Life Continues

I'm programming at Turbine Inc. now. I failed my new year's resolution, get over it. I started playing games again somewhere around SW:TOR Beta (It is good) and when I started at Turbine. One day I will post to this thing again. Oh yeah I worked most of the year on OregonTrail for 3DS/Wii . The rest of the time was spent working on other things less notable and/or secretive.

Best,
Aaron

New Years Resolution - Stop Playing, Start Making

Last year was all about learning lots of skills that my new job required.  Lets check out a brief bulleted list of what went down:

• Learned a bunch of misc. XBOX360, Wii and PS3 platform tech
• Worked on a game with an external publisher pulling the strings
• Developed some applications/games utilizing AS3, PHP, Java EE, and other web buzz words
• Did some Facebook app development (still doing some of this at work)
• Worked on an iDevice game that got released
• Participated in my first Global Game Jam
• Started working on a secret project for a cool platform

From reviewing what I've done over the past year it is easy to come to the conclusion that everything really was driven by what needed to get done at my day job.  I put all my creative energy into my day job.  When I had free time I would use it on spending time with friends and family and/or playing video games... and researching tech for my day job :-D.

It was still very rewarded and I feel I've grown in my craft from it, but something has been missing.  I still plan on putting as much energy into my day job as last year, but something needs to change.  I really miss working on my own projects.  I haven't really created something that wasn't driven by a publisher, customer, or a boss in three years (since college).  I've started hobbyist projects, but they never make it past the early stages.  That's kind of sad and I'd like this year to be different.

I've been thinking about it for a long time and I'm going to try something that I still think is kind of crazy...

I will not play video games for a year.

Sea of Chaos

Its been a long time (almost 9 months!) and life has been pretty crazy.  Since March I have been working At DoubleTap Games on a game that just came out today.  It was a wild ride and I grew so much from it.  The game may not be my cup of tea, but I am proud of what we were able to accomplish with the small amount of time and resources we had.  That game was "Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos".

The game released today for PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii.  Our studio developed the game for all three consoles at the same time.  We also did most of the tech for the platforms ourself, so I got to play with all three at a low level.  Since this was a three console release with a small team (less than ten people on average) and an 8 month development cycle you can imagine that it was kinda crazy.  Nine months of radio silence should tell you something :-D.

Towards the end I was bouncing from issue to issue across three different platforms so my station started to look like Megadesk.

MEGADESK!

New Job! Barely any time to post!

Oh man. So I finally landed a full time gig in the Boston area. You are looking at the newest programmer for DoubleTap Games. Today was my third day and I love it. Looks likes I'll have the opportunity to work on some pretty cool things.

For the past nine months I have been trying to get a job in the Boston area. Me and the wife took a chance and decided to move here and tough it out. It wasn't too tough though. I was lucky enough to have steady income from doing off-site work for a couple companies I had connections with. After forty two applications one finally landed me a solid interview.

So if you are looking for a job somewhere you want to be for awhile, don't give up. It may take awhile, but persistence is key. If you don't put yourself out there then you are not allowing yourself to get lucky.

It has been quiet around the ol' blog lately due to work picking up and trying to find a job. Assume that it will be the same for a bit. There are a bunch of drafts I want to flesh out, but they will have to wait. I'll be back.

Global Game Jam 2010 : Pigmalion

In case you didn't know a cool thing happened over the weekend.  A bunch of people from around the world made a bunch of games.  I missed the first time this happened last year, but this year I vowed to not miss out.  In roughly twenty eight hours me and five other hansom fellas (who I've never met) made a game.  For my first "game jam" I'd say it went pretty well.

College Chronicles Part 4: Asteroids Evolution

Immediately after finishing Katamari Arkanoids I started work on the next assigned project in my class.  This game was made in the same class as Katamari Arkanoids, Structures of Game Design (SGD), while attending Full Sail University.  Everyone was assigned to make an Asteroids inspired game.  This meant you could make any game that had something player-controlled that shot bullets.

Making a traditional Asteroids game was something I always wanted to do.  The big reason why was because it was my Dad's favorite game.  I figured since my Mom and Dad were paying for all of this school that I should make something for them (sorry Mom).  Because of all of this I chose to make a traditional asteroids game...with a few twists.  Check it!

College Chronicles Part 3: Katamari Arkanoids

Only two months after Extreme Pong 2 I got to a class called Structures of Game Design (SGD).  In this two month class we got a crash course in designing games from the ground up.  We learned about breaking things down into easily maintainable features that we could use to mark progress.  We also learned a bit about taking all the things we had learned so far in the program and applying it to a game.  This included using DirectX (previous class), vector math, using data to drive your game, and many other techniques and technologies.

Everyone in the class was tasked with a project for the first month.  This was to make an Arkanoids/Breakout type game using the material that was taught in class.  At the time I could tell that Toni (my girlfriend at the time, now wife) was getting a bit frustrated with my amount of free time (which was zero).  I knew it was only going to get worse so I wanted to get her involved so I could spend more time with her.  I am no game designer by any means, but I can roll with ideas.

I explained the project and asked her how I could make something she would like to play.  She simply said, "Just make Katamari", which I think was a joke (we had been playing it a bit at the time).  That peaked my interest, and this is what came out of it:

College Chronicles Part 2: Extreme Pong 2

Two months after I made the first Extreme Pong I got to Windows Programming at Full Sail University.  In this two month class I learned my way around the Windows API.  GDI, string tables, resource files, icons, windows and the list goes on.  During the first month of the class we were tasked with taking the knowledge we learned and applying it to a simple pong game outside of class.  Since I already made a pong game at the point I decided a sequel was in order.  Extreme Pong II was it.

YouTube Channel is Live

I finally took the time to create a YouTube Channel.  I will be using it to host video of the projects I've done in the past.  Since most of the games I've made in the past are either on Windows or Linux I don't want your system to keep you from at least being able to witness them.  I also want to be able to show more then screen shots of the games I may not be allowed to release source or even an executable form of.  Not to mention people that don't like downloading things can now enjoy my games.  All that is up right now is Extreme Pong, but expect a video to go up along side all future project posts.  I have also provided a few links to it along the side bar.  Check it!

YouTube Channel

College Chronicles Part 1: Extreme Pong

Okay I've been doing this little shindig for awhile and its time to switch it up a bit.  I recently read a friend's blog which had a number of posts of the things he did in college.  That got me thinking that it is about time I take you through the programming history of Aaron (me).

The time stamp for one of the files in this game is January 15th, 2006.  WOW, has it really been that long?  I do recall working on it through Christmas.  Four years ago I was attending Full Sail University and was in my third month of C++ programming.  This was the last month of nose-to-the-books C++ learning before we moved on to other areas of C++ (like using it with OpenGL, DirectX, Lua, etc.).

Durring the last month of the course there was an optional assignment to use your current knowledge (2 months of C++ basics) to create a game to show off to the class (aka rub in their faces).  Since it was my goal to squeeze as much learning out of the 80k school cost as I could, I couldn't pass up the opportunity (plus I got to rub it in people's faces).

So here it is in all its glory: