It bums me out when I hear all of the news about the crumbling game giant Midway.
I worked there for almost 12 years, and that place was like a second home to me more than many of you can imagine due to how much overtime I spent there.
It really pushes my buttons to hear that Ed Boon is twittering about his next Mortal Kombat game while my friends are packing their desks in San Diego.
I still remember the day when those guys bought us out. Back then the company in San Diego was known as Leland Interactive Media. They made games like Offroad Challenge, John Elway's Quarterback and Dragons Lair. They made so many promises back then, and truthfully the company did really well for a number of years.
Almost every 3rd party title that came out of Midway over the last 15 years came out of San Diego, IE the games that kept them afloat long enough to make lots of lukewarm Mortal Kombat, Blitz, and NBA Jam sequels in Chicago. It's sad that this is one of the studios that doesn't make the cut.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Learning is Often a Painful Experience
A long time ago, a great programmer that I knew by the name of Steve Ranck told me that learning is painful. At the time, I think it was around when I was learning to use 3d Studio Max when I was a track designer for the arcade game Hydro Thunder, and I was having a rough time with it. Hell, I was having a rough time with all the tools we were using, despite the fact that they were fantastic.
The bottom line is, alot of game design is painful to some extent. Putting ideas on down on paper is one thing, but executing them is another. That's why you hear about all of these developer horror stories where an executive or producer that isn't close to the actual production of his game makes outrageous demands of his designers, artists and programmers, leading up to an implosion of sorts for the game. They just don't understand that some tasks are difficult to the point of being "painful".
For just over a week now, I've been learning some new design stuff for The Agency, and boy oh boy have I been pinging the pain threshold! The work I'm currently doing is super cool, and fun to do, but man oh man, It is rough when you make n00b mistakes. I'm the kind of guy that likes to get really good at one thing, then move on to the next, and I'm in that "next" transition right now.
The point of this is, you aren't going to learn anything unless you get out of that comfort zone. Those of you that are picking up unreal ed for the first time for example, you are going to find it almost insurmountable in how complex it is. What I want to say to you guys is, don't give up! You have to break through the wall before you can really get comfortable with the tools of the trade.
I'm by no means an expert in the realm to be truthful. I am a great tool user when it comes to game design, but I require a certain amount of ramp up time before I really get comfortable with it. I'm blessed in the aspect that I have a job that I can go to that practically forces me to learn these things... Things that I'm already interested in on a hobby level, where I have to get results in X amount of time, therefore I'm forced to persevere through that tough learning stage. Those of you out there that are just getting started, sitting in your bedroom dreaming of becoming a game designer, you have to buckle down and blast through the roadblocks, it's the only way it's going to happen.
The bottom line is, alot of game design is painful to some extent. Putting ideas on down on paper is one thing, but executing them is another. That's why you hear about all of these developer horror stories where an executive or producer that isn't close to the actual production of his game makes outrageous demands of his designers, artists and programmers, leading up to an implosion of sorts for the game. They just don't understand that some tasks are difficult to the point of being "painful".
For just over a week now, I've been learning some new design stuff for The Agency, and boy oh boy have I been pinging the pain threshold! The work I'm currently doing is super cool, and fun to do, but man oh man, It is rough when you make n00b mistakes. I'm the kind of guy that likes to get really good at one thing, then move on to the next, and I'm in that "next" transition right now.
The point of this is, you aren't going to learn anything unless you get out of that comfort zone. Those of you that are picking up unreal ed for the first time for example, you are going to find it almost insurmountable in how complex it is. What I want to say to you guys is, don't give up! You have to break through the wall before you can really get comfortable with the tools of the trade.
I'm by no means an expert in the realm to be truthful. I am a great tool user when it comes to game design, but I require a certain amount of ramp up time before I really get comfortable with it. I'm blessed in the aspect that I have a job that I can go to that practically forces me to learn these things... Things that I'm already interested in on a hobby level, where I have to get results in X amount of time, therefore I'm forced to persevere through that tough learning stage. Those of you out there that are just getting started, sitting in your bedroom dreaming of becoming a game designer, you have to buckle down and blast through the roadblocks, it's the only way it's going to happen.
