Thursday, March 22, 2012
the distributed office
This is maybe gonna be a series about my thoughts on the distributed office, meaning The office where everybody works from home.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Friday, September 30, 2011
Currently playing:
Gundemonium Recollection
Gundeadligne
and Hitogata Happa
Three "Bullet Hell" shooters from Japan.
Found them on Steam. Steam is cool.
Gundeadligne
and Hitogata Happa
Three "Bullet Hell" shooters from Japan.
Found them on Steam. Steam is cool.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Portal 2: femalest game out there
I think in many ways Portal 2 is designed to be the opposite of Half-Life.
In Portal2, you never attack anything directly. You always sneak around behind enemies or use portals in novel ways to drop things on them or drop them on their heads.
You accumulate many weapons in Half-Life, and using the right one in the right situation is a key element.
Portal 2: You always have the same gun- a gun that shoots holes.
Half-life is male, portal female.
portal is female? You bet, it's the femalest game out there. Tell you why.
First of all, the main conflict is between two females, a daughter and an evil stepmother/witch character.
Visual design-wise, everything made by Aperture science is smooth and rounded and white, like an egg.
Did i mention your gun shoots holes? It's the least phallic gun ever made. It's shaped like an egg, it's got three little arms on it.
Lastly, and i think this is subtler, you don't just shoot things, You solve problems. This to me is a much more female approach to things.
I don't even think there are any male characters in Portal1. Oh wait, Doug Ratmann, but you never actually see him, just his dens.It's all about the females.
In Portal2, you never attack anything directly. You always sneak around behind enemies or use portals in novel ways to drop things on them or drop them on their heads.
You accumulate many weapons in Half-Life, and using the right one in the right situation is a key element.
Portal 2: You always have the same gun- a gun that shoots holes.
Half-life is male, portal female.
portal is female? You bet, it's the femalest game out there. Tell you why.
First of all, the main conflict is between two females, a daughter and an evil stepmother/witch character.
Visual design-wise, everything made by Aperture science is smooth and rounded and white, like an egg.
Did i mention your gun shoots holes? It's the least phallic gun ever made. It's shaped like an egg, it's got three little arms on it.
Lastly, and i think this is subtler, you don't just shoot things, You solve problems. This to me is a much more female approach to things.
I don't even think there are any male characters in Portal1. Oh wait, Doug Ratmann, but you never actually see him, just his dens.It's all about the females.
Portal 2: it's about the family
Think about it.
The main character is an orphan. Glados serves as her evil stepmother. Her dad is Wheatley. He's super dumb and clumsy. Uh, oh, look out when he takes over the house!
The mother/father conflict is expressed many ways throughout the game. In many pivotal scenes, both robots are urging you to do opposing things. But you really have only one thing you can do.
Turrets: defective turrets have a male voice, good turrets have a female one.
Portal2 is such a great game. There are levels of depth and complexity that really are there.
The main character is an orphan. Glados serves as her evil stepmother. Her dad is Wheatley. He's super dumb and clumsy. Uh, oh, look out when he takes over the house!
The mother/father conflict is expressed many ways throughout the game. In many pivotal scenes, both robots are urging you to do opposing things. But you really have only one thing you can do.
Turrets: defective turrets have a male voice, good turrets have a female one.
Portal2 is such a great game. There are levels of depth and complexity that really are there.
Sunday, May 08, 2011
its just kind of ironic that
the job i have now is in video games. Went to school to get a degree in games. Changed my major cause Animation seemed so fun. Now i'm back in video games. Back in QA, sadly, but maybe that'll change soon...
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Monday, April 04, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
a new job???
I'm also going to send copies of the new portfolio i had to make to Pixar. i might get rejected, but i might as well show them what i'm really made of.
should probably send them to other studios as well, but pixar is so near where i live, in addition to being the best one.
Definitely going to send a portfolio(without the portfolio case) to pixar wishmeluck.
should probably send them to other studios as well, but pixar is so near where i live, in addition to being the best one.
Definitely going to send a portfolio(without the portfolio case) to pixar wishmeluck.
i hope i get this position
i interviewed for an artist position at the place where i work,i hope i get it. I'd do anything to make art for a living. QA is nice and all, but at the end of the day you have created nothing.
but paperwork.
That and- in QA- they just don't like to see you coming. Whenever you're coming to talk to someone, it's always something bad. QA is never the bringer of good news. And that wears on me after awhile.I'm a creator of unghappiness.
I'd rather make something. Even something trite(like i'd probably be doing), it's still makin' stuffs.
