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!