Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Game Making Struggle

John B. Marine | 1:28 AM | | Be the first to comment!
The game-making struggle is real, folks. Most of my creative energy recently has been spent making game prototypes and learning game programming. I've had the furthest progress using Lua and Löve2D. So that is what I am using to make games. The ultimate goal is to make my first true game I have nothing to share at this point with you all, but I will offer thoughts on my journey of making my first game of any kind.






The Game Making Struggle


Let me go into a bit more detail about my work.


Putting the Games Together.

I am using Notepad++ to put together code for my games. I am using Löve2D for coding, a game-focused Lua interface. When I get around to audio, I will be using Linux MultiMedia Studio (LMMS) mostly. Most of my art has been done with Paint.NET. To try to make material for games, I am taking inspiration from various games. Most of my concentration is on simply making some kind of game rather than the most spectacular material right away. You got to take baby steps before making big leaps.


Why Ask Why?

So...

Why Lua/Löve2D?
I am using Löve2D because it is the programming language I have most successfully been able to make prototypes of. I have no formal training in computer science or programming, so I am mostly relying on various online resources to program with. A lot of people use Löve2D for which to make games with. And while many others will fancy something like C++ or Java instead, you can quickly make progress using Löve2D.

I have been playing with Unity3D, Unreal Engine, and Godot. Since my concentration is on 2D games, it seems a good bit awkward using a 3D engine for making 2D games. I think I even looked at Blender to try to make a pixel-perfect 2D game. Programs like Construct2 and Game Maker are for easy making of games. For some reason, I feel it is better to work with proper programming languages for better porting of material to different platforms and more programming control.

Why Paint.NET?
While Photoshop is more powerful and has many more features, I am using Paint.NET mostly for comfort and for a lightweight solution for making art. You can do a lot more in Photoshop, but the Paint.NET usage is primarily for making some quality material without having some massive program.

Why LMMS?
It has been the best sort of program for making music. Most of all, like many of the other things featured in this post, it's free. It has been the program I slowly learned and enjoyed to make music with. You probably have heard some of my music in my YouTube videos and even on my Weebly site.


Admitting Problems.

One of the things that upsets me is when you have very few quality resources. And sometimes, the ones that are suggested best usually are not the very best. An example includes a video of something that ultimately is not very good because of poor quality expressing it. Or maybe you find some website or blog with a tutorial, and you end up not having the same results as what someone else put together. All of this leads to frustration.

Another weakness is in not being able to properly know how to put certain games together. I've been looking at all kinds of methods to try to build games and game levels. I have yet to make some kind of game I am proud of to share and to build. Part of the reason is because I am not as adept at programming. I don't have any comfort level to confidently build a game from scratch. Being so compelled by various programming languages, I often don't know what methods and functions I can apply to any programming language or know what programming speak is exclusive to one specific language.

I have also struggled trying to come up with a proper suite to parse levels. Methods have included trying to put together PNG images to even trying to make game level data based on an image. I have not been successful making a proper parsing system for which to design levels easier.

Not everyone is some kind of one-person studio. Despite my issues, I mostly want to try to do this alone. I think there is greater accomplishment in trying to get things done your way and on your own. Is it intense? You bet! However, I feel there is greater gratification in being solo. You are making something to how you perceive to be incredible.


Game Building Methods.

I mentioned methods of making games. Let me explain a bit further.

Let us take making game levels for instance. Some people design levels using a series of images- maybe a static background image, then have that image with various overlays of hand-drawn levels. Or in the case of game engines, a decent set of tiles to make a 2D type game. People have designed levels of 2D games using a bunch of PNG layers or even a Photoshop PSD file. Some games are even built upon CSV files, XML files, Inkscape SVG images, even Excel spreadsheets. There are methods in designing levels in layers from the artistic aspects to the collision layer. I have yet to actually perfect any aspect of this.

As for game mechanics, I am playing games that I see either as good or bad. Sometimes learning from bad games (as you see them) can sometimes be the easiest to learn from since they aren't all that good. It is sometimes the worst titles where you feel you could most make something better. There is that feeling where you have a chance you can make something better than what some other developer made. With some titles I've played, I either want to make something as fun as a good game or make a not-very-good game better. You learn to take concepts from other titles and try to make your own quality content.

The game mechanics themselves can boil down to learning how to make certain titles and how to take certain dynamics to apply into your own work. For example, you can examine the code of a player in a platformer game to apply and modify in your own work. This is certainly something I am looking into as I am trying to develop my own kind of game and/or game prototype. I don't have as many quality resources to look at and try to utilize into my own work. I certainly don't want to completely copy somebody else's work as my own (plagiarism).

I haven't given it much thought, but I have also considered the user interface (UI) as part of my game design adventures. It is something I haven't given much thought to since I am more focused on trying to build the game first and foremost before thinking of making a certain interface.


Having said all of this, the struggle to try to make something of quality is real. You all know I will share my work with you all when I come up with something I think you all will like. I am not sure how I would distribute my content. To test the waters of making and distributing games, I may look to resources like Newgrounds, Kongregate, and even itch.io as sources. I may also set up a Google Site exclusive towards featuring some of my games.




Would I Consider Game Jams? (Bonus Section!)


To me, no. I am too much of a perfectionist to try to make a game from start to finish in only two days or shorter. I am not as keen to make a mistake-ridden game that I can ultimately learn from to design future games with. I am a casual person who has a professional mindset on certain things. I feel things must be of acceptable quality as I deem acceptable. Also, I am not too good at trying to work with themes.

The appeal of doing a game jam will help people to try to manage their time and realize what all is important when building games. I am not ready for that kind of stuff yet.





All you have to know from this blog post is that the struggle to make games is real. This is why I have mostly seemed idle in making content. You do, though, at least know that I have been trying to develop content as best as I can. This concludes another post of my creative works blog- "John's Creative Space." Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Voxel Character Starter Pack

John B. Marine | 10:51 PM | | | | Be the first to comment!
My voxel characters made in MagicaVoxel are now offered as a Starter Pack! This one features nine of my first voxel characters. All of them are static models in their raw VOX format. I decided to offer this package online to give people some voxel characters to use for games and other projects. I also want to showcase my voxel art talent to the world by offering this package.

Here is a look at the characters:

Voxel Character Starter Pack
^ from: (my Facebook Fan Page) - The original nine characters I made with my first character pack are now available for download. Get it now!

* base model - wears a white tank top, blue jeans, and black shoes.
* a teenage girl with a bright scarf, black top, and indigo jeans tucked into brown boots.
* a middle-aged woman in a sweater over a blouse, skirt, and pumps.
* a man in an open shirt with a T-shirt underneath and jeans tucked into dark brown boots.
* a young adult lady in a yellow dress and hot pink pumps.
* a Black male in a football jersey, dark blue jeans, and orange lug boots.
* a man in overalls and wears a baseball cap.
* a teenage boy in a varsity jacket, a T-shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes.
* a college-age girl in a sporty tank top, and yoga legging pants tucked into sheepskin boots.

