Modelling Troubles

I have the main form of the Chest modelled out, however when it comes to bevelling the edges I often have lots of troubles. The most common of which is "warning encountered a non-manifold vertex. Cannot Bevel."From what I understand this happens when you have shapes with more than 4 sides. I went on to fix all polygons making sure they were 3 or 4 sided shapes, This worked for some but not all. I checked all the vertices made sure there were none extra, and made sure all the normals were facing outward as they should be, some weren't so this did help. But still I went on to have the problem.
(also for a day or two every time I pressed 3 to see the smoothed version of the chest, Maya would crash. This was very inconvenient. It stopped after restating my computer, I.T. Crowd advice )

Playing War: How the Military Uses Video Games

As the civilian population has quarantined itself from its own wars, from its countrymen and women who fight them, War Play’s efforts to explore the healing potential of games is commendable. Also commendable is how, in the book’s concluding chapter, Mead allows his narrative to unhinge. He at last confronts lingering and provocative questions. 

Riffing off the expression “all but war is simulation,” Mead considers weapons that are highly mediated, like Reaper and Predator drones piloted by soldiers using monitors and computer controls. As war itself turns to simulation, when buttons replace triggers and blades, and when killing is removed several orders from civilians and even from soldier-executioners, who is morally responsible for wrongful death or even “successful” “targeted strikes”? Who, in this surreal and oddly precise version of Ender’s Game, is ultimately culpable? When war becomes even more unseen, when it slides ever-more toward computerized management and best-guess threat assessment, will we be more disposed to wage it?

This selection is taken from The Atlantic website and is the conclusion of the article on Corey Mead's book War Play, I feel it had a really strong message and the last paragraph made me think and then worry a little for our future.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/playing-war-how-the-military-uses-video-games/280486/

The Rise of the Military Entertainment Complex: Spacewar! & beyond

An extract from the book called

War Play: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict

by Corey Mead

Felt that these Sections which I took from an Amazon look inside the book bit and photoshopped the pieces I found most interesting together, feel that these paragraphs give an insight to the history behind the military and its relationship with games and how far back that goes.

Military Recruiters Have Gone To Far

Here's two paragraphs I thought may be relevant to my essay, its from the Time website and is by  Corey Mead who is an assistant professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York and a pioneering researcher on video games and the military. The views expressed are solely his own.

"The Pentagon is using video games to infiltrate middle schools."

 The military has long been at the forefront of the digital-curriculum movement, and it has for decades been the largest financer (by far) of educational technology. In fact, over the past century, the military has profoundly influenced educational institutions in the skills that are valued and taught, how students are evaluated and sorted, and the methods and modes of instruction. In that regard, the new era of cyberwar will inevitably determine how and what our children learn. But as state and federal education budgets are slashed in response to the collapsed economy and as the military strains to find cyber-qualified personnel, our schools and the military will undoubtedly join in an ever closer relationship.

But this interweaving of military technology, ideology and money poses a potential risk to students everywhere and should be critically examined by parents and educators alike. A military career is not a game. More to the point, the stealth recruitment and militarisation of young minds is not  game, and it should not be treated as such by school officials in charge of guiding our children’s future.

http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/17/military-recruiters-have-gone-too-far/

New Art Test

Right we got given a lot of choices on our new project which was to do an Art Test from the Industry. I had already decided beforehand that I had wanted to do a 3D one as Its the area I want to go into, however there were very tempting 2d ones such as the chucklefish ones one of which was Pixel art which really excited me and have a feeling I will come back too, the game starbound looks awesome but I am too scared to buy it as I hear it is addictive. So after wasting to many hours trying to decide I decided to do the Art Test from Radiant Worlds in which I have to create a 3d model of a treasure chest based o the concept art given to us. I would include a picture but i'm not sure if I am allowed.

Inspiration for Environment Layouts

This youtube video was really good and I hope I remember to do this kind of thing next time, when doing environments. He layers images over each other and multiplies and changes opacity to give a kind of roshache effect where you start to see environments that aren't there, so you are creating original ideas.

The Black Mesa Logo

Heres a few pictures just showing how I made an old looking Black Mesa sign for the front/ back of the Tram. I had to use the perspective tool to get the correct tilt on the image so it was at the same angle as the surface. I thickened out the black circle as I felt it was to thin to begin with. I felt it worked well.

