Personal | The VidZone Network Blog

August 19, 2010

My Gaming “Blind-Spots”

I find it amusing they used what appears to be a Countach for the car. [Image credit]

I took the opportunity during my drive back to Orlando to catch up on some podcasts. One of which was the Kotaku podcast regarding “gaming blind spots”–games or genres that one just hasn’t experienced, unintentionally or otherwise. I figured I may as well air out my blind spots, but first some background…

I first started playing video games in the arcades around the turn of the decade between the ’80s and ’90s. Then one day my dad brought home an NES and I was a Nintendo gamer (owning all their systems) up until the Dance Dance Revolution revolution where I was gifted a PSone for Christmas. I was surprisingly spoiled and was bought many games and also rented games regularly. Some of my friends had Genesis, so I wasn’t completely shut-out from its offerings, but all other consoles prior I haven’t had much exposure to.

Starting in the PS2-era, I was able to buy my own things. If you know me personally, you know I have a massive collection of video games. If I had to bet, my collection from this period onward (across all platforms) consists of about 1000 games, give or take. Have I played them all? Heck, no! I have an awareness of why I bought these games in the first place, though, but that doesn’t mean I’m thoroughly familiar with them.  That’s why my “blind spot” list will likely include games I actually already own.

Now, let’s get started.

(more…)

Carl @ 2:32 pm
Filed under: Games,Personal — Tags: , , —

February 9, 2010

Don’t Forget Where You Started

From VidZone to EA Sports MMA

The VidZone Network logos over the years

It’s been something like half a year since I wrote in this blog. That’s a shame since I’ve always enjoyed writing. But I also got into this Twitter thing that let’s me vent slowly in a stream of conscious manner. It’s sort of like how I treated my LiveJournal back in high school.

I can account my absence to my great fortune in returning back to the game-making biz. I was called back to EA Tiburon last July to write for the upcoming MMA project; I can’t get much more detailed than that. This opportunity was given to me from a recommendation by my friend (actually my project lead) from my gaming grad school, FIEA.

An aside: Let me make something very clear to you aspiring game makers. You know how they say everyone in Hollywood’s no more than six degrees from Kevin Bacon? In the games industry, it’s more like two steps from any person. The best thing you can do is to not make enemies. Don’t burn any bridges. I’m not saying you necessarily have to make friends (though that’d be tremendously helpful), just don’t piss anyone off. Yes, like high school, it’s better to be anonymous than to be disliked.

I’ve written (or at least copied press releases) about video games on a website or blog for well over 10 years. I love games, and I love sharing games. Even if I may sometimes forget about writing on this blog, I’ll shout my voice out somewhere on this big informational network of interconnected tubes. You don’t have to listen to me, but you’ll always be able to find me out there.

Where’ve I been since I last checked in? Well first, let me remind you that I graduated from graduate school in December of 2008. During that last semester I interned as a feature owner at a mega-publisher. Then I spent a short while at a small independent developer.

The following unemployment afforded me reason to go to GDC. Then the student project I worked on was showcased at the return of the glory days of E3. Right after that the phone calls came. Not necessarily from contacts I made at the show, but let me tell you, people appreciate hand-written thank you cards.

I did a quick R&D contract back at the indie developer for a new platform, and once again I was torn with the decision of pursuing a promising follow-up interview in Austin (this time with SOE) or accepting a shorter term contract at EA.

Ultimately I decided on EA because: 1.) I have so many friends in Orlando vs. almost no one in Austin. 2.) The EA position was already offered and waiting for me. 3.) Moving (especially long distances) is a bitch.

My first few calls with SOE in Austin went spectacularly, but unfortunately the timing was just wrong and the planets didn’t align that way. As much as I launch tirades about the whole Sony umbrella of companies (particularly the consumer electronics & Playstation hardware sides), I have tremendous respect and admiration for the actual game software that gets released and the trust and support that must have been given to get them to that level.

Anyway, my time on the MMA team has flown by so quickly. So much has been accomplished, and yet there is so much left to do. I was given a new contract to keep me on a bit longer, I was given more design & production responsibilities, and I even took a couple of trips to Miami last week.

Thanks to a tremendous hookup by our partners at Strikeforce, a large number of our team were able to enjoy fourth row floor seats at the recent Strikeforce: Miami fight. Then I was also entrusted to make an emergency power supply delivery to Madden Bowl, saving the day and allowing our fighters to get some hands-on time with their in-game characters.

Speaking of fighters, I don’t think any other team in gaming is even close to as lucky as we are in being able to regularly talk with and interact with our talent. And not on voice or video conference. In the same room. Over food with plenty of conversation.

