Task 20 Creativity

Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts. From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. An alternative, more everyday conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new.

Some researchers believe that creativity is the outcome of the same cognitive processes as intelligence, and is only judged as creativity in terms of its consequences, i.e. when the outcome of cognitive processes happens to produce something novel, a view which Perkins has termed the "nothing special" hypothesis. However, a very popular model is what has come to be known as "the threshold hypothesis", stating that intelligence and creativity are more likely to be correlated in general samples, but that this correlation is not found in people with IQs over 120.

Creativity is typically used to refer to the act of producing new ideas, approaches or actions, while innovation is the process of both generating and applying such creative ideas in some specific context. “creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the second".

Measuring creativity

Several attempts have been made to develop a creativity quotient of an individual similar to the Intelligence quotient (IQ), however these have been unsuccessful. Most measures of creativity are dependent on the personal judgement of the tester, so a standardized measure is difficult to develop.

Task 19

Luck and Knowledge

I think, luck and (a good-large field of) knowledge are the most important things for someone to have, in order to find a good job in game industry and generally in every field. So, the best thing to do to prove that you have the knowledge (because, for “luck” you must be lucky :P) is to have a good degree. The degree gives a label to your knowledge and also the employer can see what you know, for what you have been specialised and the extent of it. But for someone who hasn’t got a degree (in any field!) is very difficult to prove his abilities; he must present works, and if that works are good then he might have a chance to take the job.

So, in our field, game industry, there are the highly trained graduate artists, the programmers and the creative individuals with a good Liberal Art background. In other words, there are those who have a degree (in gaming) and those who haven’t got one. I believe that both can work together, can be together, and of course both can contest for a place in industry if they worth it. If someone have the skills to be creative (and he is able to prove it) then the other things (such as, no degree) are not that important.

The education and the (game) industry are the winners. Because people who have been trained have success and some of these are evolving and extent the knowledge of that field. On the other hand, the individuals with good Liberal Arts background can prove that all types of knowledge are useful and they can be very creative. So, the knowledge and the luck are the main important things someone needs.

Who feel lucky?
(And that is the right question…)

Task 18

Breaking the Sound Barrier

The use of sound in games is like the shoes in a sprinter of 100m. Without the shoes the sprinter can’t reach the maximum of his performance.

A game must have sounds which suits to the game; the sounds must create the right atmosphere for the gamer, in order to make him feel part of the game!

So with the right sound (music) we can have pretty much everything, such as suspense, fear, mystery, rush, peacefulness, fun, and action atmosphere. The sounds (not the music) are another key to prove to gamers that the game is “real”, in other words that the graphics complete the sounds and vies versa. For example, the sound effects of the cars from Gran Tourismo 2 were marvelous, from the sounds of the exhaust of each car which were defferent, to the sounds of the tires of the cars while they were drifting at the corners.

Some of key composers
(http://www.last.fm/music/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E8%B3%A2%E6%B2%BB/+similar )

Nobuo Uematsu (//Time Magazine's list of the Top 100 Innovators// "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy VIII and others games)

Yasunori Mitsuda (Square-Enix- Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Xenosaga EPISODE I: Der Wille zur Macht)

Tsuyoshi Sekito (Brave Fencer Musashi, Metal Gear Solid 2, FFVII: Advent Children, FFChronicles, FFIII)

Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts II and Shadow Hearts: From The New World)

Noriyuki Iwadare (Grandia and Lunar series)

Hamauzu Masashi (Tobal No. 1, Front Mission: Gun Hazard, Final Fantasy X)

Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3)

Well my key sonic moments in my gaming history are at the Final Fantasy VII (especially at the village Red XIII), V-rally 2, Colin McRae Raly 2.0 and Grun Turismo 2.

Task 17

The engine

Game engine is the core software component of a computer-video game or other interactive applications with real-time graphics. It provides the underlying technologies, simplifies development, and often enables the game to run on multiple platforms such as game consoles and desktop operating systems such as Linux, Mac, OS X, and Microsoft Windows. These games are sometimes called “game middleware”.

The main advantages are the game reducing costs, complexities, and time-to-market. In other words the engines contain features to make a game easily (not to create everything for scratch). Disadvantages are pretty much the same like the advantages, except that the time and the cost reduced; the complexities you have to use are limited such as the engine. The next generation engines must give a better level of processing (page per second) and detail.

Let’s play with the colours..

The subtractive colour theory of mixing colours to create colours which absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others. Also the additive colour system involve light emitted directly from a source or illuminant of some sort. The additive reproduction process usually use red, green and blue light to produce the other colours.