Details

Above shows some details I added to the piece to link it more into the world of Half-Life. As its supposed to be the third game in the series it will have a story, I was just going of with my Imagination. The graffiti and poster are supposed to give a hint of the the third game. Each one looks better than the one before, the last one has an semi translucent multiply layer of the tiles on which I feel makes the graffiti look like its on the surface not floating. Gordon Freeman in the games is seen by a few to be some kind of saviour figure, as he returns from stasis to save the day in half life 2. He is nick named " The one Free-man" giving the impression he has the power to change things. I was thinking perhaps in half-life 3 there's some kind of revolt or war in which some people go to Freeman to lead them, and that perhaps Gordon went back to Black Mesa or whats left of it for a secret base of  operations.

Continuing Environment Piece...

I started to use and manipulate photos in order to add texture and realism to my piece, I am pretty happy with how its  going, I have the lighting left that I need to do. Image 2 & 3 show where I have been instructed on how to show the lighting on the edge of the broken tunnel. I hope that I managed to get what I learnt about lighting across in my painting of the edge.

My Pintrest : Reference Storage

Where I store all the images I have looked at for research and reference, I did not want to fill my blog up with images, heres the link
http://www.pinterest.com/monsta38/ba5/

Continuation of Environment Piece

Here I'm polishing up on what the Tram looks like as well as painting in the alien. The story behind the alien is its been dead for the last 30 years however, I figured with it being an alien I had artistic license as theres no way of telling how an alien would decompose. The alien itself is a pretty boney specimen, with black boney areas and green skin/ exoskeleton. I didn't' want to make the alien a skeleton as from what I can gather the skeleton would be black, and so not very recognisable to players who are familiar with the boss. So instead I decided to fade the original vibrant colours down so one could still recognise it. I faded its red eyes to pink to give it a vacant dead look.
I had inspiration for the tram of images from within the game and some concept art. See below.

Intial Sketchs

Here are my initial sketch's of my environment piece. They are very rough, the left two are supposed to show the dead alien collapsed in the tunnel on the crushing the iconic half-life tram.
The sketch to the right is one that I ended up leaving, and is of an outside environment so new Mexico desert rocks, a big boss Alien and a helicopter that had crashed in an attempt of trying to escape the research facility.

The Startings of my Black Mesa Environment Concept Piece

I used the polygon tool and added one hundred corners to make a shape that I could use as a perspective tool, I choose to do a one point perspective that went which converged somewhere down the tunnel. I had the idea of the environment, I just needed to iterate and polish it till it looked like what I wanted. I managed to get the dimensions down and what I think to be the correct perspective. I talked to my tutors about the perspective as its a subject I am not confident in. 

Once the fundamentals were sorted I started to paint in the alien.

Joint Fires and Effects Training System Trailer

JFETS is a suite of state-of-the-art immersive virtual reality environments designed to help soldiers make critical decisions under stress and provide collective team training and cultural awareness lessons.

USC: Institute for Creative Technology

Joint Fires and Effects Training System (JFETS)

2003-2008

JFETS is a suite of state-of-the-art immersive virtual reality environments designed to help soldiers make critical decisions under stress and provide collective team training and cultural awareness lessons. Tasks not only focus on the technical application of skills, but also on the thought processes involved in employing those skills.

By leveraging the ICT’s mixed reality technology, JFETS recreates life-like environments that place soldiers in real world settings. Stressors include heat, wind, explosions, human distress noise, and snipers. JFETS also provides added artificial intelligence behaviours to insurgent forces and realistic, reactive behaviours to civilians. Using JFETS, soldiers interact with both the physical and virtual worlds seamlessly without the costs associated with live exercises.

Installed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, JFETS has trained over 16,000 Soldiers since 2004 and is currently being used by members of United States Army and Marine Corps for training prior to deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. The success of JFETS serves as an example of the application of cutting edge virtual simulation technologies and research in a real-world training setting.

JFETS currently consists of three Digitally Interactive Virtual Environments (DIVEs):

• Open Terrain Module (OTM)
• Urban Terrain Module (UTM)
• Close Air Support Module (CASM)

The OTM and UTM are four-dimensional training environments that focus on the application of indirect fires in open and urban settings respectively. In the UTM, Soldiers are placed in an apartment and must observe the activity of a busy city. The UTM training space is configured to accommodate up to three virtual windows overlooking a virtual environment.

