Fender Blender

Drunken Monkey Tech

These guys are real video game fanatics! They play lots and like to talk about what they like and what they dislike.

Check out their website Bag of Mad Bastards

I got the chance to discuss some of the Dead Space lighting with one of them so they game me mad props on their Drunken Monkey Tech pod cast. You can listen to it here:

Twitter Hate or Love?

Got to work today and was forwarded a link with this Anti-Twitter graphic created by Josh Holland. I started reading up on the thread via comments found on Joyengine

Admit
They say before you can move forward you must face the music and face your demons. Yes, I am a Twitter user, and yes I think that Twitter is a powerful tool. Ok.. now that I have said it, we can move forward from a centered place.

Bobble Head
I have come across many Twitter naysayers and people who just don't see any value in it. They usually question the fundamentals.... like.. "what does it do?" or "I don't get it, I signed up and then what?" or "How do I know who to follow?" Be patient my young Luke Skywalker, in this world of immediacy some things, like a good bolognese sauce, take a bit of time. You don't need everything to hit you over the head Tony Little style.

Statistics don't lie
No matter what you think of Twitter, you can't ignore the stats and the adoption rates and all those unique view statistics that you can find on Mashable. It's a growing phenomenon that is moving so fast that it can give you whiplash. Yes, Twitter is now up to about 14 million Unique views in the month of March. Anything with this much momentum and views is a gold-mine.

My value
So what's up with Twitter for me? I have been able to come across the most diverse and unique data when using search.twitter.com. This is a very different search engine when compared to google search. It's a way to scrape for keywords in the twittersphere, a sampling of what people are talking about at the moment vs. data mining tons of html that is quickly becoming out of date. If I'm attending GDC, I'm not going to search google for "GDC '09" and expect to find out what is going on right now. Immediately I reach for search.twitter.com

Example
Prior to shipping Dead Space we provided a bunch of "pre-released" copies of the game to certain people in the industry. I started searching twitter for "dead space" and utilizing the results.

I would get things like "@jimmygameplayer I've just started playing Dead Space and will hope to have a review soon." Having access to this kind of connection is incredibly powerful. I would follow up by clicking on this Twitter page to see what he has been tweeting about. Following the link to his website or blog etc. Immediately I would find out that @jimmygame player was a reviewer for xbox360 magazine. Nice.

In most cases I would follow up by tweeting @jimmygameplayer with "I hope that you have fun, turn off the lights and wear your diapers. We spent tons of time tweaking our lighting."

This would usually create an immediate dialogue. I'm saying "shit, how would I ever have made a direct connection to a game reviewer for xbox360 mag." I'm sure that he was saying something similar "shit, how did a developer on Dead Space find me, and sweet to be connected directly to someone on the team."

The possibilities are somewhat endless here.. but just a sampling of a way that I find Twitter very useful and informative.

Nutshell
So what does this all mean? I think that Twitter and Social Networking sites are something that we can't ignore. In the game-space that I work in.. I think that it would be extremely foolish to think that we can continue to develop in our small little world when a giant one exists just nearby. The power of Kutcher and Armstrong to direct traffic is incredible. We need to embrace this movement and utilize it for the potential that it has. I could go into lots of detail on this subject, but just like the good sauce... with a bit of time, you can conjure up some of your own ideas.

Anatomy of a Dead Space frame

So there were a few good comments after I tweeted that there should be a "lighting" category when referring to video game awards. Great to hear that lots of peeps really agree regarding the importance of lighting. This prompted me to dig up a few images from a Dead Space lighting and Post Effects presentation that I gave here at EA Black Box in Vancouver. Theses images are from a slide entitled "Anatomy of a Frame" from the video game Dead Space. I was the lighting director on this title and the lighting / rendering /post effects aspect was paramount in an effort to achieve a living breathing ship where actions had consequences not only in a game play sense, but in a visual sense as well.

So.... here is a breakdown of lighting and post effects for a single frame of Dead Space.