I am looking to rework my regular models and offer some more advanced options for those looking to animate my models. I will keep you posted here on "John's Creative Space" and elsewhere in media. All I want you to know here is that you will now be able to use my original models. If you think you can make better-looking models using my base model, the original VOX models are all concluded as they were from MagicaVoxel.


For More Information...

Want to download this package? Choose to support me on OpenGameArt, Voxel Art Store, or both! Links:

Voxel Character Starter Pack on OpenGameArt
Voxel Character Starter Pack on Voxel Art Store

Please also support me on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/johnbmarine and make a pledge. Your support can help me to provide more content and even gain funding towards performing other projects. Other than that, enjoy! :)





That concludes this blog post. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Block Breaking Block Pack

John B. Marine | 10:22 PM | | Be the first to comment!
UPDATED: December 6, 2016)

Recently on @opengameart, I offered my first #gamedev asset. This asset offered is for block breaking fans. Think Breakout or Arkanoid here. I devised a set of blocks that can be used for block breaking games the likes of Breakout or Arkanoid. There are 12 blocks in 25 different color combinations. Each block is pure pixel art- no vectoring, no pre-rendered graphics... just a four-color scheme with dark outlining on the bottom and right sides of each block. Here is a preview of my block breaking game asset:

block breaking Breakout Arkanoid
^ from: (my Facebook fan page) - 25 colors, 12 block packs, one great pack of block breaking game assets.

Here is a look at each of the color combinations (and some rules if you want to use the blocks):

01: red
02: orange
03: yellow
04: green
05: blue
06: violet/purple
07: pink
08: teal
09: aqua blue
10: crimson
11: sky blue
12: lavender
13: white
14: cyan
15: turquoise
16: forest green
17: Game Boy© Green
18: Virtual Boy© Red
19: brown
20: bronze*
21: silver*
22: gold**
23: sunset
24: alpha map
25: onyx***

* = takes two hits to destroy
** = takes three hits to destroy
*** = can not be destroyed

This package is offered in three different varieties. I am offering them separately. Click on the links below to find this asset in the different variations:

Block Breaking Block Pack (SD Version)
This is the basic block back. Each block is 16 pixels wide and 8 pixels tall.

Block Breaking Block Pack (HD Version)
This is the same pack as the Standard model, only upscaled and retouched. Each block is 32 pixels wide and 16 pixels tall.

Block Breaking Block Pack (HD2 Version)
(December 5, 2016 Update)
This is the enhanced HD pack at double the scale of the HD version. Each block is 64 pixels wide and 32 pixels tall.


Get the Block Breaking Block Pack Bundle!
This package features all three block breaking block packs, but it also includes six extra block types exclusively for the HD2 set! It is also my first pixel art submission to Voxel Art Store.


To keep up with all of my OpenGameArt work, please visit my OpenGameArt profile.





You have read a post on "John's Creative Space"- the creative works blog of mine! I hope you enjoyed your time here. Please Subscribe and Follow this blog (and my others) if you enjoy my content. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2016

OpenGameArt

John B. Marine | 12:45 AM | | Be the first to comment!
Ladies and gentlemen, I have joined OpenGameArt! The intent here is to offer assets of many kinds while also (hopefully) getting an audience that supports my work. So if you use this resource for gaming assets, find me! You can use the link below to go to my OpenGameArt profile for when I start uploading assets to the site:

John Marine on OpenGameArt

At the moment, since I just started, I am not sure what to offer. Rest assured I will offer a variety of material that will be of help to someone who may be seeking such material. So be sure to stay tuned. Also, don't forget to be my patron on Patreon! I would appreciate monetary support. But of course, monetary support is voluntary.


What I Hope to Accomplish.

OpenGameArt is another sort of platform to offer material to game developers. Or, I may just offer stuff people will leech off of me for. I feel game development for a number of things can start with some very basic material. While I may not have the best ideas, I do hope my material can be used in projects. So be sure to follow me on OpenGameArt for me trying to offer as many game assets and game ideas as possible to help game developers ranging from hobbyists to certain studios!

I will be learning along the way, so don't think I will offer the best material right away.





I am hopeful I can continually expand upon my media work to impress (and maybe inspire) all of you. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Sunday, November 6, 2016

My Voxel Plans

John B. Marine | 7:43 PM | | Be the first to comment!
Through MagicaVoxel, I have returned to voxel modeling. "John's Creative Space" has become popular in regards to voxels. So it brings me some pleasure to discuss a few things. I will use this post to share some considerations of mine and some other bits. If you enjoy my work, you are going to want to follow this post. Or if you are fairly new to this blog, welcome to my creative works blog! Having said this... here are some thoughts of mine.


Topic 1: Offering Models.

For the longest, I have wanted to make my models public. The only problem was that I have had a tough time deciding how to modify the models to the liking of others. I don't really want to offer my voxel models cold turkey. Having held onto these models so much, I feel I have to make them viable and useful to others. More importantly, I want to be able to financially profit from my work. So I am in a situation where I want to offer my material for free, but also take donations. I also simply want to offer my work for sale in a combination of single models and bundles. Any plans I make public will be announced here on "John's Creative Space" and elsewhere on social media.


Topic 2: Future Model Plans.

I have somewhat been working on developing a new human model apart from the many past voxel models I've created. The intent is to use them to allow for better animation. One of MagicaVoxel's limitations is the inability to split up pieces of the model for easier animation. People complain about the limit of 126 x 126 x 126 for models. So what I intend to do is make both static models and separated models to allow for two different kinds of models to be used.

Besides voxel people, I have also been known for my voxel vehicles. I haven't made any kind of voxel vehicles in my return to voxel modeling, but I do hope to offer the same sort of versatility for vehicles as I do my voxel people.


Topic 3: Game Development Voxel Modeling?

One of the reasons why I have been slow developing things was because I was trying to learn Java. As I was trying to work on making a possible game, I had a vision of designing a game, but with making voxel models for it for prototyping. It gave me the idea to make voxel models for tile-based games. Nothing has really materialized, but I will be sure to offer material to you all should I develop something interesting and that I am willing to give away.


While you're here, let me share with you a little advice.

Some Quick MagicaVoxel Advice.

Version 0.97.5 is the latest version of MagicaVoxel as of this post. I mentioned breaking up models into pieces. The intent is to make material to be used in more proper programs made to handle things like rendering and (more importantly) animation. I would suggest you try to build up your model as you normally would. Then after completion, break up your model into a number of pieces. Break up key segments ranging from the body to the limbs. Save the different limbs and such into separate objects. If you have accessories and props that can be used, save them as their own objects also. Then in a proper 3D application (like Blender), piece everything together.

I actually would also recommend you use VoxelShop to optimize voxel models. I would recommend it in the case of models that don't require any transparency, mainly with models that don't have any transparent bits. You can optimize such models to not use as many polygons. This probably isn't recommended for items that may require them be transparent, such as the windshields and windows of cars.


Always Remember...

