Slightly More Detailed Storyboard

Far Cry 2

Farcry 2, spiritual successor to Crytek's FarCry. There is no relation in terms of storyline between the two games. Crytek wasn't even involved in the production of FarCry 2.

Surprisingly, I find that a good thing. Why? Because then they wouldn't have decided to use their power hungry Cryengine on Farcry2. The DUNIA engine used in Farcry2 is way more efficient and optimized, graphics-wise. As far as I can tell at least.

The realism in the environment is very immersive even on my weak Asus G1s lappie. I had to play at 1024x728 resolution though. You could actually feel the heat in the hot desert and actually feel like standing under the shade of a tree when it is high noon and blazing hot. And you can pretend you're a real hunter too. DIE ZEBRA!

The engine also has very good fire effects, fire spreads to whereever there is grass. And the engine seems to take consideration what kind of grass as well. If you're in a swampy area, the fire won't spread as horrifyingly as in the hot wide open plains.

Animation is also a fine point in the game. Everything the player does is in first person view, which is effective at making it feel like you're directly controlling the player. However, the lack of legs can sometimes make you question your existence.

Character models and animation are done very well too. I say this in comparison to Fallout 3.

Driving in Farcry 2 is quite frustrating as the cars feel too light and steering is too snappy. But maybe that is just limited to the PC version.

The explosion and action effects are pretty awesome, guns feel powerful and all that, one mentionable is that ammo crates light up like firecrackers when fired upon.

Then theres the quests.

I think playing Fallout 3 alongside Farcry2 has clouded my judgement over the quality of quests in Farcry 2 but hear me out.

I do enjoy the open world in Farcry2 but it just doesn't feel open enough, to get to point A to point B, there is often only a single most effecient road to get there. This is comparable to driving to work on the same road every flipping day.

Not only that, if this road has an enemy checkpoint, you HAVE to stop and take care of them before moving on. Or you'll die in the explosion of your car. This for me disrupts the flow in the game. I just want to get to Point B with no interruptions please.

It's different in Fallout 3 because the enemies are in random places all the time. In Farcry2 it's like, "Augh, not THIS checkpoint again. I just leveled the place 5 minutes ago!"

That is one of the major turnoffs in Farcry 2 for me. Repetition. Graphic-wise, awesome. If you'd like to explore Africa in the comfort of your own home, this is a nice visual simulation of it.

Big Boss Says

Mister Kerotan

Skeleton Jack and The Temple of the Terracotta Squid

This post details me and my adventures in The Faculty of FCM and The Project Of Yearly Finality!

Concept Board





Character Design

• Skeleton Jack

Clearly an homage to Samurai Jack, this oriental treasure hunter is as bad-ass as (that was a mouthful) Genndy Tartakovsky's popular Samurai Jack.

The origins of Skeleton Jack is of yet unexplored and we just have to assume he doesn't eat very much. His anatomy isn't too accurate in the concept board.

Limbs and any articulatory appendages are simplified in order to ease animation.

Lookie, its little ol' Samurai Jack.

• Gui the Temple Apparition

The powerful apparition which guards the Terracotta Squid. Contrary to what the top image would convey, Gui is not a wugui, therefore is perfectly as untortoise-like as you can not imagine.

Later, I came up with one of those hideous ghost demons that you usually see on Chinese New Year. After a few more sketches I decided to ease my workload by simplifying Gui into something less hideous and slightly more appealing but still maintain a certain level of menace.

I also experimented with a dragon/serpent design but decided that with my inexperience, I would have problems animating the damn thing.

• Little Baby Guis

Creepy little creatures that are supposedly offspring of powerful ghosts. Only two made it into the treatment so far as having more may convey a sense of "he doesn't love that one as much as that other one"-ness.

• Temple Guardians

Mechanized guardians of the Temple. Design greatly influenced by robots from the Samurai Jack episode "Samurai vs. Samurai". They have blades for arms and uniform roughly similiar with the Terracotta army armor theme.

Background and Prop Design

The treasure was initially a fruit, a gold ingot and a ruby squid. But ruby squids don't really fit in an oriental setting. Terracotta it is then! Though it's not reaaaally that valuable. Then again, that might explain the ending.

The temple design was based upon a few reference images of pagodas which I didn't save because I sketched on the spot.

I always loved those curvy hills that you see in a lot of "China" tagged images so that's what I plan to use as the main background scenery in the animation.