The CASM enables joint forward observers to hone proficiency in Close Air Support (CAS) in an immersive and cognitively challenging manner. This is achieved via an innovative display interface consisting of a 300-degree perimeter field-of-view (360-degree overhead), 11 channels of video, rear projection, and the achievement of depth of awareness through the inclusion of 16-channel audio. The CASM offers a dynamic training experience allowing soldiers to practice immediate and pre-planned CAS missions, issuing 9-line, 6-line, and 5-line CAS requests, and pilot interaction from beginning to end of a mission.

Goals

• To provide immersive and cognitively challenging training that replicate real world conditions.
• To hone trainee proficiency more effectively and efficiently than live training.
• To transfer the ICT’s mixed reality technologies and artificial intelligence capabilities into useable and useful training applications.

Facts and Figures

• JFETS was installed at Fort Sill in 2004.
• In 2007, the Joint Clos Air Support Executive Steering Committee recommended the JFETS CAS simulation be certified as a training system that could replace CAS Type 1 and Type 2 controls for Joint Terminal Attack Controller currency.
• Over 20,000 Soldiers trained since 2007.
• Successfully transitioned to the Army PEO STRI in 2008.

Are you ready for the virtual reality revolution? The Guardian

Accompanying the improvement in off-the-shelf commercial technology has been a boom in military interest in virtual reality. Put simply, without the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, virtual reality wouldn't be where it is today.

"The urgency of war required novel solutions," says Rizzo, noting that tens of millions of dollars of US military funding has "fed the scientists in my lab over the last few years". The reason for that funding is simple: virtual reality offers a means of rehabilitating war veterans effectively yet cheaply.

One method being pioneered by Rizzo involves taking a veteran through a traumatic incident by immersing them in a recreation of that incident in a virtual world. Clinical trials of the method are still continuing, but "so far all the data has been promising and positive", he says.

Just as virtual reality is being used to help soldiers reintegrate into society after returning from war, it is also being used to train them for fighting in the first place.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at the Ministry of Defence is investigating how virtual reality technology can be used to give the British army an edge in the field. Andrew Poulter leads the research and says that virtual reality training has a number of advantages over traditional training in the field.

Take, for example, training soldiers driving in a convoy how to respond to an ambush or an improvised explosive device (IED) attack, as troops in Afghanistan have experienced. Recreating that experience in the field repeatedly requires a significant amount of time and resources. "In a simulation, you can reset back to the beginning and go straight away again," says Poulter. Indeed, research published in 2008, looking at US, Canadian and British forces, showed that soldiers appear to be better prepared for combat when they have been trained in a virtual reality environment as well as in the field. But Poulter is somewhat downbeat about the advantage immersive headsets have over simple desktop monitors, keyboards and mouses. "There's very little done with headsets," says Poulter, for the simple reason that a headset can also prevent the soldiers from performing simple tasks such as taking notes or operating a radio.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/02/are-you-ready-for-virtual-reality-revolution-google-cardboard 

Future-casting from 1995

"The US Department of Defence foresees use of the technology in battlefield medicine, by putting a virtual surgeon in every fox hole - computerised mobile surgical units would be standing by to scoop up wounded soldiers and transmit their images to surgeons behind the lines or as far away as the United States. "

Virtual Reality in the Military

Virtual reality has been adopted by the military – this includes all three services (army, navy and air force) – where it is used for training purposes. This is particularly useful for training soldiers for combat situations or other dangerous settings where they have to learn how to react in an appropriate manner.

A virtual reality simulation enables them to do so but without the risk of death or a serious injury. They can re-enact a particular scenario, for example engagement with an enemy in an environment in which they experience this but without the real world risks. This has proven to be safer and less costly than traditional training methods.

Military uses of virtual reality

These include:

• Flight simulation
• Battlefield simulation
• Medic training (battlefield)
• Vehicle simulation
• Virtual boot camp

Virtual reality is also used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Soldiers suffering from battlefield trauma and other psychological conditions can learn how to deal with their symptoms in a ‘safe’ environment. The idea is for them to be exposed to the triggers for their condition which they gradually adjust to. This has the effect of decreasing their symptoms and enabling them to cope to new or unexpected situations.

This is discussed further in the virtual reality treatment for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) article.

