5/26/2011

New Position Accepted: It's official, I have accepted a Sr. Level Designer position at Ubisoft Toronto. This is the new studio that opened last year and is headed by Jade Raymond. The first title with be the next addition to the Splinter Cell series. Beyond that I can't say much other than it should be awesome. Splinter Cell: Conviction certainly was.

I start there in July so until then I plan on doing a huge self inflicted brush up course in Unreal Tech just to make sure I'm on my game. Not to mention the large amount of paperwork and passports it takes to leave the country. I can't believe the amount of time it takes to process passport requests, 4 weeks! Then there is the confusion of paying bill you have in the United States with Canadian money. But one all these wrinkles are smoothed out and I'm in Toronto I'm sure everything will fall in place and be awesome.

3/16/2011

Sigh...

3/2/2011

Xbox Live Billing is Ridiculous!!: Here is the situation. Over a year ago my Xbox 360 red ringed, it was my second Xbox so I said screw this and never bought another.

In a totally unrelated event the credit card I had used to subscribe to Xbox Live was reissued and the new debit card had new expiration date. So when my Xbox Live account tried to auto bill me the resubscription failed. I had no idea that in these cases Microsoft puts a freeze or lock on the card.

Fast forward over a year I decide to go ahead and buy I new Xbox. When I go to sign back up to a Gold Live membership my card is denied. So I called customer support and they tell me there is a lock in the card because it tried to charge and couldn't. I said oh I understand please remove the lock. They say they can't, "the systems doesn't let them." What?? They said the lock cannot be removed from the card and I should use a different card. I don't have a different card I say. Well sir then there is nothing we can do. We suggest getting a different credit card. WHAT?!?!?! You want me to go get a new credit card so I can subscribe to Xbox Live because your system refuses to retry my current card?? That is correct sir.

I am really stunned at the stupidity of that. I want to give them money and they refused to take it. Holy shit! I love my PS3 SOOO MUCH!!

2/14/2011

Innovation Question: I recently was asked what type of innovation would I expect to see happen in racing games and man did that get me going. So I wrote a small article in my design section regarding innovation not only in the racing genra but what has been happening to innovation in general in the game industry as a whole. Click here to jump to it.

2/1/2011

Twitter: I finally joined the world of Twitter. I never liked the idea personally because it always seemed like it consisted of self involved people that wanted the world to know they just had the best burger. But after some nudging it sounds like it is also useful for networking and since I'm currently in the job market I thought I might as well jump on board. If you're on Twitter than you know what to do.

1/13/2011

Update: I know I had previously posted that I was going to accept a Lead Designer position at TimeGate however I decided to decline. TimeGate wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Therefore I'm back on the job hunt and looking for opprotunities.

I'm hoping to find something on the west coast such as California or Seattle but the main thing is a company that holds creativity and game play as high as they hold sales and profits. I'd love to be a part of a team that wants to make the next great game rather than make a game similar to the last great game. I've spent a lot of my career at places looking to keep up with the leaders rather than be the leaders and I want to change that. I'm a creative designer/scripter with an art degree so I can create engaging game play that keeps artistic importance in mind.

RESUME

12/14/2010

Lookin' Up: Things are going pretty good in my job search. After a lot of phone interviews and flying around I've narrowed it down to three companies. They are putting offers together for me and then I have to decide. It's a pretty tough decision too, one has a strong title, pay, and position but I'm not thrilled with the location. Another has great location and people but the pay and project isn't as good. The final one has a strong project and company plus doesn't need me till spring so I could kick back and enjoy my severance pay but they're location is just awful. Anyway I'm planning on just enjoying the holidays and weighting my options. I have a pretty good idea of which one I should accept but I'm a bit reluctant for some reason.

I Love My Industry: How many people can say what they do is this much fun? Sure I complain but when it gets right down to it I working in the biggest and fastest growing genres of the entertainment industry. I create entertainment. I'm not saving lives or the planet or even bettering people. It's existence is purely for fun. It is what people turn to when they want to sneak off and have a break, smile, and laugh. I found a videos that illustrate that point very well.

10/19/2010

Site Changes: Changed things up a bit to make more sense to myself at least. Moved write up about specific games to the design page since that is mainy what I'm talking about and I'm leaving the main page for updates and news.

10/13/2010

Career Update: Raven Software has been going through some tough times in the past few years. Their past titles have been getting moderate scores and sales which has prompted Activision to do some downsizing. August 2009 they laid off around 40 people. I survived that layoff and for the next year Raven attempted to find some new fire. Unfortunately that never really happened and whispers of another layoff were happening again. Then on 10/11/2010 it did happen. Another approximately 20 people were laid off. This time I was not so lucky and did get cut.

Fortunately I saw this coming and had already started the job search a month prior, seriously looking at a few of the studios that had contacted me with interest. I was really surprised however after the layoff happened when my inbox was flooded with interested companies. It was like the whole industry was suddenly open with opportunities and I had an interview the very next day. I can't express how good it feels to see you're valued after you've been laid off.

One thing I found particularly strange however is that a number of the interested companies were Activision owned development studios. Which brings up the question did this layoff really need to happen at all? I came to Raven from Activision's main studio through a job transfer. Couldn't Activision have taken this approach? If they knew Raven was downsizing they could have offered Raven employees these internal positions as a transfer. So rather than laying them off and causing a big uproar it's a gentler move. Then the employees also wouldn't be out there unemployed for other companies to snatch up. Seems like that would have been a much more humane solution.

Regardless I harbor no ill will towards Raven at all. They were very good to me for the nine years I was employed there and I'm sure these layoff decisions were difficult to make. I wish them well and hope things start looking up there. It would be ashame to see the Raven Software studio close it's doors.

Anyway I have yet to accept a position somewhere and will post an update when I do. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy my severance package as long as I can and take the time to play some games!! If you're an interested company I've linked my resume and below.