Finally...

Happy holidays dear readers! It is the time to rejoice and make merry! (hehe)

This is just a quick last post before I decide I'm properly on holiday. I've had a great time over the last 10 weeksbut now it's finally time to go home for xmas. I'll keep updating my "Diary of an Avatar" for you lovely people to read about and keep you entertained over this season of sleeping in and mind numbing sack of crap TV movies.

But, before I do go off for my hols, I'd like to share on last bit of work with you... (follow the link)

THE LINK! Dum Dum Duuum..!

Until next time, I love lamp.

- tom_349

Diary of an Avatar - Enrty 1

Just as a quick note, future posts with the "Diary of an Avatar" title will only feature the article and not any form of comment. Just thought I'd let you know =]

I have just entered the newly-released Playstation Home© for the first time. As with any other online environment, I was first asked to create my avatar. There are various options to tweak when creating your virtual persona. The user can choose their avatar’s gender, and alter any aspects of the avatar’s face using pointer positions on a grid to adjust facial features (see photo). There is also the option to alter your avatar’s body shape; they can be tall, short, overweight, or thin depending on preference. I could also choose my avatar’s hair style, hair colour, facial hair, and skin tone. I personally chose a hairstyle and colour similar to my own (however I did encounter an avatar with a red afro later in my session), showing that not everyone likes to represent themselves accurately.

I was then asked to dress my avatar. To start with, there are a rather limited number of options to choose from concerning apparel. I had approximately five tops and five pairs of trousers to choose from. However, others are available via the Playstation Store©, and cost between 50p and £1 each. I could also choose accessories (such as hats, jewellery, and glasses) for my avatar. Below is an Image of my finished avatar.

After creation, my avatar was automatically placed in my “Harbour Studio,” my own personal property within Playstation Home©. Here I can host parties and invite other user’s avatars to come look around. The studio is completely customisable; I am able to change the wallpaper, furnishings, and colour scheme to suit my taste. Therefore, the space becomes an extension of the avatar, displaying the user’s personality and preference. As with the avatar itself, more objects can be purchased for the space for a small fee. Users can even buy a completely new space, the only option at the moment being the “Summer House.” Users can also purchase appliances such as TVs, Radios, and picture frames. These can be used to stream media from the PS3’s hard drive to the Home© space, allowing the user to further project his/her personality and identity by exhibiting their musical preference, favourite films, etc.

My "Harbour Studio."

After customising my space, I stepped into “Home Square,” one of the main areas for interaction with other avatars within Home©. I immediately noticed how many avatars where present in the area, with virtual people conversing in text, playing draughts by a small stream, and dancing in front of a big screen. There are also poster boards dotted around, advertising real-world products and games. This would be a great opportunity for businesses to incorporate “gamer-friendly” into their corporate identity. I wandered around for a few minutes, and interacted with an avatar representing a user named “Pete37.” We had a brief conversation about what games we liked, what our musical preference was, where we were from, etc (turns out “Pete37” is from Southampton).

Centre of "Home Square," with playable draughts and central stream.

In-game advertising for real-world products.

I actually hate software...

Well, the title explains everything really...

After looking over my flash amination on deviantart, it turns out that there is a dud connection somewhere in the script. God knows how that got in there, as I checked it, double-checked it, and even triple-checked it before I exported it as a movie...

Hopefully this is deviantart's fault, otherwise I handed in a dud piece of work for assessment =s

I'll try and get the problem sorted when I have a minute, but I'm currently stating work on the Identities module... =]

*edit* The main reason my Flash animation is crap is the fact that deviantart is slow as fook... So that's not my fault... However, there is still the dud link in it somewhere, so I'm gonna sort it out eventually...

Until next time, sorry about my rather abusive farewell in the last post.

- tom_349

Interactive Narrative

It's 5.36am. I'm tired, hungry, and generally annoyed beacuse I've been up all night getting this bloody flash animation done. I have NO energy, so here's the bloody thing.

"Day ... of the Devil" by ~tom349 on deviantART

Until next time, ah, fuck the farewell, I need caffiene.