VR equipment and the military

Virtual reality training is conducted using head mounted displays (HMD) with an inbuilt tracking system and data gloves to enable interaction within the virtual environment.

Another use is combat visualisation in which soldiers and other related personnel are given virtual reality glasses to wear which create a 3D depth of illusion. The results of this can be shared amongst large numbers of personnel.

Find out more about individual uses of virtual reality by the different services, e.g. virtual reality navy training in the separate virtual reality and the military section.

This section discusses the various military applications of virtual reality and the ramifications from using this form of technology. The military may not be an obvious candidate for virtual reality but it has been adopted by all branches – army, navy and air force.

What the military stress is that virtual reality is designed to be used as an additional aid and will not replace real life training.

This section discusses all aspects of how virtual reality is used by military, from training through to combat situations. It is arranged as follows:

• Virtual reality war
• Virtual reality and the Army
• Virtual reality and the Navy
• Virtual reality and the Air force
• Virtual reality army training
• Virtual reality army exercises
• Virtual reality air force training
• Virtual reality navy training
• Virtual reality combat training
• Virtual reality combat simulation
• Virtual reality military weapons
• Virtual reality military history

Each of these subjects is discussed as a separate article.

What is apparent is that virtual environments are ideal set ups for military training in that they enable the participants, i.e. soldiers, to experience a particular situation within a controlled area. For example, a battlefield scenario in which they can interact with events but without any personal danger to themselves.

The main advantages of this are time and cost: military training is prohibitively expensive especially airborne training so it is more cost-effective to use flight simulators than actual aircraft. Plus it is possible to introduce an element of danger into these scenarios but without causing actual physical harm to the trainees.

Flight simulators are a popular theme in military VR training but there are others which include: medical training (battlefield), combat training, vehicle training and ‘boot camp’.

But another use and one which is not immediately thought of is virtual reality and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD or ‘combat stress’ has only recently been acknowledged as a medical condition but it causes very real damage to the person concerned and their family. Virtual reality is used to help the sufferer adjust to their symptoms and develop coping strategies whenever they are placed in a new situation.

This is discussed at greater length in our virtual reality treatment for PTSD article.

Generally, virtual reality training involves the use of head mounted displays (HMD) and data gloves to enable military personnel to interact with objects within a virtual environment. Alternately, they may be given virtual reality glasses to wear which display a 3D image.

What is Virtual Reality?

( Found at http://www.vrs.org.uk/ )

The definition of virtual reality comes, naturally, from the definitions for both ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’. The definition of ‘virtual’ is near and reality is what we experience as human beings. So the term ‘virtual reality’ basically means ‘near-reality’. This could, of course, mean anything but it usually refers to a specific type of reality emulation.

So what is virtual reality?

Answering "what is virtual reality" in technical terms is straight-forward. Virtual reality is the term used to describe a three-dimensional, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. That person becomes part of this virtual world or is immersed within this environment and whilst there, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions.

The person wears a head-mounted display (HMD) or glasses which displays three-dimensional images as part of their experience. Some systems enable the person to experience additional sensory input, e.g. sound or video which contributes to their overall experience.

Multi-sensory experience

They are aided by various sensory stimuli such as sound, video and images which form part of most virtual reality environments. But many newer environments include touch or force feedback through a haptic device such as a ‘data glove’ which further enhances the experience.

Gaming is an obvious virtual reality application as are virtual worlds but there are a whole host of uses for virtual reality – some of which are more challenging or unusual than others.

There are many more uses of VR than first realised which range from academic research through to engineering, design, business, the arts and entertainment.

But irrespective of the use, virtual reality produces a set of data which is then used to develop new models, training methods, communication and interaction. In many ways the possibilities are endless.

The only stumbling blocks are time, costs and technological limitations. Virtual reality systems are expensive and time consuming to develop. Plus there are issues of ergonomics, specifically the need to design systems which are ‘user friendly’ and not likely to cause problems such as motion sickness. But if these problems are solved then there is an exciting future for virtual reality.

Focus 2: Technical & Cultural Trends

Description
An essay containing a full bibliography and correctly formatted citations. This project considers technical, cultural and social trends for gaming futures; new frontiers continue to emerge in areas unimaginable just a few years ago and technological advancements are reshaping the gaming landscape. Occulus VR’s ambition is to have a virtual reality headset in every home, it might be next year it might be five years from now. Occulus Rift Creator, Palmer Lucke, 2014.

