Im done with story based games bitches!!!

heehee

I am feeling kind of scattered today...So I decided to do another daily breakdown of my day…mostly because I wanted to see where the hell most of my day goes each day. It seems like I blink and it’s already 9pm. It's a little long...and in truth it may be boring as shit to most people…but hey that has never stopped me before. So check it.

10:30am – Arrive in the office a little hung over from the night before and check some email. I do a quick scan for all the emails that can be responded to in as few words as possible so I can get those done first. This way I can get to my first meeting on time. I am checking out some sound tests for the voices of one of the Sisters of Fate and some other Voice over sound tweaks.

10:38am – Checked my voicemail to find a message from Paul the PR guy. He wants to talk about one of the answers I gave in a written Q&A I did yesterday. I was behind on a bunch of Q&A’s so I decided to bang out a bunch yesterday thinking “Oh this will be easy.” Man that is a freaking full time job…it takes forever. So I imagine in my haste I did not go back and edit out some of the objectionable content that usually pops out of my head when I go into the stream of consciousness writing thing I roll with.

10:45am – Found out the question from Paul the PR guy…my answer was none too sweet. That’s what you get for trying to rush through those things. But I will try and carve out some time later in the day to give it another go. That is why I like the phone interviews more. They take less time and my lazy ass doesn’t have to do all the writing.

11:35am – Just got out of the audio meeting with Phil (Sound Masta’) and got some great stuff done. I think the stuff is going to work…which is a massive relief for me as I have been really concerned that some of my choices were going to come back and bite me in the ass.

12:00pm – Going to a cinematics meeting with Jackie (Cinematics Lead) to check out the latest work for some of the scenes. We are a lot further along now so things are really starting to take shape. The animation is looking great too. I love the prep work, but seeing the game really take shape like this is so freaking exciting.

12:40pm – Cinematics meeting done so now I go to an impromptu meeting about the Barbarian King boss final mini-game with Mehdi (Lead Animator), Sean (Animator) ,Derek (Combat Designer), and Angie (Animation coordinator). We were trying to all get on the same page as to how we were going to kick it up a notch and make it freaking awesome. After much discussion it seems like we have a plan and I walk away with confidence on that one. I pass Nate (Designer that I am tuning the game with) and tell him we should take some time to tune today for the upcoming playtest. Need to make sure I have no more meetings. Steve (Producer) has just asked for ten minutes to have a meeting. Gotta go.

1:24pm – Just got out of the meeting that turned out to be with Stig (Art Director), Steve (Producer), Ken (Art Lead), Aaron (Design Coordinator), Michael (Level Design Lead) and Joel(AP). The meeting was about some more level art overages in our schedule. I am having a lot more of these meetings the closer we get to alpha and we realize that there is just too much stuff and too little time. But I have cut so much out of this game already so the meetings are getting progressively harder, since I really can’t cut anymore out of the game without really hurting it. This one was not as bad as the others though since the solution that Stig and Ken were able to come up with allows us to keep a really great sequence in the game, which made me super happy. I made the call to go ahead with not cutting…it is a riskier plan and if I am wrong I might fuck a few things up…which as we all know is never good. It is in fact really bad, since we will burn even more days trying to finish the sequence and if we come up short and don’t end up finishing it…other things will suffer in the game. Not an easy call to make, but I weighed the options and I feel pretty strongly about the sequence so I made the call to keep it. I hope we can make this work! I have a 2:30 meeting with Adam (Combat Designer) to generate some animation lists for the characters I am going to be animating. I am taking on three characters in order to prevent them from ending up on the cutting room floor…which would just make me sad. So it is going to be some fun nights and weekends fro the next few months. I gotta order some food now otherwise my fat ass will just wither away. Still haven’t sat down to tune the game with Nate, I really need to do this. Where does the time go?

2:09pm – I am sitting here racking my brain to come up with a creative way to acquire one of our relics. I am writing an email explaining each of the relic acquisitions and I have gotten to the one that has completely changed…and I got nuthin’. I want it to be something cool, but it is a pretty small space I have to work with. These are the tougher parts of the job…when I have a limited time to work with and I have to come up with something really cool…like NOW! But still…nuthin’. Ok…enough slacking. I am going to just write the idea I have even though it sucks…perhaps the act of writing it will shake some sort of brilliant creative idea loose in my head. Doubtful…but nice to hope for I guess.

2:29pm – Okay finished the write up for the relics…I put a couple of ideas in there…the one I like will most likely freak everyone out. But it will be cool. Well at least I think so…but what the hell do I know? My 2:30 is supposed to start soon, but my lunch has not arrived. Boo for me. I won’t be eating until later now. Oh well. Still no tuning of the game…grrrrr...off to the 2:30 animation/design meeting.

