Topology

Topology has quite a complex meaning and is a major area in both mathematics and sculpting. Topology is essentially the way in which you can redefine a shape through deformations that include stretching, but not tearing or gluing. This is similar to the core mechanic of how ZBrush and Mudbox work, and Topology can be very useful to keep in mind when finishing a sculpture.

When you create a digital sculpture in either ZBrush of Mudbox, the resolution and sub-division is normally very high to accommodate all the detail present. ZBrush converts the on-screen polygon level into their own specific display format called 'Pixols', whereas Mudbox presents the polygons essentially as they appear in the render view. The difference this makes is that ZBrush generally runs a lot faster, and you can achieve higher levels of sub-division on less powerful machines, however sculptures that you create in Mudbox are essentially what-you-see-is-what-you-get, unlike ZBrush who's rendering can often display graphical glitches not present in the draft view. Because of this, models creating in ZBrush and Mudbox need to be reduced in polygons without losing detail, which has to be done in a very efficient process to maximize the amount of polygons saved. It is also essential that the muscles in the face are all in the correct position, otherwise when animating the muslces in the face won't behave as they should (stretch), and instead the muscles will appear to 'tear'. This is where Topology comes in handy.

Topology can be used to calculate the most efficient way to recreate a model. By following the muscles in Facial Topology, you can more accurate reconstruct a face while minimising quality loss. The Facial Topology i used for my sculpt can be found here: http://www.foundation3d.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/430/cat/500/ppuser/4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topology
http://www.pixologic.com/home.php
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=13565063&siteID=123112

Tale of Tales vs. Activision

Tale of Tales are an independent games development company based in Belgium. Their aim is to target people who are "not enchanted by most contemporary computer games". The company is run by Auriea Harvey and Michaél Samyn, who then outsource parts of the game such as 3d assets and sound to other companies such as Ringtail Studios and International Hobo. All of the games released by Tale of Tales have an underlying 'artey' feel to them, and appear more as interactive 3d motion artwork than necessarily games. Tale of Tales also base their games and characters around popular literature and folk tales, such as Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Ridinghood. The games are all linked together by the recurring character of a deaf-mute girl in a white dress.

The Endless Forest is Tale of Tales current most popular game, with over 200,000 downloads and over 25,000 registered players. Although this is nothing compared to other mainstream MMORPG's such as World of Warcraft boasting more than 10 million subscribers (January 2008), it is still fairly impressive for small games developers. Before i began researching Tale of Tales, i had already heard of (and played) The Endless Forest. The artistic expression present in all Tale of Tales games certainly shines through, but perhaps not as much as some of their other games such as '8' or 'The Path'. My opinion was that in some ways, Tale of Tales were defeating themselves. They are trying to produce very artistic, expressive games to target people who aren't into mainstream gaming, but i feel that if they fused the two concepts together, that The Endless Forest could be an incredible game. The Endless Forest doesn't have amazing graphics, but they are certainly acceptable - where it falls down is in the gameplay. I think the concept of playing as a deer from a young age in an 'endless' forest, interacting with other deers (players), is a fantastic idea, but it feels very much like they have left it at that. I'm not sure whether this is because the Flemish Audiovisual Fund is refusing to pay for further development on The Endless Forest, or whether its simply because they want to keep the game very simple, but the whole game really lacks depth for me. There seems to be next to nothing to accomplish within the game except wander around communicating with other deers through emotes and waiting for the next 'ABIOGENESIS' (appearance from the developers playing as gods), but maybe that's the point. I just think if they added some more depth and borrowed features from sucessful MMO's such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Runescape etc. , they could have an award winning game. My suggestion to them would be to incorporate a guild/clan system, where players can form groups to roam around in accomplishing tasks. Another idea would be to have some type of traditional RPG (customisable) equipment, which could be bought from in-game vendors for in-game points (perhaps by completing or participating in events, or recovering acorns/other special items) or bought with real life currency through a micro-transaction system. These items would add certain benefits/buffs to the player's deer, such as being able to do certain types of unique emotes or simply to just change the appearance of the player's deer (different coloured fur, hats, etc.). Not just would this widen their playerbase, but it would also bring in the funding they desperately need to continue development. Even the ability for players to be able to either compete or be randomly chosen to play a (limited power) god that the developers play would be enough to spark the interest of more players. I do understand how this game can be very inviting for people who want to retreat from the outside world into a peaceful, relaxing environment.

I can't say that Activision are similar to Tale of Tales in many aspects. Activision began producing game cartridges for the Atari, and are now one of the largest third party developers and publishers of video games in the world. Activision have published some of the most popular game franchises in history, such as the Guitar Hero series, the Quake series (with the exception of the original 'Quake'), and the famous Call of Duty series (with Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops being the fastest selling games of all time). In July 2008, Activision merged with Vivendi Games (owners of Sierra and Blizzard) into the new company 'Activision Blizzard'. The brand Activision will still exist as a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, and will publish games such as the Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon series.

Unlike Tale of Tales, Activision are very much about making money and producing mainstream games. Activision's games generally contain a lot of violence, explosions and realistic visuals, all of what Tale of Tale's tries to avoid. When Tale of Tales talked about 'contemporary computer games', Activision is one of the publishers they were (indirectly) talking about. In some ways, Activision is trying so hard to be mainstream now that many of their titles have become so over-the-top, blockbuster film, that it has detracted several fans of the series. To use an example, the original Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2 were loved by fans of first person shooters due to their realism and relevant accuracy. So much so that it completely took over the first person shooter market from Medal of Honor. Call of Duty 4 was also a brilliant idea from Infinity Ward and Activision, as it moved away from the oversaturated World War II genre. In Black Ops however, the plotlineActivision's titles, you almost feel more compelled to play Tale of Tale's games. Call of Duty, Doom, Quake etc. are all so intense to play, and i do see a market for perhaps those kind of players relaxing afterwards by going on a game such as The Endless Forest.



http://tale-of-tales.com/blog/information/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_Tales_%28developer%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_warcraft#cite_note-13
http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/a158552/guinness-announces-gaming-world-records.html
http://tale-of-tales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3052
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision#2010s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft#Corrupted_Blood_plague_incident