aesthetic
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Cornell researchers taught a robot to take Airbnb photos
A team of Cornell University researchers took a state of the art computational aesthetic system and taught it to take its own pictures.
EverQuest Next Landmark shows off the building blocks of the desert
EverQuest Next Landmark is all about building things right now. There's going to be more to do in the future, but right now it's all about making your own stuff. So it's helpful to know what you can use to make those things. The latest trailer, past the break, shows off another set of building blocks for the game in the form of desert-based plants, landscapes, and textures. Just like real deserts, it's not just an unbroken sea of sand and rocks -- there are cacti, withered trees, sparse grass, bluffs, valleys, and the like. All the things you could need if you want your own little slice of the game to be a dusty place full of blowing tumbleweeds, in other words. Take a look at the video past the break, and keep your eyes peeled for similar videos in the future.
Minecraft belongs in a museum, according to MoMA
New York's Museum of Modern Art has announced that it is adding six video games, including Minecraft, and a console to its famous collection of contemporary art. The Museum chose to honor fourteen games last year (including Pac-Man, SimCity 2000, EVE Online, and Portal) based on their traits of behavior, aesthetics, space, and time. This year, the museum is adding Atari classics Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Tempest, and Yar's Revenge, as well as Mojang's modern hit, Minecraft. MoMA's also adding the Magnavox Odyssey to the collection, remembering it not only as the first commercial home video game console, but as "a masterpiece of engineering and industrial design." As part of the museum's collection, all of these games and the console will periodically show up in exhibits put together by MoMA's Architecture and Design department.
How we see the World of Warcraft
One of the things I'm leeriest of is the idea of a complete overhaul of World of Warcraft's aesthetic. I've talked about it in terms of character aesthetics, and in terms of the visual set that defines the warrior class and what it all boils down to for me is that when I log into the game, I want it to feel like it's the same game, the same world. This is not to say that the game hasn't seen plenty of upgrades to its visuals over the years, far from it. As Takralus pointed out recently in a forum thread asking if WoW will ever see a major graphical upgrade, the game has seen upgrades, at least one every time an expansion has come out in fact. World of Warcraft is a game built out of all of these separate elements combined. It's got excellent sound design, both in music and in sound effects (although I can't watch a TV special on dinosaurs without recognizing a sound from World of Warcraft nowadays), which the graphics build on top of to create the world we experience. As such, I'm simultaneously interested in yet afraid of the long awaited character model redesign Takralus mentions. Yes, it's somewhat ridiculous that human wizards and warlocks, if male, have arms like coiled pythons, but by now I'm so accustomed to it I don't know if I could accept a more slender build for a spellcaster.
Mists of Pandaria, transmogrification and personal aesthetic
The above image is Starshatter, one of my favorite new models in Mists of Pandaria. I like it for a lot of reasons -- the hollowed-out constellation pattern to the blade, the unique color and look of the sword (even the raid finder version looks very cool and distinctive), and frankly, that it really doesn't look like anything I've seen in the game before. It vaguely reminds me of a dadao, but far more fanciful, as befits a fantasy game. I'm also a big fan of the Amber Flammard of Klaxxi'vess, which also has a sweeping curved blade but is very distict from Starshatter. As a transmog enthusiast (to the point where my bank is already full), I'm looking forward to Mists of Pandaria in no small part because I want to collect more gear to transmog into. But I'm also finding myself wondering if transmogrification is also giving the game more artistic license to make weapon and armor models that are not necessarily for everyone. How many players are going to stick to their tier 2, or 6, or 10, or 13 instead of embracing Pandaria's aesthetic? And furthermore, is that a bad thing, or does it free up everyone to go hog wild with gear?
WildStar Wednesday talks about the game's narrative design
Unless you were at PAX Prime last year, about all you've seen of WildStar in action has been the game's cinematic trailer. While it didn't give much of an idea of how the game played, said video certainly had a lot of style. According to the latest WildStar Wednesday community blog post, that style was a big part of the game's narrative design, which is seen as one of the main points of development -- making a game that feels large, engrossing, and epic. As lead designer Chad Moore explains it, the narrative design team is responsible for outlining the world of Nexus, which was in part created to serve as a perfect locus for a variety of different adventures. While this design team isn't particularly concerned with mechanics, it is concerned with ensuring that every part of the game has the same degree of personality as the first cinematic trailer. If you're one of the many people anticipating the game heavily, take a look behind the scenes to see how it produces its feel.
