Graphics in Video Games, Will Always Be Important!

-"Someone that believes graphics are important should go and watch an anime or something, they are not real gamers"

-"I don't care about the graphics if the gameplay sucks"

-"Graphics are not important, it's the gameplay that counts"

-"Wish they would cut back on paying so much attention to graphics and make better gameplay"

-"Who cares about the lack in graphics? It has great gameplay."

Those few quotes, among many others, are some of the common phrases the "real" gamers of our time use to the extent that now people even write articles to defend such a notion... Being, that graphics are not important.

Funny story, I was going over this whole concept again not more than one day ago, and today I wake up to read a related article including opinions and comments enforcing the idea that graphics are indeed not important and further more, stating that they actually are not important "any more" in the industry in general and not just for their liking. I wonder at such perspectives from such gamers and turn to question what wonderful book or insight of facts gave away this notion for articles and comments of the like to exist?

>> Scionia Update: Archives Menu

Nothing to be seen yet within the site itself at the moment, just glad to announce that the graphics for the Archives Menu are designed and they are now being implemented into the site for the next update.

Work on Chapter 2 continues with hopes (somewhat unlikely) it is complete for uploading along side the Archives Menu and The Crusader Artwork. Completion for the upload to the Timelapse video for the Crusader is also on its way along with a small side-project video still in it's "scripting phase" with purpose of including an all around and general look at digital painting in the form of a tutorial.

As seen in the official Facebook Page for Scionia and my personal DeviantArt for now, this is the final version of a new character to be introduced in the coming chapters. The Crusader.

Getting ready for possibly one of the last overhauls including changes and additions (Chapter Idle Menus, Navigation Buttons, Chapter/Art Loader Priorities and of course the Archives) for the completed experience to the site for the WebComic as well as better efficiency and loading times for medium and slower connections. The foundation from which everything should be then ready to allow for focus being put into the Chapters and the Artworks themselves alone for each update.

Stay tuned.

X REBIRTH - 1st Impressions Game Review

X-Universe fans have been patiently waiting a long time now for the release to the next chapter of Egosofts' sandbox space simulator. X-Rebirth has been in development for 7 years, and it is now finally here.

The most obvious questions are: Does it deliver? Is it worthy of the X-Universe franchise? And does the new addition cater to the fans as well?

At most, it does. Although a little early on its release, with having an array of bugs experienced in the game from many users, X Rebirth should not disappoint neither the fans of the franchise nor the newcomers. It caters to both depth and functionality, keeps true to the franchise in almost every way, and adds changes that make it easier to pick up as well as easier to enjoy in the long run without ditching that depth of the past. Egosoft have gone into delivering these elements for their new X title in one of the most well-balanced and complete approaches that a single player sandbox space simulator has ever seen till now. (minus the bugs)

From Crysis to Crysis 3

Trilogy/Quadroligy Review and Comparisson

Just finished Crysis 3 a small while back and have been meaning to get to a review for it...
So we're doing that now. Talking about, reviewing and comparing all the titles in the Crysis trilogy. Four titles actually for those that include Warhead as a separate title rather than an expansion-ish stand alone addition. Crysis has been after all as a franchise giving us top end experiences and pushing technology along with first person shooter standards for almost 6 years now (end of 2007 - 2013) and deserves it's own thorough look. And as we do it here, we get as thorough as it gets before it becomes a quantum theory molecular level kind of thorough.

Crysis has not gone unnoticed one bit in the gaming industry. Either by haters, or fans, and from both ends of the gaming spectrum including PC's and Consoles, at least one of the Crysis titles has been subject for a lot of back and forth debating for most gamers if not all gamers of our time.

I being no different and having now completed the trilogy, am ready to dig deep inside the Crysis titles and meet the heart that beats beneath it all face to face.

Back Again - Another Summer Vacation Gone...

Here we are once more, back from summer vacation, batteries re-stocked, energy refilled and ready to take on the rest of 2013 head on.

Hope 2013's summer vacation was an eventful and relaxing one for all. Hopefully the remainder of the year will be as eventful if not more.

With return from the holidays I took the liberty of taking some snips from work in progress as a sneak peek for Scionia, Chapter 2: Ellania, showcasing my new steps in venturing to create new characters, re-visiting the look and style of the City of Light, designing the bikes of the future and bringing the new and perhaps slightly updated look to the comic.

Apart from work being done on the chapter itself and the continuation of the adventure as seen in the sneak peeks, development for the new Archives Menu is also in progress for it's addition to the site soon enough.

