Studio - Gaps in Reality - PixiSnap - Director Plug In

Here is the plug in for Director I'm going to use to make my PixiSnap idea work. It is only a trial verision but should be sufficient for what I need: Screen Capture Xtra

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - 10 x 10

Image courtesy of http://www.tenbyten.org/10x10.html, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Above is a piece that experiments with capturing images off the internet and laying them out in an easy to understand way. There are 100 images taken from various news websites and a list of titles down the side. If the user clicks on an image or title a box opens with a larger image and links to where the story is being mentioned. This piece is highly relevent to me as it shows me yet another way to display collected images and their information, as well as suggesting a way to capture them through PHP code and Flash Actionscript.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Kevin Davies - Zombie Simulator

zombie simulator, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Kevin Davies is a program artist who created a short but effective program called the "Zombie Simulator." Here the zombies are in grey and move very slowly changing direction randomly unless they see a human in front of them, then they move towards it. If the zombie then gets to the human it infects them and turns it into a zombie. Humans are then in pink and move five times as fast as zombies also moving in random directions. If they see a zombie though in front of them they panic and start moving twice as fast, then if another human sees them panicing the other human panics as well. It is a quirky little simulation game that is very relevent to my Project Seesaw project as it shows me what actions can be created using randomness, in programming.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Stage 2 Ideas - Project Seesaw Interface

Project Seesaw Interface Idea, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Studio -Gaps in Reality - Stage 2 Ideas - PixiSnap Encounters Idea

PixiSnap Encounters Idea RGB, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Please see my idea board for notes on image.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Stage 2 Ideas - PixiSnap Journey Idea

PixiSnap Journey Idea RGB, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Please see my idea board for notes on image.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Stage 2 Ideas - PixiSnap Screenshot

PixiSnap Idea RGB, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Please see my idea board for notes on image.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Stage 2 Ideas - PixiSnap Interface

PixiSnap Interface Idea RGB, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Please see my idea board for notes on image.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Dietmar Offenhuber - ?

Image courtesy of http://residence.aec.at/didi/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here is piece that have yet find notes on but if I were to guess I think it will have been done similary to the 5 minute places. By this I mean I think various individuals have been given videocameras and a car and driven around a motorway junction, for example spaghetti junction outside Birmingham. The positions have then been partnered with the images and visually laid out.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Dietmar Offenhuber - Routine Pathways

Image courtesy of http://residence.aec.at/didi/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here three women simply talk about their daily lifes and this then visually represented using typography and graphics. The diagram compares the time they talk about a specific subject to its actual length. A very simple but effective piece in partnering graphics and language together.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Dietmar Offenhuber - Loopcity

Image courtesy of http://residence.aec.at/didi/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

In this piece Offenhuber takes great inspiration from the Beckett novel L'Innommable that describes a world made up of a system of repetitive events. Here he has tried to create a peice that visualizes the notion that everybody does the same thing during the day, you drive to work, walk to shop etc. He states that the unusual thing is that on these seemingless travels you encounter other strangers doing exactly the same thing, maybe the same one everyday and this is when the circles then intersect. This piece strongly shows the things that can be done by mapping peoples actions and displaying them visually.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Dietmar Offenhuber - BLANK Exhibtion

Image courtesy of http://residence.aec.at/didi/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

An exhibition piece displayed at the Medientrum Gallery Graz.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Dietmmar Offenhuber - 5 Minute Places

Image courtesy of http://residence.aec.at/didi/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here Offenhuber created a piece using GPS and video footage. Individuals were told move in all directions as their position was mapped by GPS, one was then given a videocamera as well. The peice investigates what directions and course the cameraman takes when interupted by the other individuals that cross his path. This piece I feel is interesting as it starts to make you wonder what the other individuals saw on their journey's and what have we missed that might have been interesting. Also it makes you study the cameramans path, seeing if any of the other individuals intimidated him or veered him of course.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Dietmar Offenhuber

offenhuber, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Dietmar Offenhuber is an artist that uses programming and images to create intertwining notions of individual journeys. He programs software to obtain and plot where the image had been taken physically then upload this information in to somekind of visual representation. It is this reason I am looking at him, hopefully he will give me some interesting and new ideas to display how and where images have been taken in the virtual world. I am also looking at Offenhuber for both pieces as in a way is work is relevent to them both. First of all his use of how images are laid out and captured will interest me in terms of my PixiSnap idea. Secondly for my Humanity Gap he also does various peices of work that record human travels which will help me hugely in telling the simple dots in my peice how to behave.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Ben Fry - Shop Activity

