Pastimes and Hobbies

Hello Everybody!

This past week for me was pretty chill. Had a BBQ with some of my vaccinated friends and family. During which I played a lot of cornhole and ate a lot of good food. I’m excited that we are getting closer to normal and inch by inch being able to have larger gatherings. I also applied for some jobs that I’m really excited about. Hopefully, I’ll hear back soon enough and get an interview. I’ve found I aim more for an interview than the actual job sometimes. I guess to me an interview means growth. The more interviews though mean I’m growing and the more I get the farther along I get in my career. Getting a job afterword’s just solidifies the growth. Interviews are nice as well because they’re a great way to learn and gain insight into what ways you can improve. I’ve always loved good feedback and interviews are a great way to get it.

I’m also really excited because I’ll be starting a new D&D campaign soon. We’ll be running Curse of Strahd a classic D&D campaign of gothic horror. In the campaign players are spirited away to the land of Barovia with the goal of defeating a vampire lord named Count Strahd Von Zarovich. It’s one of the more famous campaigns and I’ve always wanted to play it so I’m very excited to finally get a chance to play especially as a DM. I’m excited to see how this turns out and if it’ll be spooky or not for the players. I’m also slowly making progress on my backlog of minis to paint. I’m currently working on decorations for a town. I keep needing to remind myself that there’s no rush to have enough pieces to make a city or castle. I’d be excited to make those, but that’s time and money I don’t have. Someday I’ll be able to do it, but not for a hot minute.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I hope to have some good news for you all then.

New Opportunities

Hello everybody,

I hope you all have had a good past few weeks and are making it through the quarantine safely. I apologize for my irregular posting schedule everything has been so wild. I do have some exciting news though. I’ve been hired by Bungie as a Contract Generalist Tester. I’m sad to leave Microsoft but I think Bungie will be a great place for me to grow and learn more. I’ll be on a team that directly makes content and I’ll be testing it. It should be a great way to learn and grow in my field.

While I love these new opportunities, they are good and bad. While I’ll be meeting and working with a lot of new people, I’ll also be leaving some people behind. I’ve added people on social media and will hopefully be able to keep in touch. This also comes at a relatively bad time due to the pandemic. I’ll be leaving my work in a bad time, but it has to be done. I can only hope we can end the quarantine safely soon. This will hopefully allow us to return to work safely soon and be in a better place to be in the office.

Well till next time you guys. I hope that you have a good week and that I have more to tell you.

Almost Starting Work

Hello Everybody,

I hope you guys have had a great week. This last week was pretty good for me. I’ve been going through and working on various projects and paperwork. I’m also getting closer to starting my new job. I’m very excited to get started and learn. This is going to be a very interesting coming weeks and this last week before work I’ve got a few things to figure out. I’m just wrapping up some of my work on projects and I have to reach out to people about some business stuff. I feel bad but I made sure that everyone I was working with knew I was going to be leaving eventually once I got a job. I also have to see if I can continue work on any of my projects, or if my new job doesn’t allow me to. It’ll be a wild few weeks.

As for the other stuff going on this week I helped my mom with her works barbeque. The barbeque was a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of interesting people including former Microsoft employees. They were able to give me insight on what it was like working for Microsoft and what they did there. It was cool to meet them and talk with them. I’m also planning on updating my website to include a D&D section so that I can show off some of things I’ve made and give people the opportunity to critique them. I’m always looking for feedback so that I can improve my craft. Its been fun to explore the homebrewing side of D&D and further my skillset. I think I’ve been improving and getting better at it and I’m hoping people are enjoying the things I’ve created.

Well till next time you guys. I hope you have an awesome week. I also hope to post next week but I’ll be busy so I’ll probably have to change my posting schedule around.

Post the GDC Craziness

Hello my friends!

