i'm gonna use this space to put down a few things i've learned from my time in games. From the test point of view, which is where i am now. I've been on the development side as well, so i have an idea of what goes on there. i have an idea of what's blame-worthy or not. because sometimes, you'll just have an honest bug. Look- all games have bugs, before they go out- that's the facts of life in software development. I'm saying that you can judge a developer- you can tell if the developer is any good or not by the quality of their bugs.
And whether they get fixed or not.
And in what order.
And does fixing them cause more bugs?
And do they stay fixed, or reappear later?
(oh my god i have stories for each of these) I'd probably violate my NDA if i told these, and probably get fired, so i'll have to generalize.
Notice that all of these factors have nothing to do with whether the game is fun or not.That's a whole nother can of worms, but that tells you a lot about the developer as well. Ask yourself questions like this:
Does the game make things that you would think would be fun into tedious chores?
or
Does the game make things you might not think of normally as fun into fun experiences?
Is it fun just to move around in the game?
more to come on this subject for sure...
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
QA
I also wanted to tell you my idea for a tv series. It'd be an episodic ensemble-cast comedy sort of in the vein of 'the Office'. But it's about testers for a major software company. i think there's a lot of potential for humor(i see it as very grim, Dilbert-style humor) in that sort of setting. Also, I think now everybody knows about video games and enough people are in the tech industry that i think a lot of the jokes wouldn't go over people's heads.
Ensemble Cast- There's a lot of potential for weird, interesting characters. It's really pretty diverse bunch of characters, different races, different genders, different stages in life, all in it for different reasons.
Yeah, really original, i know. I'm inspired by my real life. But i think i could make it interesting, funny and watchable. I suppose what i should do now is write out a pilot. I'd like to shoot a video of a sample episode. Some vignettes, maybe, slices of life, really, they don't have to fit together into a plot yet. I think it'd be cool to use people from work as my actors, i guess i should have at least a script ready to approach them with. I know some people who would be totally down with it.
right now i'm putting ideas together to see how much material i have.What do you think? Good Idea? if you want to give me money to film my idea please email me at :jeremy.campbell@gmail.com
Marketing department:
Everyone's young, beautiful, chuggin' red bulls all the time and pulling mad crazy overtime, then going out to the club 'cuz why bother to go to sleep
Ensemble Cast- There's a lot of potential for weird, interesting characters. It's really pretty diverse bunch of characters, different races, different genders, different stages in life, all in it for different reasons.
Yeah, really original, i know. I'm inspired by my real life. But i think i could make it interesting, funny and watchable. I suppose what i should do now is write out a pilot. I'd like to shoot a video of a sample episode. Some vignettes, maybe, slices of life, really, they don't have to fit together into a plot yet. I think it'd be cool to use people from work as my actors, i guess i should have at least a script ready to approach them with. I know some people who would be totally down with it.
right now i'm putting ideas together to see how much material i have.What do you think? Good Idea? if you want to give me money to film my idea please email me at :jeremy.campbell@gmail.com
Marketing department:
Everyone's young, beautiful, chuggin' red bulls all the time and pulling mad crazy overtime, then going out to the club 'cuz why bother to go to sleep
changes
So now i've got a job working at Sony. FPQA Test.First Party Qa Test. Testing games for the PS3. There's not much more i can say. NDA you know. But anyway, it's limited. Short term contract. Big company, well established ways of doing things. Reminds me a lot of when i worked at SEGA, way back in the days of the Saturn. Yeah.
You don't hear much of me lately cause i'm dealing with setting up my life around my new job and the baby. The game i'm on is going into crunch time so it's overtime for everyone.
Another thing i remember from way back when i worked at SEGA. i was a younger guy back then and living by myself, i could take as much overtime as they offered. But now i have to have someone set up to take care of the baby. Takes up more of my time.
Which is why my second demo reel is moving so slowly. I'm going to make a second one, put it up on YouTube again. It's going to be modeling and texturing. But theres also going to be some animation. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the music.
You don't hear much of me lately cause i'm dealing with setting up my life around my new job and the baby. The game i'm on is going into crunch time so it's overtime for everyone.
Another thing i remember from way back when i worked at SEGA. i was a younger guy back then and living by myself, i could take as much overtime as they offered. But now i have to have someone set up to take care of the baby. Takes up more of my time.