Let me recap this: I was invited back to work for two different companies, large and small. That’s four gigs. I went to GDC. I went to E3. I sat cage side at a major televised MMA event. I went to Madden Bowl. All of this in less than two years out of school!

Needless to say, I count myself unbelievably fortunate. I can only hope that this fast-paced life really is just the start.

Carl @ 12:33 am
Filed under: Personal — Tags: , , , —

June 25, 2009

The King is dead. Long live the King.

I was in a funk all day. I woke up late, groggy, in the early afternoon. I ate lunch, did a little internet surfing, but after only a few hours being up and active, I didn’t feel much up for anything and could only go back to lie in bed. Around 6pm, I read an email header on my phone that said Michael Jackson had suffered from cardiac arrest and had been rushed to a hospital.

I thought that in itself was tragic but didn’t think much more about it. “Hopefully they fix him up,” I thought as I drifted off for a few more hours of sleep.

I woke up some time after 9pm and started up my time-delayed DVR recording of So You Think You Can Dance, and the start of the show began somberly as Nigel began eulogizing. “These things happen in threes.” I knew Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett had died; was Michael that third? Is it true? (more…)

Carl @ 11:53 pm
Filed under: Music,Personal — Tags: , —

June 11, 2009

The secret to “good” pop music

A few of my friends look at me weird when I say I listen to pop music, recommending that they check out the new Britney Spears album. Possibly my favorite era in music during my young life is during the late ’90s to early ’00s between when grunge rock faded away and rap became Top 40 radio mainstream.

Let me explain how I listen to music. When I first hear a song, I listen to “the big picture,” the overall feeling of the song and not yet analyzing the little details like lyrics and composition.  In later passes I dissect the components of a song and analyze each individually.  It will take at least four playthroughs before I’ve actually really “listened” to a song.

For me, a “good” pop song is one that I will let play through without wanting to switch to another song.  In other words: inoffensive.  It doesn’t have to actually be good or great, just not bad, just “good enough.”

After all, getting past “no” is often the hardest, most important part.   Everything past that is gravy.  That’s the lesson.  In order to reach the widest possible audience, you don’t necessarily have to figure out how to appeal to every kind of person, just offend as few as possible.

Carl @ 1:39 am
Filed under: Music,Personal,Techniques — Tags: , , , —

Back from E3: Quickie wrap-up

Highlights:

Zephyr attention: Tremendous turnout to check out our project. Met and chatted with a lot of people, from studio devs wandering the show, other indie devs, media outlets large and small, digital distribution portals, and senior/executive staff from mega-publishers.  Interestingly, we received a notable amount of interest from composers.  I’m sure most of them were just looking for a project to work on, but I asked a few of the more exciteable ones what drew them to our project in particular.  Our aesthetic had a lot of fans.  People love steam-punk and/or pirates.  They also noticed our Skies of Arcadia influences.  Unfortunately while we were out at lunch on the third day, a trio of Japanese SEGA folk demoed our game, each taking one of my cards.  Boy, that would have been a stellar group to talk with.

Forza Motorsport III: There were a trio of cockpit setups with three-screen panorama, 5.1 audio, and force-feedback wheel. One of them even had a full motion base that MS custom-rigged.  I spoke with one representative and he said he wasn’t familiar with the consumer-standard D-Box that’s already being used for Blu-Ray and PC; I directed him toward their booth.  One of my biggest peeves with FM2 was the sort of lackluster graphics.  That is no longer a concern, and I’m sure everything else will be great as always.

Great eats: The show allowed for a sort of FIEAn mini-reunion, and we were escorted to a slew of great dining spots.  There was heavenly Italian at C&O’s Trattoria, melt-in-your-mouth lamb french dips and spicy garlic fries at Cole’s, and a table-filling assortment of dim sum at Empress Pavilion.  Lastly, we made a pit stop at In & Out burger before catching our flights out.

Disappointments:

Being clueless: We spent the vast majority of our time demonstrating our game at the IndieCade booth, and we’re absolutely flattered and grateful for the attention.  However, that duty and the lack of a fast, reliable internet connection meant I couldn’t really read/watch what was announced, and we couldn’t spend too much time going hands-on with what was on display.  People at home knew a lot more about E3 goings-on than I did.

Activision booth: Where were all the games?  It was an impressive booth thanks to the massive screens running a loop of trailers plus the stage for celebrity appearances and DJs, but the only noticable play stations were Tony Hawk: Ride and Blur at the front.  I was really looking forward to getting hands-on with DJ Hero.  Most stuff was being show behind closed doors.  However, it was funny to see the Ghostbusters standing in line to meet Stan Lee.