Friday, June 05, 2009
What Kind of Laptop Does a Game Designer Buy?
What kind of laptop would a Game Designer buy? That's the question I've been asking myself over the last couple of months of laptop research.
I finally figured out the answer to that question, and for me it's the Sager 8662.
Who is Sager? Well... you know all those high end laptop companies out there? They all buy their parts from the same company... The company is called Clevo. Sager directly buys their parts from Clevo, and only makes the highest end gaming laptops.
I knew I wanted something that wasn't bigger than 15 inches for screen size, and I wanted something fast enough to game and work on.
I ended up with the Sager 8662, bought through xoticpc.com
Here are the specs:
1x Sager NP8662 (Built on Clevo M860TU)
So, why this laptop you ask?
It's the fastest 15 inch laptop on the market... bar none. Can you say Crysis running smoothly in high quality in native resolution on a lappy? Oh yes...
All I have to say is this machine looks sexy! I couldn't love a human child as much as I love this laptop! (j/k)
E3 From a Distance: Through a Dev's Eyes
My brain has been steeping in the E3 waters all week, and I think I've taken in just about all I can handle. Being up here in Seattle way from the hustle and bustle of E3 (which is very different for me, considering I've attended at least 8 or 9 of these things) is both a curse and a blessing.
I'm consuming E3 as most consumers do, through various web portals, through the consoles that have updates on them, and through my friends. I might have a closer inside scoop than alot of you, but for the most part, I've been reading the exact same stuff as you, and finding out about it just like you are, including the Sony stuff.
Based on what I saw, I saw alot of exciting stuff coming out in the near future. There were definitely some Meh moments for me as well though, and I'll try to get to that too. I think the hardest thing to do is to separate the wheat from the chaff, because it's so hard to figure out what is real and what isn't at E3. I can assure you that the footage getting around on various sites about The Agency is quite real, but I'm a bit disappointed that we couldn't see any real quality footage beyond that of external cameras showing the game. It really is more vibrant in person, than any of the footage i've seen hit the internet.
Stuff I'm excited about:
I'm consuming E3 as most consumers do, through various web portals, through the consoles that have updates on them, and through my friends. I might have a closer inside scoop than alot of you, but for the most part, I've been reading the exact same stuff as you, and finding out about it just like you are, including the Sony stuff.
Based on what I saw, I saw alot of exciting stuff coming out in the near future. There were definitely some Meh moments for me as well though, and I'll try to get to that too. I think the hardest thing to do is to separate the wheat from the chaff, because it's so hard to figure out what is real and what isn't at E3. I can assure you that the footage getting around on various sites about The Agency is quite real, but I'm a bit disappointed that we couldn't see any real quality footage beyond that of external cameras showing the game. It really is more vibrant in person, than any of the footage i've seen hit the internet.
Stuff I'm excited about:
- I'm excited that the PS3 looked so good this year. I think development for this console is really coming into it's own, and I'm glad to see it being embraced as a game console on top of being a media machine.
- I couldn't believe how good Uncharted looked. I saw previous PvP footage that made me pretty excited for it, but the demo they showed at E3 was amazing. That had to be the most exciting game at E3, hands down.
- I also loved Assasin's Creed II. I never played the first one, but now I want to go buy that to be ready for the new one! I love the setting in the game, and I was floored with how fluid the movement was.
- DCUO is really starting to come together too, and I'm getting excited for that game as well. Lucky for me, that I can log into that right now and play =D
- I was blown away by the visuals of Gran Turismo 5. I want that game so bad it hurts!
- I want to play Forza 3 very badly as well, but I felt like the video they had of the cars spinning around was pretty lame and silly looking, which was kind of a turn off. I would have preferred they went a more serious approach like Gran Turismo did. Right now it looks like Gran Turismo is going to dominate.
- Gran Turismo PSP. DO WANT
- God of War III looked awesome, of course. All of the God of War games are awesome. My wife is going to hate it though, because when God of War 2 came out, I told her that I'm the God of War, and the God of War does not take out the trash or change the kitty litter.
