Thursday 27 June 2013
Wednesday 26 June 2013
Critical Aproaches
Tuesday 25 June 2013
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Unit 74 Creative Writing Piece
New Order
Division Mission Brief <auto>
Date: 13th June 2013
Mission Type: Recon
Mission Brief: Reports of mutilated monsters
attacking farm animals and pets in the town of Saltaire, United Kingdom.
Potential Daemon sighting, Division squad Cypher of Garrison 7 deployed to
assess the area. Squads Delta and Ares on standby for emergency assist
Side Notes: One witness reports seeing several
monsters drag off prey into an area around Baildon Bridge, reliability of this
Intel is suspect, witness heavily inebriated, investigate at own discretion.
<End Brief>
'It
was a bitterly cold night, unusual for this time of year... normally that wouldn’t unnerve me, but when
dealing with these Daemons it's never a good sign. Our approach on the target
location was as silent and undetected as always, these new SH-A12 Reaver
stealth choppers really did the trick.
Deployment in and out of an area has never been easier or safer; the
Division has access to equipment I’ve never dreamt of.
As
safe as it was I could tell all the guys were unnerved, well all except for the
cleric I don’t think anything rattles them. But these guys were seasoned
veterans, the best of the best, but the things we had seen over the past 5
month... These things we’ve been fighting are a new breed of horror, for every
one of the bastards we take out more often than not we lose a whole squad. Only
2 of the squads in our entire garrison are still intact from their initial
formation the rest have been replaced and re-garrisoned a half dozen times at
least, that's 2 out of 3 dozen squads lost! But things have gotten better since
The Order came along.
It
is a little weird though, having to forget most of everything we’ve ever been
taught about combat. Daemons don’t show any mercy, no leniency and have no
interest in prisoners. They'll rip through one of their own to get to their
prey, so we have to make every shot a lethal one, well as much as we can
against these things, you see sometimes they don’t have hearts… or heads for
that matter it makes quick kills almost impossible. The tactics the order has
shown us though, they’re weird... but effective; Prayers with our guns,
engraving sigils and symbols that have long since lost their meaning to the
world onto our bullets and blades, drinking holy water to ward off possession.
It’s some weird shit, but as I said... it works.'
"We're
on final approach" we hear the pilot come in over the ear pieces
"Dropping in 20"
On
that note the colonel Barron stands up steadying herself with one of the
storage nets behind the pilot’s seat. "Alright men, we’ve had reports of
as many as a dozen daemons in the area, so far they've kept their hunting only
to cattle and domestic animals which suggest they’re nesting. Our mission is to
assess the area, check the accuracy of the Intel and wipe these out these sons
of bitches! We cannot allow them to gain a permanent beachhead up here, squads
Delta and Ares are standing by to assist if neces..."
"Were
at target location Colonel"
"Alright
men, you know what to do, suit up! Let’s get it done." Finishing her
speech we all finish getting ready; checking our comms with a tap to hear the
faint buzz of feedback and synching our HUD's with our guns and other systems.
The blue displays in our helmets light up, blue triangles light above my squad
mates.
I
slowly begin to whisper off my systems check list, "Ammo count...check,
comms signal… check, mission beacons... check and gps-map... check"
"Russ
you know you don’t have to read it out to us right?" Hudson’s comm. icon
flashes up on my HUD
"Piss
off Hudson, haven’t you got a kitchen to get back to" I carry on with the
banter before we're cut off by Barron.
"Hudson,
Russ cut the chatter!" Colonel Barron’s icon flashes up and the joking
stops, time to get serious.
Just as the Reaver steadies itself over the flood plains near
Salts Mill all the men have a final look over their guns.
Within
the next few seconds the Reaver had steadied, the loading ramp lowered, and the
troops began to make their exit.
Sgt. Nikola and Lt. Russell took point, heading off the loading
ramp and taking up defensive positions flanking the chopper. The Cleric,
Colonel and TAG were the next to make their exit, Tesla and Russ took point
leading the squad to the tree line, the rest of the squad followed behind with
Hudson bringing up the rear… so far so good
At the tree line the Colonel gave us the game plan “Alright, the
bridge from the eye witness report is just a half mile down the road, Padre!
You lead Hudson, Russ and Chief to the bridge and see if you can see anything
unusual, recon only. You are NOT! To engage unless absolutely necessary I don’t
want to be losing any men today, understood?”
All the men uttered the standard yes sir in unison and we moved
out, the Colonel, Tag and Tesla headed further into the town to see if they
could find any clue as to what had been going on here.
The trip into the town was relatively uneventful but the tensions
were a little high, all these old buildings gave the Daemons brilliant vantage
points and the darkness was perfect for concealing an ambush. Their goal was to
make it into the main area of the village and see if they can witness daemon
hunting, a simple enough task… as long as it’s the one daemon.
They didn't have to wait long, as Tesla quickly spotted a shadow moving
fast in the darkness, “Sir! Daemon at 3 O’clock” he piped up in an alarmed
whisper.
“Did you get a good look at it?”
“No sir, but from the size and speed, I’d guess Acheri demon”
“Damn it.. Alright Tes, you go and circle round and watch it from
the top of the street. But stay hidden!”
“Sir!” With that Nikola skulked off into the shadows
“Tag, me and you will watch from this side, you take the high
ground, from… up there!” The she looked to where the colonel was pointing to
see the fire escape of one of the local college buildings.
“Affirmative” As the Tag took her position on her new perch, the
colonel watched the daemon from the shadows of the building she was stood next
to.
“Your move demon….”
For the next 10 minutes the now confirmed Acheri demon was looking
in and over the gardens of the surrounding terraces, if it wasn’t they’d have
been spotted by now, Acheri only hunt by sight, meaning the 3 soldiers didn’t
have to be too quiet.
Just then the demon appeared to have found its next victim, a
large cat playing with a mouse by the looks of it, it began to move in, its
teeth bared and fully poised to strike the cat when all of a sudden it stopped.
The daemon quickly lifted its head, swivelling it around like a dog or meerkat
detecting a threat
‘There’s no way it could have heard us…’ The colonel thought to
herself as the daemon shot off, scaling the house directly to its left and
heading towards the river. Just as she was beginning to piece what had
happened together the colonel was interrupted
“We need assistance! This is Hudson to Colonel Barron, we've found
the nest!!
