Pretty Lights - Finally Moving (Dualist Bootleg Remix) by Dualist Inquiry

I don't really listen to this genre of music, but this one really grows on you :)


Pretty Lights - Finally Moving (Dualist Bootleg Remix) by Dualist Inquiry

This is it!

So this is what I want to own 10 years down the line.. Ambitious much? Guess I should let the Universe do the talking ;)

To Be Or Not To Be

Lately I have been debating with myself alot. Partly because I hate having arguments with other people and because debating with yourself regularly leads to some good and healthy decision making ( or atleast I believe so .. )

Did I mention I've started designing games at my work place? For all practical purposes I would like to not mention anything more than that...and would like to rephrase the above statement by saying, I have started 'learning' how to design games at my work place..

So before I elaborate on that, allow me to give you some background deets.. I have worked in this company for almost two years now .. and at every step I have learnt so much.. it is phenomenal ..I started off as a trainee ( a different story altogether, remind me to pen that down later ) and then moved onto becoming a User Interface designer. With a remarkably talented teacher like Ravi Raj Moolya (For anyone who is looking for pure talent in the graphical field and a wonderful human being to work with, your search might end here ) I got a chance to polish my skills , develop confidence and showcase the little talent i possessed graphically.

There are very few people who actually understand the term 'Make the most of what you have.' And my boss totally falls under that category. I hold no degree in gaming or graphic designing . But the chances I have been given to prove my expertise despite that, is just incredible and generous on his part. Anyone who sees potential beyond a stamped degree according to me should be titled a Saint.

So recently I was given a chance to explore my talents in the field of game design. Creative writing , letting your imagination go crazy.. thats what its all about right? but let me tell you Game Designing is all that and the following..

From a personal stand point here is what I gathered.

It requires more thought than what I must've put in while choosing my career ( no kidding)

Level Designing is a bitch

The whole process of trial and error is taxing and with Time Management being one of the most important things in game production it can also lead you to tears (of frustration of course)

White hair and loss of hair with stress is of course inevitable (that goes without saying )

And having a programmer rejecting your ideas or a Tester pointing out flow faults is disheartening and demoralizing.

So i debated with my self for the longest time whether designing was worth all the stress i was taking. And whether i should give up and return to being just a UI designer. Negative thoughts prevailed for the longest time till i got a chance to think about it while on a break.

But hang on that is not why I'm here. No venting in blogs is one of my many strict policies. So here is what brings me to the reason why I'm blogging about this at all.

It happened so that we had to reuse graphics from a discarded concept to make a new game. A new game that was not based on an original concept . It was like reskinning this very state of the art sort of a game.. and it took me some time to come to terms with the fact that as a first project I wasn't working on an original concept. It was borrowed. I felt horrible about it for almost two nights till i came across this article about Innovation in Games. As dramatic as i may sound but that article changed my thinking to a great extent.

So with everything I have stated above, it may seem like Game Designing is something you shouldn't do. Or you shouldn't think of it as something fancy. Wrong. I was a donkey to think of it like that ( no offense to donkeys) but I was being stupid . So here is what that Magical Article taught me.

Innovation. You like a game you borrow the concept and add your bit to it (preferably something new ? ) that is innovation. It could be you adding another game mechanic to the already existing game .. or adding a feature or a system which does not exist in the original game.. A game designer's job is to basically provide the player with a better experience each time.

So if there is a good game out there and you feel it can be spiced up a little more. Go ahead and do your thing I say! ( avoid going to Jail over copyright issues though..just saying :/ ) Well that article for starters helped me ease those nerves.. and offered me a new perspective.

Then i moved onto the next chapter of the game. Level Designing .. Did i mention it was a bitch.. i already did ..didnt I? Doesn't matter.. once is never enough. Levels are the most important and the most challenging part of a game.

It takes two seconds for a player to stop playing if the level fails to keep you hooked. My first project and I had no clue what thought went into crafting good levels. I studied each level and the flow of the game we were using for reference.. I even finished the game in order to understand what I was dealing with. And with each step I was more and more thankful to the fact that I had something to learn from. My perspective towards game design was changing. And the bitch was starting to become a pet now..

Everything just began to make total sense to me. Screw those guys who think we're not being original. To make good games in the future... to make original games in the future , it is always prudent to learn from something which already exists.. That is how you hone your skills .. learn techniques. Almost like a lab experiment. Those experiments we did in college had been drafted by someone else! .. We still carried them out in the process of learning! My first project was exactly like that!.. I didnt have to feel bad about using an already existing concept.. i was learning..

With each step i was beginning to reason more and more. Things didnt seem random any more.. Even that stress seemed more fruitful! I was learning good stuff after all!

Game Design is some work if you take it up seriously... Im planning on continuining with it till it completely turns me bald, with Tubthumping playing at the back of my head as my new theme song. You will also need a good critique .. in my case that would my Boss. Believe it or not he has an eye for all the right mistakes ..

