Addicted to the create button

You all know that I love to play Dungeons and Dragons. But I also love to play World of Warcraft.


My first character was a Dwarf Hunter. I died a lot of times in the starting area. I didn't even reach Kharanos (The first town you see after the starting area for dwarves and gnomes). After my dwarf hunter a lot of characters followed.

I'm serious. A lot.


Yes. I got a problem. I am an altoholic (Addicted to creating characters). So far I made, I think, something like 80 characters. Ofcourse I deleted a lot of them. If you are wondering why, why so many? Well, then I'll explain.

There are nine classes in WoW and one hero class (this class starts at level 55). And for me, all classes are fun to play. Each class has something special that I like. So I love to try them all out, a lot of times.
This is way I make a lot of new characters. When I'm playing, for example, a Rogue and I see a Mage casting all his awesome fireballs, magic missiles, etc I get jealous and create a Mage. But when I'm playing a Mage I notice I die fast and I got bad armor, so I create a Warrior. And when I'm playing a Warrior.... Well, you get the point.

I make a lot of characters and I can't stop it.

However. I do have a level 55 Warrior, which is pretty high for me. But now I don't play with that character anymore, either...

Now I'm playing a Draenei Paladin. I like to play a paladin, but I miss the abilties of my Warrior.

I'm wondering how long I will keep my Paladin. Will I ever reach level 80?

Your beard sets on fire... Part 2

Back to DnD. From the past to now.

I play less Dungeons and Dragons, nowadays. Because I have less time. I'm planning to start playing again, soon. With a friend of mine.

He is, like me, also a big fan of DnD. We have been playing for a long time, together. Soon (hopefully) we will start two new campaigns (a serie of adventures). One will be lead by me and one by Rick, the friend I'm playing with. The stories of both campaigns will have something to do with each other. There will be lots of demons, devils, dragons and undead to slay. Rick and I love to slay monsters in DnD but we also like some roleplaying now and then.

We play the 4th Edition of DnD. It's the newest version and it's the one I love most. You get a lot of cool options and powers to make a great character. Also there are some new classes present. Like, for example, the Warlord, the Warlock and even a Hybrid class (and much more).

I've created a hybrid character myself. A hybrid class is a mixture between to classes. I chose to mix a Dual-Wielding Ranger with a Sorcerer. This way I'm good at both melee and ranged fighting.

I have tried to draw this character, but so far it didn't work out yet. But ofcourse I will keep trying and when I'm finished I will upload it here.

So, that's DnD for now. I would like to post something about my campaign. But Rick might be reading this too, so I don't want to spoil it for him. Ofcourse, when we have played some adventures I can tell more about it. So keep reading!

Joran de Boer

Last Week

We had a quiet week, last week. Most of my classmates were at G-Ameland. Unfortunately I couldn't go. But because of that, I could continue on some stuff I already started. We also got an extra task to do. Everyone received a tutorial of 'How-to-draw-an-eye' and so we have to draw an eye.

It's going pretty good for me, but I have not yet finished it. Though, it's fun to do.

We also played with Lego this week. Not just with Lego but with Lego board games. Next week we are going to make a Lego board game ourselves. I'm pretty excited about this. At home I have two boxes full of Lego with which I always have been playing when I was younger.

So. That's the most interesting stuff about last week.

Oh. I already tried out the Playstation Move! But that's a story for later.

Joran de Boer

Speed Painting

Last week I made some attempts on speed painting. Here is one of them.
I used a tutorial for this. It was actually the first time I made a speed painting.

The thing I really like about this is the burning farm and the reddish color in the sky.
I'll try to do some more speed painting.

Creating a Map

For the subject 'Level Design', we are going to make our own Warcraft III map in the WC3 Editor.
Before we start we must carefully think of what map we want to create and we have to make a Gamedesign Document in wich we will tell everything about the map.

There are some rules, however. Our map must be a 4 player map. Free for all or 2 vs 2. The rest is up to us. Later this year we will make a RPG map for Warcraft. It will be some sort of campaign map in wich you only control a hero.

I'm pretty excited about this. I hope we can start soon with using the editor.
Of course I will post more later. You'll hear from me.