‘That explains the Acheri demon’
“We've got incoming hostiles at least 2 dozen daemons, Acheri,
Arrah and hell hounds!! I repeat WE NEED ASSISTANCE!!!”
“You heard the lady, MOVE OUT! Tag get on then horn tell HQ we
need Delta and Ares on scene immediately!”
And the scene wasn’t pretty, in the opening attack 3 hell hounds
had ripped into the chief, he was losing blood fast.
A hail of gun fire was launched into the horde of daemons
attacking their position 3 of the Acheri were cut down to size fairly quickly,
the hell hounds however were deadly bastards, too quick on their feet, there’s
no chance of an accurate hit on then. One of the bastards was heading towards Russ
full pelt and launched itself at him, jaw poised to grab his throat
“duratus locali!!” The padre yelled out one of his spells
“duratus locali!!” The padre yelled out one of his spells
A flash of pale blue light enveloped the daemons as it slowed down
painfully so in mid-air, Russ raised his P90 and fired a hail of bullets into
the hell hounds face, a spattering of bone, blood and hair splashed cross his
helmet and armour.
The others were quickly dispatched before the spell wore off. Just
as Cypher squad were about to relax, they heard the growls and guttural barks
of more hell hounds, they looked around to locate the oncoming enemy and to his
left, Russ saw the pack. The oncoming Storm….
Saturday 15 June 2013
Unit 74 Professional Example
Halo: Fall of Reach
I decided I was going to make my creative writing piece a Linear story for the most part, flowing from beginning to end in a straight line but with elements of a multi-strand narrative thrown in. As at one point in the story the perspective changes from Russels view point to the view point of Colonel Barron. But the whole story all in all is set out as a recounting of events based on the after action report of the two characters. I got the idea from the Book Halo: The Fall of Reach, as this book gives a good example of military reports, as well as the tactics and actions of the soldiers.
This is an example of the writing style i wished to emulate in my story.
"The Master Chief pushed away and fired the pistol again. The bolt of fire caught the Elite in the face.
It writhed and clawed at nothing. The Elite shuddered . . . suspended in midair; it twitched and finally
stopped moving.
The Master Chief shot it again to make sure it was dead.
Motion sensors picked up multiple targets approaching down the corridor—forty meters and closing.
The Master Chief turned and double-timed it back to Blue-One.
Linda was where he left her, shooting her targets with absolute concentration and precision.
“There are more on the way,” he told her.
“Reinforcements have already arrived in the bay,” she reported. “Twenty, at least. They’re learning,
overlapping their shields—can’t get a good shot in.”
Static crackled over the Master Chief’s COM channel:“Master Chief, this is Captain Keyes. Did you get
the NAV database?” The Captain sounded out of breath.
“Negative, sir. We’re close.”
“We’re bound in-system to retrieve you. ETA is five minutes. Destroy theCircumference’s database and
get out ASAP. If you cannot accomplish your mission . . . I’ll have to take out the station with thePillar of
Autumn’s weapons. We are running out of time.”
“Understood, sir.”
The channel snapped off.
Captain Keyes was wrong. They weren’t running out of time . . . time had already run out."
I decided this book was a good piece to emulate as it is a military science fiction piece, with harsh language violence and contains and successfully portrays realistic (for a sci-fi) military life in a war against insurmountable odds. This is something i wanted to try and convey in my narrative.
This is an example of the writing style i wished to emulate in my story.
"The Master Chief pushed away and fired the pistol again. The bolt of fire caught the Elite in the face.
It writhed and clawed at nothing. The Elite shuddered . . . suspended in midair; it twitched and finally
stopped moving.
The Master Chief shot it again to make sure it was dead.
Motion sensors picked up multiple targets approaching down the corridor—forty meters and closing.
The Master Chief turned and double-timed it back to Blue-One.
Linda was where he left her, shooting her targets with absolute concentration and precision.
“There are more on the way,” he told her.
“Reinforcements have already arrived in the bay,” she reported. “Twenty, at least. They’re learning,
overlapping their shields—can’t get a good shot in.”
Static crackled over the Master Chief’s COM channel:“Master Chief, this is Captain Keyes. Did you get
the NAV database?” The Captain sounded out of breath.
“Negative, sir. We’re close.”
“We’re bound in-system to retrieve you. ETA is five minutes. Destroy theCircumference’s database and
get out ASAP. If you cannot accomplish your mission . . . I’ll have to take out the station with thePillar of
Autumn’s weapons. We are running out of time.”
“Understood, sir.”
The channel snapped off.
Captain Keyes was wrong. They weren’t running out of time . . . time had already run out."
I decided this book was a good piece to emulate as it is a military science fiction piece, with harsh language violence and contains and successfully portrays realistic (for a sci-fi) military life in a war against insurmountable odds. This is something i wanted to try and convey in my narrative.
Unit 74 Final Story Concept
I decided to settle on a combination of the 2 different horror concepts. Combining elements from both of the story such as the overall theme involving demons from the second story concept with the idea of having the order as the one of the protagonist organisations.
New Concept Back story
December 21st 2012, according to the Mayan calender the end of times. As far as most of the world is aware the day passed without much event. However the heads of select governments around the globe know different. On December 21st 2012 at 3:30am one of the Knights of hell, Abaddon was released from his confines in hell, and with his rise all the daemons in hell rose with him.
To combat this new threat these governments combined their most skilled soldiers and scientists into The Division, a secretive and elite organisation designed specifically to fight and win a secret war with the soldiers of hell. At first they were fighting a losing war, for every daemon that The Divisions troops killed Abaddon's forces wiped out entire Squads of men, this continued for 5 months until a month ago when the division were joined by a new ally, The Order. A secret order of the Vatican, The Order were created to function as the combat arm of the Catholic Church, to find, root out and destroy any of the inhabitants of hell.
Now with Abaddon looking to release his fellow knights from their prisons and plunge the world into a new level of hell, it is the Divisions last chance to stop him and his daemonic hords. Together with their new Order allies they seek an ancient book, which tells of how to release the one thing that can effectively fight and re-imprison the daemons.... The Angels.