Which is why my second demo reel is moving so slowly. I'm going to make a second one, put it up on YouTube again. It's going to be modeling and texturing. But theres also going to be some animation. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the music.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
here's my demo reel
Up on YouTube.
It's just my animation work. I'm trying to get a job at Pixar. I know, everyone wants that.
It's just my animation work. I'm trying to get a job at Pixar. I know, everyone wants that.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
a modest proposal
Something really bothers me about the animation industry right now. Everybody seems to send their stuff to Korea. Why? Even good animators like Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken. There's more new animation being made now than for a long time and there's a distribution channel for it (cable) but none of it is actually being animated here. It's apparently 'just how it's done now'. This is distressing for a couple of reasons.
One- Outsourcing Creative work. This isn't just labor. This isn't just something anyone can do. This is creative work. Even inbetweens are creative work. Which brings me to the second point:
Work for new artists. Used to be, young artists would get to build up their skills on the crap work like inbetweens. Then they'd have a foundation for drawing animation, and know what's required to work in a studio. Now, no one can get those skills. School teaches you basic principles (if you're lucky), but you need to work on a real series to apply those principles. So, there's never going to be a native animation industry here. It's all overseas.
How come this is the way it's done? Money? Probably.
Also, I should probably say that I have nothing against Korea or their animation industry. They're selling a product that people want to buy- more power to them. What i don't like is the people who made the decision that outsourcing jobs was a good idea.
The real point of this diatribe? Someone needs to found a studio that will do that, if that's how the industry works now, no one does animation in-house, then someone needs to make an inbetweens studio in America. There are a ton of people who want to get into animation- i went to school with a bunch of them. Probably i have enough connections to staff a studio like that. i don't really know. I don't really know the size of the staff or the amount of money involved. We'd of course need it to be very cheap, to compete with Korea. Office space is pretty cheap in some places here, and no Aeron chairs for anyone. Is that cheap enough?
This studio would have these benefits:
Rapid turnaround.-It just has to be faster to FedEx stuff to Burbank than to send it overseas.Has to.
No Language barrier.-This shit should be obvious.
No culture differences-This is a little more subtle. Animation depends on physical acting. A lot of physical acting is gestures and poses, a lot of which are culture specific. An American company would know what you mean.
Possibly starting a new industry in the Bay Area.
what do you think?
-jeremy
One- Outsourcing Creative work. This isn't just labor. This isn't just something anyone can do. This is creative work. Even inbetweens are creative work. Which brings me to the second point:
Work for new artists. Used to be, young artists would get to build up their skills on the crap work like inbetweens. Then they'd have a foundation for drawing animation, and know what's required to work in a studio. Now, no one can get those skills. School teaches you basic principles (if you're lucky), but you need to work on a real series to apply those principles. So, there's never going to be a native animation industry here. It's all overseas.
How come this is the way it's done? Money? Probably.
Also, I should probably say that I have nothing against Korea or their animation industry. They're selling a product that people want to buy- more power to them. What i don't like is the people who made the decision that outsourcing jobs was a good idea.
The real point of this diatribe? Someone needs to found a studio that will do that, if that's how the industry works now, no one does animation in-house, then someone needs to make an inbetweens studio in America. There are a ton of people who want to get into animation- i went to school with a bunch of them. Probably i have enough connections to staff a studio like that. i don't really know. I don't really know the size of the staff or the amount of money involved. We'd of course need it to be very cheap, to compete with Korea. Office space is pretty cheap in some places here, and no Aeron chairs for anyone. Is that cheap enough?
This studio would have these benefits:
Rapid turnaround.-It just has to be faster to FedEx stuff to Burbank than to send it overseas.Has to.
No Language barrier.-This shit should be obvious.
No culture differences-This is a little more subtle. Animation depends on physical acting. A lot of physical acting is gestures and poses, a lot of which are culture specific. An American company would know what you mean.
Possibly starting a new industry in the Bay Area.
what do you think?
-jeremy
Friday, February 29, 2008
video game ads
It's awesome how it realizes the concepts of the game- visually.
I love that little sigh when the drug hits the swimming demon girl.
I love the music.
I love the mario costume.
video game ads
Tells a whole story in 1:11. Leaves a cliffhanger at the end.. it's up to you!
I can't tell you how beautiful and cool i think this is.
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