On other news non-relevant to Scionia, my blog The Digital Creative Front now has it's own facebook page which will also archive previous articles and posts from the blog. In the meantime, after noticing a realtively hard to follow more-than-few articls in here, I will be also eventually editing older articles for easier and more pleasant reading (such changes will include titles for starters).

Click here for the DCF facebook page itself.

Here's to wishing everyone a great Autumn-Winter and a very productive closing 2013.

>>Scionia Update: Chapter One Complete!

First Milestone Complete!!!

The first milestone for my comic, Scionia, is finally accomplished. Achievement Unlocked.

The completion of Chapter I: A Hero Born has arrived, as we are taken through an introduction to the where and when of it all, establish our main character Eleron, and even pitch him against one of his first foes, Sinjiro Kinjo. A match that finds Eleron unprepared and raises more questions than it solves answers.

And so we lead into Chapter II: Ellania, which has now moved on into the production phase and will be coming soon. As before, sneak peeks will be released on the work that will be done for this chapter, as the story begins to evolve and become all the more interesting. Personally, I can't wait to release the next chapters and let people in on it all, taking them through the adventure bit by bit.

As of yesterday the last pages to Chapter I have been added, a total of 7, being the largest update till now, and also featuring almost twice as many illustrations than all previous 13 pages did, summing up to a much harder task in all. An extra additional artwork has been added as well from the Chapter II title page art (nothing too special - the good stuff is still on it's way).

The Difficulties

They tell you that "If you want to do something right, do it yourself", and after trying a multitude of things in the past, you reach the point where this begins to hold more and more true inside you. Especially for those that have a vision, or a dream, or even an idea that they want to bring to life. Even more so for people that know how (with regards to technical aspects) and need only to find the missing pieces to it all to simply just do it.

That is the part they don't tell you. A lot of research is needed to cover aspects that no one can honestly come to know of unless they go out there and do it. And as hard or as slow as the process might be, it all ends up being an equally great part to the journey as everything else. The attitude is simply that, "Just Do It" (man, I should get paid for this, I'm finding great advertising material for Nike here.)

The difficulty is sometimes just that, not giving up. And there are perhaps many reasons that can rise to tempt you or to make you believe that giving up is an option. It seems that if anything can go wrong, it will. That is the second thing they usually don't tell you about doing something yourself, or pretty much doing anything that you truly want/love. The answer to it all however is just one: Giving up was never an option!

Indeed this was the case for me, giving up was never an option, and I was never tempted by the idea of giving up. That being said, everything that could go wrong did (probably everything, I don't want to test the gods with what challenges they may have, thus dealing me with an even harder hand for my next milestone). Delays due to the plain and simple fact of a small budget, or not making any profit at all from the work, something that everybody in such fields goes through when setting out for something new. Bills have to be paid, mouths fed, and of course other work will bring such personal projects behind.

The next line of difficulties are usually technical. This happens to everyone. Something simply won't work, will stop working, and at times not only bring you back in your time, but also (worst case scenario) bring your work back forcing you to do it again! That didn't happen to me on this project thankfully, but something like that needs only happen once for one to learn. After losing years of work (yeah, it was painful and I was young) you learn that no amount of backups is ever too much. You almost become hysterical with regards to this.

So the forces of life, seeing that you have taken so many precautions, seek to use technology against you in every other way possible. Ok, I am a computer geek as well, so my workplace is working the way it should most of the time (fingers crossed it stays that way), so I am pretty prepared right? Wrong. Something will always go wrong. And it did. The only thing that I couldn't control struck, driver problems with my Wacom! And absolutely no way to reverse them! I know right? And I mean NO way, many older drivers some also dating as far back as 2 years ago, system restores, I even formatted the whole PC with several OS options. It simply didn't fix.

That is much worst than any internet problem, or hardware problem, ect (not as bad as loosing work but close behind). I had to pretty much learn from scratch how to draw digitally, and in a matter of a small time as well. Not an easy task at all.

Life is even funnier though, I went through a hand injury as well, dislocated bone, on my very drawing hand itself ^_^

Cool, right? Not to mention that all the above strike together as well. Time management, fund management, learning to draw again, and an injury, all together just to help each other out. Oh, and all this on a piece of work that was hard on it's own as it was. Trying to establish the main character, create a fight scene, find new balances on how the colours and all the technical/artistic things of the comic come together, and drawing new and more daring comic illustrations (for me at least it was a new, especially for a comic), adding up to a hill that seemed so hard to climb.

And in the end... you climb it!

The Result

They also tell you that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. This is so true. After climbing that hill, you feel just that. With new hills to climb, new boundaries to pass, new heights and expectations to rise to, you do but one and only one thing in all... Evolve! And it is a great evolution as well. Everything you have learned truly becomes a part of you, you use it, you are faster more experienced more efficient, etc etc etc... In the end you can only but thank the gods that everything happened to you as it did. It made you so much stronger, and now you can do so much more.