Organisations
The Division
Formed at the behest of the Brazilian President. the Division is made up of soldiers, preists and scientists from over 36 countries with one common purpose. To defend the human world from the supernatural evil of the world and stop Abaddon from rising the other hell knights and plunging the world into a new dark age.
The Order
The Order is a secretive arm of the catholic church created by the Vatican in order to battle the Vampire menace in the 18th century. They defeated the vampires but now have a new mission in stopping the daemons from turning the earth into their own personnel home away from hell.
Angels
The angels are an ancient race of being as old as the earth itself, possibly older still. they are the ones whom originally imprisoned the Hell Knights in their cages and sealed the doors to hell. When their mission was done they decided to leave the earth and allow the humans of this world to develop and grow free of their influence.
Daemons
The daemons are a horrible mutation of human souls, they re the inhabitants of hell and find extreme pleasure in the torture and massacring of humans. They are currently being led by the Knight of Hell Abaddon whom was released from his cage on 21st December 2012 at 3:30 the witching hour by a coven of witches. He leads his daemonic armies with an iron fist, with the one goal of subjugating or killing all human life, releasing the other knights of hell and converting the earth into a new hell from which he can rule.
Hell Knights
The Hell Knights are a ruling cast among daemons and are worshiped as gods, they were created by the fallen angel Lucifer when he fell from heaven and began his war against the host of heaven and his aim to wipe out humanity. He created them by corrupting human souls and feeding them the souls of a fallen angel therefor consuming their grace, the source of an angels power. They are nigh invincible there only mach being the archangels themselves. Lucifer created 12 Hell Knights before his defeat, the first being Lilith the queen of hell. The others being; Abaddon, Abdiel, Azazel, Beherit, Carabia, Eblis, Legion, Mammon, Naphula, Phenex, Remiel.
Characters
Cypher Squad:
Colonel Melanie Barron (SAS) - A 30 year veteran serving with the British armed forces, she has been in many combat situation in some of the most difficult conflict including, The Falklands War, The Gulf War, the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and the subsequent conflict, anti-terrorism work in Afghanistan and most recently in the Libyan uprising. She is a hard arsed CO whom has earned the respect of her peers and subordinates by coming up with brilliant tactics to get her men out of combat situation alive. Her weapons of choice are a Heckler and Koch G36C and a customised M9.
Lt. Jessica 'Hudson' Hudson (British Royal Commandos) - Hudson is the impulsive hot headed demo expert of the squad, fiercely loyal to her friends and comrades she makes rash decisions that sometime put the mission at risk to save her friends, but in the end she always succeeds with minimum effect of the mission. Her weapons of choice are a M16 with under barrelled grenade launcher 2 standard M9's and grenades... Lots of grenades.
Lt. Alan J. 'Russ' Russell (British Royal Commandos) - Russ has served with the commandos for the same amount of time Hudson, they went through basic training together and have been in the same unit several times over the decade, he is usually quiet and only lets his guard down to people who know him well enough for him to feel comfortable around, such as Hudson, sometimes the only person you will ever see him laugh around. He uses a Enfield L22A2 Carbine as well as the standard M9 handgun.
CPO2nd. David S. 'Chief' Cheeseman (Canadian Air-force) - The Chief as he is known is the newest member of the team but has been a soldier with the Canadian AF for over 36 years nearing his retirement, he decided to accept the job with the division as he feels it is an important job that his many years of experience could provide his team with an advantage or at least an extra element that could help in their missions. He uses a Diameco C7A2 assault rifle and a 12-Gauge shotgun for those close encounters
Sgt. Naomi 'TAG' Jacobs (US Navy) - A 10 year US navy sniper veteran, she holds one of the highest ranks of any marksmen in past or active service within the US millitary. She is the squads sniper and marksmen unit, she has a number of different rifles for any situation or any daemon, including a M107A1 Barrett 50.cal Anti-Material rifle, WA2000 and a FN FAL all fully customised, and a KRISS Vector SMG for those rare moments someone(thing) gets close enough for her to have to use it close encounters.
Sgt. Nikola 'Tesla' Barovic (Russian Spetsnaz) - Nikola is a Russian special forces veteran with the Russian Federation and before that with the soviet union. He is a heavy support specialist and prefers his PKP Pecheneg Machine gun to cut down his enemies, in fact before the Order became involved in the war against the daemons one of the only weapons capable of effectively damaging/wounding or killing a Damon was a machine gunner, often the surviving member of a squads encounter with a daemon nest.
Cleric Giovanni 'Padre' Bortoletto (Cleric of the Order) - ***Classified*** Order Secrecy Protocols. only basic information available. Age: 28, Height: 5ft 9, Birthplace: Rome, Italy.
SH-A12 Reaver Stealth Chopper
The Reaver is the ultimate advancement in modern avionics, being a combat stealth attack chopper that can also serve the dual function of a dropship, with its stealth capabilities it can get Division operatives and squads into an are and out again without being seen or heard. the armaments of the Reaver also allow it to be uses as a close in support platform for operatives/squads fighting Daemons as its weapons are more than capable of cutting down even the most well armored Acheri demon with little effort.
Daemons:
Abaddon - One of the Knights of hell, he is the current ruler of the daemon hordes. He is as ruthless in his views against humanity as he is in his tactics in combat. The Hell Knights are an ancient race of Daemons created at the foundation of hell by Lucifer. There were 12 in all, the only 3 have been known to ever walk the earth; Lilith, Abaddon & Abdiel. Upon his release from hell at the beginning of the war he proceeded to bring the coven whom rose him into his inner circle, using their magic to cloak him from the eyes of the order and any other magical being whom he considers an enemy. He is a 10ft tall hate filled demonic killing machine covered in scales with 4 horns protruding from his skull, he has cloven feet and 3 fingers, 2 thumbs on each hand.
Acheri Demon - Are large Daemons about the size of a mini cooper and are the standard daemons encountered by Division forces. They have no sense of smell or sound but have keen eye sight, they share a hive mind mentality with other Acheri, when a number of them are together they become more effective at developing tactics as their field of vision increases each of them becomes aware of everything the others see, this ability allows them to overcome the inherent disadvantage of having a limited sense of smell or sound. They have pale mottled skin as tough as a rhino's hide and incredibly strong limbs and teeth that can be retracted and extended from their jaws to reach the size of a saber tooth tigers canines, even for a being of their size they are incredibly fast and can scale buildings with ease.