I hope you guys had an awesome week. My week went extremely well, I had a lot of fun at GDC and working as a Conference Associate. I got to meet a ton of new people and make new friends. I also got to try out a ton of new games. I also got to take part in the CA tradition of Witch Hunt. There were a few games I played that really stuck out. Those games were Cobra Paw, 5-Minute Dungeon, and The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls. All of these games were a lot of fun to play and learn. Cobra Paw and 5-Minute Dungeon were quick to learn and play. They made playing them with new people great and they’re a ton of fun. The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls was a lot of fun but is a bit complex and is a longer game. It plays a lot like Munchkin but it has a bit more to it. The rest of GDC was also fantastic.

This week was an amazing experience. I was able to have my first interview out of school. It was awesome to finally learn more about my prospects when going into an interview. I learned that my resume is good and that I have the proper skills and experience to perform in the jobs I’ve applied for. This means that the jobs I’ve applied to my reason for being denied could be due to my portfolio, cover letter, and/or the company chose someone else. I won’t ever truly know but at least it was a step. The other aspects of GDC were fantastic as I’ve said. I got to see a ton of my friends from last year which is my favorite part while also happy to meet new people. It’s great to have a family that continuously grows and is making new connections.

Well till next week all of you! I look forward to delivering any news to you all next week. I hope you guys have an awesome week!

An Active Week

Hello my friends,

I hope you guys have had a wonderful week. My week was pretty good. I made progress on various projects and discussed possible new projects. I also went out with a friend to play Pokemon Go at Pike Place which I hadn’t done in a long time. It was a lot of fun Pike Place is always great and it was nice to walk and chat with someone. The rest of my week I spent doing the typical. I applied to jobs and worked on different things. I’m hoping that I’ll soon be hearing back from companies. Also with GDC getting closer I have to start making meeting plans.

This week I also started to do loose workouts. I’m not doing anything intensive or any real weightlifting. My workouts are really just to keep me fit and active. I’ve been focusing mainly on my arms and torso as they’re the ones I workout the least. I’ve been meaning to get more in shape, but I’ve always been concerned about hurting myself. With simple workouts I can do myself it makes life easier. Someday though I’d like to go to a gym and have a personal trainer so I can effectively build muscle. I’d like to get more in shape and then maintain it.

Well till next time my friends. I hope you guys have a great week and that I’ll have good news soon.

Events and Networking

Hello everybody!

I hope you all had a good week. My last week was actually very exciting. I received an email saying that I was accepted to be a Conference Associate for GDC again and I went to a networking event last night. The networking event went well. I wasn’t there for very long but I met a few interesting people. I also got my resume reviewed by a gentleman there who was very helpful. I’ll be reworking my resume a bit around his feedback and other feedback I got. Hopefully, with those changes I’ll be in a better place.

As for being accepted as a Conference Associate I’m super excited to be going down again. GDC, or the Game Developers Conference, is an amazing event filled with all sorts of awesome people. My first time as a CA was last year. It was a blast, I joined a whole new family of extraordinary proportions. It’s also going to be a great place for me to network and possibly get some interviews. I’m so excited for the event I can’t wait for it. For anyone in the gaming industry I recommend it. Last time I wasn’t 21 so I couldn’t attend any of the mixers but now I can. The mixers are the best places to network and meet all sorts of new people. So I believe I’ll go down at and come back revamped and even more excited.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you guys have a great week and maybe next week I’ll have more exciting news.

Thanksgiving

Hello my friends!

I hope you guys had an awesome week. I had a relatively easy week spending most of it with my family. The first few days of the week were spent doing my typical routine of job hunt and work on side projects. I’m still waiting to hear from some of the companies I’ve applied to, I’m excited and hopeful though. We also went Christmas tree shopping. I always loved Christmas tree shopping and trying to find the perfect tree. This year I think we found a beautiful tree. The last portion of the week I went to see Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald. I enjoyed the movie, but I feel like it was probably the worst of the Harry Potter movies. It was a necessary film, but I felt like nothing was really accomplished. I’m sure it’ll fit in well once the next movie is released. My Thanksgiving was very unique this year.