Always remember that I am working on a number of projects as a solo person. So there may be times where I seem to not have anything being worked on or when news of my work is slow. It doesn't mean I am idle. It just means I am hard at work trying to offer some material for you all. Please help support my work any way you can. The latest way you can show some love is through my Patreon profile. Who knows? You might score something cool of mine through my Patreon page should you pledge to it!


So now you have some idea of my voxel plans moving forward. Most importantly, thank all of you who visited my blog for MagicaVoxel content.






That's all for this one. Go have yourself a great day/night and thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

One Game a Month

John B. Marine | 8:55 PM | | | Be the first to comment!
#1GAM, or One Game a Month, is a gaming initiative devised by Christer Kaitila, also known as "McFunkypants." Making games for the love of making them is the primary encouragment for #gamedev and #indiedev. Even if your game looks unimpressive, just making a game for the sake of making one is better than making nothing at all. Some people- especially in game jams- can make a game in two days or less. Heck, even Jayenkai makes a game EVERY WEEK! I usually see Jayenkai on the OUYA/Cortex Store with new games. You can see Jayenkai's work at agameaweek.com. A finely polished game can be created within a month. A full month of development and such means you can sort out as many details as you would like prior to release. You can do everything from the programming to all the assets for a game within a month (or less). If you aren't a solo developer, you surely can make a quality game as a team. Just know you can provide quality gaming thrills without having the budget or skill of most gaming studios.

What makes the "One Game a Month" challenge so enticing is that it encourages you to make certain games of certain themes. Whether you code everything yourself or rely on programs like GameMaker or Construct 2, you are still making games. Making games means you have a chance to express your creativity and offer quality experiences to gamers worldwide. This more importantly makes you a viable entity in the gaming realm. You could spend all kinds of money and time like with the major game development studios, or you can make your own quality titles as a hobbyist or even a fairly small game studio. A visit to the One Game a Month website features certain themes for various projects. What you obviously want to do is make your own gaming creations based on such themes.

If you want insight that you CAN create a game a month, Christer Kaitila put up this blog post showing it is DEFINITELY possible to create games within a month and every month: 12 games in 12 months (McFunkypants).


Final Thoughts... and an Announcement?

Just on enthusiasm and dedication, the One Game a Month challenge is a boon to all of us game developers ranging from hobbyists to professionals. You really can devote a month towards making a quality game within the span of a month. Some people could even make great games in less than a month- sometimes even in a week or a few days! Christer Kaitila deserves loads of credit for being such a positive insight and inspiration for making games. Why PLAY games when you can MAKE games? Give it a shot. One Game a Month offers a fine initiative.

As of this blog post, I have not considered joining in on the 1GAM challenge. However, I may challenge myself to make a game every month once I finally make my first-ever game of any kind. I just lack the confidence and the programming skill to actually make one. I do hope to eventually break out of this shell and put myself on the map as a game developer.


For More Information...

Visit the official site of the "One Game a Month" challenge at onegameamonth.com. Or to learn of the individual who makes games every week, visit agameaweek.com.





Maybe this post will grant you some confidence in making games. You can make whatever kind of game(s) you want only as long as you have the confidence and focus to make them happen. That's all for this post. I hope you enjoyed it. Please be sure to Subscribe and Follow my blog(s) for more content. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Friday, October 14, 2016

Maze Game Concept

John B. Marine | 5:01 PM | Be the first to comment!
To reach my goal of making a game, I have been working on a game prototype this week. As you could tell by the title of this blog post, it is a maze game like a Pac-Man game. I am using Löve2D to program it. I actually have rediscovered Löve2D to quickly build my game. This is kind of a simple project to try to build my first-ever game.


Early Notes and Prototype.

I won't give away many details on the specifics of my game concept, but I will offer an early image of the prototype I have been working on. Take a look:

maze game concept
This is a prototype of a maze game I have been working on recently. Only the walls and blocks are my own art. Most everything else (floor, water, and player) are placeholders.


Notes and Progress.

There are a lot of things to be worked on, but I am trying to learn how to program these things in. So here are a few notes I want to share about my work:

• I have mostly learned how build maps of my levels. What I have NOT mastered, though, is making maps without having to have them in their own folder. I am trying to make a sprite sheet for which I can call on individual graphics without the need to call on certain graphics in a single image. The levels I am creating are all tile-based. While using a program like Tiled Map Editor is much easier, I am using Notepad++ to build the text array. I am actually going to use Tiled to better build the levels.

• A character has been implemented, but I haven't made it properly be used around the level. I have not yet designed the level so the proper aspects of the level have proper colliders for impassable areas (walls, water, lava, etc.). The character is not to go diagonally across levels. I have to change this as well.

• I have plans to make this game available as a Flash game at first. I ultimately want this to be available for Flash, Android (maybe even Android TV), and OUYA. I have no device to test for iOS, so I am not even considering iOS at this point.


Initial Plans.

When this game is better developed, I will share more specific details on it. Enjoy what I have made for now. The initial final product will have some five levels to it. Maybe later, I will expand it to ten levels. I want to make a small game just to get it out there. The long term project will feature some ten different chapters to it, each with 10 levels. That means I am planning this to be a 100-level maze game.

I may possibly share some notes on my game outside of my blog, mostly on Patreon. So if you want to get in on some exclusive aspects of my game when they become available, support (or at least follow) me on Patreon!





I apologize for not updating my blogs recently. Now you know a little bit as to why I haven't been active on the blogging circuit lately. This will all hopefully change these times. For now, though, that concludes another post on "John's Creative Space." Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Candy Cup

John B. Marine | 9:59 PM | Be the first to comment!
The Candy Cup is a GTR2 One-Make Series I made using the 2012 Alfa Romeo Mito of the Trackaholics Hot Hatch Euro Challenge. Despite its sweet name, Candy is an Italian manufacturer of home appliances. This is my latest One-Make Series concepts. The blog post here introduces you to this latest concept I've come up with. So prepare once again to delve into the world of this Texas blogging boy. This is John's Creative Space!






Candy Cup


Allow me to set this one up.


The Story.

A series featuring one of the trendiest European "hot hatches" was unveiled. Catered towards young drivers, racing variants of the Alfa Romeo Mito were created for this European championship, though this series features mostly Italian tracks and drivers. This series was able to obtain sponsorship from Candy- an Italian manufacturer of home appliances. Candy is the primary sponsor of this series. As many as 20 cars with identical liveries make up this field. Who can take advantage of the Mito's performance and prove to be one of the best up-and-coming racers?


The Competition Car.

2012 Candy Cup Alfa Romeo Mito
^ This Alfa Romeo Mito is adorned in Candy livery.

The car used is a racing-spec 2012 Alfa Romeo Mito. Exact figures are not known on this car, but it is a front-wheel drive car powered by a 1368cc Inline-4 engine. It weighs somewhere north of 1000kg. Each car has identical livery but with variations in color. There are 10 different color combinations. To tell each car apart, the odd-numbered cars have white side mirrors, and the even numbered cars have colored side mirrors. These are three-digit cars in the 200 range. The car is one of the many cars in the 2012 Hot Hatch Euro Challenge by Trackaholics.