The fact of the matter is that life always tests us on how much we want something, how much we are prepared to fight for it, how much we are willing to sacrifice, hence how much we deserve it. And it never gives us more than we can handle. Always enough to push as a little further. All who give in to these obstacles remain exactly where they are. This is not a bad thing of course. It is however for those that want to evolve, to keep moving forward, to reach higher, or to simply accomplish whatever it is they set out to accomplish. Big and small.

These obstacles will never stop happening. If they do, perhaps it is a sign that you should now evolve in something else as well ;) Life is all about growing after all.

Scionia was indeed just that for me. Growing. I am certain things wont get easier, new obstacles will come. But when you look at all you achieve after each obstacle, the result is always worth it. For in the end, the result is what remains, what stays by your side, what is always there, the obstacle simply came and left. And good riddance to it.

Coming Soon - Moving Forward

Chapter II: Ellania is now about to head into it's production phase, and with it new challenges of establishing new characters and new settings as well as other things. Even more, the challenge of finding the right mood for the entire story telling itself, conversations, and so on so forth. I have to admit, I am good at writing conversations in books, but comics are a different story all together, and finding the right formula that works is indeed a challenge in it's own.

New artwork is also on it's way, as is a new menu called Archives that will include the lore of Scionia (as stated in previous update). It will feature categories for characters, locations, timeline events, etc, and will evolve as the story progresses. As new characters are introduced in the story, so will they be added to the archives, whilst new background information on them will be also added as their story unfolds. This should serve as a great way for people to either get deeper into Scionia, or fill in the gaps on anything they might be questioning (provided it isn't a spoiler for future events to happen which will not be included in the archives for obvious reasons). I wish I had access to such lore myself when I was younger for the comics I loved. This perhaps was my initial taunt for adding the Archives menu itself.

The method of "always free online" will continue as the core idea to Scionia. I will be exploring ways in the future for publishing hard copies or merchandising for the comic as a means for more intimate collections to be accessible for those that might seek them. I will not however steer away from the idea of featuring the comic online and free in it's web-comic form.

Lastly, the chapter update intervals will also change for the future. No longer seeking to update on a weekly, or biweekly schedule, the chapters will be updated either in part intervals or as complete works. I do not sacrifice quality for shorter times, so nothing will be released until it is on the standards it should be. However this is not the main reason to my different approach. The truth behind it is that I was not completely satisfied with the way the story was broken up in Chapter I, and seek to keep a continuity in the tale that is fitting to the feeling I want to create. Thus, weekly updates of say 2 pages is now out of the question as it will break it up too much and make it frustrating to read as well. I prefer to come out with say 6 pages in 2-3 weeks or an entire chapter after 4 weeks, and get the feeling of the narration just the way it should be.

Stay Tuned!

That being said, I am looking forward to continuing down this exciting and fun journey, and personally like stated before can't wait to release new chapters and artworks for Scionia: Guardian Angel. It really is something to share the worlds in your head with others.

On a last and perhaps irrelevant note, for those that might seek a different format in reading the pages, I feel obliged to let you know that right-clicking on View All at the chapter menu and selecting open in new tab or window, loads the pages in an almost seamless top-down format where one can simply scroll down through the entire chapter.

Click here to view this reading format...

Until next time, keep strong, resist, fight! Darkness is only but a means, an obstacle, to new strength and more light.

>> Scionia Update: Site and Page Changes.

Getting Ready for the last addition to Chapter 01: A Hero Born

Some new additions and changes have been made to the site of SCIONIA GUARDIAN ANGEL.

Most important of all, these include changes to the pages of the comic itself. A new font has replaced all text along with new layouts or improved layouts in certain boxes for these texts.

In addition a new Chapter Art page has been added for Chapter 1, and its respective promotional version in the Art section.

The chapter finale is almost on its way, with the new 7 pages being completed even now to make way to Chapter 2: Ellania.

On other news, as also revealed from the SCIONIA BRIEFING banner, an Archives Menu is also being designed along with everything else and should be ready for addition to the site before Chapter 2 begins if all goes to plan. This will be a collection of data and information to the entire lore of Scionia. It will begin with a minimum collection of lore, so as not to contain spoilers as well, and will slowly grow and adapt with the story to give more insight to the world of Scionia as it proceeds. It should serve as a great place to keep track of what is going on in general to make things clearer or to remind and place the world into a more understandable means. Should be great for newcomers as well (if spoilers do not effect them) for getting into the lore before choosing and deciding to take on the journey itself.

