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.