Starting a New Gig This Week

I received a written offer of employment yesterday, so that pretty much makes it official that I'll soon be working again. I was supposed to start next week, but I just got a call that they would like for me to come in on Friday and get my orientation going so, I guess I start a new job this week.

The company? They are called Hidden Path Entertainment. You are probably familiar with their awesome tower defense game "Defense Grid"that was on several platforms.

I can't talk about what I'll be working on yet, but once they announce it I'm sure I'll be just as obtuse about my work as I've always been.

So, why Hidden Path Entertainment? When I met the team I just could tell how passionate they are about what they do. They are a small but very experienced team, they aren't afraid to push their limits and work on a variety of projects and game genres, they are family oriented, and they are local.

I had several opportunities come up over the past 7 weeks that were out of state, and while they were very tempting, especially the big name MMO guys that came my way, I just really wanted to stay here and enjoy the new house, the fact my wife has a new job, and just the general atmosphere of the Seattle area, which I'm just way into still.

Anyways, that's whats been going down!

Moving On

As inevitable as the tide, change comes to us all. There have been times in my life where I was in control of the changes in my immediate sphere of influence, but there are other times where things just happen to you.

Unfortunately instead of the former, the latter took place when I parted ways with SOE last month.

I knew I was going to write here about it sooner or later, and I guess I just needed some time to get used to the idea before I did. I don't exactly have a huge audience here, and those that used to follow this blog did it purely for the inside glimpses I gave into the creation of EverQuest II and The Agency. Not that I really said all that much, I suppose.

Anyways, here I am... I'm sitting in my game room writing this post from my brand new house I just bought, wondering what I'm going to say to the world.

As far as SOE goes, I had a fantastic time there, and would do it all over again even if it resulted in the same way. I got to make some really fun content that people are enjoying as I type this, I got to work on really cool stuff that you guys have yet to see, and I worked with some really great people. I don't dare count how many friends I've made over the years of being employed at SOE, but it has to be in the hundreds.

So, what's the next step? Well, I've received a few interesting phone calls from some familiar names in regards to MMOs in development, but they are quite far away from here, and I literally made my first house payment a few days ago. To say I would be chagrin to move away from Seattle would be an understatement. If there comes a time where I have no other choice, then I may consider moving, but at this time I am looking for employment here in Washington.

Part of me wonders if I should stay in game design or explore something else. I could certainly fulfill a production role, or maybe something outside of games altogether.... outside of games? Nah!!! Lol. I love the industry too much to leave it without kicking and screaming first.

When I first started this blog one of the first things I talked about is how I got into the industry. Now this is an entirely different story. I've been steadily working for 17 years and now find myself using recruiters and applying via websites instead of using referrals because I only really know the people in my SOE circle out here. I do have a positive outlook on things though, I mean I've worked on a variety of game types in a variety of roles. I'm bound to find something, but I don't want to just work at any old company working on any old game just for the sake of employment. I have to be into what I'm working on or its all for naught, I just love gaming too much to work on something I would be miserable playing.

Anyways, that's the status update for Steve "Saavedra" Kramer. I know that the news got around because I even was getting flamed on EQ2flames.com, which is an honor of course =D. If you hear of any interesting jobs out this way let me know hehe =).