五月十五日（金曜日）
A.M. Game Design - FPS & TPS (Trainers: 村瀬＆服部)
Hattori-san was late, so Murase-san started off our morning lesson on Friday. The lesson was on First-Person and Third-Person Shooters. FPS is the domain of PC games and most people would be familiar with the WASD keyboard & mouse combination control scheme.

As with every lesson, we looked at the history of the genre. From Doom (1990) which started the fad, to Quake (full 3D, network play, team play), Half-life (superb AI, numerous mods e.g. Counter-Strike), and Halo (first console FPS) to Crysis (next-gen graphics), every game contributed some key elements to the evolution of the FPS.

Despite their simplicity of gameplay, FPS are not popular in Japan due to the difference in consumer tastes and gaming culture. However, they remain popular in the west to this day, and are often the first to incorporate the latest graphics technology over all other game genres.

Strangely, despite the lesson title, we didn't look at any TPS at all.

P.M. Game Visual II - Motion Capturing 1 & 2 (Trainer: Kawashima-san)
In the afternoon, we began our motion capturing/editing lessons. One important thing we learnt was that to get the best possible data and good animation, a director for the motion choreography is essential. We went through the motion editing pipeline, from the mocap system to Motion Builder and finally exported to Maya. Next week, we will have practical sessions at the Mocap Studio in the Tokyo University of Technology.

Home Improvements
I managed to RTFM ("read the f***ing manual") and found out how to screen capture from the Home preview on PS3. Here are some screenshots:

Those moving platforms were hard-coded into the Home scene using LUA scripts, definitely a hack job but, hey, it works and the trainers were impressed. I also placed "Ultragirl" from our mini-game Shibuya Bakudan (しぶや爆弾 XD) into the scene as cameo for a depressed girl committing suicide, and as ghosts in the Pac-man like glass maze.

Even though my Home assignment is completed, I kept experimenting with new stuff as much as the limited tools and documentation would allow. I have also added a real-time spotlight (more LUA scripting) and some trees made by Ron for the Shibuya Station background modeling assignment (to test alpha modes).