Medusa Demon - The Medusa daemon is a reptilian demon that looks relatively human from a distance however at closer distances their snake like appearance becomes more apparent, they possess night vision and infrared senses, they have talons on their claws which makes them exceptionally dangerous in hand to hand combat, The Medusa daemons appear to be entirely female they speak in a series of clicks and hisses, they are however capable of speaking many human languages.
Arrah Demon - The Arrah demon is a man sized demon with needle like teeth, it is slow moving and deliberate often keeping to the shadows, they mainly remain in the daemon nests gaurding it from intruders. When they find their prey they attack without warning they are extremely fast which makes up for their relatively weak strength. If they become outnumbered, cornered or enraged will enter a ballistic rage where they attack haphazardly without consideration of harming other daemons or themselves.
Hell Hound - Hell hounds are the cannon fodder of the daemon world, they are incredibly fast, vicious have large amount of razor sharp teeth keen senses and hunt in packs. They are often seen accompanying Acheri demon's in packs.
New Concept Back story
December 21st 2012, according to the Mayan calender the end of times. As far as most of the world is aware the day passed without much event. However the heads of select governments around the globe know different. On December 21st 2012 at 3:30am one of the Knights of hell, Abaddon was released from his confines in hell, and with his rise all the daemons in hell rose with him.
To combat this new threat these governments combined their most skilled soldiers and scientists into The Division, a secretive and elite organisation designed specifically to fight and win a secret war with the soldiers of hell. At first they were fighting a losing war, for every daemon that The Divisions troops killed Abaddon's forces wiped out entire Squads of men, this continued for 5 months until a month ago when the division were joined by a new ally, The Order. A secret order of the Vatican, The Order were created to function as the combat arm of the Catholic Church, to find, root out and destroy any of the inhabitants of hell.
Now with Abaddon looking to release his fellow knights from their prisons and plunge the world into a new level of hell, it is the Divisions last chance to stop him and his daemonic hords. Together with their new Order allies they seek an ancient book, which tells of how to release the one thing that can effectively fight and re-imprison the daemons.... The Angels.
Organisations
The Division
Formed at the behest of the Brazilian President. the Division is made up of soldiers, preists and scientists from over 36 countries with one common purpose. To defend the human world from the supernatural evil of the world and stop Abaddon from rising the other hell knights and plunging the world into a new dark age.
The Order
The Order is a secretive arm of the catholic church created by the Vatican in order to battle the Vampire menace in the 18th century. They defeated the vampires but now have a new mission in stopping the daemons from turning the earth into their own personnel home away from hell.
Angels
The angels are an ancient race of being as old as the earth itself, possibly older still. they are the ones whom originally imprisoned the Hell Knights in their cages and sealed the doors to hell. When their mission was done they decided to leave the earth and allow the humans of this world to develop and grow free of their influence.
Daemons
The daemons are a horrible mutation of human souls, they re the inhabitants of hell and find extreme pleasure in the torture and massacring of humans. They are currently being led by the Knight of Hell Abaddon whom was released from his cage on 21st December 2012 at 3:30 the witching hour by a coven of witches. He leads his daemonic armies with an iron fist, with the one goal of subjugating or killing all human life, releasing the other knights of hell and converting the earth into a new hell from which he can rule.
Hell Knights
The Hell Knights are a ruling cast among daemons and are worshiped as gods, they were created by the fallen angel Lucifer when he fell from heaven and began his war against the host of heaven and his aim to wipe out humanity. He created them by corrupting human souls and feeding them the souls of a fallen angel therefor consuming their grace, the source of an angels power. They are nigh invincible there only mach being the archangels themselves. Lucifer created 12 Hell Knights before his defeat, the first being Lilith the queen of hell. The others being; Abaddon, Abdiel, Azazel, Beherit, Carabia, Eblis, Legion, Mammon, Naphula, Phenex, Remiel.
Characters
Cypher Squad:
Colonel Melanie Barron (SAS) - A 30 year veteran serving with the British armed forces, she has been in many combat situation in some of the most difficult conflict including, The Falklands War, The Gulf War, the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and the subsequent conflict, anti-terrorism work in Afghanistan and most recently in the Libyan uprising. She is a hard arsed CO whom has earned the respect of her peers and subordinates by coming up with brilliant tactics to get her men out of combat situation alive. Her weapons of choice are a Heckler and Koch G36C and a customised M9.
Lt. Jessica 'Hudson' Hudson (British Royal Commandos) - Hudson is the impulsive hot headed demo expert of the squad, fiercely loyal to her friends and comrades she makes rash decisions that sometime put the mission at risk to save her friends, but in the end she always succeeds with minimum effect of the mission. Her weapons of choice are a M16 with under barrelled grenade launcher 2 standard M9's and grenades... Lots of grenades.
Lt. Alan J. 'Russ' Russell (British Royal Commandos) - Russ has served with the commandos for the same amount of time Hudson, they went through basic training together and have been in the same unit several times over the decade, he is usually quiet and only lets his guard down to people who know him well enough for him to feel comfortable around, such as Hudson, sometimes the only person you will ever see him laugh around. He uses a Enfield L22A2 Carbine as well as the standard M9 handgun.
CPO2nd. David S. 'Chief' Cheeseman (Canadian Air-force) - The Chief as he is known is the newest member of the team but has been a soldier with the Canadian AF for over 36 years nearing his retirement, he decided to accept the job with the division as he feels it is an important job that his many years of experience could provide his team with an advantage or at least an extra element that could help in their missions. He uses a Diameco C7A2 assault rifle and a 12-Gauge shotgun for those close encounters
Sgt. Naomi 'TAG' Jacobs (US Navy) - A 10 year US navy sniper veteran, she holds one of the highest ranks of any marksmen in past or active service within the US millitary. She is the squads sniper and marksmen unit, she has a number of different rifles for any situation or any daemon, including a M107A1 Barrett 50.cal Anti-Material rifle, WA2000 and a FN FAL all fully customised, and a KRISS Vector SMG for those rare moments someone(thing) gets close enough for her to have to use it close encounters.
