own creative and gaming-related things. I've gone through all 6 and a half seasons of How I Met Your Mother (I've never loved a sitcom so much. I ADORE THIS SHOW. ._. Robin and Barney forevarrrrr), I'm replaying ME2, and I'm finishing off Farscape. I've gotten farther in TOR. I've written one of Cai's short stories, and a snippet for Veda. I've honestly never had more fun. I love this mix of work and free time, and I wish the rest of my life was like that.
I keep getting sidetracked. In 2DA, we did a few basic animations - a bouncing ball loop, a morph of one shape to another, a ball bouncing across the screen in an arcing path, but the good stuff came later; we were given the key poses and we had to do the breakdowns and in-betweens of a run loop and a jump across the page. Finally, today, we got to do our own walk cycle for a character. Thursday, we're adding in an arm-swing and doing a second, more polished layer.
Blogger is being weird, so I'm just gonna put the others up on almighty YouTube.
So yeah, they're a bit rough, but I think it's good progress for a single month of animation.
And, something magical happened about two weeks ago - I sat down and began modeling a bit in Maya on my own. I wasn't sure on the design of the clothing I wanted to attach to my CDC model from last month, so I stopped, but now I think I've got the design down -
Also, this is funny:
And finally, I've got Eminem stuck in my head. Dunno why. By all rights, I should be posting ME3 music, but... the whole Somber tune issue is still making me irritated. So have some Eminem instead.
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