The plan for the essay is starting to look a little better. I know that one area of interest of Liam’s is how people write, so I’ll keep posting as I write more.
Technology exploration
Uncanny valley
- Preservation of the valley: Wall-E vs. Shrek (“realistic yet stylized”) vs. Beowulf
History/current state of technologies:
- Animation
- Modelling/rigging techniques
- Animating faces/lips
- mo-cap of fully body (Tomb Raider Underworld) and face (Image Metrics)
- Animation blending techniques
- IK (Assassin’s Creed, Mirror’s Edge, Tomb Raider Underworld)
- Physics-affected animation
- NaturalMotion’s fame from GTA4/Force Unleashed
- Physics
- rigid bodies
- water (Havok and PhysX techniques— smoothed particle hydrodynamics)
- clothing
- hair
- deformation (DMM) and fracture (Havok Destruction)
- Graphics:
- particle effects
- water (F.E.A.R., Hydrophobia)
- Procedurally generated geometry ala Far Cry 2
- DirectX and OpenGL developments
- skin/hair
- Lighting
- Shaders
- Cloth
- Camera
- Gore (Soldier of Fortune, Deadspace, Gears of War 2)
- AI
- Pathfinding
- Tactics (F.E.A.R., Crytek)
- Non-essential NPCs (Oblivion, GTA4)
- Animals (Far Cry 2)
- Learning (B&W)
- Sound
- Holophonics and binaural recording
And also in the context of interaction with these worlds:
- Video output (from TFT displays to retinal scanning displays)
- Other feedback:
- Tactile (N64 rumblepack / DualShock)
- Input
- Analog sticks (N64)
- Accelerometer: Wii/iPhone/DualShock 3
- neural/brain-wave driven
Game violence exploration:
- which companies have been making violent games
- how popular violent games are compared to non-violent games
- how this popular has changed over time
· emotional response to violence in games / Account of author’s experience in GTA4
Shrek: http://www.animationartist.com/2001/05_may/features/Shrek/Makingof_Shrek.htm
Holophonics: http://www.iua.upf.es/dafx98/papers/ROZ31.PS
Importance of animation: http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/max/songhyekyo/
Beowulf attempts: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/10/if-robert-zemeckis-cant-cross-the-uncanny-valley-what-makes-us-think-we-can/
Heavy Rain: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/quantic-eyes-hollywood-a-list-for-heavy-rain
http://kotaku.com/5070250/how-gaming-is-surpassing-uncanny-valley
Emily from Image Metrics: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiX5d3rC6o / http://www.image-metrics.com/solutions/games / http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4557935.ece
Uncanny valley: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6376479.stm
Smoothed-particle hydrodynamics from PhysX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok8ThRR-59Q
Sound in GoW2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1oakdc7gq4
In regards to the uncanny valley, I would argue that the mistake is trying to make computer games look like the real world. When the measurement of success is gauged purely on how much the graphics resemble actual normal things in the world, I think the whole thing will be doomed to failure.
Games should try to look good! The realworld doesn’t necessarily look good. It would look much better if there were all these mad water effects and vibrant colours everywhere and people looked like anime characters.
The goal of computer graphics should be the search of artificial spectacular beauty, not the mimicry of a world and people that are for the most part visually unappealing.