The Racing.

This, like my Summer Speed Series, is all random with identically prepared cars. So anybody can win in theory. It is a fantasy series with fantasy drivers. In fact, I tried something different for this series. I used a name generator to come up with the driver names. Since this series is mostly Italian, most of the drivers have generated Italian names.

And in case you're wondering, here is the name generator I used: Name Generator on behindthename.com.


If I make a video featuring the cars I created for this series, you will see it here replacing this paragraph. Please stay tuned for updates; or better yet, check JohnMarineTube (my YouTube channel) for video updates.






A Special Shout Out (Bonus Section!)


Before I close this blog post, I want to salute a fellow blogger and skinner. Rendy of RENDY'S BLOG runs a blog featuring motorsports and some of his many creations. He mentioned me on Twitter and offered his thanks to me and another personality by the name of Racing Hearts Garage and the Global Racing League. The reason why Rendy mentioned us is because he felt inspired and motivated on the front of skinning cars by us. So if Rendy is reading this blog post, I just want to say thank you... and you're welcome.





If I come up with more material to share, you know I will share it here and elsewhere. Make sure to visit JohnMarineDesigns to professionally see my work. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Summer Speed Series

John B. Marine | 9:10 PM | Be the first to comment!
(UPDATED: August 3, 2016)
My latest GTR2 project heats up the Summer. I created a fantasy story regarding teenagers of legal driving age that participated in a Summer camp engaging in an unforgettable experience- an auto race around a famed racing facility. I will introduce you to this project and what all it entails with this blog post. It brings me great pleasure to provide this project to all of you. Let's begin!

LATEST UPDATE(S)/REVISION(S):

AUG 3 2016 - added video






Summer Speed Series


Here is the story to this project.


The Story.

As many as 50 High School students of driving age enjoyed their time at a motorsports Summer Camp. Of those 50, 20 were invited to compete in a unique racing challenge- 10 laps around Road Atlanta in identically-prepared 2007 Ford Focus RSes. Each of these determined teenagers will earn scholarships. Only one, however, will be driving back to High School in his/her own brand new Ford Focus. Twenty competitors. Ten laps around Road Atlanta. One race. One champion. Who will win this One-Make Series featuring these furiously fast Fords?


The Competition Car and the Racing.

Here is the car:

Coca-Cola Ford Focus RS
^ I designed this Coca-Cola livery on this 2007 Ford Focus RS for GTR2.

Each car is an identically-prepared 2007 Ford Focus RS completely tuned for racing. These are four-wheel drive machines complete with turbo engines, front and rear spoilers, and full roll cages. The cars make an estimated 297hp (301 PS) and 326 lb. ft. of torque (442 Nm). The series is called the Summer Speed Series. With all of the cars, I developed a Coca-Cola livery to be on all the cars since it is the primary sponsor of the series. Being able to compete with cars with so much power and ability will blow the minds of these teens. Despite this, these teenagers knew what they signed up for when they joined this motorsports Summer camp.


The Series.

Coca-Cola Ford Focus RS
^ from: (one of my Facebook albums) - This was a picture I made as a prototype for this project.

I chose Coca-Cola and Road Atlanta because Coca-Cola is based in Atlanta. I personally prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola, but I put this all together to come up with a fairly interesting series. This story is only told about one race. However, I maybe thought of some other interesting projects I may want to work on to make more stories of this fictional Summer Speed Series. I guess if I had inspiration on coming up with this story, you can thank either a racing series here in the United States called the Summer Shootout Series and even the likes of the ToCA Race Driver series. I just saw something in trying to find certain GTR2 mods to work with and came along the Ford Focus RS mod. I had to try to make the livery as believable as possible of a Coca-Cola liveried car. I don't have too much experience skinning cars. The fact that all of the cars look the same may seem boring and lacks any real personality to most people. However, I am pacing this more along the lines of having one star emerge from everyone else.

Choosing the cars and the level of competition was realistic. It is truly fictional with fictional drivers, but I wanted to be realistic. I didn't want to (for example) tell a story of very inexperienced teenagers that somehow can race Formula 1 cars masterfully. This project is one of the first in which I try to utilize GTR2 to act out a story. It is also a chance for me to be inspired to make my own fantasy television coverage of a racing event complete with graphics and commentary. Think of it kind of like The Onion (if you're familiar with it), only not as funny and well-played as The Onion.

I may or may not have another project under the name "Summer Speed Series." The *official* name of this series as I came up with it is the "Coca-Cola Summer Speed Series."


How it All Plays Out.

This is a generally random sort of race. So therefore, there are no rivalries, no surely talented characters, heroes or villains, or anything like that. It is basically just a random sort of race I set up. This was mostly meant to be a random deal. Because I have never done something like this before, I will be learning all the while how to make game videos, especially in the sense of something like an AI race. Whatever I come up with will be the reflection of what I have learned so far making both skins for cars and a game video.

Because this is all mostly random (rather than trying to gain permission from real people to focus them in action with my previous project), I don't have to worry much about trying to have actual people featured or anything like that.


What I do come up with will be shared in a video. So make sure to visit my YouTube channel "JohnMarineTube" for more information.


Disclaimers, and Such...

A few notes...

• All companies represented (Coca-Cola, Ford, Mobil 1, Sparco, Road Atlanta) are registered trademarks of each respective company. All rights reserved.

• This story is completely fiction. Any correlation to the characters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.


With those notes out of the way, that's it for this post.






Summer Speed Series: The Video!


(ADDED: August 3, 2016)

Here is the video I created and released recently! Check it:


^ Coca-Cola Summer Speed Series - Road Atlanta

Variables used:
• 17:00 Start Time (5:00 PM)
• Time: Realtime
• Fuel Consumption: Normal
• Tire Wear: Normal
• Mechanical Failures: Normal
• AI Aggression: Psychotic

I wanted to provide the impression that these were not seasoned racing drivers. Since they weren't fully disciplined, I set the AI aggression to Psychotic. I recorded a few extra bits just to record some of the incidents on track. It took me about a week to do everything from decide on how to pace the video and do all the extra editing to put this video together. This ranged from the graphics to the audio narration.





Now you know about my project. Stay tuned for more when I eventually create a video to be released. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Saturday, July 9, 2016

Fashion Racing Association

John B. Marine | 12:45 AM | | Be the first to comment!
Playing GTR2 and sampling mods has me thinking of series. Let me share this fantasy story representing one fantasy series I have in mind. It is part of a project for YouTube to expand my array of videos and have some fun. After all, this kind of stuff should be fun, right? So read on for more info. Maybe if you want to contribute something, feel free to contact me.


BEFORE I BEGIN...

This story is (obviously) fiction. All licensed brands featured here are copyrights of the respective companies.


About the Label: "Game Mods"

Blog posts in this category relate to my designs based on game mods. My own personal work is shared towards the work I produce.