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Ambient Only - This is what the frame would look like if there was just a single ambient light in the scene set to a value of 1,1,1. An ambient light is infinite and has no directionality. Might be easier to say that it is a light that contributes equally from all directions. It does not contribute to specular term. Compare this frame to the final frame for the true before & after.
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Ambient Occlusion - We are storing the ambient occlusion values in the form of lightmaps. Ambient Occlusion is computed using a simple raycast to determine visibility. Our max distance is set quite low to only provide occlusion values between objects that are quite close in spatial relation. These lightmaps are computed offline via a Render Farm. Only the occlusion values are used in rutime to effect the final pixel values generated via shader calcs.
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Lighting - When considering all the lighting calculations the image starts to become more compelling and complex. We can't see what's in the background because it's very dark... starts to feel slightly scary? One of the limitations to this deferred rendering approach is the lack of specular "outside" of the light volume. This is becoming more apparent to me when looking at these images closely. Further investigation and potential solutions on this topic are in my future.
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Shadows - This might not be the best example of shadows in the game, but here I have enabled shadow casting from the main directional light in the scene. I won't get into the details of this cheat, but the effect seemed to work fine. Nothing really fancy here, just a depth map runtime shadow approach. We supported multiple depth map buffers including shadow casting from the player weapon/light. Even though the shadow rendering tech was basic, our shadowing triggering/messaging system was complex. Next time check out what happens when you enter and exit one of the stores/upgrade stations in the game. You will see a shadowing light turn on and also a depth of field effect being triggered. Notice how these go away when you exit. This is a good example of our messaging system triggering lights / shadows and post effects.
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Emissive Lights - One of the key elements or visual signatures of Dead Space was through the use of emissive textured light sources. Clearly in this example it helps define the length of space and direct your eye into the frame. These very bright light sources are critical aid to navigating through a level. One of the key observations here is that during "low-light" situations, the natural "filmic-response" is for anything moderately bright in the frame to become completely blown out.
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Post effects - There are a few post effects that we used regularly. This image features a "bloom effect" that basically takes the brightest part of the image, blurs it, and composites this back over the top of the original image. It's not quite that simple, but that's basically what is going on... combined with a few added tricks. You might be able to see some camera relative "lens effects" that are part of the ceiling lights here as well.
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Final Frame - Here is the final shipping frame. The only difference here is that I am showing it with the "look-up" table applied. The lut or color correction is a way that we remap the colors of the image. We implemented a very nice way of scripting the color correction based on game-play or just about any event in the game. In this image the color is being pushed toward cyan/blue and re-balancing the contrast a bit, while pushing the brights to achieve more bloom. Color correction is such a vital part of the image. Take a peek at any Michael Bay film or Minority Report. What would these look like without color correction! Now take a look back at the first frame and see just how important lighting & post are to crafting a compelling image.

Today is history... tomorrow is a mystery...

When I was about 15 years old I worked at the Country Club in our small town. One of the grounds keepers would say the same thing every time that I saw him. "Today is history, tomorrow is a mystery."

The logic here rings true.. but it was funny as he told me this "mini prayer" almost daily, like it was the first time he was saying it. I would never call him out and say, "Dude, you just told me that yesterday!" I guess that I sensed something was a bit off.. and I'd let him preach his gospel to me based on the inner ramblings of his consciousness. It seemed like he might be getting more out of it than me anyway.

The ringing in my ears is due to these same words playing on a constant loop cycle in my brain. After joining EA's Black Box studios here in Vancouver on December 1st. It's just been an onslaught of different trajectories coming at me quick.

There is little to nothing that I can say publicly at this point. There are rumors.. certainly lots and lots of rumors. So I will put it this way... Need For Speed will continue...Black Box will continue... and hopefully I will still have a job! The economic outlook means that EA needs to cut costs and overhead. Facilities and staff is one of the quickest ways to do it. Surely now more than ever "Today is history and tomorrow is a mystery." Thanks again for that bit of knowledge Larry... I'm living it!

Observations Vancouver vs. San Francisco

Since moving to Vancouver I have observed some differences. I thought it might be fun to keep track of them here:

Misc.

• We ordered a Cesar today thinking that it was a salad. Turns out that a Cesar here can mean a drink that is very similar to a Bloody Mary.
  

Politics

• Seeing Obama on the news here is even better than in the US.
• I really feel that the US has gotten some world credibility back by electing Obama. This is even more apparent when living in Canada. I have yet to meet a Bush supporter.
• I have no idea how Canadian Politics work but I intend to learn.
  

Geography

• Since I was born in Massachusetts, I found myself starting to explain where it's located when talking with a few Canadians. They usually stop me mid sentence and say "I know where that is.. we had to study the configuration of the US states in school here." Now can you tell me where Manitoba and Alberta are in relation to Ontario?
  

Temperature

• When someone say's it's "plus 10" outside. That's 50 degrees for you and me. Remember when the US decided to "opt out" of that whole metric thing? Well....the rest of the world "opted in"

Beer

• The beer here is good and varied.
• The idea of having a pint along with lunch is encouraged.

