Relaxing at last.

Relaxing at last.
Originally uploaded by Eleventh Earl of Mar

We went out in to the garden to watch the moon come up. Cool evening air, a drop of wine and a camera.

It's been a very long three weeks, with virtually no time for riding my bike or taking photos, or very much of anything really.

Work has been outrageously busy as we approach 'submission' for our two new titles.

Between tweaking graphics, updating and editing the large amount of text I've contributed to the new Guitar Hero III game (all of the guitar descriptions apart from two or three 'official' ones), working with external development people and having three simultaneous deadlines; checking and rechecking details; waiting for producers to get back to me with essential information, and building a high resolution model of a Les Paul, I've essentially been doing the work of four people.

Latterly I was given the assistance of two seasoned veterans, but they were new to the process of modeling and exporting the guitar models, so they were asking a lot of questions, and even they needed some help.

I've been promised interns for next year's game - great - they can put two interns in the space behind my desk, so I can keep an eye on them and answer their questions, and of course they can get my coffee for me.

All of that said, GH III has been a fantastic project to work on. We have pulled the rabbit out of the hat, entirely redesigning the substructure of the game. It may play just like the old GH3, but the technology behind it is entirely different.

From the screen shots I've seen of rock band, they've improved the guitars but they've dropped the ball on the characters. Of course many people say you never look at the characters or guitars anyway...but I know they're there.

I know I'm blowing my own trumpet here (oo-er missus), but the graphics look stupendously good - all this from a very small team of character artists, environment artists and animators. Oh and not to mention the MOCAP team, who were working hardcore hours for several weeks longer than I and the other artists. Props to all the GH III and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground guys for their incredible work.


So it was a real treat to just not do anything for a while.

Brain of Morbius

Brain of Morbius
Originally uploaded by Eleventh Earl of Mar

Dr Who.

Over rated?


Cleaner in the BBC costume department -

"Has anyone seen my coat? Only it was my great grandmother's fur coat it was. General Sir Douglas Haig gave it to 'er for services rendered during the Great War. Now where did I put the bloooomin' thing? I could've sworn I put it down next to my oversized goldfish bowl full of almost extinct koi that the Emperor of Japan gave our Lil, and the giant lobster claw that I was going to give me 'usband fer 'is dinner..."

BBC costume makers - "oops..."

The body of Morbius is the Dr.Who monster equivalent of this house:

www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/153324887/

If in doubt, have your monster go insane once its apparently rational brain has been transplanted from the tank of greenish gunk.

I mean there's absolutely no chance that this concoction of body parts, old coats, bicycle horns and fishbowls was ever going to be dating a supermodel or hosting a charity art ball with cheese and wine - if you look like this you're going to go mad and attack people, usually with a claw around the throat.