- tom_349

I love my course...

The title of my post today is completely apt... Today we had our first lecture for the "Identities" module we start next term (or next week for me). And, to be honest, I almost orgasmed when the lecturer gave us our first journal task. Or, as I would call it, an ASSIGNMENT!

You're about to find out why =]

Diary of an Avatar.

Create an avatar in an online 3D environment, such as Second Life, there.com, or Virtual Doppelganger ect. Spend some time exploring the virtual environments and think about the role of identity in these virtual worlds, try and talk with the virtual residents. Keep a diary of at least four weeks of your avatar's experiences and post it to your journal, also take screen shots of your experiences.

And that, my dear readers, translates in my head as "Playstation Home gets released tomorrow, now you have an excuse to play the fuck out of it." So. I finally get to play on my playstation without people being all "you've gotta work." Because, I can now say "Ah, but I am working!"

Therefore, once again, I love my course.

Until next time, Have a good'an.

- tom_349

I.N. First screens

Hello again ladies and gentlemen... Today I bring you the first two of however many screens that will eventually make up me interactive narrative. Here they are...

These two rather crappy pics must've taken about three hours in total to draw, colour, and slap on final polish...

I'm not looking forward to having to do the others...

Until next time, Tschuss.

- tom_349

Techno Wizz in teh making!

Hello dear readers; rejoice! For I have solved the greatest problem of being a student - The utterly shit comment system on my blog. I did some digging on the internet and discovered something called a guestbook, which is basically a comment box. So, you now have NO excuse for not letting me know what you think of my work...

Hell damn thee who doth not comment the SuperMegaUberBlogofMedia! A pox on thee! Heathen.

All you have to do is enter your email and a username of your choice (no, you don't need to sign up to anything) and Abracadabra! You too can share your opinion on the wittiest blog you've ever read...

Disclaimer: Any information entered in this fashion shall be documented and handed to Schutzstaffel intelligence bereau, to be held for further use.

Until next time, ciao.

- tom_349

Bloody fiddly drawing...

As you probably guessed from the title, there is, infact, a drawing in this post. It is the first (not-too-shitty) realisation of the demidevil character I was ranting about in my last post. It only took me about TWO HOURS to complete ¬¬

So, tell me what you think. I would love some feedback =]

If it takes 2 hours to draw this kinda shite, how long's it gonna take to draw ten screens featuring this guy? Answer... Too many =[

Until next time, Draco Dormiens Numquam Titillandus

- tom_349

I'm baaack!

Yes! It's true, I am, infact, back. That is to say, I have returned to my laptop once more to bring you, my trusted, loyal readers a little slice of happiness in the form of another post on the SuperMegaUberBlogofMedia!!! (Yes, that is infact this blog's full name. It's not at the top of the page in shiny, photoshopped text for nothing you know...)

So, what delights and discoveries do I bring with me this time, you ask? I have planned yet another journey into my rather disturbed thought process to divulge the secret mechinations of form and substance. And no, I'm not "high" on some sort of hallucinagenic drug, I have decided to post a brainstorm for my Interactive Narrative project.

For this project, Me and my fellow Multimedia students have to create an interactive narrative (hence the title). The end result will be a user-reliant text created in Adobe Flash. Or, to the less tech-savvy of us; you click, it goes... I've decided my narrative is going to be some sort of animation-based concept, but I am yet to come up with a stable character or plot. However, I have done initial sketches for a mischevious daemon character (pics soon). The question posing me now is whether or not to make this rather sadistic looking demi-devil the main protagonist of my narrative, or to make him some sort of support character or villain. If I do decide to make him the main character, the plot will have to centre around something mischievious that he would be doing. This could work, as it would place the user in a position that they are not normally allowed to take; that of the prankster, having the ability to carry out morally dubious actions with no consequence (like Grand Theft Auto but a lot smaller).

We shall soon see where the creative element takes us, my dear readers...

But, until next time, This. Is. SPARRRR-TAA!!!

- tom_349