GDC Europe 2013 - "Crafting the World of Crysis" (Crytek)

During my time at GDC Europe 2013, I had the possibility to attend one of the sessions. I decided to visit one of Crytek's presentations, regarding their "visual arts" and the process of creating the world of "Crysis" (1-3).  I personally think that the presentation was totally interesting, and so I want to share some information I got there with you :)

[[Attention: This entry will be ONLY about Crytek's "Crysis"-series and their CryEngine 3. So if you're not interested in either one of these, I recommend to skip this entry :') ]]

The presentation took place on Tuesday, 19th of August at 11:00 a.m. in congress hall 2 at the 4th level of "Congress-Center Ost" (Eastern Congress Center) and was held by Felix Leyendecker, who's working for Crytek's 3D-Artist team.

Crysis (1) took place in a kinda tropical environment (including frozen areas and an alien spaceship), Crytek decided to change the setting to a more urban style, since several critics argued that the CryEngine was only able to put a good look on tropical and more natural settings - so they wanted to prove and show what their artists were able to achieve with their engine.
Anyway, Crytek didn't want to drop the image of a "jungle" as such, what's the main reason for their decision to launch an "urban jungle" which was inspired by the city of New York.

(Screenshot by www.cinemablend.com)

(Screenshot taken from vg247.com)

Since both of those titles were a huge success, they directly started developing Crysis 3 - just right after Crysis 2 was released. Crysis 3 was inspired by nature, by NYC (again) and - of course - by Crysis 2. In the following picture (I hope you can see it properly...? D: ?) you can see both, the inspiration (nature, left) and what they managed to create out of that (right).

Even though Crytek was open minded regarding some new settings, they tried to fulfill their fans' wish to obtain another "jungle" for their new Crysis. While they were already working on the game, they set up an own team to arrange new patches and to optimize their engine (and so, their games as well) for consoles, because it was obvious that their main storage differs a lot compared to a computer's one.

Crytek benefit from using their own level-editors and their own engine, since it allows to "see what you're working at". The engine works in real-time, which means that you can actually already see what it will look like in the game, just from that moment when someone starts to create it. Additionally, the art team, which was responsible for both the design and the textures, was completely involved in the level design as well, to provide the best results. Crytek Ukraine worked on the levels in small groups of 2-4 people, while the multiplayer scenarios were created in England. And again, there was a special team to optimize the main storage problems caused by hi-end graphics and the so-called "statoscope" (a special effect reflecting light, creating lights shining through canopies of leaves and adjusting the color of 'dark' and 'light' areas automatically without any additional work for the artists (see example below)).

Anyway, there also were several problems within the process of creating the game. For example, they were lacking of senior artists, which meant they needed to adjust their working plan to their capabilities. That said, you can probably imagine that it was hard to finish the game like they wanted it to be in time. Not every level had its own so-called 'level owner' (this shouldn't be someone who acts like a director, but more likely someone who tries to bundles the team's ideas and to organize it), but 5 out of 7 levels were just passed to each other group member. Crytek decided to work with this leaderless stucture because they hoped to achieve a more agile development. 

However, "the next gen"-consoles are coming up soon, and Leyendecker indicated that the Crysis team still is interested in working on that series. Nevertheless it's still unleaked if (and if yes, when) we can expect another game.

By the way - as a bonus, Leyendecker explained that they were totally inspired by "Jurassic Park" when they came up with the aliens hiding in the long grass ... ;) 

(Screenshot taken from games.on.net)

Last but not least, here's the tech trailer for "CryEngine 3", which is - of course - already kind of old, since they built "Crysis 3" with this engine and presented it already on last year's GDC. Anyway I want to share it with you on here. It's just amazing. (Please watch in HD!)

GDC Europe 2013 - My rough diary (Tuesday)

Like I promised before, here's "Part 2" of my GDC Europe 2013 experience! :)

Tuesday, 20th of August

Well, as I said in my previous entry, I got up at 5:00 a.m. again, since I had to attend to our team meeting at 8 o'clock. Victoria (who was our 'boss' this year) told us that lots of people went up to talk to her about us the day before. When she stated that, everyone got a little nervous, since everyone was expecting some bad news and black marks, or even reproaches... but luckily, those people obviously really just wanted to give some kudos to us?! Well, at least Victoria said that they just wanted to talk to her about that the team was so helpful and friendly, and that she should carry those compliments.
Even though this was rather a weird thing, of course everyone was totally happy about those news! I mean, how awesome's that? ヽ(；▽；)ノ 

Anyway, when I had some freetime right after the meeting, I met up with Caro to have a walk to Cologne city center, where we had some breakfast together (or at least I had breakfast, Caro decided she wasn't hungry, so she just ordered a drink ^^; )☆　