Visit the site now and stay tuned for the end to Chapter 1: A Hero Born

JUDGE DREDD vs DREDD and the COMICS

Review, comparison and tribute...

Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone, 1995 with a budget of 90 million

vs

Dredd, starring Karl Urban, 2012, with a budget of 45 million.

Ok, so I'm going down that path of comparing the two, and why not? I am after all a fan of Judge Dredd since the age of around 10. Perhaps even younger (have to give credit to my brother for introducing me to it at such a small age).
Fandom aside, I loved the reboot of this iconic character (remake as some called it, yet they couldn't be more wrong and obviously haven't seen one of the two if not neither) and I can only do both the character and myself justice by dwelling into the depths of Megacity One's toughest law enforcer.

>> Scionia - Chapter One: A Hero Born, comes to an end (update)

The next pages for Scionia: Guardian Angel, are being made and making their way to complete the first chapter to the comic, "A Hero Born", with a relatively large update by comparison to previous updates.

The seven-page (and largest so far) update is taking a little longer to produce for obvious reasons including the size of the content, work loads, and lastly some technique testing in the way some things are made.

Aiming once more to keep the quality to professional comic standards, and trying to keep to it's own taste as well, Scionia will experience a small delay but not without reason.

Sneak peeks to the conclusion of Chapter One have also been uploaded to the official Facebook Page along with some concept sketches for artworks that are still works in progress, scoped to being released a short while after the next update.

The following videos have also been added to the YouTube playlist of Scionia with timelapses for both sketches made:

Stay tuned for the next update to Scionia coming soon, making way for Chapter Two: Ellania...

>> Scionia Update: Chapter 1 pages 10 to 13 and more...

The latest update for Scionia is here, adding to the continuation of chapter one with pages 10 to 13 and also the artwork for the Evil General to the art category.

The new update brings also tweaks to the page.

Firstly all previous pages have been changed, panels have been packed together to create a smaller number of pages in total to also help with the loading times of the chapter. For this reason the last update that brought the page count to 12 was decreased in number back to 9 pages.

Second, all the thumbnails have also been changed to make them clearer and simply better looking.

Lastly, I have added a banner to the page that will include the most important weekly news/topics when available for a quick and easy view to what is new to the webcomic each week (to be updated weekly). In the cases updates last longer than a week the banner will simply keep to the last news/topics added.

I hope the new update makes the journey even more enjoyable as we are now also nearing the end of Chapter 1: A Hero Born.

Visit Scionia - Guardian Angel, through the following link: www.scioniacomic.com

>> Scionia sneak peek... chapter 1.

As promised some sketches for the previously released pages are uploaded (4 web-pages in total) along with a sneak peek to the upcoming pages.

pg 9

pg's 10, 11 and 12

Head over to the official Facebook page of Scionia the view the images:
facebook.com/Scioniacomic

sneak peek for upcoming pages...

>> (New Video) Digital Painting Timelapse - Scionia - Character Art 02

The second Timelapse video is here, featuring another character from the tale of Scionia - Guardian Angel.

This one a dark and ominous lord. Details on his identity and the backstory are not to be revealed until within the comic itself.

The feature length is accompanied once again by epic music and lasts just under 24 minutes of video, whereas the realtime version counts up to around the same time taken for the first character art posted a while back. 8 hours and 41 minutes to be precise.

Both videos are now available in the official Scionia Youtube Playlist.

Click here to view the new timelapse video:
Digital Painting Timelapse - Scionia - Character Art 02

>> Scionia Update: Chapter 1 (pg 8 to 12)

The new update to Scionia is now online. Head over to the official site of Scionia to continue the journey as pages 8 to 12 have been just finished.

I also replaced the few pages with grammar errors from the previous update that saw with purpose to making them clearer yet in the process had a few mistakes slip through. They too are now up to standards.

Within the week I will be also uploading sketch work from these 5 pages to the official Facebook page for Scionia just for viewing pleasure.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for future updates soon to be uploaded.

An MMO Evaluation - Part 2

An MMO (mostly mmorpg) Evaluation, that is- "My 2 Bits on MMO's thus far." - part 2

I know that the article itself might seem very long, but the truth of the matter is that I am after all not talking about one game alone, but an entire game genre, it's history, my likes and dislikes on it, comparisons to other gaming genres during this time, as well as a small review on titles as well. Taking head on such a large topic cannot be done in just few words, unless the idea is to point out to only some things and keep posting new articles to cover different areas each time. To make one complete reference to it all in one go is indeed a lengthy journey.