Fashion Racing Association


Here is the story to set up this series idea. You will even get some ideas as to what I am looking to accomplish with such stories.


Story.

Certain fashion designers and motorsports promoters came together to discuss starting several different racing challenges as well as special events to try to offer a unique parallel between fashion and racing. This league is collectively called the "Fashion Racing Association." This series invites various fashion personalities the world over. The series primarily focuses on fashion bloggers, but even those even remotely into fashion will have their chance to compete in this unique series sanctioned by the FRA.

One of the racing events is a series featuring identically-prepared vehicles in a one-make series. Here is a press statement prepared by one of the promoters of the FRA:

For the maiden race of our series of races, we want to invite a host of fashion bloggers to a unique racing challenge we like to call the "International Race of Fashion." The racing challenge we have set up involves various fashion personalities all competing in cars as stylish as their blogs and outfits. While we are aware that racing is not the finest talent of these competitors, we must make sure to provide purpose-built race cars to ensure safety. The cars themselves are not to be anything overbearing. We are not interested in causing tension among the fashion community with heated rivalries or anything- our plan is just to let fashion personalties compete in single racing challenges. We welcome a vast array of personalities- petites, curvy/plus-size fashion personalities, thrifty fashionistas, and more. We also welcome personalities of many different ages. If one is old enough to drive, they are eligible to compete in our events. We are looking forward to making this series grow as much as we can.


Prototype and Plans.

My goal here is to come up with a unique kind of series featuring some peppy amateur-type race cars. In brainstorming this idea, I had initially thought of using a mod featuring the 2009 model Ford Fiesta ST based on mods I had at that time for GTR2. Then, I thought about using more proper and more sporty cars- namely the Hankook MX-5 Cup mod for GTR2. The mod seemed simple to mod. My intent was to make a certain livery for the car and have the individual cars painted differently based on the same scheme. I then thought about some other cars. So I looked at mods for GTR2 including a mod featuring the BMW 1-Series hatchback and another mod featuring the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. While I mentioned not having anything too extreme for race cars, I even considered a Porsche Cup mod to serve as the cars for the featured racers. Because this project involves envisioning fashion bloggers, the liveries of each car would have banners atop the front windshield bearing the name of the individuals' blogs. It is promotional while not trying to be promotional.

I had planned on setting up a pilot featuring certain bloggers I like or that I follow. As much as I wanted to make a pilot for this concept, I felt it would be wrong to try to innocently make a series without the consent of others. The plan for making this was to come up with some new content for my YouTube channel. I found this to be a fun concept to try out. It is just a pilot- a prototype, yet I didn't want to release a pilot video unwillingly without permission of certain individuals.

Another element of this series is an emphasis on two different classes: American contenders vs. international contenders. As part of the deal, the American personalities will have white banners across the windshields, and the non-American personalities will have red banners across the windshield. Those not born in the USA are what will be "international" contenders. The American drivers will have numbers between 4-99, and the international contenders will have numbers between 100-199. Examples of liveries I've created will be featured later in this blog post.


Story Execution.

The races to be set up are AI (artificial intelligence, for those not educated on gaming) races. These are simulated races. How will they play out? I don't know. All I know is that anything can happen when you set up AI races. I am not going to do any kind of tweaking just to ensure one personality wins. There is no favoritism at play here.


Personal Commentary.

In a way, I sort of thought of "Sex and the City 2" when considering the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG mod. Not that I seen "Sex and the City 2," but part of me made me think of Mercedes-Benz as one of the cars in this conceptual race idea I had.


Similar Plans?

I had interest in making extra series devoted to specific categories of fashion bloggers and even those who are just mere fashion personalities online (such as those who don't have fashion blogs or Instagram accounts).


There is your look at my series concept. Because I never did this before, I will be learning as I go along. Learning as you go along is a lot like life. I don't know what to expect, so I will slowly get better with my work over time the more I contribute to it.




The Competition Car


This car is a 2009 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. It is a mod for GTR2. Here is a look at the livery I have been working on as this first GTR2 project of mine:

fashion racing front
This is a basic view of this car.

fashion racing rear
This is a rear view of the car.

livery variation
As the livery was meant to be a template, I made a variation of the base livery. Also notice the text on the windshield banner. The name of certain blogs are displayed on both the front and rear windshield banners to identify the contenders. I am not putting myself in this series! I put this car in only as a demonstration.

As you can tell, the base white (actually silver) color is the base color complimented by the secondary purple/violet colors. I am a bit undecided on making tertiary colors with the rollcage. The color choices are decided by me to make as many different variations of this same livery as possible to fill out the grid of contenders. Each car boasts the same primary sponsor of Sephora. For those not educated about fashion and beauty, Sephora is a French company that is one of the most popular retailers of beauty products. Each car has the same primary sponsor.


My First Attempt at Sharing a Video Capture!

Want to see my liveries in action? I have this video for you all. There are skips and such, but this is my first-ever attempt trying to make a video from a video capture. Enjoy:


^ GTR2 Test Video and Pilot

You now have an idea of what this deal is like in action and what I hope to improve to make this special.







Special Request! Want In?


My intent is to pick out different fashion blogs to serve as contenders to fill out my field of cars for this fantasy racing series. I am torn between either featuring certain bloggers [with or without permission] I follow and asking for certain bloggers who maybe want to be featured in this just-for-fun series. I do want to feature certain fashion blogging personalities I follow and maybe feature some out of surprise- as in you may not know who I will feature.

All featured personalities will be represented with the same racing livery but in different colors. I want to make the colors fun since this this is not supposed to be some overly serious racing league. I may select certain numbers or randomly generate driver numbers to represent each contender.

So if you are a fashion blogger that wants to be featured in this series I'm conceptualizing, feel free to contact me online through Facebook or here in my blog. I am concerned about the permission part because I would feel guilty featuring something like this series without someone knowing beforehand.





If I come up with more concepts towards fantasy racing series, I will let you know in this blog. I hope you enjoyed your time here. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Friday, June 17, 2016

Creativity for Good

John B. Marine | 12:36 PM | | Be the first to comment!
Creativity is good; benevolent creativity is better. In light of recent tragedies and such, I feel we must use our creative energy and works to offer peaceful distractions from horrible news events. Maybe even offer hope and positivity. Incidents such as the recent mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub or the deaths of famous persons should be enough to get some of us creative types to make material to help make others feel better and offer peaceful distractions.

I am someone who believes in offering positive change and hope. While I do love making material to publish online, I also believe in offering material I feel will help people feel better about themselves and life. Offering peaceful and positive material is one thing I enjoy about making creative work. I know that my work will make someone feel happy and intrigued as a distraction from some of the most depressing news stories and incidents. Such works can offer something pleasant to enjoy. While certain creative works will not solve the world's problems or society's problems, at least certain creative works can help bring us all together and show solidarity. What makes creating these creative works fun is that we are able to offer distractions in the wake of different horrific incidents and moments in our lives. Especially fun and positive creative works provide some welcome comfort and something positive to think about in the wake of some of the worst tragedies or most depressing incidents.

