Return of the Code Monkey

Current Mood: Alarmed

I was on CNN.com this morning browsing the news (as I usually do before going into work), and was redirected to a local affiliate of CNN in Houston. Right before I was going to close the browser, something caught my eye:

That was the local news for the City of Houston, not Baghdad! What’s wrong with people in Houston? Two good Samaritans killed while helping someone push their disabled truck? Really?

I know what city I won’t be going to for vacation when this project is over.

Current Mood: Sickly

A friend of mine pointed out that a few popular gaming websites have returned from E3 and posted their impressions of Damnation after getting to play it a bit.

Check it out, we’ve been Kotaku’d and Destructoid’d (I like turning nouns into adjectives).

Kotaku E3 2008 Impressions

Destructoid E3 2008 Impressions

Totally positive previews. Now I’ve just got to get my bug list wittled down to zero.

Current Mood: Decrepit

Although I’ve been sort of disconnected from what’s happening in the rest of the game industry, I’ve been trying to keep up with the recent news from the E3 Media & Business Summit (what an incredibly lame name for a conference). While browsing Game$pot, I stumbled upon an interview of Jacob Minkoff, our lead designer for Damnation.

Click the link below to get a few insider tidbits on the project from its mastermind:

Gamespot Interview of Jacob Minkoff

Current Mood: Alarmed

During a somewhat long build, I was browsing CNN and found an interesting article. I’ll post some of the parts of the article which hit home with me:

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man’s identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man’s daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

Although those hours may seem insane, I’ve actually worked hours very similar to that several times during the course of this project.

He apparently died of ischemic heart disease. Does anyone know exactly what that means? Can you really get “that” from overwork? This is kind of frightening. I may take up a friend on those yoga and relaxation classes afterall.

Current Mood: Angry

So two weeks ago HP sends me an ominous e-mail saying they are going to repair my laptop for free. Since I’ve been having plenty of problems with the graphics card, I was thrilled. I made sure to tell them to send the repair box (where I would put my laptop into and send back to HP) to my work address, since there is always somewhere at work to pickup packages. 2 weeks later, I didn’t receive a box, and I was very irate. I call their tech support (based in India of course), and they claim that they cancelled my order. I asked them why. They claimed that they cancelled the original order because I requested a new address. So I asked them naturally, “Where the f*ck is my box?” Their reply was simple of course, “Someone must’ve forgot to enter a new order for the new address. Sorry.”

Finally, I was able to get transferred to tech support that actually lived in the U.S, and it seems my ongoing saga to get my laptop repaired by HP may be finally coming to an end.

In addition to that, last night when I was driving home from work, the TPMS on my car threw up a warning sign on my dashboard. It seemed that one or more of my tires was severly under inflated. I went to the Shell Station about 3 blocks away and found that my left rear tire was at 26 PSI, which was extremely low. I inflated it back to 36 PSI, but noticed that when I was driving away I could hear a distinct “clacking” sound, as if my tire was tap dancing. Unable to diagnose it right there, I asked a friend to come by and listen from outside, as I drove slowly by, if he could pick up what was causing the sound. After he arrived I drove slowly through the parking lot and not a minute later, he tells me to stop and points out a HUGE railroad spike, type of nail, puncturing my tire. I think to myself this shouldn’t be too expensive. Except when I call Creview BMW the next day, they claim they can’t repair a run-flat tire, but they would put a new one on for me for the modest sum of $325. So, naturally, I declined and called a Michelin Tire Center near where I lived, and they said they’d repair the tire with a plug for $32 ($32.64 to be exact and about 40 minutes of my time). Seems like it’s brand new.

Oh yeah, my bug list is down to 14 after being near 30 for most of the past two weeks. Perhaps I won’t be a victim of ulcers this year…

Current Mood: Cool

It seems like the first previews of Damnation are finally leaking out from the major gaming websites and magazines. IGN Xbox 360 just posted (as their top article today) a 2-page preview of Damnation. I won’t comment on the preview myself, and will let you judge how the game looks thus far. It still tickles me to read the IGN Reader comments about the game, not because of their content (though some of them are genuinely funny), but because it’s about a game I’m working on. It still hasn’t quite sunk in that I’m working on a high budget title for the major consoles.

I mean you spend 12 months working on something, mostly in secret, with strict orders from the publisher to remain closed-mouth about the product. Then finally, a mere few months from Gold, they finally allow you to talk about it. But by this time, most major gaming press has already spilled the beans better than I ever could.

Regardless check out the IGN preview for an indepth look at the current status of Damnation. As for myself, I’ve got bugs to fix.

Current Mood: Alarmed

I’ve been a horrible blogger these past two months, but it’s not without reason. We recently entered Beta for Damnation. That means basically every bug on my list suddenly became “required.” Everything from memory optimizations in certain areas to fixing Z-Fighting problems became a priority. I can take solace in the fact that this will probably be the toughest milestone yet, and if I can survive this, I can probably survive anything the game industry can throw at me. *knocks on wood*

I recently spent $250 on clothes. Yeah, I know that’s not exactly very frugal, or budget minded in a time of general economic softness for our country, but you really had to see my “summer wardrobe” to understand. I don’t know if I’ve just been neglectful of my personal style this past year because I’ve been so busy trying to do my part for this game to ship, but most of my Summer clothes were straight up old. So I went down to Irvine Spectrum to correct the problem and ended up buying some cool stuff. Now I can’t be accused of being a hobo among stars.

So a friend and I have also “promised” ourselves we will take our long awaited trip to Japan this year. Now, not being someone who has traveled to Japan before I was hoping some of you who might read this blog might have some advice in terms of what kind of budget is required for this undertaking. I fully intend to spend 2 weeks in another country so preparation I believe is key

Current Mood: Overwhelmed

Three required bugs, one of which is a rendering bug. Today is going to be a long day/night.

Current Mood: Belligerent

Here’s an interesting article to read four years after EA_Spouse…
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3656/quality_of_life_does_anyone_still_.php?page=3

Anyone who is interested in working in the game industry should read the above article. Compared to my friends who work in other tech sectors, the game industry seems to feature much longer hours at a slightly lower pay rate. Many game developers work in this industry because of passion (all of them should in my opinion), and are willing to accept longer hours and lower pay (compared to equivalent jobs in other industries).

Still given that, I think one of the most important things for maintaining “passion” and longevity in this industry is the ability to have fun, and be with the important people in your life sometimes. It’s very depressing sometimes when I think about all the hours I’ve missed being with my family, my girlfriend, and other important people who are close to me. I think one of the things some game developers neglect is actually living their lives outside of the studio. This point is commonly lost amongst new comers to the game industry because of their eagerness to “prove” themselves. Remember, working 12-16 hours a day isn’t going to win you any medals. It might get you a good review at the end of a project, but it’s not going to replace the time you miss with your family, friends, and significant other. You can always get a job, but you can never replace the time that you’ve missed with someone you love. Sometimes you have to decide what is first, and what is second.

Living life.

Current Mood: Confused

I finally moved into the new townhouse in Irvine yesterday. I haven’t had much time to enjoy the house because of work, but here’s a few pictures of the place. I’ll take some pictures of the exterior later, but believe me when I say the whole area is beautiful.

Last Friday there were a few Birthday celebrations at work, and I noticed a colorful piece of cake on the table in the conference room. I knew right then that I had to have it.

Is this not the most liberal piece of cake in the world?

In other news, Friday this week I’ll be at UC Irvine talking to the Game Development Club on campus. I’ll post information about the venue and time when things are more concrete, but anyone who reads here is more than welcome to come, and chat.