Seems there might be hope after all.  Art from ESO (Elder Scrolls Online)

For Part 1 to the article click here.

Now, where to begin, or shall I say continue...

SWG: Star Wars Galaxies

My first introduction to mmo's was Star Wars Galaxies (SWG).
What followed after that first experience was a close reflection of the same thing. Low end graphics, cooldown crowded gameplay, target lock type combat and interface that although was not exactly turn-based, it was certainly closer to a turn-based form rather than real-time. My personal taste on all the above? Is disgust.

My stay in SWG was small, but long enough for me to see the basics. After 15 years of gaming I am a veteran and do not need more than few hours (much less) to understand where a game is going. Now my gaming years have ranked up to 25. The comment "later on the game gets better" is so overrated and overused. No, the game will never get better later, and it is about time people started to realise this. The content will get better, but not the game. It will have the same graphics, the same mechanics, the same animations, and the same gameplay.

The skill trees and the things you unlock are not the reward for playing an rpg for hours, they are reasons you like to play the rpg (meaning that having them from early on in the game is a good start to help you enjoy the game, waiting for 30 dings of leveling up to get to some skill or ability that will make the game fun does not suffice). You should enjoy building up a character, not building towards a character, hence constant rewards are the way to go and also the means to make you move up into the world which you are experiencing, making it more fun as well as more versatile. These extras are there to keep you going instead of boring you out, they are there to be enjoyed and not to be waited on. Content advancement apart from maps, story, enemies and loot, includes skills, traits, abilities etc, and if indeed the gameplay of a game is stale to begin with, making up for it after 20 hours of play with a cool skill or adventurous map is not an excuse and doesn't save the game. I can see screenshots if the most an MMO can give is better maps later on.

If a game is not fun for you within the first 15 mins, most chances are it will never be fun. "It gets better later" is not a phrase that convinces me, and I have put it to the test. Of course I always give the benefit of the doubt, and never try a new title for less than 30-60 mins. That is more than enough to know everything you need to know about a game, where it is headed, and what you can expect. Above all it is more than enough to know if you like it. I have forced myself to keep to those 30-60 mins for titles that I disliked within 15 mins. The result was the same after spending the extra time. Some titles I hit hours of play to try and get into them when I had more time and it still simply didn't work.

My introduction to the mmo genre, SWG, a game I actually enjoyed but only due to my Star Wars fandom.
Seeing Tatooine and the Binary Sunset, as well as laser pistols and lightsabers, was enough to give me smiles.

An MMO Evaluation - Part 1

An MMO (mostly mmorpg) Evalutation, that is- "My 2 Bits on MMO's thus far." - part 1

It's no surprise that someone that loves rpg's would turn in time to also like mmo's. Notice I used the word "like" instead of love, since to be honest with ourselves we all know that mmo's are not really doing a good job to encapsulate the true essence of rpg's, and they never have thus far.

After taking the time to experience them, begining the journey with first tastes from SWG (Star Wars Galaxies) a small while before WoW came out, I find myself putting together a collection of ideas and thoughts, likes and dislikes, on the mmo industry. Mostly dislikes so far but thankfully the last year has seen a small change in this bringing finally a taste of bliss in liking as well. Not nearly enough to justify such a long wait (of almost 10 years) of looking into mmo's to find the recipe that works, or perhaps simply the recipe I liked.

I am in many ways now wasted on the thought of mmo's for they have not delivered to the genre in the way that they should have all this time. Of course this is just my opinion, but isn't everything on gaming based on personal taste and opinion? Having that said, I am now at the point that even if I see something I like, it is dwindled down into a small flicker rather than a flare or flame the way it would have been had I not been involved with the mmo genre for so long.

I had much greater expectations back in the day and indeed I find no reason to hide the fact that I also had many ideas for how the genre should and could have been developed, as well as the directions it should have worked towards achieving. Almost 10 years later and FINALLY these ideas are coming to life! Some I admit came to being during these years, but they where the smaller and at times less important changes I felt should always be a part of mmo's. Even so, some of those ideas have still to be developed or made even today. Not to mention that today, personally, my expectations and ideas on the direction of mmorpg's... correction, my expectations and ideas on the state they should already be IN, are much larger and even more in number.

>> Chapter 1 Update

The next few pages to SCIONIA:GUARDIAN ANGEL - Chapter 1 are now online as the tale continues.

The initial pages are also replaced with clearer versions both in picture quality and text clarity.

Click here to continue the journey: Scionia- Chapter 1 - A Hero Born

edit:  It came to my attention early on that the new pages that replaced the first suffer from a few grammar errors (2 in count) in my attempt to change the text into something clearer and more readable. I will be fixing this soon.