Image courtesy of http;//acg.media.mit.edu/people/fry/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here fry has created a program using Java and Perl to map out activity in his Media Lab for a two week period. The above is just a snap shot , the whole peice is 72 x 24 inches, where times are displayed across the top and dates down the side. He mapped the activity using a video camera, where activity was minimal thin lines occur, where activity is maximized thick lines occur. It is a very effective way of emphaising the business of the lab at certain times and works well with the shear whiteness of the background.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Ben Fry - Revisionist

Image courtesy of http;//acg.media.mit.edu/people/fry/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

This peiece is a program created to visualize the connections and changes of data in a processor when performing various tasks. For example lines are formed between data that has changed and gaps are left where data has been deleted. It almost simplifys the code and makes it understandable to a virgin programmer, through shapes, colour and typography.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Ben Fry - Mariosoup

Image courtesy of http://acg.media.mit.edu/people/fry/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

This piece is another graphic design piece based on the unpacking of Nintendo game cartridges. It decodes the program as a four colour image revealing various individual elements that make up the game screen. Done in Java it first produces a blue copy, then a red one and finally superimposes them onto each other. This gives an accurate visual representation of the program being unpacked.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Ben Fry - Colloquium Posters

Image courtesy of http://acg.media.mit.edu/people/fry/, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

The above poster is a graphic design peice half the size of an A2. It explores polynear narratives by taking photographs of an individuals personal item then transcribing what they say about it.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Research - Ben Fry

fry, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Ben Fry is a graduate of MIT and is interested in how scientific information is visualized artistically. Above is just one of his works "Genome Valence" it uses data used by scientists to visually represent the process in which they go through to understand using genomes, if a certain organism is biologially possible. I will obtain images and information on his work to try and come up with some ideas on how to visualize and group individual pieces of data, for example images. I am looking at Ben Fry to undertsand how programs can be used to collect data from other programs to then create visual but informative art. It will give me ideas on how to structure an effective and informative album section for my Pixisnap piece.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Ideas - Humanity Gap

Humanity Gap Idea, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

The idea for this peice is to show in a simple form how pathetic we has a human race are when it comes to simply getting along. We can't stand each other, and because of this boundries are put up using huge walls such as in Berlin and the Gaza Strip. Is this right, why can't we simply just get along? The way the peice will do this will be to ask the user to look after a number of dots that bounce around the viewport, the catch is that when the dots hit each other they die. The aim then for the user is using the curser create gaps between the dots by drawing green lines(boundries). The result in the end will hopefully signify the destruction of each dot as there will only be a few left bobbin around. There will be massive gaps between them and this will show the user that all this fighting and erecting boundries we do as a species in the end makes us lonely and insignificant, and ask the question is it worth it?

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Ideas - Pixel Snap Interface

Pixel Snap Interface Idea, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Above is tha actual interface for the Pixel Snap idea. The left nob controls the dimensions of the square created. The middle nob contols the squares left top corner's x position in the window and the right nob the y's. The rectangle button then takes the snap while the red light tells you that is has by flashing.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Ideas - Pixel Snap

Pixel Snap Idea Jpeg, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

The above idea originated from the times when pixels on our screens of pcs, laptops, pdas, mobile phones etc have died and left a random blank sqaure or set of sqaures usally right in the middle of your screen. Really out of a screen that has at least 800 x 600 pixels one or two shouldn't bother us, but they do. We wonder and dream what when working or playing games these dead pixels are hiding, both angering us and frustrating us in their shear blankness. This notion then got me thinking, what do we do in the real world to make sure memories don't get fragmented and lost, we take pictures either with our digital cameras or now and more interestingly mobile phones. This got me onto the idea of snapping these pixels when they are working and saving them in an album, a virtual album that would compliment a real one in you home. One thing I wanted to show in the above screen print of the idea was the comfortable anolog feel of the interface. You don't draw boxes and copy the screen but actually have to think about scaling and positioning as you do with a real camera. Then once pixels are snapped by the box a album will be created letting you fill in the blankness when pixels die or simply when you can't remember what you had done on the computer.

