Some time ago we were talking about the different roles we have in this project. Arto called me a bard: the character from RPGs who is jack-of-all-trades and master of none. This was not a compliment, as he laughed to the extent of being insulting. He also made some rude gestures and implied all sorts of things which I won’t repeat here. He is my best friend.
As a hard boiled consultant Tommi tried to accommodate the insult and be the mediator in our little workshop, so he said: “all people have value and none shall feel left out”… So he called me a producer instead.
I took pride: Producer. That’s who I am. Not with a insignificant a, but with a capitol P with The; not a bard who just sings gay songs while playing a sorry arse flute, but a producer who is a gay friend of everyone, saying all sorts of gay things about everything in the project…did I say gay? I didn’t.
So I’m Producer. Now what?
After they stopped laughing, they said I should do some blog entries. “I will”, I said, “I know how this stuff works”. I work as a digital media consultant and the last years I have been ranting about the whole web 2.0, convergence, RSS and the tyranny of transparency etc. thingies to my colleagues and clients, while thinking: “Only if I could turn my knowledge into something interesting to write”…
I couldn’t.
So I decided to do 3D instead.
Me.
I’m artistically multi-challenged: I can’t draw and my hand wrought signature is embarrassing -at the age of eight, I even tried cheating my blind music teacher in the recorder trial by whistling instead of playing the damn thing due to lack of talent and obviously got caught: “what are you doing?” she asked…so I got fail…(true story).
But I wanted!
I wanted to do something to make the whole process of our game development to go forward: I came up with the concept. I wanted to make it true. I wanted to create.
So I did. I took up the challenge, made some searches and found Google Sketch-up.
Brilliant: 3D made easy was the promise, and I took it.
After 6h of learning & labor, I had something. A sketch. Something to show to my friends, a rudimentary torso it was, but a starting point!
Making the sketch brought up problematics that were not even thought before: Where do the stairs go to? Where do I place the entry points to the gatling guns, where does the supply tent reside, what are the distances?
The questions were endless and the learning profound: If you have a high-level concept, convert it into a real item. With free tools, like Sketch-up, any silly bugger can start working toward the intended end result. Think of it as a wireframe model and don’t worry how it looks like -that is the fastest way to get yourself thinking what needs to be done and thought of, and more importantly, get it out there for your mates to comment & build upon (the 3D model that is).
- Tuukka, Producer (bard)
Ps. This is the first model I ever made some months ago…the concept has evolved since 
Enjoy, and mind the gaps!
Tags: 3D, concepting, Development community, free tools, sketch-up, wireframe