4:23pm – Just got out of the lengthy animation/design meeting for the three characters I am going to be animating on. I think we have a good plan for them and the animation doesn’t look all that difficult…so that is a relief. It is still going to be hard finding the time for the animations while trying to get the maximum amount of tuning time for the game. I still haven’t been able to sit down with Nate and get any tuning done. Another meeting I was supposed to be in at 4pm was cancelled while I was in the animation/design meeting. Sweet…more time to get other stuff done. But alas…I am foiled again. Aaron just came up to tell me I have a meeting to brief one of the designers on the functionality of this combat puzzle for one of the hallways. Ok, off to do that now.

4:53pm – Just got out of the debriefing thing which did not go so well. I am feeling very frustrated today and Eric (Lead Combat Designer) and I got into it a little. We do that sometimes…we fight like little bitches, but we end up making up. I chalk it up to the stupid AC being broken and it’s hot as hell in this office, but tensions are a bit high right now. Oh well…we will hug and make up in no time and move on. I think I might actually have some time to sitr down with Nate and do some gameplay tuning…sweet!

4:56pm – DAMN!!! Paul the PR guy just reminded me about the rewrite on the interview questions…I should really finish that up before I go to the tuning so I can be uninterrupted for at least a few hours. I think I am just going to refer to him as Paul the PR guy from now on. It’s like a superhero name. Well ok…maybe it doesn’t sound like a superhero name…it actually sounds like a name that would be laminated to the side of a Van or something…like a plumber or something like that. Back to writing.

5:05pm – Finished my lame answer. I am not all that happy with it but I really don’t have much left in me to put into that. I need to break away and get some tuning done. The playtest is in less than a week and a half. And alpha is in…oh god I don’t even want to think about that. I need to medicate myself now or I am going to snap at somebody today…or they need to fix the air conditioning. Eric and I are cool now…so I go that going for me today.

6:26pm – Played through a few areas and discussed the fights with Nate, but only got about 30 minutes of actual tuning in before I had to head off to a daily review of one of our levels early in the game. It has really shaped up nicely…the big thing is to get it in front of Stig to make sure that the projected number of days to do the art is still valid. The level is feeling great so I hope I don’t have to cut anything out of it.

6:35pm - Tried to give Dave (Jaffe) a call today to talk about some stuff but I was so busy all day that I only got a chance to get on the phone a few minutes ago so I think I missed him. Nate just stopped by and said to come over and check out the latest fixes he did so I think I will go do that. I ordered dinner tonight. There really is nothing sadder than eating dinner at work. It’s totally necessary sometimes to get what we need to get done, but that doesn’t make it any less sad.

8:08pm – I Just got finished with a good tuning session where I was finally able to play through the entirety of one of our min bosses. We still have some more work to do, but man that was fun. While we were playing through one of the cinematic animators we were interviewing came by to say hi and tell me that I was a ‘legend’ around his parts or something like that. That was weird cause I seriously was like…really…for what? I don’t think that has ever happened to me…so it was simultaneously sweet and strange. I am sure I am going to be getting shit for it but oh well. We should definitely hire that guy…he’s got good taste. :) I am going to head back to play through a bit more and try and tweak some stuff. Hopefully all my enemies will work tomorrow. Eric is doing an overhaul on the reaction system for the creatures some a lot of them are broke which makes it hard to tune the fights. But Eric is the man…even though we fight like Jan and Marsha Brady. He’s Jan of course.

Oh I got to see some of the new bloom FX stuff Tim (Lead programmer) did….it is freaking sweet. Chris (Level Artist) and Timo (Level Artist) added it to their levels and it just looks gorgeous. I have said it before and I will say it again…we have some of the best fucking artists in the business.

I was just able to use a Mod Squad reference…the day is shaping up nicely. That’s the old school mod squad not that Claire Danes crap. Word.

8:30pm – I m going to go back to tuning, but I really don’t feel like coming back here and finishing this up when I am done so I will just cut it off for now. All in all a fairly productive day…but I think I could have gotten more done. Need to spend less time writing my blog. :)

A...B...C...Always be closing...ALWAYS BE CLOSING!

So much to update today. The SpikeTV game head show about God of War II and Sony Santa Monica aired this weekend. I didn’t even find out until this morning, so I missed it. That is pretty much par for the course for me when it comes to anything but game production related stuff. It’s like everything else that is not related to getting this game done just falls to the back of the line…waaaaay in the back. I don’t know if that is so good, but its how I roll.

So hopefully they will air it again so I can check it out…though some people are saying I seem so serious and sleepy. I was definitely sleepy, I don’t think I had more than three or four hours of sleep the week that they came. Not so swift, got to get better at getting more sleep.

The show had the first look at one of our bosses…The Barbarian King. You might recognize him from one of the cinematics in God of War 1…he was the guy that had his head cut off by Kratos when he made is ill fated deal with Ares to become the ‘ultimate’ warrior. So now he is back under some pretty crazy circumstances to try and get some revenge against Kratos for you know…taking his head off and all. It’s pretty freakin’ sweet. So if you haven’t checked out the game head thing…check it out.