Unfortunately, time passed quite fast and so we headed back to Deutz to be in time for my shift. On Tuesday, it was "Google Day" :') The "Rheinsaal" was totally dedicated to Google's presentations,  which means that any attendee was able to visit those presentations during the whole day. Actually, I think most of their presentations sounded quite interesting (for example "Acquiring the Most Valuable Users for Your Game" by Joel Berger, or "Measuring and Optimizing Games using Google Mobile App Analytics" by Kristoffer Oloffson)). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend to any of them, because of my shifts :'( 

By the way, I met someone quite interesting! His name is Johannes Vuorinen (Frogmind) and he's one of those who're responsible for "BADLANDS". I want to be honest, I usually don't play any games on mobile device, but I totally fell in love with this game because of its design and that's the reason why I actually thought I'd should give it a try (It totally reminded me of "Limbo", by the way !) So it was so amazing to meet one of those who're involved!!  Whatever - he just stopped, while he was actually passing, to talk to us for a while. He's just such a nice guy :) I know he won't ever read this for sure, but I just want to say "thanks!" for the nice chat anyway ヽ(●´∀｀●)ﾉ  

(Screenshot "BADLANDS" by Frogmind)

By the way, after that, some more people also started talking to us while they were passing - but most of them were some of the Media-guys. Anyway we had so much fun on Tuesday, because everyone already knew us since the day before, and were obviously surprised and kinda happy to see us again :) So even if they were in a hurry, they left some nice and/or funny comments.

Well, that's it for Tuesday, actually. Nevertheless I want to express some gratitude to my co-workers, like Mckenzie (again :') ), Vicenzo, Caro, Jackson, Mareike, Christian and "Jane" :') Especially because some of you cared about us so much, and supplied us with RedBull, coffee and pastries, when we weren't able to leave (๑´ڡ`๑)

Even if there was another party at the evening, I decided not to go - just because my feet were killin' me already, and I had some sleep to get... |D

GDC Europe 2013 - My rough diary :') (Sunday/Monday)

Yush!  I'm back home from GDC Europe, finished all my shifts and I'm happy to be able to announce that GDC Europe was a huge success! :)

As I promised, I want to write about my experiences at GDC Europe 2013 and GamesCom 2013 in the following entries, about the people I met (and which I want to point out, because they also made my time even more special than it was anyway), and about the Crytek party and about a special session that dealt with Crytek's way of designing and crafting the environment in "Crysis (1-3)".

Sunday, 18th of August:My first shift already started on Sunday, where we actually just did some preparation works for GDC. We received some general information about the conference and got a briefing about our tasks. As for me, I got my shifts at the Press Conference Center, which was only opened for V.I.P., Media and their interview partners (for example exhibitors, speakers etc.). 

Anyway we also stuffed the "GDC Bags", which should contain several goodies, pamphlets and information regarding the convention and the exhibitors. Even though it was said we'd be probably working until 4 p.m., we already finished at 2 p.m. (because my team was just awesome and we had some great ideas how to optimize the working process ;) ). So, well, yeah - that's it for sunday, actually. I had to get up quite early, but I was allowed to leave quite early as well, so it was fine for me ^^
By the way - this year's GDC T-shirts were YELLOW (ﾉд-｡)

Monday, 19th of August:

 My shift started quite early (since we had team meetings right before GDC's doors openend), what was the reason for me to get up at already 5 a.m. When we finished our meeting and the first attendees entered the congress, I had some freetime which I spent visiting some sessions. I want to write about one of them in a seperate entry.  (o´罒`o) Additionally, I was able to have a sneak into the booths at the expo-floor (and I had some lunch in between ^^; ). I decided to upload some photos, so please have a look if you're interested :') ☆　

(One of the session rooms: Rheinsaal West)

You can see the booth of "Oculus VR*" on the picture right above - their latest invention are some kind of goggles creating some kind of "*Virtual Reality". If you wear it, you can bend your head in every direction, even up and down, and you'll see some artificial environments in 3D (for example a wide landscape and even the roof of a skyscraper - it was kinda creepy, because you could actually 'watch down'. Amazing! ).