What to do - continues

Some days ago I posted something called 'What to do'.
I talked about a project we're going to do. Making a PS3 Game.

I really hoped I could make the concept art for this game and now I can.
Tasks were given and everyone's happy.

The game we are going to make will be in a oriental theme. It will be a hack & slash game.
I can't tell much about the game, but luckily I'm allowed to post my concept art for it, here.

We just started so I don't have any yet, but when I do I will surely post them here.

So keep an eye out on my blog!

Joran de Boer

Your beard sets on fire... Part 1

Dungeons and Dragons. For me the greatest game in the world.
 (I'm talking about the 'play-on-the-table' game, not the pc game DDO)

Dungeons and Dragons is a Role Playing Game in wich each player controls a character and chooses what he does and says. There is one person who leads the game, called the Dungeon Master. The players are send on a quest to save a princess, slay a dragon or anything like that. The party has to work together to complete this quest and at the end they will receive some treasure and experience points to level up. Battles and actions succeed or not by rolling a die. And that's the basic of the game.

I have been playing this game for ten years now and I'm enjoying it more and more every year.

When I was seven years old I started playing with my brothers.
My older brother bought the game (Edition 3.0) on a holiday in Scotland.
I can still remember our first adventure (some of it).

I played a dwarven fighter named Grigor. I think he carried a dwarven waraxe and a shield
and he had a long red beard. My oldest brother was the Dungeon Master and my other brother played with me. I don't remember what character he had, but I think it was a human fighter named Brain.

We, the party, had to find a treasure in a cave with some goblins in it.
After some hacking and slashing we found a treasue chest.
I was very excited and opened the chest, but then... Whoosh! A trap!
A fireball flew out of the chest and set my beard on fire.
After wich my brother, or Brain actually, extinguished it with his pee...

I didn't really liked what happened to my character, but at least we had some treasure!

Since that first time playing I loved the game and I still do now.

If you are interested after reading this, take a look on the D&D website.

Joran de Boer

Let's show something

Reading about what I do and make is nice and all...

but I bet you folks want to see something that I have made.
Well here it is!

The first piece is some sort of lion dwarf/gnome. I made this using Photoshop CS4. The face took most of my time, I think it was about three hours. And about one half for the body. But at the end I was very happy with the result!

The second piece is something not finished yet. It's becoming a dwarf. I thought it would be nice to show you something unfinished, because then you can see how I work. Maybe I will make a video once, of me drawing something in Photoshop. I just need to find some program which let me record what I do on screen.

Anyone got some suggestions?

P.S. I know the dwarf has only 8 toes. I just thought it looked better that way. :P

Roar! A bear

Friday I was busy making a cloud-brush for photoshop. This is what we have to do now for '2D Art'. One of the subjects we have. In some weeks we will start speed-painting.

I just started drawing when I suddenly saw what I accidentally made.

A bear.

(On some computers this picture might be pretty dark. Sorry for that)

What to do

The second year of my study has just started. I'm now in the first week of this year.

In this year we (my classmates and I) are going to make a game for the Playstation 3.
Different tasks will be given to each student. We had to apply for the tasks we want to do
and then our teachers will give us our tasks based on the quality of our application letters and interviews.

I really want to make the concept art for the game because I have always liked drawing
and I like to put something from myself, my own ideas, into the game (By drawing characters or buildings etc).
 
However. I do not consider myself as a very good drawer. I would say I'm just above average,
but I am not amazingly good.

But of course I'm on school to learn and to improve my skills. So I hope I can become a better drawer.

Next week we will be told what tasks we will get and we will also hear what kind of game we are going to make.

So keep reading to hear more about this! :)

Joran de Boer

Introduction

Hello world!

Let me introduce myself and tell something about this blog and what I will post here.

My full name is Joran 'Johan Gerben' de Boer, but you may just call me Joran.
I am a dutch gamedesign student of 'ROC Friese Poort' in Drachten, in the North of the Netherlands.

On this blog I will post about stuff related to games and gaming,
but I will post especially about my study and what I do and make.
Of course, once in a while, I will show off my work here.

Feel free to ask me questions or anything like that.

Joran de Boer