Sgt. Nikola 'Tesla' Barovic (Russian Spetsnaz) - Nikola is a Russian special forces veteran with the Russian Federation and before that with the soviet union. He is a heavy support specialist and prefers his PKP Pecheneg Machine gun to cut down his enemies, in fact before the Order became involved in the war against the daemons one of the only weapons capable of effectively damaging/wounding or killing a Damon was a machine gunner, often the surviving member of a squads encounter with a daemon nest.
Cleric Giovanni 'Padre' Bortoletto (Cleric of the Order) - ***Classified*** Order Secrecy Protocols. only basic information available. Age: 28, Height: 5ft 9, Birthplace: Rome, Italy.
SH-A12 Reaver Stealth Chopper
The Reaver is the ultimate advancement in modern avionics, being a combat stealth attack chopper that can also serve the dual function of a dropship, with its stealth capabilities it can get Division operatives and squads into an are and out again without being seen or heard. the armaments of the Reaver also allow it to be uses as a close in support platform for operatives/squads fighting Daemons as its weapons are more than capable of cutting down even the most well armored Acheri demon with little effort.
Daemons:
Abaddon - One of the Knights of hell, he is the current ruler of the daemon hordes. He is as ruthless in his views against humanity as he is in his tactics in combat. The Hell Knights are an ancient race of Daemons created at the foundation of hell by Lucifer. There were 12 in all, the only 3 have been known to ever walk the earth; Lilith, Abaddon & Abdiel. Upon his release from hell at the beginning of the war he proceeded to bring the coven whom rose him into his inner circle, using their magic to cloak him from the eyes of the order and any other magical being whom he considers an enemy. He is a 10ft tall hate filled demonic killing machine covered in scales with 4 horns protruding from his skull, he has cloven feet and 3 fingers, 2 thumbs on each hand.
Acheri Demon - Are large Daemons about the size of a mini cooper and are the standard daemons encountered by Division forces. They have no sense of smell or sound but have keen eye sight, they share a hive mind mentality with other Acheri, when a number of them are together they become more effective at developing tactics as their field of vision increases each of them becomes aware of everything the others see, this ability allows them to overcome the inherent disadvantage of having a limited sense of smell or sound. They have pale mottled skin as tough as a rhino's hide and incredibly strong limbs and teeth that can be retracted and extended from their jaws to reach the size of a saber tooth tigers canines, even for a being of their size they are incredibly fast and can scale buildings with ease.
Medusa Demon - The Medusa daemon is a reptilian demon that looks relatively human from a distance however at closer distances their snake like appearance becomes more apparent, they possess night vision and infrared senses, they have talons on their claws which makes them exceptionally dangerous in hand to hand combat, The Medusa daemons appear to be entirely female they speak in a series of clicks and hisses, they are however capable of speaking many human languages.
Arrah Demon - The Arrah demon is a man sized demon with needle like teeth, it is slow moving and deliberate often keeping to the shadows, they mainly remain in the daemon nests gaurding it from intruders. When they find their prey they attack without warning they are extremely fast which makes up for their relatively weak strength. If they become outnumbered, cornered or enraged will enter a ballistic rage where they attack haphazardly without consideration of harming other daemons or themselves.
Story Concepts for Unit 74
Different Concepts
Horror:- Vampires
- Daemons
- Zombies
- Mutants
- Post Apocalyptic
Sci-Fi:
- Aliens
- Sentient machines (terminators)
- WWIII
Action:
- War
- Crime
- Superhero
Top Choices
These are the 2 Horror plots i am more leaning toward
Vampires
Set in an alternate version of today where people still live in a 19th century esque civilization (with a few differences), the human populations of the world are plagued and hunted by the things that go bump in the night. The Order, the last remnant of the catholic church, original created as a combat arm operating out of the Vatican are the oly thing keeping us safe. Designed to effectively counter the supernatural forces plaguing the populace they try to maintain order in a world where humanity is no longer the top of the food chain.
Daemons
December 21st 2012, according to the Myan calender the end of times. As far as most are aware the day passed without much event. However, to a select division made up of the best soldiers of the world, since that day we have been at war... On December 21st 2012 at 3:30am one of the Knights of hell, Abaddon was released from his confines in hell, and with his rise all the daemons in hell rose with him. Under his command, they assaulted the human populations of this world and for the past 6 month, we have been at war...a losing one.
Friday 14 June 2013
Unit 74 Creative Writing, Narrative structures
There are dozens if not possibly hundreds of different narrative styles to consider when writing a story, do you want it to be the view of a single character, is that character going to be in the story at all or just a disembodied voice narrating the whole story, is the story going be told from the views of multiple characters ect. The list below details and explains some of the different forms of narrative structure and some examples.
Single Strand
- A Single Strand story is one which follows a single set storyline/plot throughout the medium
There are many different examples of a single strand narrative, in fact most films are of this form in a basic degree, as an example however i shall use Olympus Has Fallen a 2013 film which revolves around an attack on the white house and president of the united states and how the main character army ranger Mike Banning resolves the situation by killing all of the terrorists that attacked the white house and saving the president.
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Multi-Strand
- A Multi-Strand story is a story that follows the view points of more than one characters in the story, they can switch between the 2 (or more) characters and these different view points can intertwine or intersect during the story.
An example of this would be True Blood which often has several if not all of the characters running off on some form of quest/investigation/drama, which is either directly tied to the main plot or indirectly tied to an integral character in said plot. These characters often have limited contact with each other or when they do don't bother to mention the events that they are involved in which could ultimately improve their chances of success, this often leads to situations where a character is in trouble (often in mortal danger) only to then be saved by a character whose relatively meaningless quest or plot point for revenge (which no member of the audience has been remotely interested in up until this point!) become useful and integrally helpful in the success of the story and by coincidence alone said said main character.
Closed
- A closed narrative structure is a story which at the end is resolved or at least most of the main plot point, questions or issues set up during the story have been resolved.