Virtual Environment - The Artivice and The Virtual - Research - Jan-Robert Leegte

Jan-Robert Leegte is a media artist that questions what is real and what isn't and attacks the obvious. One such example of this is his work on "Scroll Bars" where he installed sets of them into actual rooms to investigate what affect this had on the viewer. Other work relates to screen work that uses your movement and input to makeup images, this creates a great sense of un-nerving and almost feels like you are being watched. In many peices for example "Scan" he only lets you see one aspect of the work at the same time, creating a great sense of imprisonment and frustration in the fact you can't make out the whole image due to it being fragmented. Now though that I have had a look at some websites I think I need to get some publications on his work to better understand his theories.

Virtual Envronments - The Artifice and The Virtual - Research - Norm

Norm are a group of graphic and typography designers based in Zurich. They investigate into the notion that all objects on the planet can be put into 4 distinct groups and catogorised. Through this analysis of these groups they then create graphical rperesentations and programs to visualise their theories, one such example is the "Sign Generator" under the heading "The Things." Another resource of their work is the book they published called "Norm The Things" in 2002. Here they delve in further into their notion that all objects can be pidgen holed into certain boxes. The next thing I need to do now his start looking at other peoples interpritations of their work and investigate other theories and arguements.

Studio - Gaps in Reality - Ideas - Conversation Gaps

Here are a couple of proffessionals that have commented on word abriviations in SMS messaging and how they leave a gap in the meaning of both words and sentences:
Doring
Grinter
Eldridge
Fischer

Studio - Toy - Fun Websites - MiniClip

A wealth of tip top online games, MiniClip

Studio - Toy - Fun Websites - CBBC Games

Makes ya want to be a kid again, CBBC Games

Studio - Toy - Fun Websites - Mr Scruff

A fun filled world of games and music skits, Mr Scruff

Studio - Toy - Fun Websites - Gorillaz

A proper bo, well drawn website, Gorillaz

Studio - Toy - Fun Websites - Goldie Lookin' Chain

Heres a really cool website, Goldie Lookin' Chain, its proper BLING man!!!

Visual & Spatial Culture - Essay - From Biology to Biotechnology?

As we progress into the 21st Century reaping in the benefits of all the wonderful technology around us, mobile phones that just don’t act as audio communication devices but beautiful visual sharing devices, laptops that don’t need physical wires to connect and talk to other laptops and cars that are becoming environmentally aware and starting to use cleaner fuels such as LPG and even hydrogen. It’s becoming aware to me and others; how long will it be before this wonderful technology will not just be around us but inside us as well. Could we have the same relationship with this internal technology as we do with the external technology we use today, could something so cold and lifeless be used so intimately?

mcluhan
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Marshall McLuhan

One visionary of this is Marshall McLuhan, famous for his book “The Global Village.” He believed that technology gives us a virtual community, interconnected by an electronic nervous system where as in the body one action automatically triggers another and events happening at one place can be experienced in real-time by another. He believed that this also like the body is growing all the time and can be related to both outside and inside the body.

stellarc
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Stellarc

Another such visionary of this is Stellarc who believes that throughout time everything evolves including us has a species. Thousands of years ago we walked on four legs as primates do; now we stand tall over the animal kingdom. He argues that you as an individual don’t actually believe that we are at the peak or ideal form of our species; it states we are far from it. He believes the next step is to evolve biotechnologically rather than organically. He believes that in the future our bodies will harbour various machinery and materials to allow us to do things at the moment we can only dream of. For example some kind of synthetic material could replace skin, giving all skins advantages such as strength and flexibility but without the weakness to heat and cold. This is known as his “Utopian future” where he believes humans will have to overcome nature using technology to evolve to the next step making their lives easier and more vibrant.