I really hope i get this position. i hope i haven't jinxed it somehow.
but paperwork.
That and- in QA- they just don't like to see you coming. Whenever you're coming to talk to someone, it's always something bad. QA is never the bringer of good news. And that wears on me after awhile.I'm a creator of unghappiness.
I'd rather make something. Even something trite(like i'd probably be doing), it's still makin' stuffs.
I really hope i get this position. i hope i haven't jinxed it somehow.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Toy Story- i think about this way too much
So... As a result of having a kid, i've watched the Toy Story movies Quite a lot lately. They hold up suprisingly well to repeated viewings. Most questions are answered, story-wise. But there are a few...
Questions That Remain Unanswered at the Close of the Toy Story trilogy:
1. What happened to Andy's dad?
We never hear about him. We've never heard anything about him. You always only see Andy's Mom.
Even if he's not important to the story, it's possible to drop hints in the dialogue or the visuals somewhere .Bonnie has a dad-you can see him gardening in the last scene. You barely see Bonnie's mom. (Hey, did you notice that? In Toy Story 3, Whenever you see Bonnie in the frame, Bonnie's mom's head is cut off, cut off by very deliberate framing to focus on the kids and the toys.)
As far as i can tell, there aren't any hints about Andy's Dad. The fact that there aren't any photos anywhere argues strongly for divorce. But he could be dead. He's not even in his son's graduation photo, which we see in the movie. Bonnie has a dad- we see him gardening with his wife in the last scene of Toy Story 3. I think it's cool, actually- it reflect a lot of kid's real experience, and, in terms of story, it kind of enhances the idea that the toys are parents to the children. Anyway, we never found out what happened to Andy's dad. It;s interesting.
2.Who made "The Rules"? Where do they come from?
In the Toy Story movies, there's one basic rule that all toys must follow. Good toys, evil toys, even toys that think they are real... all obey this rule. Do you know what it is yet? Woody mentions it once in the first Toy Story: "We'll have to break a few rules, but if it works, it'll help us all out." The rule is: All toys must not come alive around humans. We know that they can-it's not some sort of magic spell or anything like that. Woody came alive to scare Sid.at the end of the first Toy Story. But they must at all costs maintain the pretense. It's kinda weird if you think about it. Too much.
3. What's the story with Woody's empty holster?
Woody never uses a gun, even though it's a big part of cowboy lore. He uses lassos and the like, he has all the other cowboy accoutrements, but no gun. He has a holster, but it's always been empty. They even drew attention to the empty holster in Toy Story 1 by having Sid put a match in it. No gun. Why?
You could say that Andy lost Woody's gun- i think that's very realistic. But remember that Woody was stolen by a rare toy collector in Toy Story 2. Al McWhiggin seemed to believe that Woody was 'complete'.
But i think it's a conscious choice: to make Woody a character who solves problems with cleverness instead of force. Maybe.
That's all i got for now.
Questions That Remain Unanswered at the Close of the Toy Story trilogy:
1. What happened to Andy's dad?
We never hear about him. We've never heard anything about him. You always only see Andy's Mom.
Even if he's not important to the story, it's possible to drop hints in the dialogue or the visuals somewhere .Bonnie has a dad-you can see him gardening in the last scene. You barely see Bonnie's mom. (Hey, did you notice that? In Toy Story 3, Whenever you see Bonnie in the frame, Bonnie's mom's head is cut off, cut off by very deliberate framing to focus on the kids and the toys.)
As far as i can tell, there aren't any hints about Andy's Dad. The fact that there aren't any photos anywhere argues strongly for divorce. But he could be dead. He's not even in his son's graduation photo, which we see in the movie. Bonnie has a dad- we see him gardening with his wife in the last scene of Toy Story 3. I think it's cool, actually- it reflect a lot of kid's real experience, and, in terms of story, it kind of enhances the idea that the toys are parents to the children. Anyway, we never found out what happened to Andy's dad. It;s interesting.
2.Who made "The Rules"? Where do they come from?
In the Toy Story movies, there's one basic rule that all toys must follow. Good toys, evil toys, even toys that think they are real... all obey this rule. Do you know what it is yet? Woody mentions it once in the first Toy Story: "We'll have to break a few rules, but if it works, it'll help us all out." The rule is: All toys must not come alive around humans. We know that they can-it's not some sort of magic spell or anything like that. Woody came alive to scare Sid.at the end of the first Toy Story. But they must at all costs maintain the pretense. It's kinda weird if you think about it. Too much.