We are about two weeks off from our next playtest/milestone so that is kicking us in the ass a bit. We are growing closer…in my mind too close…to the alpha date. I came in today feeling like we still had a ways to go until alpha but in the leads meeting this morning the reality of our alpha date really hit me. Man we got to kick it up a notch. That is the thing about game development…even when you get more time…there is never enough time. There a like a million things to get done and each time you do one thing, you discover ten more things that need to get done. It’s nauseating really. But somehow in the final hours we always manage to pull a freakin’ rabbit out of our hats….I suppose that is a true testament to the fact that this team is absolutely unfreakinbelieveable!

I have been looking to buy a house for the last year or so…it takes awhile since I don’t have much time to actually look…and am constantly disappointed as the absolute ridiculousness of the housing market in L.A. I just don’t understand how anyone can afford to live here right now (well ‘buy’ here right now) unless you are willing to buy really far out or in the freakin’ ghetto. I really don’t want to do either of those things so I am looking at totally over inflated prices on these houses. The only thing you can do is suck it up I guess…but man it is going to hurt. I just spoke with the finance guy today to get an estimate of my monthly commitment (mortgage, taxes, ins..) and my heart just sank. I mean the place is barely 1k square feet. It’s nice, and the area is great, but it is no mansion or anything. But I guess that is the way it goes here in L.A. The only way you are going to get something that fulfills everything on your wishlist is to leave…or to just be freakin’ rich. The latter is a much tougher proposition, which makes me sad as well but I don’t think we will go into that right now.

Ok…enough about my sad housing hunt. Thanks for the feedback on the strategy guide everyone. I am still mulling over which way I am going to with the guide but your feedback gave me some good food for thought.

Someone mentioned something about the movie…about whether or not we would be involved. I would love to be involved…but I know for sure that will not happen. Dave and Shannon have some involvement I think…I don’t know the specifics…but the studios really do not have much need for game designer input on a film project. I can’t say that I wouldn’t love to be involved though but I have my plate full with God of War 2 and my Webster vs. Diff’rnt Strokes PSP game!

And finally today I leave you with a couple of screenshots showing our first God of War II boss battle (well not first in game layout...just first announced) which you afre free to use for good or for awesome. This is still fairly early stuff so it is not 100% represenative of what it will look like in the final game.



You get to fight him on horse back...


...and on foot...but he grows freaking HUGE! Why you ask? Well you will have to check out Andy and his crew of fucking 'rock stars of the gaming mag world' over at Game Informer in thier September issue for more info and screens.

hammertime.

We ain't found shit!

Word up. Things in development-land are going quite well these days. We have another playtest at the end of the month and we are cruising through a large chunk of work that needs to get done for it. We should have our first boss done…well not DONE done...but ALPHA done…by the end of the month which is good as we have many others to get through. There are more bosses in this installment, but because of that there is an exponentially larger amount of stress for us as well. Bosses are a tough nut to crack. Especially when you are trying insure the greatest variety in the gameplay and prevent the whole cookie cutter mentality that some games fall prey too. But in the end I am sure it is going to make the game feel so much more epic.

Dave is on the blogging again talking about his love of iChat. I hate iChat. It works really well…and it is pretty simple to set up….so my hatred is not really all that rational. Well maybe it is rational to me, but it does not stem from iChat being poorly designed. I just hate using it. I like the face to face meetings. But it seems to serve us well for the production needs so I will suffer through it and bust out my +3 ‘I Don’t care’ card.

I have been looking at some mock ups for the GOW2 strategy guide. I myself do purchase many strategy guides…not because I am hardcore or old school or anything like that…far from it…mostly cause I am too lazy to read them. That and I usually just go on to gamefaqs and grab the quick hint if I am stuck. I have picked up a few but mostly if they have an accompanying art book or a large section on the art of the specific game. The signature series MGS3 guide Brady did was freaking awesome. The art book they included had a wealth of great concept stuff complete with the art notes. I love reading that stuff, it is that kind of material that makes it worth the purchase for me…but maybe that is just me. I would be curious to know what would make any of you purchase a guide if you normally do not get them.

Ok I need to head out to a cinematics meeting to check out the latest renders form the high res cinematic house.

It's a sledgehammer!!

I’m not going to write much now except to say I am a total fucking idiot. For the last few weeks I have been posting and thinking…”hmmm…no one is commenting on the posts…maybe I am finally so trite and boring that I have lost the three people that read it?” But I was at dinner tonight with my sister and parents…my mom said “I posted on your site but you didn’t publish my post.”

And I was like “What are you talking about? It just like…goes up...right? I don’t have to do anything.”

And she's like "I don't think so...cause I posted a while ago and it didn't go up. Its probably something you have to set."