This project addresses the key areas of study as follows:
Business and Professional Skills: You will learn theoretical elements essential to the
practical design process of a commercially or critically successful digital game. You will gain
further understanding of the development of game modes and industries, presenting findings in a professional and appropriate manner.
Contextual Studies: You will undertake extensive primary and secondary research. Using
analogue (books, journals, etc.) and digital (websites, e-journals, academic blogs) sources to evidence your understanding of theories and practices you will apply these through critical analysis and integrate them into your practice. The tone of the research must be academic and investigative, and should be communicated with clarity and creativity.

Proposal
To write an academic essay on the Benefits of virtual reality, focusing on military and medicinal applications. I choose to research into these applications as they interest me, and I know little about them. I don't know a great deal about virtual reality in itself so it should be interesting to research into it. I need to come up with a suitable title for my Essay to help me construct it accordingly.

Environment Concept Idea

Half Life was probably one of the first games I ever played, and I remember vividly the tram ride at the beginning of the game. I feel that the tram ride is an iconic area within the game as it is where you start, and shows you around parts of Black Mesa. The tram system is essential for transport within sections of the facility. I feel that the use of the the tram in my concept piece will get across that it is within Black Mesa, i shall have the symbol on the side also to make it clear. My idea so far is to have the idea flipped over and as a wreck from a crash. As the tunnel it is within will have collapsed due to one of the larger bosses from the game falling on top of it causing lots of debris from other areas of Black Mesa to fall through.

This is the boss that I was thinking of using in my concept piece. The idea is to have its carcass fallen through the top of the tram tunnel causing debris to fall through as well as the light to light the scene. I may figure out a skeletal version as its been over 30 years since it died so will have decomposed. However as its an alien It could have a different decomposition process if one at all.

Black Mesa/ Chernobyl Research

• The Black Mesa facility was apparently built over several decommissioned ICBM launching and testing silo complexes probably constructed during the1950s, which was converted into a vast civilian institute for the research of almost every conceivable scientific discipline. Some areas are also described by characters as "old" or "abandoned"; several areas of the complex are badly run-down despite the obvious fact that they are still in use. However the surface areas of Black Mesa feature more modern construction. All main Sectors are linked together by the Black Mesa Transit System, the monorail network going through the whole facility.

The Black Mesa Facility was built within and around buildings from the 1950's, and has technology within dating back from then. But I am looking 30 Years on from the incident in 2000 and something, so some parts of the place are very old and it abandonment and bombing will have led to most of it becoming derelict and destroyed. 

The first thing that come to my mind when I thought of what to look at for an old derelict science building was Chernobyl. So I looked up a few images of it, it was abandoned in the 60's after the nuclear reactor became unstable and exploded. Below is one of the control stations when it was in use, to me it looks like something out of star wars. Below that is what it looks like now, which is what I imagine Black Mesa would look like. 

The video above shows lots of footage of chernobyl, and its state of Decay. I found this on the guardian website it was really interesting.

Point of View

08/01/12
I had drawn out a few concepts for my Black Mesa environment painting the night before, and this morning had a talk with Nigel. He helped me a lot in how I could Improve the idea that I had settled on. He taught/ reminded me how the point of view can have a great impact on the feel the viewer gets from the image. He used the example of comics as using viewpoints a lot, for example when Jonah Jameson shouts at Peter Parker it'll often be shot from a worm's eye view to give a dramatic, intimidating effect. Then when showing Peter Parker being shouted at they may use more of a bird eyes view to show that he is being intimidated. Birds eye views are more to show the view the whole of the situation rather than exaggerate the feel. Eye level in which my first sketch's were in doesn't give us any meaning, it makes us think the image is normal, standard, everyday. I am glad I talked to Nigel as otherwise I would of carried on with an eye level piece which now I see is actually pretty boring despite what is in the scene.

Example of worm eye view creating feeling of intimidation.

Research into the Black Mesa Environment

I want my environment concept piece to capture Black Mesa as a place, so I must use something that is Iconic to Black Mesa that players of the Half Life series will automatically link to it. Below are some of the more interesting settings in Black Mesa, the first one is the room in which the Plot really begins. Where the experiment goes wrong and creates a rift in the space time continuum allowing Aliens from Zen to cross in to the research facility. 