rfid chip
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

RFID

One early example of this is the increasing use of Radio Frequency Identification Devices or RFID chips to communicate information. They are an item tagging device no bigger than a grain of rice and can be embedded into an object such as person without any physical deformation at all. This device then contains a microchip that has an Electronic Product Code or EPC, which is just like a barcode on an item in a shop. These devices are self powered and can be read by a scanner 20-30 ft away simply by transmitting a radio signal. The EPC is then transmitted back and can be used to access various information on databases about the object or individual in question. They are at the moment used vastly in supermarkets such as Wal-Mart to protect products and on pets such as cats and dogs to identify the animal’s home and registered owner. But just recently now they have shown to show there worth in pets, are starting to become key information products in both the business and political world.

baja
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Baja Beach Club

Just recently in a national newspaper there was an article on the Baja Beach Club in Spain using the technology to offer customers a better and quicker service. The customers who had endured the £83 minor operation could simply just walk past a scanner at the clubs entrance avoiding the line and go straight in. Then at the bar all they have to do is flex their bicep and as simple as that they get a Malibu and coke. It’s the brainchild of the clubs owner, Conrad Chase and allows the member to have complete freedom around the complex without having to carry any money of identification at all, but as you can imagine it has had some opposition from certain organisations, who most of all can’t believe why someone would want a “minor operation” just to get served that little bit quicker at the bar.

Another organisation drawing up plans for RFID usage is the Bush administration in the USA. They want to create smart passports making it harder for illegal individuals to enter and travel around the country. They argue that using RFID chips would make the need for a customs gate obsolete and instead just have a radio wave scanner that could cover a whole terminal making the travelling for the user not just safer but easier as well. But again as you can imagine there some people who aren’t as keen as Mr Bush and his friends on this new idea of freeing up information communication.

caspian
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

CASPIAN

One such organisation is the Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering organisation or CASPIAN. Originally set up to oppose supermarket invasion of obtaining information about shoppers through club cards etc. they now are focusing on the next big boom, RFID chips in both in items such as clothing and in our bodies. They argue that due to the shear simplicity and quietness of how the RFID chips work the owner will have no idea when he or she is transmitting information about him or herself. They offer no choice to the user of when he or she can give information to someone. They also offer no choice to where he or she is being scanned as the scanner readers can be placed anywhere and cover a vast area. Finally and probably most shockingly, although in such things as clubs and shops they offer more initial freedom in the long run they create a transparent prison of glass windows and see through doors. They say this because they argue that just like the way the clubs and shops can monitor where a “RFIDed individual” is on their premises so can the government but on a much wider scale. They would be able to see everything that individual does as the chip would be used has a homing beacon, he or she wouldn’t be able to go to such things as rallies, protests of even the cinemas without the government knowing. They ask you, are you comfortable with someone else knowing your every whereabouts?

extropy
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

The Extropy Institute

The Extropians on the other hand have a very different view; they believe that due to the pace of technology and our inability to choose the correct decision in stressful, quickening situations, we could in the end be our downfall. They believe strongly in the newly developing social technologies and strategies to control organisations and individuals. These differ from simple organisation methods to full on RFID monitoring. They believe that with these new methods and technology humans could live longer, more perfect lives. They argue that due to the shear pace of how technology has evolved we has humans need to evolve quicker to keep up with it. For example robots have taken less than a fifty years to learn walk up straight while we has a species took much, much longer. They say that such technologies as RFID chips should be welcomed as a friendly technology rather than pushed away as something foreign and alien. They put the argument forward that RFID chips for example could aid people in accidents that are unable to communicate with the paramedics. It would allow the paramedics to know what the victim is allergic to and what physical conditions he or she has, allowing the paramedics to make better and more efficient decisions, which in the end could be the difference between life and death.