Then…as if the sky opened up and a bolt of lightning suddenly rushed down from the swirling storm clouds and split my head open...I suddenly realized…I clicked that moderate comments button when I was fooling around with the blog a while back…at the time it didn’t appear to do anything so I just left it. But oh boy it did…So went on tonight to see if it was possible that I could be that stupid and under the moderate comments section there were 30 comments waiting to be moderated. IDIOT!!!

That is how I fuckin’ roll... sorry about that y'all...such a noob.Schooled by my mom no less. Thought I was keepin it real yo...but she was keepin it realer!

Anyway, I will write some more later and respond to the comments throughout the day tomorrow.

It was quite and emotionally trying week for me at work...but I will get into that later...right now it is time to take some xanax and pass the hell out!

YEAH!!! That is awesome...I am typing this blog entry in word…and word has a little ‘you misspelled this’ squiggly line under xanax…the suggested correction…anal. Ok…not even close. Bill Gates is weird.

oh...and this is the link to my myspace page...its still pretty lame but feel free to add me as a friend so I dont look like a complete internet loser. Actualy adding me as a friend will do nothing to change that fact...I will still be a loser...but I love it!!!!
cory

Video games in da house!

"Seriously the house of represenatives is filled with insane jackasses."

John Stewert is great...I love that guy. Good story about how utterly stupid this whole legislation of video games is getting. Just nuts.

playtest is going well today...finding a lot of stuff that needs fixin...and that is a good playtest. But is still stresses me out and makes me sad. wierd how that works.

--hammertime

you want a toe? I can get you a toe dude...

Today is Thursday June 22nd and we are 1 day away from our next playtest. I think I have a pretty good handle on this whole playtest thing now, so it is not as stressful as the others have been…the playtest part that is. There is still a bunch of stress related to the finishing of this game. We are still months from alpha, but it is not far from my mind. It is pretty hard to get far from my mind as I am reminded of our dwindling number of days every few hours by various members of the team. :)

So the playtest….we are putting two new levels through the ringer as well as on of our bopss encounters…the first to be play tested. It is actually a pretty big deal but since it is the first time it will be played I am not expected anything too great. Bosses usually take a few passes to really hone in on the fun. We worked on the Minotaur boss for like 5 months or something crazy like that…it might have been more but the last project is getting a little foggy…difficult to see through the haze of GOW2 stress. Anyway, the team has been putting in some hours getting the levels ready. It’s funny how things work in games. You spend a large amount opf time before a deadline feeling like you are just treading water, it seems like things are getting done but the game is still in pieces. Then…like a college student cramming for a final…the team works a mad week before the deadline and everything comes together and all is right in the world. Now that isn’t to say that people are not doing anything the whole month…far from it. They are making all the pieces and the last week is everyone putting those pieces together. I think no matter how many times I go through it…I will still get freaked out the week before the deadline thinking we are never gonna’ make it. ‘Me of little faith’ I guess. Sometimes I think I feed off the feeling of uncertainty...like working without a net or something.

Heard some more music this week and that got me pumped. I can’t wait to start hearing some of the tracks in the cinematics as well. That is still a ways off I think, but I am looking forward to it. Speaking of cinematics I sat with the cinematics dept. yesterday to go over the VO that was placed in the scenes. It was better than before but it still sounded different than when we recorded. I was on a conference call listening to the playback of the sessions…not the ideal conditions for hearing the nuances of a performance. The good thing is I know we have what we need to make the scenes work, so that is a slight bit of stress relived.

I am heading off to do the final tuning on the levels for tomorrow so that is all I have right now.

And steph…you are crazy with the myspace accounts…I love it. Stella the diabolical beta rocks. Oh yeah, I set up a myspace account…its dorky I know…but that is how I roll. And thanks to Steph I have lots of friends and a whopping 104 viewings of my profile. Man…I really am a popular guy. Sometimes I have to remind myself not to let the fame go to my head. Ha!

Holy shit...MCHammer has a blog...that is so dope. And he has pictures of him and Mr. T on it. SWEET! I am all over this one! He signs all his blog posts off with --hammertime.

tight!

I am going to rock out like that too.

--corytime

ok that actually sounds really gay...I won't do that anymore.

3....2...1....CONTACT!

There are some pretty good news stories today. I ran across this one and it made me laugh. I can't believe this game is still in production...and shockingly it looks as if it will still be in production through the year into the next. Too Human had a cover story in EGM that claimed the game was 10 years in the making...but in reality it has only been in production for the 360 for a few years or so. But this game will have truely been in prodcution for 10 years if it slips to next year. Man...think about that...10 years working on the same game. I honestly don't think I could maintain focus and enthusiasm for that long. I would probably give up...because there is just no way the game could live up to the expectations of a 10 year development cycle. Or maybe it willl...maybe it will come out and redefine the gaming universe...I doubt it though...and anyone who sacrificed for that long will be terribly dissapointed.