God of War 3: It wasn’t that it sucked, it’s that I didn’t see anything new or noteworthy after spending a combined hour or so of my limited “goof-off” time budget standing in line and playing the demo.  The presentation continues to be fantastic, now using a lot more depth-related effects.  However, it failed to showcase any of the sense of scale that was teased by the early trailers.  (For that, Bayonetta‘s bridge battle helped make it Best of Show for me.)

Carl @ 1:21 am
Filed under: Games,Personal — Tags: , , , , , , , , , —

June 2, 2009

E3: Zephyr ready for sail

img_2746_800x600

After an annoying Direct X issue, I’ve got Zephyr up and running at the IndieCade booth (#652, South Hall).  You can find us in the rear left of the hall.  Just look for Natsume’s cute stuffed baby giraffe at the Afrika kiosk.

Ing picked me up from the convention center after work, and took me over to Culver City, where I met up w/ Chuck and Corey. After picking up Jeff from the airport, we headed over to C&O’s Trattoria on Venice Beach for the best Italian food I’ve ever had.  I had them toss on some fried calamari onto some angel hair past w/ a simple olive oil, tomato, basil sauce.  Matched with indulgent, flavorful garlic knots, it was all perfect.  Unfortunately Victor gets into town Tues. morning, so he missed out.  However, plans have been made to keep up the FIEA mini-reunion each night, particularly on Chuck’s birthday.

img_2764_800x600

Carl @ 2:17 am
Filed under: Games,Personal — Tags: , , , , , , —

May 25, 2009

Zephyr@E3: Steering traffic

 

MyMiniCards size comparison

 

For my trip to GDC earlier this year, I needed some business cards. And fast.  I found plenty of places that would provide generic fill-in-your-info cards and others that let you upload your own designs, usually for an additional fee.  Now, I could live with that, but the processing and shipping times totally killed my hopes of receiving them in time without paying out some extraordinary rush shipping fees.

Scavenging the internet, I found MyMiniCards.com, who advertises a turnaround time of 24hrs and free basic shipping, all for less than $20 (for 100).  They let you upload up to 25 different images to put on the backs of the cards.  And provide a little case to hold 25 at a time.  Unfortunately, they were the now-popular half-size cards, but the customization and quick processing seemed a more-than-fair trade-off.  Since I was scrambling, I just went with the one design show above, a riff on my website design.

I ordered a set on a Thursday afternoon, and they arrived to me on the Monday following that weekend.  Fast! Free! (The shipping, that is.)  Print quality was sharp, the ink doesn’t run, and it’s a good, stiff cardstock. Certainly doesn’t look or feel cheap.

I have about half of that last order leftover, ready for my E3 trip, but I figured that I should probably make some event-specific cards to drive traffic toward the booth, or at least to associate myself with a project that was being shown.  After all, if the game was worth being exposed here, then maybe I’m worth being hired.

I’m similarly in a last minute situation, so I’m going with MyMiniCards.com again.  The designs I made are after the break.  (And like the cards say, come visit us at the IndieCade booth, #652 in the South Hall.)

(more…)

Carl @ 4:56 pm
Filed under: Personal — Tags: , , , , , —

May 24, 2009

Shortlist: Career hindsight

Here’s a couple of things that I really wish I could have done differently and would probably have resulted in me being better off than I am now.

1. Chat with Steve Chiang, EA Sports SVP

When I came into my internship at EA Tiburon as the Matchmaking feature owner, I was told the current state of the system was one of Steve’s pet-peeves. I was quite honored that such an important feature was trusted in my hands. I was hoping that there’d be some natural time when either my supervisor or producer would facilitate some sort of meeting with him, and there was some talk of just that. Unfortunately, it just never happened.

You should always assume that everything is important to the boss, but when you’re told that something you’re working on is something he has a particularly strong opinion about, you should go on a fact-finding mission and see what sort of particulars are involved. The way I went about it, I designed some additional criteria and logic, along with a revised GUI and flow. Feeling that that just “wasn’t enough” and utilizing my observations of other social connections between people, I also proposed some completely different systems that sidestepped matchmaking almost altogether. The guys up at EA Canada sounded excited about it when I pitched it to them, but who knows what Steve thought.

The extra kick in the butt I’m giving myself for this is that one of the people I interviewed with recently saw that I was at EA and asked if I knew Steve, since they’d worked together before. I thought the interview (or at least the conversation) went well, but maybe getting a recommendation from the big boss would have greatly aided in securing that job. (I think ultimately the interview sort of suffered from a mutual deviation from discussion about level design.)

2. Not the right place or time

During another phone interview, I was on a conference call with five or so people including the hiring coordinator. Ignoring my unfocused ramblings, I think the cherry on top of my total muck-up was what I chose to ask when prompted if I had any questions.