Iraq

• I have noticed that there is quite a bit of news and other documentaries on television regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Canadians are not afraid of putting a real face to these tragic stories created from war.
• On the front page of today's paper 12/15/08 there were pictures and descriptions of three Canadian soldiers just killed on Saturday in Afghanistan. I don't think that I have seen this in the US. The descriptions included what friends and family had to say about their loved ones. Certainly this is not something the US seems eager to make the public aware of. The most I remember hearing in the mainstream media in the US was numbers, digits, not faces and stories. An effort to dehumanize might be a good way to put it.
  

Hockey is everywhere

• No need for an explanation here as hockey seems to be everywhere. I am considering this an expected observation.
  

Rain and foul weather doesn't stop anyone

• I've seen bikers, joggers, walkers etc.. just in rain gear fighting the good fight in some horrible weather conditions.
• The bike messengers here must have nutz of steel.
  

The 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins.

• There are a few issues with coins of this monetary denomination. When paying for something and all you receive is coins as change. It makes you feel like you just spent way to much money.
• You might make the mistake and give a homeless person like 7 bucks.
• Fortunately I am starting to make use of my little coin pocket that was completely underutilized in my jeans prior to the Canada move.
• The one dollar is a Loonie and the two dollar is a tuneeee
  

CalTrain sucks just a bit less

Just found out about someone who is trying to make your experience riding CalTrain a bit better.. wow.. can't believe it.. of course is has nothing to do with the people running the show.. just someone with a bit of sympathy in their hearts and some tech in their brains. Check it out at Caltrain Tweets and start to "Follow" them on Twitter.

Reminds me of someone who told me that the incompetence of a business can be a great reason to spawn other businesses. The example that he gave was the US postal service.. "The only reason why we have carriers such as DHL, Fed-Ex, UPS is due to the sheer incompetence of the USPS."

Let's hope that CalTrain can suck so bad.. it can lead to a better tomorrow? huh? In this case... I don't know if it works that way.

Cliffy B might go Survival Horror

This article posted on Destructiod mentions that Cliffy B. from Gears of War fame might be interested in making a Survial Horror game. I wonder if any inspiration comes from Dead Space? A quote pulled from the article states, "Do you think this one has been in the works for awhile? Or is it a "me too" title, following the success of Dead Space and coming in line after Resident Evil 5?"

Justin.tv

A very cool thing that someone on the team discovered is the fact that you can go to Justin.tv Search for Dead Space, and find people who are playing the game live right now while they offer commentary and take direction and comments from IM scrolling off to the side bar of the page.

Many of us on the Dead Space team didn't realize just how much fun it is to watch other peeps playing the game that you created. It's been a blast!

Seems like we could just use this approach as another form of focus testing. It would alow others to play the game while we provide feedback and comunicate via voice or im.

Another interesting idea would be to have some of the developers on the team play the game while providing insider commentary as it happens. I am sure that a bunch of gamers out there would love to hear the ideas and inspirations in a "behind the scenes playthrough"

Hey EA Marketing peeps.. what do you think about giving this a shot?

The Seven Days of Dead Space

Congrats Erin Ali....You have won a Dead Space Isaac Clarke helmet. Check out her creative entry at the contest sponsor Game Daily

Ctrl+Alt+Del

I think that I experienced this first hand through the development process of making Dead Space.. Looking back.. I had some really *#$%@'ing weird dreams.

More Reviews

Now that we are just one day away from launch.. the reviews, mentions and screens are really starting to roll in... so instead of a unique blog post for each one.. I'll just start listing them here with links.. Enjoy

GamePro
GameSpot
NeoGaf Tread
NeoGaf Review Thread
JoyStig Features Dead Space games out this week
Gamer 2.0 interview with Chuck
News-a-rama
Vigster
MetaCritic
1Up
Kotaku
GameTrailers
GCHD
Xbox360 Fanboy
UGO
VideoGamer
CVG
GameZone
Cheat Code Central
X3F
Game Revolution
DorQ
GameDaily Issac Clarke spoof
Sarcastic Gamer
GameDaily
PCworld
xbox domain
GameSpot
Daily Game
VX en Espanol
Button Mashing
Crunch Gear
360 Sync
Spieletester
Digital Comic News Interview with Antony Johnston
Wired
CNET Crave
MSNBC
Gamer 2.0
Edge
Ve3tro
The Casual Gamer
The Escapist
Gaming Nexus
Hawty McBloggy
Zombie Reporting Center
Ars Technica
Helmet Contest at UGO
Launch Trailer featuring music by Sigur Rus
Game Rankings
Game Score Blog
LA Times
PGNX
AeroPause
Xbox mag
TeamXbox
Gamespy
Gamasutra
GameTrailers Sci vs. Fi
ZTGameDomain
360 Gamer
SFX 360 Video Review
Kombo
Game Trailers
Trusted Reviews
Check Your HUD
Destructoid
FullSignull
GamerVision
Xbox Addict
MeriStation Xbox360
Destructoid