As you can see this issue is one that splits people straight down the middle, throughout time man has used technology to improve his attributes. He created fire to survive cold winters and the wheel to transport vast amounts of load. He then produced armour to prolong his life in battle and the internal combustion engine to travel even further afar than was thought possible using the wheel on its own. It is something we have grown up with as a species and has helped us all the way down the line to do greater and better things. Today pacemakers are used to help weak hearts, and artificial limbs are used to help disabled people live relatively normal lives. It’s inevitable, it will happen; technology has too many positives that out-way the negatives to just simply ignore it. Although you may be uncomfortable broadcasting financial data everywhere you go or personal information every time you go to the supermarket, the simple fact is that it will make everyday life so mush easier. Just think when going on holiday you simply couldn’t forget you passport or other official documents or when going to the shop you couldn’t forget you purse and most importantly to parents but maybe not to their kids, they could know exactly where they are and what they are doing, creating safer, more friendly communities to live in.

So as you can see I’m all for biotechnology, RFID chips and what ever other devices are on the way because I agree with Stellarc, this is the next step in our evolution.

Bibleography

Marshall McLuhan
Stellarc
RFID's
Baja Beach Club
The Guardian
CASPIAN
Extropians

Studio - Toy - Fonts - InterCity

InterCity, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

The font I've decided to use after considering all of the below. It looks modern and futuristic, and each charactor is nice and narrow meaning each word doesn't take up alot of space. Also positively it is easy to see when shrunk and displays the information clearly enough to read at a glance.

Resources

Studio - Toy - Fonts - Sevil

Sevil, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A font that gives me the futuristic feel I want but takes up too much room on the screen and room isn't a luxury I've got.

Resources

Studio - Toy - Fonts - Telephasic

telephasic, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A font that once shrunk down was still legible but for me it just looked to old in style.

Resources

Studio - Toy - Fonts - Freshcut

Freshcut, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A font that looks too old fashioned and also once shrunk down most of charactors blend in to themselfs.

Resources

Studio - Toy - Fonts - Tele-marines

Tele-marines, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A good font to use for text that isn't needed to display information at a glance. but once shrunk down it becomes hard to read.

Resources

Studio - Toy - Fonts - Beware

Beware, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A very futuristic font but simply takes too much room up due to its stretched width.

Resource

Studio - 5 Random Throws - Animation Resources

Here are some videos and games I used to create the correct feel for each experiment:

Swarm of Hornets Video
Fruit Machine Game
Fruit Machine Game
Fruit Machine Game

Studio - Toy - Space Choones Interface

Game Design, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here is the near finalised interface produced after getting feed back from various people, the next job is now to explain the game with the aid of a story board.

Studio - Toy - Game Symbols

Symbols, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here are my interpretations of the symbols below for each different instrument in my game. The red one represents the hitting of a drum. The blue one represents the chords used on the guitar. The green one represents the visual wave interpretation of synthasized sound and the orange one represents bass, showing sound waves orginating from and epicentre. These will be used in the game along with their colours to represent the various loops and samples the gamer can collect.

Studio - Toy - Adaptations to Layout Idea

Simple game layout
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Here I have consulted with various individuals and got feed back on how things should be represented in the game for ease of use. The orange round objects at the time did represent groups of notes while the thin objects represented single notes. But after long consideration I've decided to use samples and loops of various instruments instead of single notes to make the music being composed sound more interesting and not just a group of beeps. Also I've gradianted the landscape to give a greater sense of depth and vastness. Another change is that of the decreasing opacity of the life symbols as you lose life indicating to the gamer how healthy they are.

Studio - Toy - Research - Loops

Here are some websites that offer free loops of various instruments to download that I could use for my toy:
Phat Drum Loops
Looperman
freeloops.com
Loopasonic
Loop Galaxy

Studio - Toy - Research - Symbols - Synthesizer

synth
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Synthesizer Symbol Resource

Studio - Toy - Research - Symbols - Guitar

guitar
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Guitar Symbol Resource

Studio - Toy - Research - Symbols - Drum

drum
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Drum Symbol Resource

Studio - Toy - Research - Symbols - Bass

bass
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Bass Symbol Source

Studio - Toy - Ideas - Space Choones - Evolution of First Idea

After getting feed back from indivduals on the Space Choones idea it has given meenough confidence in the idea to take it to the next step. The people liked the idea of being able to compose music easily and enjoyfully through a game but were worried that the end result could be just a group of electronic beats and beeps. So to tackle this I have decided to give the game more depth by introducing levels to it and instead of offering just single notes, offer short samples instead. First of all the gamer will fire the projectile at drum sample objects, then once he or she as collected enough fuel and happy with the beat will then press a button to go into hyperspace and on to the next level which will be full of bass samples to hit. Then has the beats get quicker and more complicated the socre will go up and more instrumental samples/levels will be made avaliable. The next step now then is to find ways of representing the different intstrumental samples easliy and efficiently.

