My good friend Chad Stewart is doing something really cool, Indie Van Game Jam.  Yeah sorry I am too busy to post regularly.  Had a kid, still do lots of things, will post about them one day.  But yeah, check this thing out and empty your pockets plz kthxbi:

 

In Case you Missed it

I am now on the board of directors for the Boston IGDA Chapter (Boston Post Mortem).  Thanks to everyone who voted. Stay tuned for more developments!

Vote Melcher for BPM Board

Hello there,

I am running for a spot on the Boston Post Mortem(BPM)/IGDA Boston Chapter Board of Directors. Vote for me kthxbi. Seriously though folks, if you are interested in having an engineer providing input towards BPM monthly meeting content then please consider me. For my complete statement follow the link:
http://www.bostonpostmortem.org/2012/08/29/igda-boston-board-of-director-elections-2012-candidates/

One of the main reasons I threw my hat into the ring is because of the absence of a game programmer's perspective on the board.  So take a look around and make your own decision.

So you want to vote?  Follow these steps:

If already an IGDA Member with your chapter set to Boston:
1. Check email
2. Vote via email

If not an IGDA Member with chapter set to Boston (didn't get a vote email already):
1. Be a IGDA Member - http://www.igda.org/
2. Set your chapter to Boston -You can designate your chapter by going to https://members.igda.org/login/ and signing in with your member login. Then navigate to Profile -> Update Profile -> Choose IGDA Chapter drop down and select Boston.
3. Shoot dan@bostonpostmortem.org an email asking for a voting form
4. VOTE! ...phew.

That is it, happy voting!

College Chronicles Part 5: Veiri

This post is about the fifth game I made while in college. To see the other posts just check out the section on the side titled "College Game Archive". I'm going to keep these final chronicles much more brief so that I actually complete them (and lets be honest, what do you care :-P).

We've now reached essentially the middle of my time at Full Sail University. I believe the class was Structures of Game Production (SGP) and at the time it was taught by Dustin Clingman who was backed up by Keyvan Acosta. In this class we were taught how to organize, schedule and execute a game project with a team of around four programmers. We could also make asset requests to a team of paid artists, but most of us just stole classic game sprite sheets because we were stupid/anti-social. Everyone on the team assumed some sort of role and worked on a game for two months.

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!