10 hours ago...

10 hours ago we entered a taxi to the train station in Ludwigsburg. Now we're just about to eat the first real meal of the day in Stockholm. Hello Sweden!

We still have a bit to go though, at 00:20 we'll set foot in Visby. (for the ones wondering what the hell we will be doing for 8 hours, we have to travel to a harbour and then go on a ferry for 3 hours)

Then I can finally say "Hello home!"

Trans-media Workflow

We're packing up to leave Ludwigsburg and go to Sweden! It's been three loooong weeks, but an incredible amount of fun.

I'll leave you with this Prezi presentation. Click the arrows to get the presentation, or just use the buttons on the right to drag and scale around at any time. It's mostly notes from this week, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Speaking with Geza M. Toth

As I can't get photos from my phone at the moment, I can't upload any photos from Ludwigsburg... but I'll make up for that with a few more from Budapest!

We got to meet Geza M. Toth while in Hungary. He's an incredibly skilled movie director - among many other things he has directed the Oscar-nominated short movie 'Maestro':



A few of us from the Eucroma group went to his studio to discuss animation and movie-making in general. We got to hear a lot of stories of how it was to work with animation in Hungary, and also how you renew yourself as an artist. It was a really inspiring meeting!

One of the things I will take with me from that meeting is how he described himself. He said he was like a tailor. A tailor's job is basically to take the request of the client and make an original and creative suit that would still fit the client perfectly. I'd like to think of myself like that as well.

Less talking, more photos!

A few prizes he won over the years. Some are very... original.

Lunchtime! Geza M. Toth is the one in the middle.

Obligatory coffee in the children's section of a café.

Summary of Budapest

Second attempt at summarising Budapest... it's a city of history, and there are so many impressions to take in while being there. I really recommend visiting it (don't forget to visit both sides of the river, basically completely different cities!), but do spend some money on getting a decent hotel... ours literally stank of crap. Anyway, here goes!

As a swede, the language is impossible to understand. For example 'thank you' is 'köszönöm'. It also sounds a lot like Finnish.

We found this sign on a pizzeria close to the hotel we stayed at. We discussed the different possible meanings of it, but I think we decided on 'We do not serve sushi!!!'. Since it's a pizzeria and all.



One of the treasures of Budapest. Sandwiches in every size and form! You could order 10 smaller ones in a box to bring with you, and they would have everything! Salmon, egg, tuna, salami, roast beef, cheese, brie cheese, ham, clam...

Since everything in Hungary is really cheap as well, these were only 3 swedish crowns per sandwich. I miss them already.
Nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom
This sign belonged to our favorite pizzeria. They actually had awesome service and tasty food, and they also introduced me to the awesome concept of having sour cream on your pizzas instead of tomato sauce.



Unless you apply the sign to our hotel of course... besides stinking of crap they liked to turn every room into a sauna. They would go in during the day and turn the heaters up to max and close the windows. Don't ask me. Onwards!


The meals were gigantiiiic!


(depending on what you ordered of course... Victor always managed to get the humongous meals)
Quite often you will see these random holes in Budapest. I don't know the history behind them, but it seems like the old building has been torn down and then not been replaced by a new building. One hole had been turned into a parking lot, but many of them are just empty like this.



It's kind of odd when you walk by these at night, as there are no lights at all in them, just a big black... hole.



And finally, speaking of contrasts in Budapest. Here are two more examples of how different styles neighbouring houses will have.

Recap Week 02

This is a post for my course at University. It's a long post analyzing a shorter game that the Eucroma group created last week, and why the game wasn't finished. Just so you know. :)


- We spent the last week working on a shorter project that would be finished on Thursday. The project was to create a smaller game that would be playable by the end of the week. The intention of doing a project over 4 days was to test the pipeline and the group. We would hopefully be able to see where problems would arise in a more controlled setting, and bring those lessons with us into the big project.

Everyone who wanted to was involved in the process of creating the idea. The goal was to at least create a simple game; if we had the time we would also create a trailer for the game. As I wanted to focus on a personal project and didn’t care too much about what type of game we would make, I chose to not involve myself too much in the beginning phase.

We chose to keep the concept phase short. Within the first day we had an idea for a game and designs for the two main characters. The rest of the time was spent on production of the assets needed for the game.

The tools I needed to start my work on the game (animation) involved two other people – the modeller and the rigger. The modeller created the character from the designs our Production Designer made. When that was done, the rigger received the character and created a so-called skeleton for it. The character that the modeller created will then act as a skin on the skeleton, as with a real human being.

This also involved a lot of communicating. Even though I couldn’t actually start animating until I had a character with a skeleton, I could give feedback on the process of the character creation. At this time I also communicated with the programmers. They knew what kind of animations they needed for the game to look believable. In our case the game involved throwing and getting hit by various instruments, and so we needed characters that looked like they are doing so.

In a perfect world, this would have been a fast and smooth process. But as we, after all, are a group of people from around Europe that has never worked together before, there were a lot of problems that arose once we were in production.

 - The most important problem was that there was no direction. As with any kind of bigger group that needs to produce something, whether it is a game, orchestra or basketball team, you need someone to organize the effort. It could be a coach, conductor, or in this case a Game Designer (from now known as GD). The GD has an overview of the progression of the game, and makes sure that the end product is something that’s enjoyable to play. (this is a very simplified version of the role)

In this short project we didn’t have a GD, or any other kind of leading role. This was due to the fact that the leading group (GD, Producers, Production Designer and Animation Director) spent almost all of their time in meetings concerning the main project. Specifically the universe that is to be created for it.

One of many consequences of this was that the programmers had to take focus away from their main task and take decisions that the GD should have been responsible for. Among many things they had to design how you actually play the game. This process was very rushed because the programmers still had to do the actual programming, so a lot of bad decisions were taken.

Simply put, since no one had taken direction of the general direction and experience of the game, it wasn't something that could engage the player. In the first play-through of the game we realised that it wasn't very fun to play at all. As a result the programmers had to throw away everything they had done so far and create a completely new game. Something that should have been avoided with a clear direction from the beginning.

- The creative team also experienced a lot of turbulence. Since we are very dependent on each other’s work, it’s important that we share the same vision about how the end product should look. If a few people think that we are making an apple, and some other people think that we are making a banana, then there’s going to be a lot of confusion in the communication within the team.

One way to avoid this would have been to have a central point of information about the concept. This source of information could for example be a Style Guide, Wiki-page, etc. It would be updated with info and clarifications for different aspects as problems and questions arise.

There was a lack of direction in the creative team as well. The Production Designer who designed the characters weren’t available enough to answer all of the questions, and no one had an oversight of the process. I had no way of knowing if the file I received was approved for the next step in the process, because there was no one there to approve it.

In the end the project never got finished. We had a lot of finished assets, but the game as a whole wasn’t playable. There were a lot of smaller issues as well, but I believe that the two issues I’ve described above are the causes of project being unfinished.


If you have read this far, I would really appreciate if you left a comment on how easy/hard it was to understand. I’m trying to keep my language open so that non-game production people can read it too, so please point out for me if there are any passages or words that are confusing. Thank you!

In Ludwigsburg!

We're now at the Filmakademie in Ludwigsburg! I'll update with more later on when I have some time.

I decided to remove the summary of Budapest, I felt it was a bit too hurried and badly written.

Now I'm off for lecture!

Breakfast

Lemon yoghurt and a sandwich with brie from a local bakery. Nomnom!

Mmm.... AAAH!! Mmmm... AAAH!!




Created this head turn today! I focused on making the animation work smoothly, so I haven't given much thought to acting choices or why he is turning his head.

Originally it's only one head turn (from right to left), but as that was way too short I played the clip a few times back and forth... enjoy!

The most awesome place in Budapest

Heroes' Square (featuring the majestic Millenium Memorial)

This was my first sighting of the more impressive stuff you can find in Budapest. Up until then my experience had consisted of dirty hotels, packed buses and half-demolished buildings, so it was really nice to see this. Since then I've seen a lot of stuff as well, but this will have a certain place in my memories of Budapest.

Click for a sense of scale!

Morning Yoga at the Memento Park

We visited the Memento Park in Buda yesterday! It was pretty impressive, but really really cold and lots of wet dirt. My boots acquired a beautiful new color of dirt after walking around to see all of the statues.

I'm sorry if these following photos offend anyone, we just saw our chance to have a bit of fun... I hope you see the humor in them as well. :)

Morning Yoga


Recap Week 01

 We started off the first week by getting introduced to the group of people that we are going to work with for the next 6 months. The group consisted mostly of students from around Europe, but also a few people with professional experience.

Our task of the week was to start working on the creation of the universe. We will later on use this universe to develop a game and a movie. This would be tough to do with any kind of group, especially when you don't know each other.

On tuesday we went through an epic 12 hour long discussion about the different ideas we had and how to expand on them. Since we come from different backgrounds we also discussed a lot about the similarities and differences between games and movies. We didn't really come to any conclusion about anything that day, more than the fact that it is very frustrating to try and get along with a group of people you have only known for a day.

On wednesday we got to meet a panel of various awesome people. Among them a project manager from Sony and the creator of the Star Wars lego (and a lot of other lego products as well). We got a lot of advice regarding how to get started and what to focus on. It was definitely good to have the huge discussion the day before, we knew what questions we needed to ask. I think we also took the panel's advice to heart in a way that we wouldn't have done if everything had happened smoothly.

The later half of the week we spent working on one-day projects to get used to the workflow and working with each other. The concept group (consisting mainly of the game and animation director) had meetings to come up with a universe. The whole group got briefed at regular intervals on their progress. Even if a smaller group comes up with the initial ideas, the input from the rest of the team is considered very important.

A Paparazzi photo of the concept group in progress.

Next week will be all about fleshing out the universe and deciding more about the direction we want to go.