- PSP Go! There is no way my wife is going to let me get this when I have a PsP. I'll have to convince her that I need it for work somehow lol.
- I'm stoked a new Professor Layton is coming out. My wife loves those games, and I have to admit, I'm pretty happy when she asks for help on a puzzle, because that means I get to pry it from her fingers from time to time.
- Metroid made by Team Ninja. They wouldn't have to even show me a screenshot and I'll buy this.
- The more I look at the New Super Mario Bros. Wii gameplay, the more I want to buy it. I wish they would just stick to this series and go with it instead of doing another Mario Galaxy.
- Modern Warfare couldn't get into my 360 fast enough. WTF man! Get me a copy of this!
- I will be buying Brutal Legend, and I will be awesome.
- Castlevania is my favorite game series of all time. Hideo Kojima. Need I say more?
- Lego Harry Potter might be my first lego game purchase. It's too cute.
- I think I'll be picking up Halo ODST. I'm interested to see how they play that story out. I think this one I'll have to keep an eye on.
- As I stated before, I'm excited to PLAY Forza 3, but man oh man was that trailer with the cars flipping around dumb to me.
- I'm not sold on Natal. I thought the demo looked hokey on the stage of the conference, and I couldn't help but feel like the actions were really off from what was going on on screen. I'm trying to imagine some of the scenarios played out in the pre made video, like where the family is all on the couch while a racing game is going on, and I just can't see that playing well at all. I don't see myself waving my arms long distances just to scroll through my friends list on my xbox either. Maybe I'm just not getting it. Then again, I haven't bought into the wii controller too, I feel like the waving around motions have ruined more games then helped them so far.
- Milo. I'm sorry, but who cares? I have no interest in helping an 11 year old boy do his homework. I think it's neat that he can see facial expressions, but where is the fun? HAL 9000 could see facial expressions too you know... Anyways, I just wasn't as floored by this as some people seem to be. It all comes back to wildly gesticulating my arms to get something done in a game. I want accuracy I guess.
- Where are the real MMORPGS? Heroes of Telara, that's about it? If the right people (IE my friends) are working on that project, I'm 100% positive that game is going to be good. But other than that, where are the rest of them? They must have eluded me or something. What a disappointment though.
- Left 4 Dead 2. Seriously? Already? The first one didn't have enough content to last a full year, and that was totally OK! We knew what we were getting! But another one at full price already? I really doubt I'll pick this up at full price.
- No real gameplay footage of FFXIII makes me a sad panda. I can't figure out if I want this game yet or not. I've seen part of like one fight or so, but that's it. Is the game linear? I can't tell if there is a whole world out there or what.
- I didn't see any good old school shooters announced at all this year. That's a shame, it's one of my favorite game genres. I would love to make one.
- Nintendo's pulse taker thingie. I mean seriously guys? YAWN
- Nintendo is really screwing this up man... I love these guys, but they are making it hard to love them. Where are the GAMES people? That's great, I can do leg lifts with my Wii, and count calories. I can look at the weather. Where are the fricken games mang!!??
- Deep down inside my soul I hoped there would be some update or attachment that would allow 720p to be on the Wii. Every time I turn my system on, it's so obvious that I'm not getting an HD resolution. I'm thinking of pulling the system out of the living room and putting it elsewhere, because really, It's becoming an eye sore to play games that look fuzzy like that. I'm a gaming snob man.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The Agency In Game Footage @ E3
Massively.com, one of my favorite websites has footage of the in game demo for The Agency, which can be found here: http://www.massively.com/2009/06/03/e3-2009-the-agency-in-game-footage/
Or, you can just look at the embeded video instead!
Or, you can just look at the embeded video instead!
Monday, June 01, 2009
The Agency Website Get's A Facelift
Just in time for E3, The Agency website on Station.com gets a facelift. If you want to check it out, feel free to drop in.
http://theagency.station.sony.com/
http://theagency.station.sony.com/
If you are feeling extra sassy, add yourself to The Agency twitter list. I am not a twit who tweets, probably because I'm old and a curmudeon who doesn't get it's appeal, but if you are interested I think its under The_Agency_Game on there.
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