3. What's the story with Woody's empty holster?
Woody never uses a gun, even though it's a big part of cowboy lore. He uses lassos and the like, he has all the other cowboy accoutrements, but no gun. He has a holster, but it's always been empty. They even drew attention to the empty holster in Toy Story 1 by having Sid put a match in it. No gun. Why?
You could say that Andy lost Woody's gun- i think that's very realistic. But remember that Woody was stolen by a rare toy collector in Toy Story 2. Al McWhiggin seemed to believe that Woody was 'complete'.
But i think it's a conscious choice: to make Woody a character who solves problems with cleverness instead of force. Maybe.
That's all i got for now.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader
Yeah so i was going to tell you about how i started thinking of my job as a game.
Well, i also think about it a lot in military terms. There's no ranks in private industry, well, there's of course jobs, but they're not so stratified and uniform as the military. More in terms of this guy leads a group of guys, (keeps tabs on them, is responsible for them). He has levels above him, that keep track of a group of guys like him. And so on up.
And the guys he leads, interface with the actual "stuff". The job itself.
I've been thinking a lot lately about being a leader. What good leaders do, bad leaders, what they do.
Thinking a lot about games. I said iphone games are a lot different. They are. In some ways they're better. They've had to simplify and so have honed in on essences of gameplay experiences, building blocks, of games.
it's interesting.
Well, i also think about it a lot in military terms. There's no ranks in private industry, well, there's of course jobs, but they're not so stratified and uniform as the military. More in terms of this guy leads a group of guys, (keeps tabs on them, is responsible for them). He has levels above him, that keep track of a group of guys like him. And so on up.
And the guys he leads, interface with the actual "stuff". The job itself.
I've been thinking a lot lately about being a leader. What good leaders do, bad leaders, what they do.
Thinking a lot about games. I said iphone games are a lot different. They are. In some ways they're better. They've had to simplify and so have honed in on essences of gameplay experiences, building blocks, of games.
it's interesting.
games,
Some high-level observations about games, and observations about the gaming industry. Because i'm actually inside it, at a low level. Front line, in the trenches.
metaphorically speaking.
It means i at least see decisions being made, maybe have a hint about why. See the high-level decisions, and they affect people all down the line. their effects on the game. It's interesting. What else is interesting is i see a little bit more of this now because i'm a part of the process.
try to explain. One thing that's great about smaller companies and start-ups is that you move up fast. I call it "battlefield promotion" but that's not quite right. This is not when someone is fired and you get their job, but just that the company is expnding so rapidly that jobs are being created and shifted around all the time. People getting promoted, getting more responsibilities all the time. It's cool. i like it. There's a lot of things great about start-ups. Remind me to tell you sometime.
But anyway, so now i'm in charge of a group of testers.
It's weird.
metaphorically speaking.
It means i at least see decisions being made, maybe have a hint about why. See the high-level decisions, and they affect people all down the line. their effects on the game. It's interesting. What else is interesting is i see a little bit more of this now because i'm a part of the process.
try to explain. One thing that's great about smaller companies and start-ups is that you move up fast. I call it "battlefield promotion" but that's not quite right. This is not when someone is fired and you get their job, but just that the company is expnding so rapidly that jobs are being created and shifted around all the time. People getting promoted, getting more responsibilities all the time. It's cool. i like it. There's a lot of things great about start-ups. Remind me to tell you sometime.
But anyway, so now i'm in charge of a group of testers.
It's weird.
So hey i uh
Am working, now, in QA, at a game company. I am back doing QA again, not too happy to be kind of back where i started, down at the bottom, but i am working in the game industry. i think that's the important thing really, to be working in the same indusrty as where you want to be, ultimately.
They're called ngmoco:). They make games for the iphone and ipad. It's a whole different set of circumstances from what i'm used to( which is console game testing, PC game testing) iphone game testing is different from all of those. So i've had to learn a whole lot of new technical stuff. But at some level, it's testing, which i know how to do. Experience tells you where programs are likely to fuck up, what areas of the software to hammer on.
metaphorically speaking.
i hope to maybe share some of my ideas about
They're called ngmoco:). They make games for the iphone and ipad. It's a whole different set of circumstances from what i'm used to( which is console game testing, PC game testing) iphone game testing is different from all of those. So i've had to learn a whole lot of new technical stuff. But at some level, it's testing, which i know how to do. Experience tells you where programs are likely to fuck up, what areas of the software to hammer on.
metaphorically speaking.
i hope to maybe share some of my ideas about
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