This is how we party




As true geeks!

Vakvarjú Restaurant



This is from our very first day in Budapest. We had spent the first half of the day in the studio listening to lectures and getting to know each other. For lunch we entered the first restaurant we could find, which just happened to have a balcony with people in it! (also note the bird stuck in the fence)

The restaurant is Vakvarjú, I can really recommend it for the awesome food and somewhat... interesting interior design. Do you remember this post? Same restaurant. Here's some more!



Hungarian ABBA

Yesterday we went to a restaurant across the street and got entertained by these guys. We were very impressed with their talent and knowledge of swedish songs! Also Victor got the biggest schnitzel I have ever seen in my life... (in a literal sense...)





Köztigon Studio

The studio that has kindly lent us some working space is normally used by the architect László Rajk. We have had a few very interesting lectures with him about planned cities vs organically grown cities. He also owns one of the fluffiest dogs I've ever met!

The studio itself is very fresh and spacious. We try to meet up at 9 everyday to eat breakfast together (the hotel breakfast is actually worse than the one you get at a supermarket...). The first half of the week we sat around two tables like this:


While that was very cosy we quickly got in dire need of more space. Some shuffling of tables later we now have a lot more space and desks for everyone. The photo below is taken from the room to the left (in the above photo), and the "office" now covers three rooms!


Speaking of contrasts in Budapest, this house is what you see when you step out from the studio. There is something very telling with how the clean and nice-looking the first floor is, and how the second floor is riddled with bullet holes and history.


Obligatory post about Eucroma

Hello! Welcome to my blog about Eucroma. It hasn't been much about Eucroma so far, but we'll change that right now!!

So, what the hell is Eucroma? You can find some information over here, but I'll try to write a summary that's easier to understand and more in context of what I've learned while being here.

Basically, with every product released for entertainment (movies, games, comics, books) there exists some kind of universe. This universe is what allows us to take a book and remake it into a movie, and we will still recognize the story and characters. In the same sense, it's what allows us to make a movie into a game, and so on. As long as the essential things in the universe are used for the new product, we will recognize it and make a connection.

For example... The universe of Mario or... The Lord of the Rings.



Eucroma was put together with the intent of creating a joint universe, and based on that create a game and some kind of movie. The actors behind Eucroma are a couple of Universities around Europe (which is why we're visiting a couple of different cities, that's where the different Universities are located).

All in all we're slowly nearing 20 students from around northern Europe. Most of us are from Sweden, but we also have a few from Denmark, Holland and Bulgaria. We're divided into two teams with different focus (games and movies), with a few people that will deliver stuff to both teams (such as music and sound effects). Yours truly is focusing on producing 3d animation for the movie.

It's a very interesting process, because the two teams have to work very closely together. Right now the concept people (the ones who come up with the initial ideas) is in another room discussing wildly about how the universe could be like.

The goal by the end of these 6 months is to have a small piece of a game and a movie. Anyone who has ever worked in this industry knows how much work it can be, and our focus is on creating something that will be as finished as possible. So, it's gonna be 30 seconds of animated movie instead of 30 minutes. But there's nothing stopping us from creating a full movie later on!

One of the questions that we will try to answer with this project is more or less: Could it be possible to create better products through focusing on the creation of the universe (rather than game mechanics or story)

I hope that this whole eucroma things will be a lot clearer now. Every monday I'll post a recap of the week that's been for a course at the University. So even if it's still confusing you'll get a lot more insight and understanding of what I'm actually doing. But for now, good night!

The Liszt House

I'm sorry for the lack of content on this blog so far, it will become better once I have access to a computer and some time to write! I can tell you that Budapest is a very interesting city and so far I've enjoyed my time here.

Something that still amazes me after a few days here are the contrasts. Imagine you're walking down your typical random alley in a town. You're surrounded by boring concrete buildings (and since it's Budapest there are a looot of Gothic-style buildings), and then suddenly... you see the house in the photo below. Wow.


(more updates about the program itself is coming soon!)


Money Money Money

The prices in Budapest are absurd for a scandinavian. 3 swedish crowns translates to 100 forints, so you feel ridiculously rich carrying around 20.000 forints in your wallet...

(btw, can you find the one real euro penny in the photos below?)




Budapest so far


This photo actually sums up my first impressions. A city in the roof, why not?

Preparations


So, going to Budapest tomorrow. Maybe it's time to pack?

I'm sure I forgot something. I'm sure I'll remember it on the plane.

Time for some refreshments before the big day. Good night!

Tales of packing and blueberries


Just a quick post before I go to shower and packing all of my stuff, here's my latest animation! I can't believe how much I learned from doing this one, and how much I have left to learn... oh well, I hope you enjoy it!


Ett snabbt inlägg innan jag duschar och sätter igång och packa alla mina saker, här är min senaste animation! Jag har lärt mig helt fantastiskt mycket av att göra denna, och jag har insett att jag har otroligt mycket kvar att lära mig... aja, hoppas ni tycker om den!