If you are any kind of entity that produces creative material, my recommendation to you as you are reading this blog post is to offer creative works that can help ease pain and tension that we all face in day-to-day life. Let us, as creative works types, use our creativity to service for the greater good and for viable causes. Full credit to those who already use their creativity for benevolence. You don't have to be sponsored by some organization, lead some organization, or contribute to some organization to show your benevolence or contribute to charitable acts. Just offer fun and enjoyable material to help make peoples' lives better. What you can offer is based on what you believe in and what you feel you can contribute to try to make others feel better. You can simply make a song or make some kind of digital art offering positive messages or something really funny. While you are at it, you may want to be careful with some topics. Someone could take something lighthearted and take it out of context or convey a message different from what you are trying to say that is supposed to be helpful, funny, or positive. So be careful but still provide some great creative work for all to enjoy.


In other words, let us use our creativity to make this world a happier and fun place. Let us all have fun making creative works that will offer positivity and fun in this negative world and negative society. It is the least we can do to market ourselves while also making ourselves better people by offering great content for others.





My condolences go out to the various lives we've lost recently either from certain health issues or victims of violence or terrorism. I hope you enjoyed this brief blog post. Stay tuned to "John's Creative Space" for more creative works of mine and commentary in regards to creative work. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Monday, June 6, 2016

My Bandcamp Music

John B. Marine | 11:55 PM | Be the first to comment!
My music on Bandcamp is showcased here in this post. If you haven't yet heard some of the music I've produced, then allow me to present this post to you featuring the musical work I have uploaded to Bandcamp. I hope to offer more than what you're about to hear in the future. You will be able to hear a lot of the music I've made and also get an idea of what other material I may work on for possible future projects. So welcome to "John's Creative Space" and my amazing realm of creative work.

To check out all of my work on Bandcamp, please visit johnbmarine.bandcamp.com. Or you may click on this graphic below that links to my Bandcamp site:

JohnMarineDesigns JMDesigns Bandcamp
Click this to visit my Bandcamp site.






My Bandcamp Music: Introduction


These widgets will allow you to listen to my music. Here is how this post works...

This post features embedded widgets so you can listen to my music from right here on "John's Creative Space." You can go through the widget to listen to my various tracks. I am allowing you to listen to my music from right here in my blog. If you want to purchase my music, you are free to do so. I would appreciate your business if you did find my music enjoyable.



My Bandcamp Music: The Journey So Far...


Here is your chance to hear some of the music I've created. You can visit my Bandcamp site for more information on each individual song.


"Introduction."

Many of the songs featured here are mostly songs I previously made long ago. It was basically to introduce myself to the Bandcamp realm.




"Variety."

Songs I made earlier in 2016 are featured in a brief album called "Variety." Not much special here. There are two hip-hop type songs and one mellow pop song.




As of right now, that is all I have published so far.




My Bandcamp Music: Future?


If I am able to properly create some quality material, I hope to offer more albums with many more kinds of music. I not only want to produce music, but I want to produce music that I am hopeful people consume and use and enjoy.

For example, there are a number of different projects I have in mind in which I envision if I had my own TV themes for certain kinds of sports. I even envision making a set of generic themes that could be used for news programs or podcasts. I'm probably thinking of the latter since I doubt any major companies or major news networks would even use (or care) about my songs. Another project in mind is that of providing songs and sound effects that can be used as game assets. For people who usually use something like the jingles in iMovie and iLife (for all the Apple users, of course), I want to make a set of jingles that may interest you. I also have visions of on a series of songs with the theme of offering positive and inspirational songs. There are many ideas I have, many of which I Hope to bring to fruition.

I simply want to provide material that I think people will find interesting. All the while, I also hope I can profit from my work. First and foremost is to produce and provide enjoyable material made to the best of my ability.





Making great material for you- ranging from blog posts to creative works. That's what I do and hope I am doing well. You just read another post from "John's Creative Space"- the blog showcasing my various creative works. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

My 3D Journey So Far...

John B. Marine | 9:57 PM | | | Be the first to comment!
(UPDATED: May 11, 2016)

My 3D experience so far is featured in this blog post. I still have a lot to learn as I keep trying to add models to TurboSquid (search "JohnMarineDesigns" if on TurboSquid). The five models I've created so far will be shown in this post. This is your chance to see my work and get an idea of what I hope to improve on in the future. If you want to judge my 3D work, judge fairly. I am not expecting anyone to worship me like I am the best ever at 3D or anything. So having said all of this, here is a look at the models I've created so far.

NOTE: Because all of these items are offered on TurboSquid, you can click on the images or the links below the images to take a further look at my models.


LATEST UPDATE(S)/REVISION(S)

MAY 11 2016 - typo corrected.






My 3D Journey So Far...


Here are the models I have created so far. If you want to learn more about each model, click on the images and links to each model. The models are all listed based on the order I uploaded them to TurboSquid.


Model 1: Voxel Vehicle Starter Kit.

Voxel Vehicle Starter Kit
Voxel Vehicle Starter Kit - This is the first TurboSquid item I published. It isn't a true 3D model because this originated from MagicaVoxel, and MagicaVoxel is used in the creation of voxel models.

The first item I offered on TurboSquid was to help people make their own voxel vehicle models. Due to the popularity of my voxel vehicles, I decided to offer a package to help some people get started making voxel models. I didn't want to simply offer my fine voxel model cars freely. In fact, I am still a bit undecided on whether or not to even offer my full range of voxel vehicle models or make polygon 3D models of my voxel model vehicles. I am considering the latter and have set up a few vehicles I am still developing. Speaking of polygons...


Model 2: Basic Sword.

Basic Sword
Basic Sword - This is the first true polygon model I created and offered online.

One model I created was a sword. It was purely basic, hence it being a "simple" sword. I still wanted to offer a basic product for people to enjoy. So anyone could use this sword as a prop, something to equip for players in games, or any such application. I actually took this sword and added a few more details at the hilt and on the blade itself. I actually triangulate the faces on the blade to add a little more detail. I even thought about making the hilt of the sword more fancy. However, I kept things mostly as is and moved on.


Model 3: Basic Trophy.

Basic Trophy
- This is a trophy I created in Wings3D. I made one in Blender, and I felt I made a better one in Wings3D.

Actually, I think I offered this trophy to TurboSquid before I offered my sword model. This is still a fairly good trophy model. This was actually a model I was working on then decided to make an entirely new model trophy. I made an entirely new trophy model to reflect some of my 3D skills in using Wings3D. One special skill I learned was in using the Intrude feature of Wings3D. You have to be careful using Intrude, especially when trying to use it to define certain interior details. It is best to use Intrude to properly define the interior of items. So one thing I did was make the cup part of the trophy it's own object. After making the cup part hollow, I re-attached the cup part to the rest of the trophy. I later went ahead and took four vertices to define the handle parts of my trophy. I then beveled those vertices. Afterwards, I went ahead and extruded those sections to define the handles. Many more extrusions were made until I made the handles as properly as I could. After I was all done with the cup part of the trophy, I went ahead and smoothened it for an amazing finish.