Treatment
A treasure hunter, Skeleton Jack, clearly an homage to the Genndy Tartakovsky (I can't get enough of saying that name) TV series, Samurai Jack, finds the Temple Of The Terracotta Squid, grabs the goods, becomes hunted and a spoilerific ending ensues. Now don't tell anyone about the ending. It's only between you and me.



Longest. Post. Ever.

Your Own Nobadon Wallpaper

Some individuals have claimed to have interest in having the ending Nobadon black and white picture as their desktop wallpaper. Here's a relatively large screencap for you. You may adjust the resolution or cropping of the Nobadon image to fit your monitor size. May his ethereal freedom inspire you.



As always, click the image to enlarge.

A320 Lands in KLIA runway 32L

That means, I'm landing on the left runway of KLIA with heading 320.



Allow it to complete buffering before playing for maximum awesomeness!

Cinematography and editing by me.

Nobadon and The Little Girl of Mischief

Too small? Then view original version here.

Just something I did during lulls in class. The class was an animation class btw.

The scariest thing about this animation was how well the music fit the ending. I never had a particular track in my mind when I created this animation. When I plopped in Sea Breeze by Sergei Mantis, I was expecting a horrible cut in the end of the animation.

Well, all comments are welcomed good or bad. I'm still color blind so any miscolorings are noted. Heheh. Hope you enjoy this nonsensical piece of animation.

Dons.

Dons! Qukidon, Mushroomdon, Insectdon, Octopiidon, etc.

Wild Hamster Is Wild

Used in conjunction with this. Thank you Czarina for the inspiration!

Nodification Contest Results : 3RD PLACE!

Yay I won third place!

First up is Benjamin "NightShadow" T., who submitted this well-done rendering of a Nod base at the foot of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 until 2004, when the Taipei 101 was constructed.





Since the buildings are major features of Kuala Lumpur, they score high on the culture score, and since they host the offices of Malaysia's national oil company, IBM, Microsoft, Reuters, Bloomberg, and other major multinationals, high marks are awarded for choosing a target of economic significance. The Nod structures and soldier are, of course, ripped straight ouf of C&C3, and the whole thing comes together so well it almost feels like it could be a level in a new Tiberian C&C game.

For his great modelling work and well-done render shot, especially the nice pose of the Black Hand trooper, NightShadow wins third place, consisting of a copy of "C&C3: Deluxe Edition" and a "Kane Lives" T-shirt

Not too shabby eh? It was worth the time heheh.

Second place was won by Ricky P:





And first place goes to the awesome Kalle Bowo with his ambitious photo slideshow!

He also has shown great sportsmanship by giving gifts that he already has received away to the other two winners! Ricky P. gets a Tiberium Wars tshirt while I get the travel mug! Thanks Kalle!

Happy Birthday Hexetic!

In conjunction with PlanetCNC's Hexify THIS! event which was organized for the event which is Hexetic's birthday, I made a little entry for hexxiewexxie. Happy birthday!

KLCC Nod Occupation

Created in one day and a half for the competition.

KLCC was half-assedly modelled by myself. At first I considered PAINTING (ha!) the extra buildings but then I figured it will translate better into the C&C universe if I used in-game structures to fill in the empty spaces in the image.

The cloud and light flare effects were added in Photoshop with guidance from the all-knowing and color-filled-vision Esadon.

Let's see how this goes eh?

Star Wars : Order 66

Star Wars : Order 66 by ~NightShadow02 on deviantART

I've been reading the Star Wars : Order 66 book and upon some googling, I discovered that there was originally a different book cover art. I thought it was pretty awesome.

Here is the version in which wasn't messed around by I.

Big Punch

When you've got nothing to do, GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE BY THE BIG BOSS MAN! I know I would.

Big Boss Chibi

If anyone is able to create a plushie which is accurate to the design shown here, please gimme a squeal.

Just Period Pain

Conversation I had with a friend and art style + humour inspired by Natalie Dee.

More from her:





Grace her with some visits for MOAR!

Angry Eggplant

Angry Eggplant from Devastis's Weerd Flazh makes cameo in real life.

Katamari Prince

The Prince loves his katamari. It is pretty and colorful. The ladies love him because of his huge ball.

Eeek Robat!

Man: EEEEK! ROBAAAAT!!
Robat: RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA






Doodled during a boring law-based lecture. Yaaaawn~

Certainly lacks 3D-ness. Looks pretty flat. Requires different line quality. Artist needs parctice. PARCTICE I SAY.

ROAR LION

Lion dancers liek for srsly.