So, well - I was totally lucky I had my shift with a girl from the US. Her name's Mckenzie, and I totally enjoyed to work with her, because even if we had to work like until 7 p.m. and I was tired and my feet hurt a lot, it wasn't boring at all! :) But nevertheless we both felt so released when we finished our duty, haha |D


Monday, 19th of August - Crytek Party

Even though everyone was totally exhaused, and especially I decided to go home actually, we decided to jump at the chance of visiting the quite popular Crytek Party at Rheintreppen. This party is GDC-exclusive and you aren't allowed to enter if you don't have a "VIP"- or "All Access"-badge. We were allowed, because we surely had "All Access", since we NEEDED to have them to do our work poperly :'D
It was quite cool to see all those developers, speakers, CEOs and so on, and to drink some beer (or water, or coke, or wine, or whatever you wanted, actually ^^) with them as well (which was free, by the way. Everything was sponsored by Crytek, even the snacks!).  We even were treated receiving some sparkling wine reception (›´ω`‹ )

Well, actually I thought like I should only stay for about one hour, just to say "hi" to everyone, enjoy some talks and  try to arrive at home as fast as possible to get some sleep, because I needed to get up at 5:00 a.m. AGAIN on Tuesday. Anyway, I ended up staying for 3 1/2 hours in total, so that I arrived at home only at 2:00 (!!!) a.m. and achieved to sleep at maybe 3. That was not what I planned, but I totally enjoyed my stay though, and in the end, I managed to work properly on Tuesday as well, so I don't think that it was too bad ;)

I want to stop - let's call it - "Part 1" here, because there's muuuch more to go :') 

Just received my schedule for GDCE!

Yey, so it's been a while again. Anyway I just wanted to share my excitement with you. As I mentioned before, I'm happy to be part of GDCE (Game Developers Conference Europe) in Cologne again ☆

This time will be totally different for me, since I'm not going to be a runner, but got a quite more...well, for me, a job which will cause lots of nightmares until GDC, I think 囧rz

It's decided I'm gonna be a Press Room Assistant, which means I'll participate at the press conferences and meet lots of important people working in the game industry. And, how you probably can imagine, I'm totally nervous. 

Nevertheless, my shifts are rather horrible. I got to attend to our team meetings at around 8:00 a.m., while my sessions only start at 01:00 p.m. (･･;) It means that I'll obviously need to get up at around 5:00 a.m. ... Holy! 

And my shift just ends at 7 p.m. - adding my travel time, I think I'll be able to take off my shoes etc. at around 9:30 p.m. or something. I already plan to abuse our locker room as a dormitory (*ﾉ∀｀*)ゞｴﾍﾍ

Let's see whether I'm able to make it. 

At least we're gettin' free lunch! ☆ (and to be honest, I really think that GDC's lunch is awesome!! :D). 

Are you interested in GDC-content, by the way? If so, I want to try gathering some information to share them with you :)  (I think I will write about my time there anyway, but you can kinda co-determine to what extent I'll do so ( *｀ω´) )

By the way, is anyone planning to go to GamesCom this year? Are there any games you're curious about? 

I'd be totally interested in your opinions! ☆

GDC - Last Day

Geez, I'm done for now!

☆

I'm sitting here, writing this blog entry with... well, let's say 'mixed' feelings. On the one hand, I'm so happy to have finished my duty on GDC, because it was a very hard time and I'm just...done. On the other hand, my team was such a great team and we laughed so much together, had great conversations and they were, well, I don't find another fitting word for that: great. My boss is also such a lovely person... and I know that I won't see at least 99% of them all until next year, because they're living abroad.

Anyway, this experience was priceless.

Boring me being boring |D

But, to start writing about this day's routine, I want to interrupt my 'nostalgia' (haha, may I call it 'nostalgia' already at all...?), here's what I experienced on my last day at GDC Europe.

I went to bed quite early the evening before, because I was tired as hell and my feet were killing me literally. That's why I woke up at around 8:00 a.m. already, even if my shift just started at 4 p.m. ... So I decided to watch some TV ("Malcolm in the Middle" and "Scrubs") while I was threatening my feet so I would survive the day. Someone gave me some "aromatic skin oils" before, so I wanted to try that on my feet. Actually, it helped quite fine! They still did hurt, but kneading my feet with it helped indeed to decrease the pain a lot (I'm sorry by the way, I also feel totally strange to write about my feet so much. Especially because I personally really don't like feet... %___% ).

My plan was to visit GamesCom before I take my shift, but when I hasted to the bus, it came out that it (which means: the bus) was FAR too late. So I didn't catch my train in time. That's why I decided to keep going by bus to the next town, where I could spend some time buying some food, a drink and new cigarettes.

I love apple turnovers!

Around 5:30 p.m.

Unfortunately, that's why I couldn't visit the GamesCom before my shift - so when I arrived at the venue, I just went to our office where they said it won't be that busy today due to the conferences would end today. Actually, we didn't have any other tasks then to be some kind of "security", so GamesCom visitors couldn't enter the GDC area, but we evolved into an information center quite quickly |D ! Lots of visitors asked us about the lifts, about where to get their catalogues, directions etc. It was quite fun because they all were so nice and hearty!