Model 4: Basic Trident.

Basic Trident
- This model of a trident is fairly basic in design.

I tried a more interesting model by creating a trident. The most important thing I learned making this model was the usage of beveled edges and edge loops to define certain parts of models I want to keep sharp. At this time, I actually got to learn using hard edges. The model was uploaded in its non-smoothened form. I don't intend for the model to be smoothened anyways. The main thing I was learning was the use of adding edge loops and beveled edges to preserve certain sharp shapes for when a model gets smoothened. You have to place those edge loops very close so that you don't get funky results when you try to smoothen the model.


Model 5: Modern Stool.

Modern Stool
- Have a seat in this modern stool! :)

I haven't made or released a model for some time. So what I did was try to create another model. My latest work is a stool. Rather than just a basic stool, I decided to make a modern kind of stool. This is a fancy sort of stool to sit in with back support and some bars for your feet to rest on. I needed to put some edge loops around the loop where the feet can be rested on to preserve a decent shape. Without proper placement of edge loops at key parts of the model, you end up with some funky results when you try to smoothen the model. This was perhaps a key lesson I learned in trying to make models. It will be a trial-and-error process trying to make proper models and trying to maintain a good amount of the geometry.


Just about all of these models were created using materials only. All of these five items to TurboSquid, except the first one, were modeled using Wings3D.




The Next Steps?


I am trying to develop vehicles and characters. There hasn't been anything I am proud enough to share with you all at this moment, though.

Everyone has a certain talent level and a certain level of devotion towards making certain material. Some can make spectacular models that are the work of weeks, months, and even years. Some feel they can make even the simplest models in just the course of one day or a few days. I don't feel I am experienced enough to make models of impressive quality. That is why I will mostly stick to low-polygon and even medium-polygon models. Even if I make hyper-realistic models, I am not expected to have the sort of quality that could get me recognized by major companies or major design studios. I don't have the skills or the patience to make some of the most amazing 3D models out there. Maybe eventually I will reach superstar status making 3D models, but that time is definitely not now for me at this point. I am not selling myself short- I know what I am capable of and what I am producing. I am just not at the level of 3D experience and talent that would qualify me as a professional or a powerhouse at 3D. The work I produce is on a level where I feel I am most capable.

As far as offering my work to others, I feel people will pick up my work and find many ways to utilize my content. A lot of the items I've modeled are nothing really special, but I am pleased if people see my work and decide to use it for various media projects or games. So please feel free to help establish my work and my presence.




Special Request!


You can find all of my work on TurboSquid, including any future models I upload to TurboSquid, by clicking here: JohnMarineDesigns on TurboSquid. Please help support me and my work any way you can. I thank all of you who support my work regardless.





My 3D experience is growing. My skills are improving. All I can hope for is to reach an impressive level of work. Only you can help me get there. I want to thank you for visiting my blog and reading this post. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Thursday, May 5, 2016

Pricing Your Work

John B. Marine | 8:30 PM | | Be the first to comment!
We all want to profit for our work. When selling your creative work, how much should you charge? The price of your work and the WORTH of your work are two different things. While I am no money expert, I'll offer my own opinions on this issue. Take my advice in this post more like a bit of guidance rather than any definitive solution.






Pricing Your Work


I thought about this issue as I interacted with the TurboSquid community. A few members were wondering about pricing work that they offered on TurboSquid. A visit to TurboSquid will give you a look at a vast variety of models and textures offered for sale. Through the many categories, you will see items offered from mostly hobbyist and amateur publishers. At the same time, you will note more advanced and more professional models. Prices for offered items range from free to some more expensive offerings. There is no right or wrong price for any sold material of yours. You do have to consider a number of variables when trying to decide how much to charge for your work.

Let's consider a few things. I will be using a good amount of analogies to explain some of my points, so be ready.


Price vs. Worth.

You may charge a certain price for your work (or offer it for free), but how much is something WORTH? Do you feel your work should be taken more seriously than some people probably would take it? Do you feel you made something that isn't completely random and could really help market yourself? Every work has a price (even if free), but how much it is WORTH is what matters most.

Think about auctions, for example- like automobile auctions. Why do some cars sell for more than a lot of others? People see the worth in some cars thanks in part to the attention to detail and even the rarity of certain automobiles. A car that is rusted over, not cleaned up, and maybe has some emission issues won't sell as well. The analogies provided in this paragraph denote the importance of worth with work. You can price something any amount you want, but its worth is what matters most. It helps to price material based on how much you think it is worth ranging from the effort you put into making it and how you think people should perceive it.

People will be willing to pay money for material based on how much they feel it is worth.


How Much to Charge?

I am no Economics expert or any tax professional, but I always found it best to charge fairly and realistically if selling work. If a 3D model you created was done with amazing detail and professionalism, offering it for free wouldn't be a smart idea. It would be great to offer high-quality material for free so people won't have to pay money for amazing quality work. However, you are your own business, and the work you produce is your portfolio. You should be able to (literally) cash in on an opportunity to expose yourself and promote yourself as an individual and as a business. If you take yourself seriously and stand behind your work, you should be able to charge whatever you want for your work. Just make sure to be reasonable and fair.

Here is something I thought of in preparing this post: why do lemonade stands in neighborhoods charge money? I may be going off-topic, but there is a point I want to stress here. Someone who offers lemonade is offering lemonade because the seller(s) is/are confident people in need of some liquid refreshment will want to drink something like lemonade. It would be great to offer lemonade for free. While it would be helpful and beneficial to do so, it won't make too much sense business-wise. After all- you are offering a product and a service. While offering free lemonade would help cure the thirst of people in the neighborhood, free will help boost your marketability because you offer something where no one has to pay. However, offering something for free could provide a situation where you what you produce or offer can't meet the high demand. What if people think your lemonade is the best in the neighborhood and that other lemonade stands just don't stack up compared to yours? You worked hard to provide a service, and obviously, you provided and incredible service and an incredible product. Would you be better served being compensated for your work (even if you're the "pay it forward" type)? Free is great, but if you are trying to promote yourself and market yourself to others and feel like your work means at least something to others, it would be a fair practice to charge an appropriate amount of money for your work for the sake of loyalty.

The point of the previous paragraph is that providing something like your creative work for sale helps gain revenue and even provides a sufficient business model. You find people willing to pay for your more quality content and are willing to use and utilize your material. This can range from digital art to music and more. Charging fairly and offering quality material are major factors in helping build yourself as an entity.

If you feel you have to make material that should provide some revenue, safest way to start is to charge something like $1 USD (or whatever your currency approximates to $1 USD) at the lowest. At least a price this low for your work will help determine your truly loyal audience. Pricing this low won't please people who want things for free, but at least you are showing a bit of professionalism and offer a feeling of taking business responsibility. Think about it. You pay about $1 USD for music on iTunes or Google Play. You wish you could download music for free (especially the latest material), but you have to consider that music is a business, and the people who produce such content have lives of their own and need the financial support to make ends meet and to simply live life. Financial support is not relied on, but it helps to know people can profit proper from their work. So paying a certain amount for creative works can help such causes. Just properly price your material based on effort and worth to others.