Studio - Toy - Research - Interactive Music Websites - Online Piano

Everyones favourite, the online Java programmed Paino.

Studio - Toy - Research - Interactive Music Websites - Happy Note

A website that will be very useful to my project as it uses classic gamse style variations to teach music.

Studio - Toy - Research - Interactive Music Websites - Creating Music

A website full of visual musical activities for young chilren.

Studio - Toy - Research - Interactive Music Websites - BBC Radio 3 Making Tracks

Uses games, cartoons and simple mouse movements to compose musical tunes.

Studio - Toy - Research - Interactive Music Websites - Interactive Classics

A interactive site that uses cartoons, visuals and games to teach people about classic music.

Studio - Toy - Research - Ringtone Composing Software - Ringtone Converter/Composer

Ringtone Converter Composer
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A peice of software that is more serious than the one below. It supports all makes and models, and more importantly doesn't involve any wires. It has 100 tones for you to choose from and allows you to arrange them in any order you want to fully customise your phone and make it unlike anybody elses.

Studio - Toy - Research - Ringtone Composing Software - Mobile Music Polyphonic

mobile music polyphonic
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

This is a piece of software that allows the user to convert existing music and compose their own music for their mobile phone. It converts mp3, mid, and wav files and also saves in midi and smaf formats for you mobile phone. To compose the user simply arranges the notes on the score to create a tune which is then saved to the users PC and converted into a format of which the users phone can use.

Studio - Toy - Research - Music Computer Games - Dance Stage Revolution

dance stage revolution
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Not so much a music composing game but a key player in the process of intergrating computer games and music. It involves the user using a pressure sensitive mat to dance to the music on screen, stepping on the correct buttons at the correct time. A score is then given according to the accuracy of the dancing of the user. It started off in the arcades but soon came to homes thanks to the Playstation, and is still a popular party game.

Studio - Toy - Research - Music Computer Games - Hip Hop Mania

hiphop mania
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Hip Hop Mania also known as Beatmania is a bit different to the composer below. You the suer don't as such compose the music but simply play it instead. As notes fall from the the top of the screen, you, the user, have to press the key or combination of keys that match the notes or turn the turntable when they reach the line at the bottom. Its very much like the dancing simulations you get in arcades.

Studio - Toy - Research - Music Computer Games - MTV Music Generator

mtvmg
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

MTV Music Generator allows the gamer to create, sample and re-mix music. It is known as one of the leading console music generators thanks to its ease of use and variety of options. It allows the user to deliver a final finished track in no time and to a high quality. Many tracks are avaliable from such artists as Outkast, Snoop Dogg and Sean Paul to name a few. It works by using channel filters to apply effects to the music, and lets you fiddle with such things as riffs, beats, bass, vocals and drum sound blocks.

Studio - Toy - Research - Music Computer Games - Resources

Codemasters
DDR Freak
Ringtone Converters
Mp3 to Wav

Studio - Toy - Ideas - Space Choones

An idea for a game for a mobile phone intergreating both visual aspects and audio ones. The aim of the game is for the user to fly through a space of sounds shooting various objects that on impact give a a note depending on what chord the level is in. There will be various notes avaliable to shoot in the level all represented by the colour. For example a high note will be light red and a low note will be dark red. Also there will be bogus notes also created for stray projectiles to hit and diduct points from the users score. The user will score points for each note they hit and must get over a certain amount in a certain amount of time for a prize. The prize is that of the notes that have been shot, being recorded and put into a rythem depending on how fast they were shot, which creates somekind of tune, thus creating a ringtone that can be saved to the gamers phone for use. This then adds another aspect to the game, the one of composing and hitting the correct notes in the correct order.