An example of this narrative structure would be any of the stand alone episodes of the Star Trek series, for this example I'll use the Deep Space Nine episode Destiny. This stand alone episode involves the main cast having to work with a trio of Cardassian scientists on the first joint science venture between the Bajorans and the Cardassians since the end of the occupation, during the beginning of the the episode one character tells another of an ancient Bajoran prophecy about how 3 serpents (then interpreted to be the Cardassian scientists) will cause the wormhole (a central piece of the Bajorans religion) to be destroyed. Several other issues are brought up during the episode including, an attraction between one of the scientists and a married member of the main cast, the issues of mixing personal beliefs with the duties of being a soldier and the mistrust between the Bajoran cast and their former Cardassian oppressors. By the end of the episode it is discovered that the prophecy actually meant that the Cardassians would help save the wormhole from destruction and warned instead of another threat, the issues of mixing personal beliefs and duty are resolved between a member of the crew and the main character whom is her CO and an unwilling head of her religion, and the attraction of the scientist and the crew member is also resolved, this is a good example of a closed narrative.
Open
- An open story narrative is most apparent in TV shows, specifically soap operas as they have no apparent begging or end the story, have a wide variety of characters that number in the dozens and often several plots running at ones concurrently with each other.
Single Strand
- A Single Strand story is one which follows a single set storyline/plot throughout the medium
There are many different examples of a single strand narrative, in fact most films are of this form in a basic degree, as an example however i shall use Olympus Has Fallen a 2013 film which revolves around an attack on the white house and president of the united states and how the main character army ranger Mike Banning resolves the situation by killing all of the terrorists that attacked the white house and saving the president.
.jpg)
Multi-Strand
- A Multi-Strand story is a story that follows the view points of more than one characters in the story, they can switch between the 2 (or more) characters and these different view points can intertwine or intersect during the story.
An example of this would be True Blood which often has several if not all of the characters running off on some form of quest/investigation/drama, which is either directly tied to the main plot or indirectly tied to an integral character in said plot. These characters often have limited contact with each other or when they do don't bother to mention the events that they are involved in which could ultimately improve their chances of success, this often leads to situations where a character is in trouble (often in mortal danger) only to then be saved by a character whose relatively meaningless quest or plot point for revenge (which no member of the audience has been remotely interested in up until this point!) become useful and integrally helpful in the success of the story and by coincidence alone said said main character.
- A closed narrative structure is a story which at the end is resolved or at least most of the main plot point, questions or issues set up during the story have been resolved.
An example of this narrative structure would be any of the stand alone episodes of the Star Trek series, for this example I'll use the Deep Space Nine episode Destiny. This stand alone episode involves the main cast having to work with a trio of Cardassian scientists on the first joint science venture between the Bajorans and the Cardassians since the end of the occupation, during the beginning of the the episode one character tells another of an ancient Bajoran prophecy about how 3 serpents (then interpreted to be the Cardassian scientists) will cause the wormhole (a central piece of the Bajorans religion) to be destroyed. Several other issues are brought up during the episode including, an attraction between one of the scientists and a married member of the main cast, the issues of mixing personal beliefs with the duties of being a soldier and the mistrust between the Bajoran cast and their former Cardassian oppressors. By the end of the episode it is discovered that the prophecy actually meant that the Cardassians would help save the wormhole from destruction and warned instead of another threat, the issues of mixing personal beliefs and duty are resolved between a member of the crew and the main character whom is her CO and an unwilling head of her religion, and the attraction of the scientist and the crew member is also resolved, this is a good example of a closed narrative.
Open
- An open story narrative is most apparent in TV shows, specifically soap operas as they have no apparent begging or end the story, have a wide variety of characters that number in the dozens and often several plots running at ones concurrently with each other.
A good example of this would be Coronation Street, which has been running since December 1960 and since that time going through hundreds of both stories and characters, a common plot of the show is to bring a much loved character whom may have left the show years or in some cases decades ago back for either a short story, cameo or as a permanent member of the cast.
Linear
- A linear story is one that is told from one point of the story to the other (usually the beginning to end) in chronological order. This is the most common form of narrative structure, a good example of this would be Little Red Riding Hood which progresses in a linear format from the point that the central character Red Riding Hood sets off to her grandmothers cottage in the woods, to the moment the Woodcutter cuts open the wolf to save the aforementioned grandmother.
Non-Linear
- A None-Linear narrative is the exact opposite of a linear narrative, it is a story that progresses from point A to B but without necessarily following the plot in chronological order, or it could be a story that jumps from several different point without being in any particular order at all. A good example of this would be any episode of Doctor Who, more specifically of the 2005 revived series and even then episodes that feature the Doctor and River Song, the doctors wife. Her story is told backwards as the first time the doctor meets her is the last time she sees him, as she dies however she then meets him getting progressively closer and closer to the day that she first met him as the story goes on, this allows her to come back several times and be featured in many episodes that deal with paradoxes and does not take away from the emotional impact of her death in her first appearance. This is one of the only examples of this kind of story being successfully pulled off.
Enigma
- An Enigma narrative is a story which has an underlying question to the plot, a question that may or may not be answered at the end of the story.
An example of this would be, V for Vendetta. this film asks many questions throughout the film by the characters but the biggest enigma is the titular character himself, V. nothing is really known of the character other than he despises the current government and what they did to him and thousands of others. The main questions about him are, why was he imprisoned at Larkhill, and of course who he was. One of the other questions the film asks is how could a nation known for its multi-cultured heritage become a totalitarian nation akin to 20th century Nazi Germany.
Climax
- A Climax is the culminating point of the whole story, the point where everything that has happened previously in the plot has come into play and the the highest point of tension, simply put it's where the action starts.
An example would be in the film The Immortals, where the main character has been trying to stop Hyperion from releasing the Titans and stopping a new war among the gods. Throughout the film the Olympians have spent the whole time talking about how interfering with the humans as a god is expressly forbidden and punishable by death, but as soon as Hyperion releases the titans Zeus and the remaining gods travel to earth and fight and mostly massacre the titans, ending with Zeus burying a large number of the Titans them under the rubble of Mt Tartarus.
Anti-Climax
- An Anti-Climax is the exact opposite of a climax, it is essentially the build-up to the finale of the story which after everything the solution or ending is something trivial.