Is the Price Right?

As I mentioned earlier, there is no right or wrong answer about pricing work. I would advise to fairly price material based on the quality you put into your work and how much you feel it should be treated among a general audience. Don't price an amateur-level item at a professional-quality price. Professional quality means professional money. Consumers shopping for high-end goods aren't going to buy basic items from a mainstream department store. Especially if you are part of services that cater to both everyday people and professionals alike (like TurboSquid or Bandcamp), consider the range of products offered and their quality. People will shop at high-end stores for high-end goods. The high-end crowd want to find products befitting of such stature. So to see something not at the standards of professional quality will immediately be turned down for those wanting high-end goods. Best practice is to offer material to cater to certain audiences. People don't want to feel like they are getting ripped off or are spending more money than they really should for something.


Don't Sell Yourself Short!

Don't sell yourself short. Don't price something at affordable levels just to get more people. Even offering material for free would be like selling yourself short. As a producer of creative works, you are your own business. Value your own content and the effort you put into making it possible. If you feel your work is of high quality and begging of a high-quality price if offered for sale, don't offer high quality for a low price. Most high quality material is offered for high prices simply because it is material worthy of best-of-the-best quality. Every now and then you may find something priced fairly modest yet still provides amazing quality. How often does THIS happen, though? You have a chance to promote yourself and offer material better than what most others produce. Why not assert yourself and price your material competitively and realistically? Do you want people to take you seriously? Price your material accordingly, but seriously avoid selling yourself short.


Avoiding Greed.

We all want to profit from our work. However, you don't want to be greedy. Don't charging unnecessarily over your work. Don't charge for things that should be free or could be priced much lower. Taking yourself seriously is nothing wrong. Only thing is, don't feel like your very existence is on getting as much monetary value from your customers. Also consider this- who wants to do business with someone who cares more about making money than offering quality material to the greater public-at-large? People may refuse to check out your material if you are greedy.

Seek opportunities to financially profit from your work, but don't be totally fixated on getting every last bit of currency from customers or clients.





Pricing Your Work: My Reasoning


Allow me to offer my own reasoning on material I have offered online to others.

Some of the material I've offered online are offered at prices that I feel were appropriate for the effort I put into my work and how much I feel it is worth. Everything I produce is something I feel is of some kind of value. I feel like I am disrespecting myself if I offer material that I feel lacks any value. I blog for free and don't have any sponsors or anybody paying me to post certain things. When it comes to things like 3D models, music, or eBooks on the other hand; I feel that while free is great for my general audience, I feel I must offer some of my material for certain prices both for loyalty and for the sake of seeking monetary opportunities. My main focus is in offering material to others because I love to be able to make something people will enjoy. I am not focused on making money, though it would be nice to financially profit for my work. First and foremost with my creative work is to make something people will hopefully enjoy.

I enjoy what I do, and the level of professionalism I have is adequate without being excessive.


Pricing Your Work: My Reasoning on My Published Content.

I do not consider myself a good writer, so I didn't try to offer my eBooks at any ridiculous prices. I priced my eBooks based on the content provided and how much I feel it is worth to people who ultimately get to consume my literary work. Since posting my first eBooks, I priced them accordingly since I feel there is value to my material that I think offering for free wouldn't exactly merit its worth all that much.

I uploaded music to my Bandcamp page and offered them for sale at a certain price. Free would be great, but I feel those who really enjoyed my music will hopefully pay to show their support of me and my work. Bandcamp allows you to sell songs for certain prices and albums for other prices. If someone purchases an album, you can sweeten the offer by providing some special content as part of the package.

Because I am greatly a novice at 3D modeling, I don't go crazy with prices for my 3D models on TurboSquid unless I felt my skills warrant certain items to be certain prices. So I am not going to price my models to any serious degree. I may offer some of my work at higher prices especially if these are more original creations done with a level of detail much different from anything generic I've created. Because something is very original, I feel I am disrespecting my own work if I priced it low. My most original works would be offered on a premium level. So a premium-designed model of something purely original of mine would sell for much more than most of my other offerings. I value my own work and the level of importance and quality in my work. I am not going to make something not really special or unique sell for high prices. Basic items sell for basic prices. I'll charge more if I feel my work is of decent enough quality.


This at least covers my own philosophy in regards to pricing creative work.




Speaking of Creative Work...


Feel free to support me with my work! Visit the following links to check out my material:

my Weebly site (which includes various store material)
my Bandcamp
my TurboSquid work

Please help support my work any way you can. I would appreciate the support.





This isn't definitive advice, but it is advice nonetheless. I hope you gained some insight here. That concludes this blog post. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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Friday, April 22, 2016

Basic Trophy

John B. Marine | 8:12 PM | | Be the first to comment!
(UPDATED: April 23, 2016)

Using Wings3D, I made another model. This model is another trophy. I feel I need to make more models to build a portfolio and show evolution in my 3D modeling. So I will release a number of models to help that cause. This latest creation is the first true 3D model I've published on TurboSquid. Before I continue...


About the Label: "3D Modeling"

Items featured in this label include various 3D models I have created. These may consist of items I am offering for download and/or sale.

...now let's continue on.


LATEST UPDATE(S)/REVISION(S):

APR 23 2016 - edited link






Basic Trophy


Here is a look at my latest creation:

Basic Trophy JohnMarineDesigns
^ (click to visit my TurboSquid page featuring this item)

The model was then given individual materials based on colors. The whole trophy model began with a cylinder. I then broke up the cylinder base and the cup part. I intruded the top of the cup to form the hollow out the interior to form the inside of the cup. The cup part was re-joined with the stem up the trophy. To try to produce the handles of the cup, I first cut the complete model in half. Two vertices from the cup part were beveled followed by a combination of extrusions and lifts through Wings3D. Once I got towards completion, I bridged the two faces to complete the model. Afterwards, I simply mirrored the whole trophy to give you this fine model. Only the cup part of this model was smoothened on this model. It was smoothened twice for its clean appearance.

You can use my model in case you want a trophy to use as a prop. I have not tested it with game engines, because I did not intend this model to be used with any game engines. Of course, you can always convert this model to be used in games if you so choose.

This model will be among many I will try to offer to build a portfolio of content with. So if all goes well, you will see a variety of items I will be willing to offer on TurboSquid. My models can be used for applications ranging from games to media projects. Feel free to support me in all of my efforts. And of course... thank you for your support if you choose to do so.


John Marine on TurboSquid

To search for more of my work on TurboSquid, please visit: JohnMarineDesigns on TurboSquid.





I feel it is important to offer a variety of content that I think people will enjoy and use. Be sure to stay with my online material for more content. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.

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JohnMarineDesigns on TurboSquid

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