tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18040365995908538772012-02-16T11:20:05.658ZNews, updates and longer articles...Niknoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-20746395790010339072011-08-22T10:05:00.001+01:002011-08-22T10:06:25.306+01:00

I can't believe it's been nearly three months since I last posted. Things have been happening since then. I'm now employed and no longer looking for work for the moment. Oddly enough, it's not in the games industry but in a corporate financial environment as part of the Mountbatten Programme. The benefit of this programme is actually three-fold: employment, qualification and the experience of

Niknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-26585230480716272982011-05-26T16:11:00.004+01:002011-05-26T16:17:53.174+01:00

Level designing can be an incredibly unforgiving pursuit. It's like playing with virtual Lego that doesn't snap into place. There are advantages in the creativity department to a non-rigid design scheme where object placement is free (as in speech, not beer) in three-dimensions. However, it can add to the time it takes to create a refined piece of work - an expert's paradox, of sorts. Needless

Niknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-56820589337383068862011-05-05T11:55:00.001+01:002011-05-05T12:09:15.754+01:00

If you're an employer or an agent for an employer that's hiring and you're reading this: yes, I am still looking for work! Visit www.nikgupta.com to see my portfolio and for ways to contact me. Cheers.

Niknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-2982628046649956992011-04-26T21:20:00.004+01:002011-04-26T21:23:13.702+01:00

As I won't be releasing the latest build of 'The Lake' for the moment, I decided to make a brief teaser trailer of an early point in the level design cycle to showcase here. Check it out below or click here to watch the trailer on YouTube. Video made in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.

Niknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-81611389479800090042011-04-18T21:57:00.007+01:002011-04-18T22:05:23.010+01:00

Ninjas! Samurais! Geishas! Buddhist warrior monks! The very tenets of honour and deception held in delicate balance... ...I really can't tell you how much I was looking forward to Total War: Shogun 2 this year. Its developers, Creative Assembly, have a good record of making the Total War series of games fall into a niche that is more or less unrivalled in quality or variety in its particular

Niknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-89361479771936948402011-04-07T19:32:00.001+01:002011-04-07T19:34:18.038+01:00

As is the norm with projects, there are changes that come about through quality control. Often these changes shake up the work that goes towards the intended result. Our intended result is to produce a fantastic campaign that offers exciting gameplay with novel features - things that will distinguish itself from the masses. To this end, it is with sad news I must declare that the sawmill in 'The

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-46328304340732811112011-04-06T10:04:00.000+01:002011-04-06T10:04:28.270+01:00

Busy times with mapping and job interviews. To make up for the lack of news, here's a sneak peak of the loading screen poster I made for our team's latest test builds. Props to Adam Riches for the basic template: Click to expand

Niknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-1825601013293693332011-03-18T15:41:00.002Z2011-03-18T15:43:35.511Z

In this post I will explain the movement of survivors through 'The Sawmill' map, with explanations of my intentions so hopefully you will have a better idea of why I put certain things in certain places. This post is not recommended for those with short attention spans and spurious bouts of tl;dr :)  Annotated Map Annotations: The survivors begin the level in a safe room situated at the top of

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-85310613349807774282011-03-18T14:55:00.003Z2011-03-18T14:57:40.354Z

Having made simple 2D plans for a town, sawmill and finale, I decided to adopt 'The Sawmill' as my pet project for the next few months, nurturing it and allowing it to grow into the evil bastard of a map I had planned all along. The next step was to elaborate on the skeleton of the map to ensure I had a good idea of how it would play out. In doing so, I created a series of diagrams that

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-22455080876889175322011-03-01T22:43:00.004Z2011-03-01T22:51:57.853Z

Today, by sheer accident (and with a little encouragement from Youtube Suggestions), I stumbled over an old game which, fifteen odd years ago, I really wanted to own the full version of yet could only ever have the pleasure (and pain) of playing the demo. I love stop-gap animation, especially claymation - the soft textures are really reminiscent of amateur home-made work. However, The Neverhood 

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-36064677059400865252011-02-27T11:11:00.002Z2011-02-27T11:12:22.972Z

All the maps in the alpine campaign strive to create mechanics, narrative and gameplay that haven't been experienced before. This is the third plan: The finale. The level starts on one cliff which is connected to another by a cable car system. The intention of the cable car system is to provide a sterilised area in which the survivors have some down time before the finale event - a calm before

Niknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-61864378810171712072011-02-26T11:48:00.000Z2011-02-26T11:48:54.161Z

Click to expand As promised here is the second plan: The Sawmill. The idea behind the variety is to give players distinct environments that are memorable for their own sake but whilst also staying within the general alpine theme of the campaign. A sawmill building acts as the focal point of this level with a contextual fit amongst the surrounding dense woodland. It also provides an interesting

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-37757996957673079732011-02-21T11:21:00.004Z2011-02-21T11:21:55.392Z

Click to expand Planning! We spent a decent amount of time on this, conferring with one another and vetting each others' ideas without affecting creative originality too much. The planning stage is quite possibly the most time-saving activity when done properly. We each decided to submit as many plans as possible with the established criteria (snowy environment, mountainous terrain, etc.). 

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-67465451411047269672011-02-18T23:10:00.001Z2011-02-18T23:15:49.698Z

...decisions. There are a lot to be made in a project of this scale. A big question we tackled was: why did we choose Valve Software's Left 4 Dead 2? For starters we've played it a lot and love the gameplay. it is a very well received game so it has a decent sized audience to cater for. There are many reasons for its success but I would argue its main strength is down to its excellent team-based

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-6690011493325538702011-02-18T01:51:00.003Z2011-02-18T01:55:16.417Z

That's right folks, NikGupta.com, my personal portfolio website is officially out of beta and open for business! Huzzah! These are some technologies I am grateful for: Pikachoose (via JQuery) Image Gallery  DuckDuckGo privacy-sensitive site search (via Bing) Statcounter LinkedIn Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 Adobe Photoshop CS5 Needless to say, site content will still continue to update along with this

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-76158521875546138602011-02-08T14:57:00.000Z2011-02-08T20:31:35.597Z

While I'm updating the downloadable content for the site, I'll let you guys in on my current project. I'm currently working with two friends on a series of levels (a.k.a. a campaign) for the highly rated Valve game Left 4 Dead 2. The purpose of this project is to add level design experience to my design portfolio as it will display a range of skills which should be helpful to future employers.

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-18627025326982146042011-01-25T15:25:00.002Z2011-02-01T18:16:58.561Z

You may have noticed a stealth update: the site is currently live in beta! For all intents and purposes, most content is available to view at your pleasure - the only things that are missing are the various PDF downloads which I am working on making available soon. I've spent a lot of time working on this site. As a result, it's nigh on HTML 5 and CSS3 compatible so should be good to go for the

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-79791587002348162102011-01-13T16:20:00.009Z2011-01-15T12:52:30.931Z

New website under construction today! There's a lot to think about in planning the ideal layout, but with the excellent tools of Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop, I reckon I'm onto a semi-decent formula. Feedburner has also been a time saver in terms of keeping the site fresh. Hopefully, it'll all be ready in the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-89457589520491506952008-04-30T14:15:00.000+01:002008-04-30T14:17:26.692+01:00

My first foray into the world of Adobe Illustrator... before I realised I actually needed Photoshop:

Niknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-70971717559661420782007-12-28T14:31:00.002Z2011-01-13T23:24:48.990Z

We start knowing nothing. We are open minded. However, as we grow up, the open mind is vulnerable to the forces of corruption - bad modes of thinking must be filtered from the good. So we close it by specialising in something; following a path through a dream or a well-established route. Further, a "closed mind" becomes an expert in its chosen field, strengthening through perseverance. It is

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-27679118364140701282007-01-25T10:46:00.002Z2010-08-15T10:12:27.125+01:00

After a week's intense scientific analysis and testing by absolutely random visits to each blog (putting those computer science skills to good use!), the winner is Blogger!Google-endorsed technologies are so cool and this one is no exception: great interface, lots of tools, flexibile layouts, and above all fast hosting servers :DIn the grand scheme of the things, it's important to keep a log of

Niknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1804036599590853877.post-26311480758287041522007-01-16T18:02:00.001Z2010-08-15T10:07:10.932+01:00

My first Blogger post! I'm actually comparing the access speeds of Blogger and Word Press... so far Blogger ftw! Plus, the interface seems nicer.Anyway, back to the experimentations...

Niknoreply@blogger.com0