A good example of this is War of the Worlds, where after the inhabitants of earth have spent the entire film fighting for their lives and whole armies have been destroyed trying to fight back with our mightiest and advanced weapons, the Martian invaders are killed by the simplest of organisms... bacteria (is some depictions they are killed by the common cold)
- A linear story is one that is told from one point of the story to the other (usually the beginning to end) in chronological order. This is the most common form of narrative structure, a good example of this would be Little Red Riding Hood which progresses in a linear format from the point that the central character Red Riding Hood sets off to her grandmothers cottage in the woods, to the moment the Woodcutter cuts open the wolf to save the aforementioned grandmother.
Non-Linear
- A None-Linear narrative is the exact opposite of a linear narrative, it is a story that progresses from point A to B but without necessarily following the plot in chronological order, or it could be a story that jumps from several different point without being in any particular order at all. A good example of this would be any episode of Doctor Who, more specifically of the 2005 revived series and even then episodes that feature the Doctor and River Song, the doctors wife. Her story is told backwards as the first time the doctor meets her is the last time she sees him, as she dies however she then meets him getting progressively closer and closer to the day that she first met him as the story goes on, this allows her to come back several times and be featured in many episodes that deal with paradoxes and does not take away from the emotional impact of her death in her first appearance. This is one of the only examples of this kind of story being successfully pulled off.
Enigma
- An Enigma narrative is a story which has an underlying question to the plot, a question that may or may not be answered at the end of the story.
An example of this would be, V for Vendetta. this film asks many questions throughout the film by the characters but the biggest enigma is the titular character himself, V. nothing is really known of the character other than he despises the current government and what they did to him and thousands of others. The main questions about him are, why was he imprisoned at Larkhill, and of course who he was. One of the other questions the film asks is how could a nation known for its multi-cultured heritage become a totalitarian nation akin to 20th century Nazi Germany.
Climax
- A Climax is the culminating point of the whole story, the point where everything that has happened previously in the plot has come into play and the the highest point of tension, simply put it's where the action starts.
An example would be in the film The Immortals, where the main character has been trying to stop Hyperion from releasing the Titans and stopping a new war among the gods. Throughout the film the Olympians have spent the whole time talking about how interfering with the humans as a god is expressly forbidden and punishable by death, but as soon as Hyperion releases the titans Zeus and the remaining gods travel to earth and fight and mostly massacre the titans, ending with Zeus burying a large number of the Titans them under the rubble of Mt Tartarus.
Anti-Climax
- An Anti-Climax is the exact opposite of a climax, it is essentially the build-up to the finale of the story which after everything the solution or ending is something trivial.
A good example of this is War of the Worlds, where after the inhabitants of earth have spent the entire film fighting for their lives and whole armies have been destroyed trying to fight back with our mightiest and advanced weapons, the Martian invaders are killed by the simplest of organisms... bacteria (is some depictions they are killed by the common cold)
Thursday 13 June 2013
Setting Up A Xbox360 Console
How to setup a console
Setting up a console is a relatively easy process, however some people can still get the basics wrong.So this blog post will hopefully serve to help you set up your Xbox 360 console.
Unboxing!
When unboxing the console it is always best to have the box on a flat surface with the front of the box (the side featuring an image of the console and the title in large letters) to be facing upwards, this is to prevent the console falling on the floor and smashing when you open it.
The flap of the box that opens is on the top of the box it will be stuck down with a sticker that is easy to tear (if not a pair of scissors should help!)
Once open you will see a bunch of leaflets and instruction manuals that detail technical specifics, promotions general information and disclaimers. Below this, if the main prize the Xbox 360 console, below this is all the wiring cables and a controller as well as any other adapters or parts that are needed. The general list of included components are; Xbox 360 console, AV cable*, Power supply, AC power cable, Wireless controller, 2x AA batteries, User manual & a wired headset*
"*" Item or number of items may vary by console package.
Plug Me In!
Once this is done you can then decide on a place to position your new console, it is recommended that you do not place the Xbox 360 in a confined space or next to a heat source and that is should be placed on a flat surface with plenty of circulation to the system. Once positioned remove any and all protective tape from the console and any of the wires, these are placed there only to prevent scratches on delicate or glossy surfaces as well as providing a barrier from dust keeping the machine clean.
The next step is to connect the power cable (the one with the conversion box attached) and plug it into the console, then plug in the AC power cable to the adapter and AC plug socket, as there will be a live current ensure hands are dry to avoid shock.
Getting Connected
Most consoles will come with a composite AV (audio/video) cable and a SCART adapter to connect it to a display, this can be either a TV or monitor. however this cable does not support HDTV output. Firstly you connect the AV cables, 3 of the 6 on the cable if your using the original AV cable. 3 of these are for standard TV output (Yellow,White,Red) and 3 of these are for HD/AV output (Yellow,Green, Red) there is a switch on the cable which allows you to switch between AV and HD output, for standard UK TV's a SCART cable or adapter is required, fortunately one is included in all UK Xbox 360 bundles, all you have to do is connect the AV cables into the ports in thge adapter with the corresponding colours , flick the switch to AV and plug the SCART into the SCART port into the TV. alternatively if you have a HDMI cable you can plug it into the back of the Xbox in the HDMI port and a similar port on the HDTV and view in a resolution of 480p or higher. Then turn 
Give Me Control!
Connecting a controller is a simple process all you have to do is get your controller, put in the batteries, battery pack or connection cable. and turn it on pressing and holding the 360 button in the centre of the controller until it turns on.
On the console press the connect button this will cause the 4 lights around the power button to flash, this is to show that the console is searching for an active controller, then within 20 seconds do the same on the controller. Once the console has found and connected to the controller the lights will stop flashing and one of the lights will remain on signalling that there is an active controller connected, there is a capacity of up to 4 controllers, the same number of lights this light is reflective as the position or player the controller is assigned to, there are corresponding lights on the controllers that do the same thing.
Setup
These have simple onscreen instructions you need to follow in order to finish the setup, once complete you are can begin gaming, just insert a disk and be on your way!