And then, there was a huge surprise for me: Spellbound's president came to me (I think because he recognized me) and asked me whether I could help him, because he somehow lost his laptop. Fortunately one of my mates (who was actually already quitting shift) took my place so I could take a look at the control room to ask for that laptop. It wasn't there, but they said they'd ask at all the lost-property offices to find that laptop. Et voilá! On the way back home, Spellbound's president came to me again, just to tell me that he got his laptop back. He was so thankful for that, even if I just did such a small thing .__.!

Quite half an hour later, our boss passed. She was so surprised that the workers already almost finished dismounting the conference rooms, so she said "They're almost ready!? Omg, why you guys are still working then? Please feel free to do whatever you want to!" At first I was like "WTF!?", but , yes, she couldn't have known, could she...^^;; 

Of course we finished our shift then and said "Good Bye" to all those other workers who were working with us since last Saturday. Same as I said before: with mixed feelings...

Buuuuut! We were allowed to attend the Gree Aftershow Party, to which we directly went ;)

At GREE Aftershow Party! ☆

At GREE Aftershow Party（´ω｀） 

I left earlier (even though I wanted to go back early) to see some halls of the GamesCom before it would be crowded from tomorrow. I didn't manage to do so, even though I just saw 2 halls T__T;!  But, ey - here are some expressions from my little walk (please don't forget that GamesCom was almost over, so it wasn't that crowded anymore).

GDC - Third Day

Wow, so today was very busy.

As I mentioned yesterday (actually, it was "today" already. Geez...), I had to get up very early (5:00 a.m., to be concrete) and tried to 'fix' my right foot (which still hurts). Used some ointment and cooled it before I left the house, but it didn't hold on for long, so when I arrived at the station in Cologne and wanted to walk down the street to GDC, the pain was back _ _' I'm still not sure what it is or what caused it. Maybe I'll find out after I finished working :')

 (I'm sorry for looking like a dork in this pic, it's just because it was around 5:30 when I shot it and as you might can imagine, I was utterly tired...)

So, I arrived quite early and was able to have some "great" breakfast, which consisted of...RedBull. If I say "RedBull", I mean there weren't like the normal RedBull cans which everyone knows, but some really strange ones. So one of my co-mates brought one for me as well (RedBull sponsored them) and it was like... blueberry taste???I didn't even know that something like that exists at all!

(But speaking of that: it tasted disgusting, I think.... |D )

My task for today was almost just to check badges. Which was - in fact - totally boring and absolutely nerve-racking due to some of the visitors. Some of those didn't even know that "GDC" (Game Developers Conference) and "GC" (aka GamesCom) are two totally different things. So they wanted to enter the East Entrance, which is "GDC ONLY" until it's over. I think you might use the East Entrance from Thursday, as soon as the GDC is over. So we always had to send them to another entrance, explaining them why they couldn't pass GDC's entrance. Sounds not that difficult, does it... anyway, if there's the hundredth visitor at the wrong entrance, you kinda get annoyed. Still we did our best to gave them our best smiles and help whenever we could. Unfortunately, some of them were becoming some kind of 'rude', as if it was our rules or our faults (even some of those people which were obviously working for the GamesCom). To make it clear, of course not all of the visitors were like that ^^  We really had some very nice conversation with some visitors! Some of them did even hold our for some minutes to chat :)  (I especially enjoyed talking to the old man who asked me about the lunch. It just was as if we knew each other for years, when I saw that he was VIP - obviously even some big company's boss!! I was quite ashamed to be honest, but he was just laughing and acting like we're buddies anyway ☆）.

Speaking of VIP; I had to search someone in the VIP-area later. That was a mess...  anyway, the guy (who was the president of "Spellbound") was totally nice! ^^ We had a little conversation on our way to pick up his conference partner downstairs so he could take him to the VIP-lounge.

After some time of working, we had a "coffee break" (even though it wasn't a break, lol!). Nevertheless: Free coffee is the best ☆　
When I checked out from work, I just had a look around some booths again, when I saw "Marmalade".  Geez, this is freakin' cool shit! Marmalade is a new Integrated Development Environment (short: IDE), supporting several programming languages, including native languages such as C/C++, but also Adobe AIR, IOS, Android, HTML5 etc. etc, bringing them to one level, which means that they 'convert' your program/app  to the operating system you'd like it to be.

They say: "We take care of complexities of each platform so you don't have to". 

(I'm sorry for spam-posting you with this stuff, I don't think anyone is interested in this at all... but I'm just quite enthused by that ^^;; ).

So, after this day, I gained some (rather unintentionally) great contacts in between - so maybe you'll hear some of my pieces in an app or a video game (haha, doesn't that sound great!?).  

And just to end this post for now, I still want to share some photos with you I did this morning (when GDC was still closed):