Also another great little article about some gaming addiction detox center in Amsterdam. That is some serious gaming love that one must have to facilitate the need for such a place. But with all those stories of people dying from playing games three or four days straight, it appears there is a need for a place like this.

scary.

SpikeTV was in the office shooting some stuff for a show on God of War2...it should be pretty sweet. You will get to see some new footage of the game and some extra stuff as well as check out the Santa Monica studios. I am not sure of the air date...but when I know more I will let you all know. I think it is sometime in July.

cory

11:33

Derek Daniels, one of the combat designers on God of War 2, did a really cool write up on why some games just feel better than others. He is actually doing a series of write ups about this...the latest one is on the jump. I love jumping. the combat guys make fun of me for my love of jumping in games...but I just keep on jumping.

If you have any interest in game design or understanding the games you play and why they are good I would recommend reading it. Plus, Derek is a vegetarian. I have no idea what that has to do with anything...but I typed it...and being someone who doesnt really believe in the delete key all that much..I'm sticking with it. So just read it, you're kids with thank you.

Or check out the comment battle Dave and I have going...but root for me 'cause I am gonna kick his ass. Then I will probably get fired.:) Sweet. time to sleep.

Day four on the floor

Okay so the day count thing is getting kind of old...I think today will be the last of the day counts.

Ooooh I’m gonna’ ramble a lot today. It's day four (last time I swear) of my newfound smoke-free lifestyle and I am inspired to just partake in a little stream of consciousness rant. It may not make much sense…but that is how I roll. Like a rock star.

I’m with you guys when it comes to the ideas of parents regulating the media their kids take in. I am so not a supporter of organizations (private or governmental) or people trying to impose their belief system on the general populace. I am happy for people who feel that video games are morally reprehensible and they will never play them…that is fine with me. But when they try to push their own belief system on everyone I think it is truly a sign of our de-evolution. Jack Thompson is another in a long series of poster boys (and girls) for the downfall of our free thought and expression. I mean you Have Tipper gore, Sen. Lieberman, Jack Thompson…and so on. These are just sad little people trying to gain favor of the majority by pushing the blame to the creators of media and entertainment.

Now…I am no media lover when it comes to the news. But I don’t blame the media for stupid people. I mean there are so many uninformed people that are products of the “If it bleeds it leads” news media…but in the end it is because they are too lazy too seek out other sources of research to truly understand something. It is not the fault of the news…they are trying to gain a market share and stay profitable. So they forgo real journalism and focus on the big money headline stories about Brad and Jennifer and all that other drivel. But again…they are not to blame for stupid people.

The same is true for movies/TV/games. Are the makers of the entertainment responsible for what your kids watch? I can’t see how. Just as the makers of fast food are not responsible for you kid eating cheeseburgers every day. It is the parents who should bear the burden of talking about these movies/TV/games with their kids. When you hide, censor or otherwise attempt to prevent your children from seeing something…they will seek it out…and they will do so without the guidance and open discussion they should have from their parents. If they do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality…then the makers of the fantasy are not to blame. That is something that must be instilled by the parents. That would be like blaming those who wrote the bible because little jimmy, who can’t swim, decided to try walking on water out in the family pool. Well never mind the idea that if little jimmy can’t swim, so he probably can’t read…so that analogy is pretty shaky…but you get the point.

That isn’t to say that there are not things that kids should not see….but that is what a ratings system is for. I am totally behind the idea of the ratings system, when it works. This allows parents to make an informed purchase and gives them an understanding of what exactly they are allowing their kids to play. But if the parents are not involved with their kids life…if they do not communicate with them about the movies/TV/games they play…then we have the righteous Jack Thompson’s of the world riding in on their political white horse ready to blame everyone but the parents for the actions of the child. That is just lame.

Should we blame the classic gangster movies for the rise of organized crime? I definitely thought about becoming a mobster with a therapist after I saw sopranos…it was so appealing. Actually I did not think of becoming a mobster. And I have never played a game and then thought…I am going to go out and do that. This is because I was given a good foundation as to what is right and what is wrong.

In the end…it is all just a scape-goat. Blame whatever you can to explain something that you do not understand or something so horrible you don’t want to understand. Rock on…lets all do that. I mean human beings have been doing it since the dawn of man anyway. Hell that is how most religions were founded. Well that and fear I guess. But that is another story entirely.

Most likely I am totally off base here...but that is how I roll. All your base...are belong to us.

and on the third day...

Day three is about to come to a close. I haven’t had any cravings to smoke so that is good but unfortunately the nausea and dizziness still remain. A small price to pay to avoid some lung cancer. Though I have been smoking off and on for 15 years...so I could already have it. Oye…I am not even going to think about that.

