Well my updates come further apart, although they seem to be feeling close together. I find myself consistantly looking for a new position so I can get the money worries out of my face so I can worry about the things that really matter. I've been feeling unproductive as of late mostly because of the bills rolling in and me having just enough to cover expenses.
The module has sadly taken a backseat as I reprioritize and try and get some extra sleep and hopefully an interview. 12 days have passed since I last updated here and I just feel like I'm lost in the shuffle of my own life. I have even begun taking less of a role in the Game Design Challenges where I found myself weekly. I leave every day at 7:30 and get home around 6:00. That's almost 12 hours gone to work alone, leaving me with 8 hours to sleep and 4 hours to get things done. It almost seems like my entire week is about to be come scheduled from waking moment to pillow time. We shall see, maybe that will make me more productive... also, should I schedule free time?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Branching Out...
I have been busy as of late thinking about a new job and currently working at HMV. Sadly I love the people I work with, but it's not paying the bills. I am currently looking into a tech support job at Telus, while I work on my module, portfolio and my resume. I've also taken up jogging, because I am apparently in good shape on the outside, but rotten on the inside.
I just got my Module Making book in the mail and hopefully this will give me a bit better of an understanding of scripting. The part of my module I'm at right now involves creating the city layout in the toolset, but there are certain triggers and things I need to understand before I go further. Also, as much as I want this to be my career I still want to enjoy Edmonton a bit more anyway before getting into it. I mean don't get me wrong, if they called tomorrow and asked I'd sprint right over for the interview. But I know that once I get a position in there I'll pretty much move in and learn from as many people as will allow me. I plan to learn as much as I can about every aspect of game design once I'm in a company. I want to especially know testing, marketing, design, and the whole implementation phase. But for now I will deal with the jobs I do have and work towards my goal of working at Bioware... some time soon hopefully.
I just got my Module Making book in the mail and hopefully this will give me a bit better of an understanding of scripting. The part of my module I'm at right now involves creating the city layout in the toolset, but there are certain triggers and things I need to understand before I go further. Also, as much as I want this to be my career I still want to enjoy Edmonton a bit more anyway before getting into it. I mean don't get me wrong, if they called tomorrow and asked I'd sprint right over for the interview. But I know that once I get a position in there I'll pretty much move in and learn from as many people as will allow me. I plan to learn as much as I can about every aspect of game design once I'm in a company. I want to especially know testing, marketing, design, and the whole implementation phase. But for now I will deal with the jobs I do have and work towards my goal of working at Bioware... some time soon hopefully.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Burnout.
So I've been working, busing, sleeping and generally in that order for the past few weeks. I kept coming up with story ideas, discussing them with my friends and coworkers and they've been a great help. Sure at the time a comment like "That sounds like Lord of the Rings" doesn't seem helpful, but it was very helpful and made me change the scope of my project. The project has been revised many times already and in each revision I have learned something new. Revision 1 was I knew nothing about the module editor, 2 was understanding the conversation editor, 3 was to cut the scope of my story down, 4 was what order I should do things in and now I'm on to the 5th chapter.
Currently my story is about your character who is charged by the fates to help overthrow a crazed king. You meet 3 others along the way and they will all help in your battles. The only thing I want scripting wise is to figure out a way to enable automatic healing. For example, instead of having to rest between battles when it's safe, I want it to assume you would and just heal you back to full mostly to keep the story going between battles instead of stopping and wasting a minute or two per battle.
Either way the newest story is short, to the point and action packed. I just need to figure out how to actually start it off once all the characters have been completed and the areas finished. Anyway that's it for now, back to work for me!
Currently my story is about your character who is charged by the fates to help overthrow a crazed king. You meet 3 others along the way and they will all help in your battles. The only thing I want scripting wise is to figure out a way to enable automatic healing. For example, instead of having to rest between battles when it's safe, I want it to assume you would and just heal you back to full mostly to keep the story going between battles instead of stopping and wasting a minute or two per battle.
Either way the newest story is short, to the point and action packed. I just need to figure out how to actually start it off once all the characters have been completed and the areas finished. Anyway that's it for now, back to work for me!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The Sacrifice.
After passing up many hours of gaming today, I have become active once again in my moderator duties on Game Career Guide's forums. I also wrote out my revamped idea for a Neverwinter Nights module and ordered a book on NWN Scripting. For the moment I know exactly how I want things to go, it's just a matter of transferring it into Neverwinter Nights. Also, I'm trying to figure out a way to make a script that will allow for more freedom during play.
The concept? I want a list of people for you to kill and you get to choose the order, but it will have to increase in difficulty as you progress through the game. Hopefully the forums will help me out and if not, maybe my engineer friend can lend a few ideas. Also, I want a random event that can alter who you're targeting almost like confusing, but messing with the view so that you the player chooses to attack the wrong person! I'll let you know how that goes... Back to the module making, oh and my musical choices this week consist of three things: Stratovarius, Richard Cheese and Powerglove. Look them all up if you've never heard of them!
Till next time!
The concept? I want a list of people for you to kill and you get to choose the order, but it will have to increase in difficulty as you progress through the game. Hopefully the forums will help me out and if not, maybe my engineer friend can lend a few ideas. Also, I want a random event that can alter who you're targeting almost like confusing, but messing with the view so that you the player chooses to attack the wrong person! I'll let you know how that goes... Back to the module making, oh and my musical choices this week consist of three things: Stratovarius, Richard Cheese and Powerglove. Look them all up if you've never heard of them!
Till next time!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A Rock and a Hard Place.
I am currently on the fence with where I am currently in life. I received a 3D Animation degree which right now feels like an $8600 piece of paper. I am considering returning to school, but this time at the University of Alberta for a Computer Science degree. I keep hearing it's easier to break into the games industry and right now that is my largest hurdle. I can see the rest of the hurdles and by comparison, they're only lines on the road ahead.
Everyone keeps telling me how much work it is, and I don't think they understand that I am up for the challenge and have a better grasp of what the industry has to offer than most applicants.
Anyway I just thought I'd post here since I've been neglecting it since I started learning scripting in Neverwinter Nights. I don't have much free time, my schedule most days consists of waking up at 7:30 am, busing to work, working 8:30 am to 5 pm, busing home, arriving at 6 and then eating, showering and trying to fit as much learning and module making as possible into the few hours I have left. It's rough, but as my best friend put it, "That's Life". He's right, and that's what makes it all the more frustrating. I have almost no time to spit and polish my module but refuse to submit something I can't enjoy. Also, there's still so many little things I want to do that I need more scripting for. Ah well, hopefully this weekend I will have all the scripting tutorials read and tested so I can start into the meat and potatoes of the actual story and module.
Anyway, until next time... wish me luck!
Everyone keeps telling me how much work it is, and I don't think they understand that I am up for the challenge and have a better grasp of what the industry has to offer than most applicants.
Anyway I just thought I'd post here since I've been neglecting it since I started learning scripting in Neverwinter Nights. I don't have much free time, my schedule most days consists of waking up at 7:30 am, busing to work, working 8:30 am to 5 pm, busing home, arriving at 6 and then eating, showering and trying to fit as much learning and module making as possible into the few hours I have left. It's rough, but as my best friend put it, "That's Life". He's right, and that's what makes it all the more frustrating. I have almost no time to spit and polish my module but refuse to submit something I can't enjoy. Also, there's still so many little things I want to do that I need more scripting for. Ah well, hopefully this weekend I will have all the scripting tutorials read and tested so I can start into the meat and potatoes of the actual story and module.
Anyway, until next time... wish me luck!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Insanity.
Bioware has posted the Quality Assurance position once again to their glorious website. It is unfortunately routed through the EA job bank, which makes me wonder who is hiring for this position. I am considering walking a resume in just to set myself apart from all these other submissions. I have already applied through the internet, but can you apply too many times? I mean after all, I moved 3000 kms to be closer to them because I want to start my career there. I definitely don't want to harass them, but I do want to maximize my chances.