Here is a view of outside the facility, I feel that the desert setting of New Mexico could be used to create an interesting piece, perhaps with the helicopter crashed into the rocks with a large Alien.

Here is the main reception like area of Black Mesa, its quite a large room. I feel like I could do a lot with this, perhaps a massive pile of alien and human bodies and the huge screen cracked.

This shows part of the tram system which runs all the way through Black Mesa connecting the different sections of the Facility. I feel that the Tram is iconic as it's where you begin in the game and go on a ride seeing various sections and experiments along the way. The idea of having a collapsed tunnel and tram wreck is definitely one I am interested in.

Half Life Plot

06/01/15
Black Mesa is a Research Facility in New Mexico that the first Half Life game is set in. ‘Black Mesa’ is also the name of one of the Source engine re-imagining of the original Half-life, released by Valve in 1998.

As the player you control Gordon Freeman, a scientist working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. He is tasked to place a sample of a strange material into an electromagnetic instrument, using the Hazardous Environment Suit Mark IV to do so safely. However, the sample material causes a "resonance cascade", devastating the facility and creating an inter-dimensional rift to an alien dimension called Xen, bringing its alien creatures to Earth. Freeman survives, finds other survivors, and makes his way to the surface with the protection of his hazard suit to get help. Upon reaching the surface, however, he finds that the facility is being cleansed of any living thing - human or alien - by armed forces. From other scientists, Freeman finds the only way to stop the alien invasion is to cross over to Xen and destroy the entity holding the portal open. On Xen, Freeman eliminates the alien "leader", the Nihilanth, and is then confronted by the G-Man, who offers Freeman employment before putting him into stasis. Back in Black Mesa, a second alien race begins an invasion, but is stopped when a Marine corporal, Adrian Shephard, collapses its portal in the facility. The G-Man then destroys Black Mesa with a nuclear warhead, and detains Shephard in stasis.

Now in the 'new game' that I am creating environment concept for. Gordon Freeman, in his final call to action, is returning to where it all began and walking back into the sprawling nexus that is Black Mesa. The 30 years since the resonance cascade have not be kind to the scientific complex. How have the Combine modified and taken over the ruined or destroyed facility? What has G­Man’s bomb left standing? My task is to Create 1 environment painting that encapsulates a consistent part of Black Mesa and show how it has been overrun, distressed or destroyed.

BA5 - Industry Focus - Art Test's

The Brief

Finally we are onto BA5, this project introduces us to ‘Art Tests’; these are used as part of the recruitment process into games studios and vary from company to company depending on scale and development methods. A wide range of game studios have supplied us with the art tests they use so that we can develop an understanding of what will be required from us in the recruitment process and critically evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. 

Monday (05/01/15)

The first round of Art Test our ones that the NUA staff have created for us, and then the second round will be from actual links in the industry. This is for us to learn what is expected from us by studios in the interview stages.The test's cover 3D Environment Artist, 3D Character Artist, Character Concept Artist, Environment concept Artist, Concept Pre-Visualisation, UI Designer, and Games Designer.

I found myself attracted more towards both the Environmental based Test's, Im having trouble deciding between a 3D Environment Artist Test and the Environment Concept Artist test. Both Test are based on the Valve game Half-Life, which I am very passionate about as I grew up playing on it on the PC and have seen it develop over time. 

Task Description: (for both environment concept and 3D)

Gordon Freeman, in his final call to action, is returning to where it all began and walking back into the sprawling nexus that is Black Mesa. The 30 years since the resonance cascade have not be kind to the scientific complex. How have the Combine modified and taken over the ruined or destroyed facility? What has G­Man’s bomb left standing? 

Task Requirements: (For 3D)

Create 2 environment assets that encapsulates a consistent part of Black Mesa. Using the images below, create faithful redesigns of the objects and bring them up to a current gen standard. Show how it has been overrun, distressed or destroyed. Create game ready models and textures which will be submitted as well as in­ engine screenshots.

Task Requirements: (For concept)

Create 1 environment painting that encapsulates a consistent part of Black Mesa and show how it has been overrun, distressed or destroyed. From this painting, create 2 asset sheets that describe objects in the environment in greater detail ready for production.

I feel that the concept task has more freedom on what I can do however I am interested about learning more in depth 3D skills and getting better at 3D, and perhaps use the test to put in my portfolio if good enough by the end. I think it would be better for me to do the concept task as this gives me more artistic license.