I finished the recording session this morning feeling pretty good. I think we got everything we need…though we pretty much had to since that was the last session we had in the contract for this guy. But I remain positive that all will turn out good. We should be getting back the files from the session by Friday so I will know for sure then.

Hey Dutch…it is cool that you got the soundtrack even though you don’t normally get them. Rest assured that we are going to kick the ass of the first soundtrack. We have all the original composers from the first game and they are cranking out stuff now that just takes it all to the next level. Man that sounds like hype. I’m not trying to bullshit you or anything…but it is pretty good.

Well it is almost 6pm...I have a meeting with the visual development guys and then I will probably head home. I am so not an early riser. I had to wake up at 6am today in order to get into the studio for the session…and yet I was still late. I just don’t handle the mornings well. I have tons of respect for those of you who can wake up early and be productive…I am more inclined to staying up late though.

The ESA is going to sue Minnesota over some law that fines underage kids 25 bucks for buying M rated and AO rated games. Hmm…you think if they could catch them buying the game in order to fine them…then they would just be able to prevent them from buying it in the first place…right? The best part is that they require the retailers to post a sign in 30 point font saying that there will be a penalty to purchasing these games if you are under 18. Nice...I can only imagine how long the debates ran when it came to deciding on how big the font should be. 25? Nooo...much too small. Well how about 65??? are you crazy...that is just overkill. Either way…I have decided to sue California because they have created an environment that suppresses my right to the pursuit of happiness. It would make me happy to have a house, but california house prices are too expensive. Well I want something in L.A...so I guess I can't sue California as a whole. I will just sue L.A. Then I will sue everyone who is selling a house for an outragous price. Yeah...that'll be sweet. Sueing kicks ass!

Day two

...of the ‘quit smoking’ crusade. The patch makes me nauseous. I tried to quit before, and found that I got really irritable and nauseous from the patch. I feel a little nauseous and dizzy now, but this time I am going to just deal with it as I really don’t want to have to quit again. The good thing is I had half a bottle of wine last night, and no desire for a cigarette. So I past the first mini test as drinking and smoking go together so well with me.

I just got out of a conference call with one of the actors who is voicing a character in the game. This guy is pretty well known and has done several movies that I am a huge fan of so it was a pretty cool experience to be chatting with him about the story behind and growth of the character. It is kind of dorky, but I had a real sense of accomplishment during the conversation…like I had finally accomplished something. This story that I and the other writers have worked so hard to craft is finally coming to life. To add to it, it is being brought to life by some pretty great actors. It really is pretty exciting. It really makes me feel thankful that I have the job that I have.

I have a music meeting in a few minutes to go over the latest tracks the composers have delivered so that should be good. Every time I hear new music I get even more inspired with what we are doing. I mean when you see a level that is near complete from an art perspective you really get a sense of the mood of the level, but when you get the music in there…you really see how the level is going to feel…or make you feel to be more precise.

All right…gotta go.

I want Guitar Hero 2...

Now. I love the songs in the first one...but I want new ones. A little guns and roses maybe!! Man that would be a level of sweetness that would be beyond comprehension.

It has been awhile since my last post. I’m afraid that those few of you that follow this blog will just have to bear with me as I try to get better at documenting things in this blog.

BIG NEWS! I quit smoking today. I am rocking the Clear nicoderm CQ patch. Hopefully it will give me wicked nightmares when I wear it at night. That would be fun. Well maybe for a day or so..then it would just suck. I have been running myself into the ground lately and consequently have been getting sick a lot more. So I figured it was about time to give up the nasty habit. I have a quit a few times before…so I hope this time sticks. It will certainly make the next few stress filled week a whole hell of a lot more interesting. I hope I don’t piss too many people off with my ‘more than normal’ mood swings.

So let’s see. We are moving forward like a freakin’ freight train with the game. I was able to see two levels that have nearly 80% level of polish art on them and they look freakin’ sweet!! I need that little pick me up as things are getting even more hectic entering into the last months of the project. Well last months to alpha really. We still don’t ship until next year, but we have a huge task to hit our alpha milestone.

I did some re-recording of some of the voice over stuff last week. I was fully in the throes of sickness so waking up at 6:45 to make a meeting in the recording studio at 7:45 was rough. But we were able to get some good stuff so that made up for it. I just hope this all works out. I fought pretty hard to get some of the voices we have in the game…and I can sense the doubt about some of them working out. I still remain confident that it will work out…but if it doesn’t I am going to look like a supreme asshole. I know that sounds like a pretty revered title…but sadly it is not so good. So here is to hoping I don’t fuck it up.:)

We are heavily focusing on two of our bosses from the game right now. One of them is farther along in the process and nearly to the stage of fight tuning…which is awesome for me! I actually get to sit down and do some real work on the game. The tuning of the fights and play experience is really the true ‘hands on’ work for me. I do so many other things on the game that are important, but they are still all about the planning phase. So any time I get to sit down and get my hands dirty is a good time.