Also, on top of that I have a multitude of projects I am working on at various stages of completion. It's kind of terrible because I find myself torn between multiple projects like this all the time. I am reading two different books as well, one on storyboarding and one on scriptwriting. Perhaps I should focus on one thing at a time but I feel like time is disappearing into oblivion. Also this way it keeps everything fresh, exciting and I never feel like I have to work on them, I just feel like I want to work on them all at once. Too much passion might be getting me in trouble! My XNA subscription ends next month and I have done nothing with the previous year. I might indeed leave it for the coming year, so I at least have the option of going to it whenever I want. Living with a computer engineer helps in this respect, although we're toying around with many ideas at the moment.
Anyway I am heading off this is just a quick update, but I'll write again soon.
Also, on top of that I have a multitude of projects I am working on at various stages of completion. It's kind of terrible because I find myself torn between multiple projects like this all the time. I am reading two different books as well, one on storyboarding and one on scriptwriting. Perhaps I should focus on one thing at a time but I feel like time is disappearing into oblivion. Also this way it keeps everything fresh, exciting and I never feel like I have to work on them, I just feel like I want to work on them all at once. Too much passion might be getting me in trouble! My XNA subscription ends next month and I have done nothing with the previous year. I might indeed leave it for the coming year, so I at least have the option of going to it whenever I want. Living with a computer engineer helps in this respect, although we're toying around with many ideas at the moment.
Anyway I am heading off this is just a quick update, but I'll write again soon.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Juggling Chainsaws: The Beginning
I've been overwhelmed with ideas as of late and it's definitely going to take some time to get my bearings again. I may have said it before, but if not, here it is: I am inspired by anything and everything.
I might be sitting at home watching the rain fall, and imagine up some tornado ripping across the city and mowing homes down like hay piles or I might be just listening to some music that inspires a character, or emotional scene. No matter what though I sometimes get inspiration from inspiration. Many people find themselves unable to finish things because they lack self motivation or just the devotion to one thing for a long time. Unfortunately I could be grouped with these inidividuals, but I am of a different mindset.
I once listened to a slow orchestrated song that rose up to a dramatic climax and maintained the speed until the dramatic finish. This sparked an image of a group of knights marching through volcanic caves and stopping at the sight of a bridge over lava. To the other side was a single warrior, clad in the darkest of metals, only runes shown through a bright red, almost as if they'd just been branded in. Fearing his own demise the leader of the group of knights sent his men to the bridge to fight the single warrior. They marched simultaneously onward, (then the music began to pick up) suddenly the warrior begins trotting, then matching tempo to a full on run (the music at this point is in full tempo). He bursts through the first rank as if they were made of wet paper, (much to the crashing of percussion) and meets the second rank with a few quick parries and pushes into the lava. The idea continues until there are only two left on the bridge: A Warrior and a Knight, staring each other down over the licking flames of the lava. Suddenly, this sparked more ideas. Where did these knights come from? Where were they going? Who was this mysterious warrior? What did he represent? So suddenly I had two back stories to write and no time to do either one. But, I did indeed begin! Then... As I was discussing the knights being sent to defeat the Queen of the Flames, I suddenly thought man... she needs a guardian, that warrior is already set up, but that would be too easy!
So now I had the fight scene between Warrior and Knight, I had a story as to where the Knights had been and where they were headed and now I was creating another character who we hadn't even met yet but would meet the best of the two locked in epic battle over a lake of heated, liquid earth. Not only that, but what of the Warrior? What was he doing there? His quest was far simpler, but he thought he was being followed by a terrible group of assassins. His quest simply lie in the fact he had to summon the Great Fire Wyrm, Veloki, and be blessed by his breath of fire. Upon receiving the blessing, the Warrior would become a Dragoon or Defender of the Dragon Race. These were like Paladins but for Dragons. So if you've been following, you've already probably been overwhelmed by my jumping between ideas. Worst part is, I can recall any idea I've had and begin or continue again.
