Catching Up

It's been about a month since my last post so this is going to be a long one. Let's break this down.

1. I GRADUATED FROM SCAD!

It feels pretty good to be finished with school. It didn't really feel like four years went by at all. Now I'm looking for a job in the game industry and it's exciting and terrifying. After a couple of days after the last school quarter I started freaking out about a job. But I realized I need to just calm down, I basically have a head start on everyone else whose graduating in June. I'm going to take this time to continue working on Disorder and I'm going to start learning Unity. Next point.


2. GDC THIS YEAR WAS AWESOME


I attended GDC again this year. This time only for about 4 days and not the whole week. I met some amazing people and saw some amazing games. I met people from Capy Bara Games, Crystal Dynamics, DrinkBox Studios, and Jim Guthrie! I also attended the IGF / GDC Awards and it was incredible. I will win an IGF award one day. GDC just reminded me of how badly I want to be part of the game dev community. I hope to inspire other game devs with my games some day. I also met up with some SCAD buddies since I wouldn't be seeing them again till June for commencement. It was great to see everyone again and I think next year I'll have a different game plan when it comes to meeting people. Next.

3. I WENT TO AUSTIN FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS


I attended Juegos Rancheros last week and showed off our game Disorder. Overall there was a great response and the Austin game dev community has really grown over the past year. I'm fortunate to know people like Brandon Boyer and Wiley Wiggins who run Juegos. It really made me want to stay in Austin so I could be a part of the Austin Indie Community, so we'll see where I go next. I also found out that there are some game devs here in Houston and that they meet up every now and then so I'm excited for that. I also met Pendleton Ward THE CREATOR OF ADVENTURE TIME at Juegos Rancheros and he was super nice / jolly.

4. NOW

Job hunting can be really daunting and sad, but I've realized that I'm going to make games no matter what. Even if I have to get a job in retail or something not related to game development, NOTHING IS GOING TO MAKE ME STOP MAKING GAMES! You're going to see more of Disorder and you're going to see more games from me. So wherever I end up whether it's Austin, California, Canada, Antarctica I'm still going to come up with ideas for games and create them. Tomorrow I start working on Disorder again and learning Unity...because I'm a game designer and making games is what I do!

GDC, SB, and other abbreviations

So I said I would post a little GDC post mortem and here it is:

GDC was incredibly eye opening experiences. Not because the sun was super bright in San Francisco and I saw some strange things. But because I really got to see how big the industry really is and had a chance to meet people I really look up to. If you're a student or want to be a game developer I highly recommend getting a Main Conference pass and attending. It's definitely inspiring and I know now that I need to work harder than ever. This isn't about the grades/school work anymore it's about becoming a better designer, artist, and programmer.

I didn't get too much done over spring break, but I got a nice chance to relax before coming back to SCAD.
As for the project I briefly mentioned a while ago that I was working on well that can be played here:

Bit by Bit

I'm pretty happy about how it turned out it could still use some polish which I'll hopefully get to in the upcoming weeks. I also composed another song on LSDJ which can be heard here - 8 bit collective is down at the moment, so I'm posting it on chipmusic.org

New Song

This quarter I'm taking Studio I, Italian Renaissance Art, & a portfolio class. I plan on working with Flixel (a flash engine created by the maker of Canabalt) & Game Maker (used to make the original Spelunky). This quarter is really about me pushing myself to improve/be the best I can be and hopefully landing an internship for the summer. Wish me luck!

GDC Trip Day 3: Monday March 5th

To start off the first official day of GDC I went to get a picture of the Gamespot studio. My pass doesn't really allow me to attend any of the summits/tutorials happening on Monday/Tuesday ,so I just walked around the different halls and talked to a couple of people. I actually met the programmer of the xbla game The Splatters.
http://spikysnail.com/tag/the-splatters/
I got to check out his game and I also met the microsoft producer working with their team. People here are really nice and open to having a conversation with you. I feel really comfortable here and developers generally enjoy being in each other's company.





The above image is a little side attraction at GDC where people put up game ideas using giant magnets then concept artists from famous game studios have to quickly create concept art for the game. After hanging out for a little while I grabbed a quick lunch and stood in line for Indie Game:The Movie.



The documentary was incredible and truly inspiring. See the struggle of Team Meat & Phil Fish really moved the whole crowd. I saw parallels between their frustrations in their projects and the one I've been working on over this past quarter.



After the screening there was a panel which included: Jonathan Blow, Team Meat + Edward's Wife, & Phil Fish. There were a lot of great questions just about the documentation of the film and some pretty hilarious responses.



This is a pretty good shot of a bald dude. If you know who makes up team meat or who phil fish is then you'll recognize the people in these photos. IG:TM really inspired me and I hope I can really use that in this upcoming quarter. Some of the things the panelists were saying really spoke to me and made me wonder if indie development is a route I should take. Well that's all for Monday. Tuesday I'll be walking around GDC Play and attending the IGDA Party.

GDC Trip Day 1: Saturday March 3rd

Today was the first day of my GDC trip. My flight was from Savannah to Houston then to San Francisco. We had a delay from Houston to San Francisco because one of the passengers was having a medical emergency. It felt a little weird to be in the Houston airport because usually it means the quarter is over and it’s time for a break. Needless to say this trip kind of feels like the quarter is over, but I’ve got a couple of things to do when I get back to Savannah. Anyway after landing in San Francisco we took the Bart transportation system which sounds like a horrible monster dying when you ride it.


(quick shot from the Bart – you can see why I’m not a photo major)
Anyway when I got off the Bart Station I felt like I was in a whole new world. San Francisco is completely different from Savannah. You actually feel like you’re in a city. Crowds are quickly pacing from street to street, tourists are taking pictures, and creepers are creeping. I was pretty exhausted once I found my hotel so I rested a little bit before going out to eat.








It’s a pretty nice hotel with a nice view, but I plan on doing a little more research for where I’m staying if I come back next year. For example I thought this place had wifi…and it does..it’s just not free. Anyway GDC doesn’t start till this coming Monday (March 6th), but I’ll be picking up my pass tomorrow. That’s all for this entry.