I haven’t been able to play to many games lately. Partly because of work, but also because I have been so exhausted when I get home that I just don’t feel like thinking. I just want to throw on a movie or TV show and collapse on the couch. I hope quitting smoking will give me some more energy. Man that is pretty fucking sad when you say you are too tired to sit on the couch and play a video game. Seriously…I think I will punch myself for that one.

Well my lunch is almost over and I have to do an interview at 2 so I will end this one here. I have a recording session tomorrow so I will try and do an update and chat a bit about that.

Oh…I saw Rent this weekend. Man…I have no idea what came over me in the video store. For some reason I picked this up thinking it would be good…but after about 20 minutes I had to just shut it off. Sometimes musicals are ok…and other times they make you want to rip you own eyeballs out with a cocktail fork. This was actually worse than the ripping of the eyes with a cocktail fork. It was bad. Sorry to all of those who liked it…but it was just a mentally scarring experience that I am sure will take me a long time to get over.

sweet jesus

Old Grandma hardcore has a new post on her blog thanks to the literary stylings of Tim. Check it out to read about the God of War 2 press event we had a few weeks before e3.

Man Grandma Hardcore is the epitome of hardcore gamer without all the trash talking on internet forums "you got pwned by chuck norris' roundhouse to the fucking head" bullshit. It was great to meet up with her and Tim. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of them in the future.

Out sick yesterday so I am back in the office today to what I imagine will be a veritable cornucopia of issues and problems due to my extended "vacation-like" absence of 1.5 days. I just hope the game hasn't turned into an RTS during my long stay away.

c

back in the saddle again

So I am back at work today attempting to pick up all the pieces after that whirlwind week of E3. Now it is back to reality...we have a pretty short period of time left...well in game development terms that is...and still so much I want to do with the game.

I have a few emails to finish up and then it is straight to the level design meeting where we will break down the state of the game as it is now and make a plan for the final stretch. I guess final stretch is a bit of a stretch...since the street date seems so far away. But then time passes so quickly when you are busy that it is almost around the corner. Ok...I am talking in circles now. enough with that nonsense.

After the level meeting I am going to try and carve out some time with the combat guys to talk about our boss plan and get an update of where we are on the boss front. Bosses are hard...they take a ton of people a ton of time to get done...but man do they really pay off in the end. It is such a satisfying feeling finishing off a boss...both from a development stanpoint and a play standpoint. It is goin gto be great see some more of our bosses come together in the next few months.

ok...small update today...I gotta get to work. Maybe go have a smoke...then get to work. I should quit smoking. But that is just an empty promise right now...because it is my only way to counteract the stress. some people have food...or drugs...I have ciggarettes.

which when I step back and think about it is totally stupid. but oh well. I never claimed to be the smartest person in the room.

later.

It was the best of times...

So it is Sunday morning and the chaos that is E3 is now over. It took me a few days to recover from the crazy week, but in the end it turned out pretty good. The game seemed to show really well and the booth was jam packed the whole time. I haven’t read too much coverage on it yet though. I am adding abunch of pics to this post...they were taken iwth my phone camera so they suck ass...but it was all I had at the time.





It was a very different E3 for me though. Usually I get to see a ton of games and then spend the rest of the time in the Gordon Biersch drinking with old friends…but not this year. I was running from interview to meeting the whole time. So I think I was only able to see a handful of games at the show- which bummed me out. I did not get to see the Wii at all…this also bummed me out as I got mixed reviews back from everyone I talked to. Some people really loved it while others were not so impressed. Hopefully we wil get one in the office when they come out so I will get a chance to try before I buy.

I think I will download the lost planet demo today and a few of the videos on my 360 so maybe that will make up for the lack of playing at the show. Anyway here is the list of the few things I got to check out:

Heavenly Sword (PS3): Sweet looking game. The controls felt a little unresponsive, but it looked great and moved very well. It reminded me of something but I couldn’t put my finger on it. ;)



Resistance (PS3): looks great, can’t wait to see more of this one. Games like this are more fun for me at home then on the show floor. There are too many distractions on the show floor to really enjoy this.

Tabla Rasa (PC): Someone told me to check this one out. It looked cool, and after a long day of press it was quite cathartic to just unleash some rockets onto a bunch of alien creatures.

Shadowrun (360): I did not get to play this, but I ran into a guy I knew back in college that is working on this game. I wil be keeping an eye on it now as it looks like a pretty sweet multiplayer game.

Too Human (360): No comment.

The new sonic game (360): No idea of the name right now, but the game was not all that good. The controls were twitchy so consequently I died a lot. Or maybe I just suck at sonic games. Either way…I was not converted to sonic-dom with that demo.

I went to the Sony party on Thursday night, which was cool. I didn’t drink too much but I did stay out a bit too late and was really regretting it the next day. Friday was a rough one.