So imagine having to deal with that, constantly, especially being in a new city where everyday is an adventure. I get lost, experience new types of music at work, and occassionally just daydream where i should be more productive. But to give myself some explanation, I'm enjoying imagining again because for so long I had been so concerned and cornered by everything. Somedays I wonder if there is really a position for guys like me... some sort of "Locked in a room, chained to a desk thinking up new ideas, stories, backgrounds, worlds and puzzles" kind of guy. I almost need to find some sort of way to channel out every idea I can at once. Some kind of multidata stream where my thoughts funnel right into text files which can then be printed into money. I'll need to focus if I want a job writing professionally, but I figure I've got at least 5 years in Edmonton, so enjoy a little bit while I can. It's been awhile since I have just hung out and played some games with my best friend and that has been my biggest lure from focusing. Also, three of us read comics here, and two (not me, as the third) of us make the money to afford comics like every week. I've been reading up a storm and just finished Supreme Power 1-3 published by Marvel. So far? I love every page. Art, story and 100% pure unadultered "awesomeness" seeing these heroes cast in a different light. I definitely recommend them. Anyway, I've done my typing flood again, so I hope you got something out of this.
I might be sitting at home watching the rain fall, and imagine up some tornado ripping across the city and mowing homes down like hay piles or I might be just listening to some music that inspires a character, or emotional scene. No matter what though I sometimes get inspiration from inspiration. Many people find themselves unable to finish things because they lack self motivation or just the devotion to one thing for a long time. Unfortunately I could be grouped with these inidividuals, but I am of a different mindset.
I once listened to a slow orchestrated song that rose up to a dramatic climax and maintained the speed until the dramatic finish. This sparked an image of a group of knights marching through volcanic caves and stopping at the sight of a bridge over lava. To the other side was a single warrior, clad in the darkest of metals, only runes shown through a bright red, almost as if they'd just been branded in. Fearing his own demise the leader of the group of knights sent his men to the bridge to fight the single warrior. They marched simultaneously onward, (then the music began to pick up) suddenly the warrior begins trotting, then matching tempo to a full on run (the music at this point is in full tempo). He bursts through the first rank as if they were made of wet paper, (much to the crashing of percussion) and meets the second rank with a few quick parries and pushes into the lava. The idea continues until there are only two left on the bridge: A Warrior and a Knight, staring each other down over the licking flames of the lava. Suddenly, this sparked more ideas. Where did these knights come from? Where were they going? Who was this mysterious warrior? What did he represent? So suddenly I had two back stories to write and no time to do either one. But, I did indeed begin! Then... As I was discussing the knights being sent to defeat the Queen of the Flames, I suddenly thought man... she needs a guardian, that warrior is already set up, but that would be too easy!
So now I had the fight scene between Warrior and Knight, I had a story as to where the Knights had been and where they were headed and now I was creating another character who we hadn't even met yet but would meet the best of the two locked in epic battle over a lake of heated, liquid earth. Not only that, but what of the Warrior? What was he doing there? His quest was far simpler, but he thought he was being followed by a terrible group of assassins. His quest simply lie in the fact he had to summon the Great Fire Wyrm, Veloki, and be blessed by his breath of fire. Upon receiving the blessing, the Warrior would become a Dragoon or Defender of the Dragon Race. These were like Paladins but for Dragons. So if you've been following, you've already probably been overwhelmed by my jumping between ideas. Worst part is, I can recall any idea I've had and begin or continue again.
So imagine having to deal with that, constantly, especially being in a new city where everyday is an adventure. I get lost, experience new types of music at work, and occassionally just daydream where i should be more productive. But to give myself some explanation, I'm enjoying imagining again because for so long I had been so concerned and cornered by everything. Somedays I wonder if there is really a position for guys like me... some sort of "Locked in a room, chained to a desk thinking up new ideas, stories, backgrounds, worlds and puzzles" kind of guy. I almost need to find some sort of way to channel out every idea I can at once. Some kind of multidata stream where my thoughts funnel right into text files which can then be printed into money. I'll need to focus if I want a job writing professionally, but I figure I've got at least 5 years in Edmonton, so enjoy a little bit while I can. It's been awhile since I have just hung out and played some games with my best friend and that has been my biggest lure from focusing. Also, three of us read comics here, and two (not me, as the third) of us make the money to afford comics like every week. I've been reading up a storm and just finished Supreme Power 1-3 published by Marvel. So far? I love every page. Art, story and 100% pure unadultered "awesomeness" seeing these heroes cast in a different light. I definitely recommend them. Anyway, I've done my typing flood again, so I hope you got something out of this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