I need to clarify that I was interviewing for a job that my classmate just grew out of, so I was more or less quite familiar with the duties and work environment from talking with him. This left me rather devoid of things to ask. Not wanting to not have a question and knowing the kind of shite pay my friend was offered, I asked about the pay range. “Because I hear it’s kind of expensive there.” Ooph. 1. I was already pretty sure I made a poor impression, marking myself off their list, so there probably wasn’t any consideration towards hiring me anymore. 2. Fellow employees technically shouldn’t be aware of each other’s salary. That information should only be shared with HR. 3. It made me sound unexperienced and entitled.

Always save that kind of talk for later when you’re negotiating the actual offer.

Carl @ 2:26 am
Filed under: Personal — Tags: , , —

May 22, 2009

PrE-3

After getting the news from IndieCade late last week, I’ve spent most of my time since sorting out travel plans to get to E3.  Travel and lodging have been finalized with just a few other bits to consider.

Of course the primary reason I’m attending the expo this year is to be on hand to speak about Zephyr: Tides of War, but it’d be a disservice to the video game fanatic inside me to not take part in the rest of the mania and play some new games.  I imagine that both of these things will involve a lot of standing around with a lot of dead time.  That’s why I’ve considered picking up a netbook computer to help fill the time with some blog writing and blog reading. After that my GDC trip, I also curse the inconvenient size, weight, and short battery life of a 17″ laptop.

I’m not quite sure of my plan of attack and how I intend to divide my time between duty and leisure.  Anyone have insight on the prime times when people feel like checking out indie games versus the big blockbusters?  Morning? After lunch?…  This is one thing I really want to get right because it’s a fantastic networking/job interview opportunity, and I want to meet people who can help me get back in.  That’s certainly a selfish on reasons for networking, but a guy’s gotta eat.  (And buy Punch-Out!!.)  I realize this is a retail-centric conference, rather than something for developers’ enrichment.  However, I’m pretty sure that if anyone’s going to have interest in exploring the outer fringes, it’ll be other developers.  I have about 50 business cards leftover from GDC, and I hope that’s enough.  If not, boy, that’s a fantastic problem to have.

I’m flying in on the 1st and back home late on the 4th. If anybody would like to meet up and chat or whatever, I’d like that, too. Please let me know; it currently seems I may be the only one from the team who’ll make it out to LA.

Carl @ 1:18 am
Filed under: Games,Personal — Tags: , , , , , —

May 14, 2009

Some FIEA plugging

Because FIEA (http://www.fiea.ucf.edu) is a relatively young program, just now on it’s fifth set of students, I want to make sure that its name gets out there and promoted well.  After all, if my alma mater looks good, then I look good.

FIEA (pronounced “phy-uh”) stands for the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and is part of the University of Central Florida. Graduates of the 16-month program will receive a master’s degree in interactive entertainment. There are three tracks available: art, programming, or production. Because classes are never scheduled simultaneously, you’re welcome to sit in on the other tracks, regardless of which track you’re in.  You may notice that one of the tracks is in production, rather than design. Everyone’s a designer, of course! So in addition to design fundamentals, producers are taught project management skills.

Unanimously, we graduates agree that thanks to the industry grade tools, group work environment, and projects at FIEA, we were able to hit the ground running with minimal ramp-up in the real world.

The faculty is ace and industry-worn, with plenty of relevant war stories to tell.  Several of them remain in active development positions outside of the university.  However, thanks to the low ratio of students to professors (current cohort is maxed out at ~50 students; mine was ~35) and one-group-of-students-at-a-time focus, they’re readily available and eager to provide guidance and feedback.

New Brochure

Our communications director Todd Deery just sent notice that the newest brochures have just left the presses, and he graciously provided me with the PDF proof so that I could share it here with you.  [PDF, right-click to download]

iPhone Crossfire Port

Our programmers were once tasked with developing and porting a simple game from the PC to the Xbox. A couple of them decided to adapt the Milton Bradley game Crossfire into a network multiplayer title. Now, its been ported and renamed x-Fire for the iPhone. Check out the website Game-Grinder.com for more details and video. I don’t think it’s network-capable anymore, but obviously with multitouch, both players can play on the same iPhone.  What is notably missing is the cheesy lounge cover of the Crossfire TV commercial song that they used as background music.

Street Fighter, ASCII Edition

Perhaps you saw this on Kotaku? This is a network rock-paper-scissors test game for the engine that the Cohort 5 programmers are working on.

Carl @ 2:02 am
Filed under: Games,Personal — Tags: , , , , , —


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