And now that i have tried my hand at something tried and tested ... something with which you can't really go wrong... it's time to get original and 'innovative'. This world could do with some new good games what say ? ;)

And now that I have typed out this directionless blog just to doctor my own confused thoughts ..the question still remains..To be a Game Designer or Not to be one

Answer :Well the answer is definitely TO BE!

Haa saying (read typing) it out loud (read bold) felt so much better!

This Way Or That ?

How do you go about things?

Pages From My College Diary- The Hate List

A long time ago, on a mundane weekday evening my friends Tanvi, Chantal and I actually sat down and made a list of all things we detested in this World full of mixed people and things. We were generally confused individuals back then.. but the only thing we were absolutely sure of,were of the things we HATED...

Go ahead and read just for laughs.

1. LIARS
2. Mess food
3. Sucky deadlines
4. Tubelights( I like bulb lamps)
5. Complainers
6. Asslickers
7. Slacking in life( aimlessness)
8. Negativity
9. Airtel
10. Certain songs on Chantal’s iPod
11. Hypocrites
12. Deceit
13. When people put off the fans while im sleeping
14. Noise
15. Crappy boys
16. Bad hair days
17. Hair in the food
18. Mafco ( that was Tanvi’s point)
19. People making Me wait!
20. Selfishness
21. Whiney people
22. Unwashed clothes lying around my room!
23. Unwashed people lying around the hostel
24. NUNS ( with innane rules! )
25. Rules
26. Studying
27. Attending classes
28. McA ( My very strange professer)
29. Being woken up or disturbed when not in the mood
30. Over crowded trains
31. RAHUL! ( Chantal, Tanvi ,Divya, Anuroopa, and Lara and Lubna and ME! All hate him)
32. Being Broke!
33. Goan sausages rotting and stinking
34. Sucky internet connections
35. Being fooled
36. UTBT boys’ dressing sense and pastries
37. When people destroy or damage my clothes
38. Owner of Deli Fresh
39. New look of Deli fresh
40. Lack in life
41. People who act like they know it all!
42. Wasting Money
43. Work backlog
44. When we’re misjudged
45. When we don’t have any control over our emotions..over anger, over sadness nothing…
46. Wannabes
47. Pus boils
48. Pimples
49. Stomach aches
50. Headache
51. Feeling of nausea
52. Bum diggers Nosey lickers lol
53. Dirty nails
54. Bombay taxi drivers
55. Menopausal Men
56. Crowded places
57. Bitchy Girls…actually just girls
58. Flab jutting out ( the feeling of being fat)
59. Anorexia
60. Fights…
61. Odour of all sorts
62. Complications in life! At all levels
63. Roll call
64. ATMs without Air Conditioners
65. Really expensive simple shit
66. Finding simple shit expensive cos we’re broke
67. Politics ( at all levels) POLITICIANS…
68. Media
69. Corruption
70. Terrorists
71. Banking
72. Righteousness
73. Pompousity
74. Insects
75. Allergies
76. Friends who let you Down!
77. Money related issues
78. People stealing
79. Immaturity
80. Unwashed utensils
81. Feeling of laziness
82. Feeling of Itch( Tanvi’s contribution to the list don’t know where she wants to itch)
83. Un cool people trying to be cool!
84. Attitude
85. Bad movies
86. Expensive good shit
87. Cruelty towards anyone particularly animals
88. Male deprived environment
89. Fishy low tide smell
90. Being lonely
91. Boring conversations
92. Lack of conversations
93. When the reality hits you that something in your life has changed forever and is never getting back to being the same.
94. People throwing attitude (hey! We are the only ones who have to throw it at ppl ..noone throws attitude at us!)
95. Hate the feeling of joblessness
96. Hate the feeling of dissatisfaction
97. Hate the feeling of regret
98. Hate the feeling of Blah ness!

The Joys Of Retrospecting... :)

Clay 'em Up!

Bored much? Or just feeling creatively challenged ?

Take a break ..grab your wallet and head to the nearest stationery...

Why?? Because blocks of colourful Plasticine cakes, is exactly what you need, in times of a creative drought..

Knead and shape your thoughts into whatever you want! In my opinion, it's OK to act like a child sometimes.. It's therapeutic!

And besides this is a classic example of having fun without burning a big hole in your pocket...

My friend Sharmeen, who firmly believes that "Play Dough costs next to nothing , considering the hours and hours and HOURS of endless fun", will vouch for that thought.

So go ahead! pick up your play dough right away and go crazy!

A Choice..

What induced this?

Aah, a lazy Sunday and a trail of random thoughts ..

About what i was, what i became, what i am now and what i need to be, to move ahead...

An unkempt representation of how carefree , innocent and oblivious, to life and responsibilities, i was .. how the 'trends' consumed me...how hardships threw a reality check at me..and how life gave me a CHOICE.

My Scribble was a lot more scattered than the one I have uploaded . Thanks to a dear colleague i managed to gather enough courage and put it up here...

And honestly who cares how it looks. The term 'It's the thought that counts' totally relates to this post.. doesn't it? ;)