I got a later start to the day and did my last round of interviews and was free to check out games for the last hour of the show. That is when I got to see most of the games I saw at the show.

You know what…European journalists rock. That isn‘t to say that US journalists are not cool too, but for this show it seemed the euro guys and gals were asking more questions beyond the usual “Give me the list of new features.” Or “tell me the story of the game…” I had a bunch of fun interviews where we talked about the future of cinematic gaming, the concept of conveying emotions through games, etc. It was nice to have a real discussion about things that I am really passionate about. A good break from the “Hurry up and give us the specs cause we gotta’ be somewhere else in 5 minutes” thing. But I suppose there is merit in both approaches.

On Saturday we went to a Mark Ryden book signing. This guys is a phenomenal artist so it was sweet that we were able to get in to see him. He had a guy dressed in a bunny suit that sat with him through most of the signings. nice.

Luckily we decided to go early to get a good place in the line because the line got very long, very fast. Plus he has a crazy system of rubber stamps he uses when he signs things so the line was moving quite slow. But all in all it was a good time and I got a couple of books signed. Sweet. I was feeling run down from the week so I decided to stay in for the night and relax. Kind of a lame Saturday night, but I work in games so that is pretty much par for the course. Hahahaha…just kidding. I bet cliffyb goes out all the time and parties like a freaking rock star.

Not much else. Going to meet my parents to celebrate mother’s day today o that will be fun. And we get tomorrow off so I think I will be coming home tonight and taking it easy once again. Even with a day off tomorrow I need to recharge…it is going to be a crazy next six months.


Oh I ran into Dutch on the first day as well….very cool guy. Thanks for stopping by man! It was nice to finally put a face to the posts.

Well I need to get ready for the moms day festivities.
later

Pre E3 GOW II impressions on IGN

IGN did an article on thier look at the pre-E3 build of our demo. If you can't make it to the show check it out since they pretty much walk you through the demo. So it is just like being there.

Not really I guess. But it is better than nothing.

Lights out Modblog!

So I am officially done with the modblog. It was fun while it lasted, but I am tired of the downtime and lack of image posting. So after a little help from some of the combat guys I have figured out this whole Blogspot thing. I am still working on getting the page the way I like it so bear with the slow construction process.

And because I can...I am going to post an image of the dopest lego thing ever. Well not ever, since it is totally missing B.A. Barracus. I guess they did not make black lego guys...which is gay.



Sweet...I have the power now!!!

Anyway. We should have our final disk within the hour and then it is all about beating the hell out of it. It seems we cut it pretty close most every year for our Demo. But in the end it all seems to work out.

ok...back to work.

so it begins again...again

Well it has been a long time since I have posted on modblog due to thier crazy extended outage...so I have decided to say 'lights out' to the folks over at modblog and try out the domain of my favorite grandma gamer...Old Grandma hardcore!! Seems pretty nice over here so I think I will stay awhile.

so much has happened since my last post that I don't think my wee little hands can handle all the typing required to fully tell the story. So I will give the short short version.

The first real playtest of the game went really well, I experienced the first and second rounds of my true inductionn into the game directors postition - necessary cuts. It sucks...and it hurts creatively....but in the end it so much better for the gasme. I say that now because I have had plenty of time to process it and come up with great new stuff that will tie the whole game together...but man it stung the first time. I wouldn't say it's as dramatic as killing your baby or anything like that, but at the time it felt like I was selling out like David Caruso. In the end though it really does make the game a much better and more cohesive experience...so I am happy. Happy like a fuckin' clown. A french clown with that funny make up they have on and the silly little horn that you just want to ram down thier throat.

but I digress...The game is moving along swimmingly....man I can't believe I just used that word in a sentence....anyway all is good. I had a meeting with some of the legal and Voice over people about our voice cast for the game. I definitely have some high hopes for who I want to voice some of these characters...but I really think they will add to the completeness of the world. There are just some people who have incredibly powerrful and affecting voices....voices that just punch you in the stomach and steal your lunch money, you know? I want that. And then when you are at home playing the game on your couch or that discarded large wodden cable spool...and you will be laughing and crying at the same time...and without your lunch money. sweet.

The script phase of the game is very close to being done...and it has really shaped up nicely. Nearly everything I wanted to get into the story has gotten in - so that makes me happy like bush at nap time.

I am going to start tuning some new levels for our second playtest which takes place on dec. 20th. This one isn't as monumental...since the last one was my first playtest as a GD...but it is still pretty important.

My holiday was good...we hosted my sister and her husband and my parents at our place...and we rented a ninja to carve the turkey...which rocked. But then someone made a ninja joke and he flipped out and killed everyone. But we got better - and I stole his chucks.

Allright. I have a boat load of documents to write and my day of meetings is about to begin so I will say "lights out" for now.

word.