Roboto font and the new design philosophy of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
When it came time to talk Ice Cream Sandwich, Matias Duarte started the conversation (or is it lecture?) with a bit about Roboto. At its most basic, Roboto is a font -- the new face of Android in a post Honeycomb world where tablets and phones share the same software space. Sure, it may seem like just another rounded, clean sans serif typeface, but it's really an entire aesthetic that Duarte says has guided the design philosophy of Android 4.0. It's "modern, yet approachable" and "emotional," in PR speak at least. But the clean, geometric design extends to the rest of the OS, which now sports more clean lines, subtle animations and ditches UI elements that have been deemed "unnecessary." Sure, Roboto may seem like "just a font" to you, but for the folks behind ICS, it's a mindset.
Senior Art Director Tramell Isaac discusses PlanetSide 2's aesthetic
PlanetSide 2 fans, power down your Exo-Suits and take your fingers off your triggers for just one moment. We've got an incoming transmission that we think may be of interest. In today's comm-link, Tramell "T.Ray" Isaac, Senior Art Director on PlanetSide 2, takes some time to give players a look at what can be expected of the aesthetic of the upcoming title. Isaac discusses the process of coming up with the various faction colors and designs for the original game and goes on to detail what the team is doing to translate those designs over to the new tech of PlanetSide 2. For instance, the Terran Republic's look is clean, professional, and sleek, whereas the New Conglomerate's aesthetic is considerably more angular and unrefined. Lastly, he takes a moment to touch on the environments players will be seeing in PlanetSide 2, such as the continent of Indar where players will have to battle not only the opposing factions but fierce dust storms as well. For the full comm-link, click on over to the official PlanetSide 2 site.
GDC 2010: Hands-on with Faraway
Steph Thirion's first iPhone game was Eliss, a touchscreen-based arcade game that had you combining and maneuvering planets around one another, and trying to size-match them up with black holes to earn points. As he told us (stay tuned for an exclusive interview with the indie developer), it was pretty hard -- even more so than he actually intended it to be. So, for his second iPhone game, Faraway, he's gone much simpler. Inspired by the iPhone game Canabalt, Thirion has created a one-button game in which the goal is nothing less than to explore the universe. He has it running on a Mac at the show (so he can project the video onto a bigger screen), and we got to have some hands-on time with the new game. You control a comet that flies around an inky black void speckled with dots and circles; the pixelated space aesthetic from Eliss is back. This time, however, there's only one control, and it's a tap anywhere on the screen. Doing so will cause your comet to gravitate towards the nearest static dot, which will then slingshot you around the star until you let go, and the comet flings off in a new direction. There's an arrow pointing off of the screen, and by timing slingshots correctly, you will face the comet in the direction of the arrow.
Ask WoW Insider: The new look of Northrend
Most of the time here on Ask WoW Insider, we ask ethical questions of you, the readers, or sometimes we'll ask what you think of certain game mechanics. But this time, we've got an aesthetic question instead, from reader Lindelan.Let me say first that Wrath is awesome!! I LOVE it! One of my favorite things is the way they designed the new armor. That being said, one thing that has absolutely started to drive me crazy is the lack of diversity in armor! I can understand having the same models while leveling, however the fact that level 80 blues look just like the blues I got at 71 is just plain lazy! Has anyone else noticed this, and do you guys think Blizzard will step it up in the future? LindelanThis is an interesting issue -- Blizzard got some flak in Outland for the gear being a bit too colorful. "Clown" was a word that was used pretty often, thanks to all the glowing and neon extras that came on our gear last expansion. And in Northrend, we fortunately haven't had that problem: the gear looks a little more badass, made up of dark steel and leather with pointy and ragged spikes on it.But have we gone too far the other way? Does all of the gear look the same now? Personally, I just miss my Hunter's mail kilt from the Argent Dawn world event rewards, but I think the gear has been much better looking in Northrend. I'm just happy none of it is pink, so if I have to choose between dark blue or straight black, that's a choice I'm happy to make. What do you think?Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
Age of Conan artwork for your drooling pleasure
To follow our earlier post about the Age of Conan press event, here is a Gallery full of artwork given to us by the AoC artists themselves. We're talking screenshots, renders, and concept art, all of which look outstanding. It's clear that one of the mandates for the art direction was to go for a core of realism in all things, from building design to creature physiognomy. Certainly the fantastical elements are in force, but they're tempered by a solid aesthetic that really appeals to those who aren't into the cartoony, oversaturated palette of World of Warcraft and the like. And, in fact, I'd be willing to bet that the artists took some inspiration directly from the pulp novels themselves. There's an almost indefinable quality here that hearkens back to those great old covers. This is a well-executed strategy that will keep players fully immersed in the world, and it's all absolutely gorgeous. Without further ado, have at it!%Gallery-11743%