Studio - Toy - Ideas - Lion Time

An idea for a game based on the urbanisation of the African outback in 1914, influenced by a nes article of the time. The gamer would be a Lion that simple wonders in town to see what all the fuss is about in this new built up version of his land. The gamer than has to target a person using a cross hair so that they can start chasing them. Then the Lion roars and the chase is on, you as the gamer chase the individual down the street while he or she throws boots, hats and other objects at you. The aim of the game is to button bash two buttons to make the Lion run and use the left and right buttons to dodge the objects. First of all the pray will start on foot, then on a bike and then finally in a car. The player racks up a high score depending on how close they get to the pray based on the speed they run and how good they dodge.

Studio - Toy - Ideas - Space Choones - Layout Idea

Space Choones, originally uploaded by James Wellock.

A simple visual representation of the a layout idea for the proposed game Space Choones. The arrow will move clockwise and anti-clockwise around a centre point from which the coloured objects are originating from.

Studio - Toy - Ideas - Um Dum

A idea for a game based on the nursery ryhme of Umpty Dumpty. The main theme of the game is to keep Umpty Dumpty balancing on a wall while various objects are being fired at him. For example first of all the Kings Men have a go at him, then the Army, then Russia and America fire warheads at him, then David Beckham kicks a free kick at him. Finally at the end he meets his arch nemisis, Numpty, and they fight gladiator style on the wall. The game would be in a first person view and would use a balacning technique like that one for grinding in Tony Hawks. The gamer would simply press the left and right buttons to balance Umpty and use an action button to make him jump and fight. The basic aim is to get to the end and fight Numpty racking up a high score as you dodge objects.

Studio - Toy - Research - Computer Games Resources

Pong
Space Invaders
Tetris
Super Mario Bros.
Tomb Raider

Studio - Toy - Research - Computer Games - Tomb Raider

tombraider
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Developed by Core Design it was one of the bench marks in games design. Originally inspired by the Indian Jones films, it was released in 1996 to great accliam. It was the next step in the evolution as it was one of the first well done three dimensional games and the introduction of a female charactor showed a natural boundry crossing throughout the industry. The aim is to travel through various levels collecting items as the story unfolds. Its a popular theme and has spawned many sequals, including a film. Lara Croft, the charactor is now one the most popular marketing tools in any industry and is instantly recognisable to a massive majority of the public.

Studio - Toy - Research - Computer Games - Super Mario Bros.

mario
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

The brainchild of illustrator Shigeru Miyamoto in 1985, and developed by Ninetendo, it was quite simply the saving grace of the computer games industry after the crash of 82-83. The game centred around Mario and his brother Luigi, plumbers from New York who one day get sucked down a drain pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom. There the world is under the evil rule of a giant fire breathing turle and the former princess is in great danger so the plumbers take it upon them selfs to save the kingdom. Its a platrform game so the charactor moves horizontally and vertically along a side sweeping scenery. Basic, but imensly colourful and addictive to play, it spawned lots of copies and sequals but over time the charactor Mario as become as recognisable as any other western tradmark.

Studio - Toy - Research - Computer Games - Tetris

tetris
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Tetris (its important to note that the image above isn't the original version but a evolution of it, as today it is still goind strong) was commercialy introduced in 1987 although it had been around from 1985, thanks to programmer Alexey Pajitnov. A Russian dervied game in which was famously a mainly Japanese and American industry, it became massive with gamers and very popular. Its a game not suprisingly coming from a simple and functional state that involves the user arranging blocks in a fashion that creates completed lines for which are then taken away to create more. A high score is then obtained depending on how many lines have been banished.

Studio - Toy - Research - Computer Games - Space Invaders

space invaders
Originally uploaded by James Wellock.

Space Invaders was designed and programmed by Toshihiro Nishikado for Taitoin Japan, in 1978 and is seen to be one of the most popular arcade games ever, even to this day. Its simply based on a group of aliens moving downwards in steps towards you, the ship. The aliens shoot at you and you must shoot back but unlike them you have four shelters to hide behind. So you must destroy all the aliens before they reach your shelters or destroy you. Looking back at it now, its seems quite a simple game but for its time it was revolutionary and has created cult followings all over the world.