Thursday 6 June 2013
Unit 68 - Reflection On My 3D Render
Unit 68 Final Major Project Review & Assessment
Professional example
This is a professional (high university level) Show-reel presenting a students work, this is the kind of detail i was wanting to achieve in the models that made up my environment. realistically i new this level of detail was impossible or at least impractical for me to achieve but it gave me something to aim towards and allowed me to better focus my search for helpful tutorials to aid me.
This video shows off several different kinds of models (mainly environments and buildings). one of the first things you notice when comparing the 2 videos especially the apartment building in the professional example and the buildings in my animation is the quality of the texturing and lighting, the professional show-reel gives of a convincing degree of depth and realism however in my video it looks kind of dull and flat, this is more than likely because he is at a higher level of skill than me when it comes to 3D modelling but also because those were the areas i rushed. When it comes to the textures the maker of the professional example (Scott Homer) spent a lot of time creating and adding them to his model which is evident as all the textures are perfectly aligned which gives them a further degree of realism, when texturing he also included sever different forms of textures including; Diffuse,Specular, Normal and Alpha Texture. Scott also put a lot of thought into his lighting positioning as well as probably including multiple different lights.
Given more practice with the software and texturing i could probably reach the same level of professionalism as Scott Homer but for the moment i barely compare.
Final Version
Multi-Story Water: Red Route - Baildon Bridge Environment
This is the final version of my 2nd year final project render, the environment it's self is set in the Baildon bridge area in Shipley. i wanted an environment that would allow me to create a wide variety of models and assets including street objects (traffic lights, Railings and walls) as well as buildings and even water (the river Aire). This environment allowed me to do that.
The original plan was to model an environment including a load of the surrounding buildings and the weir on the river, which was the main focus in the stories set in my environment, however because i was still learning how to model in an efficient and effective way i fell behind as i kept discovering new ways of modelling in 3DS Max, up until this point i had been content with box modelling and created about one third of my environment this way but when i learnt how to polygon model i decided that it would allow me to produce better models for my environment. So i decided to restart my entire environment (in hindsight this was a bad decision as it extended the time it took to create each model as well as me having to recreate all the model,s i had already done).
Because of my inefficient us of time management by the time most people were finishing their texturing phase of production and entering their animation phase i was still modelling which meant i had to rush allot of my work and make several decisions to cut certain models from my environment, and all though i had to make these sacrifices and struggled to make the deadline i am happy with my final product as it did allow me to modell sever different kinds of models and do some texturing. it also allowed me to discover and practice new forms of modelling that i may not have otherwise considered or done.
I think if i had a chance to re plan and create my model i would have better stuck to my plan and spent more time texturing and getting more models into my environment, but as i previously stated everything i have done during this project has helped me to become a better modeler by teaching me new techniques. it's also taught me to better plan and focus on one task at a time, as well as helping me to understand that not everything that you originally intent on including in a project will necessarily make it into the final piece and certain choices need to be made to sacrifice parts to better secure or improve others.
I have become more confident with implementing different models and techniques into one final piece and a high amount of confidence in texturing which was the main part of modeling that i hated because i couldn't wrap my head around. Overall the main problem in all of my final project was poor time management so in future this would be the area that i need to focus on more predominantly.
The highlight of my entire environment i think is the traffic island in the center of my road i really put in quite a lot of my time and effort into texturing that, i went through several different textures before i found the one that i thought best suited it and tried to align the textures up to give a better degree of realism (an example is below).
Here, Pixelarity's Red Route trailer goes for the expansive, Hollywood feel... in tune with the epic scale of some of their buildings, such as Victoria Mills and Salts Mill itself.
Baildon Bridge is a key site on our Red Route tour, and it's great to see it being given careful, detailed treatment here despite its relatively modest architecture.
For the sound aspect of the unit of our final major project we had to plan, storyboard, create, edit, and implement the sound we were going to use in our final animation.
The first step to doing this was finishing or at least having an overall idea of what the final animation was going to look like so that we could then overlay the sound onto the parts of the video they were going to be played. As well as this will had to take note of any foley and non-foley sounds we were going include, such as birds, wind, cars, water ect.
I was originally going to create foley sounds for some environmental assets in my animation, name for the ricer, trees and cars. Then add a music track to the background to add atmosphere, this music would have been something fairly simple like a simple melody played on the keyboard/piano with some added stings (violin, cello ect.) if it needs improvement.
After our Digital showcase we were given feedback from several sources, most important of all of them were Steven Bottoms our client for our live brief and Kaye Elling the head of games design at bradford university, their reviews are below.
After our Digital showcase we were given feedback from several sources, most important of all of them were Steven Bottoms our client for our live brief and Kaye Elling the head of games design at bradford university, their reviews are below.
Kaye Elling –
Bradford University
Lecturer in Computer Games:BA Graphics for Games
BSc Interactive Systems & Video Game Design
"I’ve been looking at the
projects on YouTube and there is some great stuff there. Good to see Waqar on
one of the video introductions too, I remember him from the applicant visit
day.
I thought the Robot Lama group
had some very nice concept art. There is a colour drawing of one of the
buildings which was particularly well observed. Please pass on my compliments
to the team, they had some successful art direction in the videos. The lighting
is especially good and the misty environment was very atmospheric.
Pixelarity
showed some very nice texturing on Salts mill, and the use of water worked well
too. The modelling on the tower was well detailed and the buildings looked like
the scale had been meticulously planned. The web interface they used was very
slick as well, great design there.
The Cyberchondriacs’
art direction using the sepia tone worked really well in the cricket pavilion
and the band stand was fantastically atmospheric, with a lovely render quality.
Robert’s Park Lodge was well realised with the trees and worked very well as a
full scene. The boathouse also showed excellent texturing and looked great in
the render.
I’ve checked my calendar and
can’t make it tomorrow I’m afraid, as I’m doing more taster workshops. But all
the best for the show and please pass on my congratulations to the teams on
such well realised projects!”
MALE
Client – Stephen
Bottoms -Here, Pixelarity's Red Route trailer goes for the expansive, Hollywood feel... in tune with the epic scale of some of their buildings, such as Victoria Mills and Salts Mill itself.
Baildon Bridge is a key site on our Red Route tour, and it's great to see it being given careful, detailed treatment here despite its relatively modest architecture.
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