Unscripted 360 reviews Dead Space 9.3

This just in... Unscripted 360 gives Dead Space a whopping 9.3!! If you want to cut to the chase.. here is the how is how DeconBlade wraps it up.

Conclusion

Dead Space is a freakishly disturbing game that makes hell seem like a day at camp. It looks great and has a deep enough story to keep you checking your video files and clues throughout just to uncover the truth. Did the game scare me? Yes. Did I survive? So far. Will I play this game again despite no multiplayer? Hell yeah. There were a lot of intense moments that EA managed to capture perfectly with a blend of quality sound and detailed environments. I’m already preparing myself for Dead Space 2.

IGN Dead Space review 8.7

Take a look at the IGN reviews for Dead Space PS3 and for x360.

Note the 9.0 for Graphics.. :)

"the world's scariest game" PSW article

Haven't heard this in a while but the latest news on the Dead Space front is that it's "the world's scariest game". Wow!!

Concluding the review, the mag says Dead Space is "the new benchmark to beat in survival horror that pushes the genre to twisted new heights and into the outer limits of space itself," before slapping it with a nice 9/10 score.

Will see exactly what they have to say in the PSW article that comes out tomorrow!

Godfather II

So after getting Dead Space out the door and on it's way to an early ship date of Oct 14th. I am now working on Godfather II. There is a bunch of work still left to do so I am helping out on the IGC's or "In Game Cinematics". Trying to leverage some of the cool tricks that I was able to implement on Dead Space. I've only got a few weeks before I have to pack my bags and head up to EA's Black Box in Vancouver to join the Need For Speed team! Yes.. lots of changes in the works.. but hey.. change is good right?

Please... for the love of god... READ THIS!

If I hear McCain / Palin say one more time that the Obama ticket will result in higher taxes, which will lead to killing jobs. I am going to loose my mind!! Please for the love of god.. just take 1 min. out of your busy schedules and look at this chart found on washingtonpost website.

It's not rocket science people.. if you make up to $160,972.00 you will benefit by the tax rebates offered by Obama / Biden. If you make more than this.. Congrats.. you are doing well for yourself and will be paying more. Simple facts.. straight talk.. no media spin.

The antics continue.....

Instead of owning up to her incompetence and inability to answer a question, Palin is now complaining that Couric was missing the point by asking what a VP candidate should stand for. So let me get this straight.. it's Couric's fault? Who are these people, where do they come from... If normal everyday people tried to pull this shit at work they would be bitch slapped into being fired. Why do politicians get to have all the fun and talk out of their asses.

In an interview for Fox news today, Palin has this to say,

"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

VP debate brought to you by ExxonMobile Corp.

Just took a look at a link posted on Twitter by @ClockworkGrue McCain says Obama lead is growing because "life isn't fair" So each time I think that things are looking even more and more odd with not only this election, the process, and the country.. What I am really alarmed about is not this piece of journalism but what I see off to the side bar of this article.

This should be a red flag to anyone thinking that we are getting a fair and balanced view of what happens in this country. Most importantly what happens regarding our political process. The caption reads: Sponsored By ExxonMobile "Taking on the world's toughest energy challenges" Are you serious?

Has anyone else been wondering why our debate process doesn't have proper oversight to ensure that this is delivered to the American public in a fair and unbiased way? There was a great interview on this mornings Oct 2nd. "Democracy Now" discussing just how the election process went from being a fair and un-biased process with oversight to what it has become today. It is now managed and run by a private corporation called the "Commission on Presidential Debates". Check out what George Farah has to say on the topic and learn more from the Open Debates website devoted to fair and open debates.

Project Manana

The return from our two week stay in Soliman Bay Mexico has inspired the launch of Project Manana. We hope that this will serve as a place to keep track of our inspirations for this future project.

Dead Space Countdown Clock

Want to know how long you are going to have to wait until you can go play your own copy of Dead Space? Check out this cool Dead Space Countdown clock added to the bottom of my page.