This was the first Thanksgiving I’ve had with my family in three years. It was nice to have that again. While in Florida I had participate in Friendsgivings and Thanksgiving that was hosted by my friends families. It’s always so much fun to be at a Thanksgiving celebration. Just being surrounded by people you love and amazing food. This Thanksgiving, however, had a moment of sadness. I was informed that my Uncle Chris had died. He had been my babysitter growing up. I will say, this was a call we had been expecting. He had issues with drugs and various other things. However, we all loved him and he had been a great Uncle. He was growing and moving forward as a person, he will be missed. The rest of Thanksgiving had gone well and it was a reminder of how important it is to always be thankful.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you have an awesome week and I hope to bring you good news.

Slowly Making Progress

Hello my friends!

I hope you all had a great week! This week for me has been good. My Grandpa Jerry came to town, one of the companies I applied to had me take a writing test, and we delved deeper into the D&D campaign. It was nice to see my Grandpa it’s been a long time since I had seen him. We also got to take a tour of the Amazon Spheres. The Spheres were amazing. The amount of plant life was awesome and the air in it was very clean. I wish I could spend so much more time in the spheres. I’ll have to look into jobs at Amazon so I can explore the spheres even more. The rest of this week was spent working on a writing test.

The writing test was very interesting. It was fun to work on the test. It had been awhile since I last worked on something such as this. The test was a good way for me to get back into the swing of things. The test was very interesting to take. I had to describe people without focusing on appearance. It had been awhile since I last had to do that type of the story telling. It reminded me of my time in my Bachelors. I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

I look forward to letting you guys know what happens. I hope you all have a great week and continue to be awesome. Till next time you guys.

Projects New and Old

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week. For me my week went pretty well. I’ve been working on different things and keeping pretty busy. This last week I applied to some more jobs. I’m still super excited about one of the jobs I applied for and I feel like it’s Christmas Eve. I’m just waiting to see what happens. Will I be turned down? Or will I get a call back? I believe that I will get a call back though and I’m very hopeful, but if I don’t at least I have another thing to strive for. It’s all very exciting and scary still. I just want to work, my time at Full Sail kept me busy and all of this downtown is messing with me. I’m ready to be back to working I want to flex my creative muscles in a studio environment and learn new skills.

I will say I am happy to be working on projects. Currently I’ve been splitting my time between two projects. One is and old project while the other is my new one. sadly I haven’t had time to work on my side project, but I downloaded the latest version of Unity for it. These projects are exciting though. I’m pumped to see where these take me and I’m excited to have you all check them out. I can only keep expanding my portfolio and skill set.

Well till next week my friends. I’m looking forward to seeing where the future leads and I hope to give you all good news about that job soon.

Growth and Preparations

Hello everybody,

I hope you guys have had a great week. This week has been pretty easy for me. I didn’t do much that is cause for celebration. I did, however, prepare for a trip to L.A. I’m taking tomorrow. I’ll be spending two nights down there. The reason I’m going to L.A. is because of a career event I’m attending. It’s exciting as I’ll be meeting different people and I will get a chance to reunite with some people I haven’t seen in a long time. I’m very excited for the event, I made two resumes to try and better fit the industries I’ll be meeting.

This week was also a good week for making plans and helping out CelleC and Black Banshee. I’ve been working on two different games lately. I came up with a naming system for over a hundred characters in one of our games. I also am going to be creating a new story for a different game. We decided to get rid of the original story for the game and rework it. It’ll be interesting to rebuild this story, but I’ll have to create an example first before we decide if we go with it. Either way I’m excited for it.

Well till next week you guys. I’m looking forward telling you guys all about the career event and how well it goes. Well till next time.

Week of Rest

Hello my friends,

This past week has been very relaxed and easy. The most stressful parts of this week was the job hunt and the fact the Destiny 2 raid was released. The only reason the raid was stressful was because if you beat it by Tuesday you get access to a special jacket. Sadly, I did not get the raid finished. I will not get that cool jacket more than likely. Other than that my week went pretty well. I applied to several jobs and my cold went away for the most part. It was nice.

This weekend we also had a graduation party for me. It was a bit belated, but it was fun. It was cool to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time. I got to talk to several people I haven’t seen since elementary school. I also got to see one of my oldest friends. My sisters and I always said she was our other sister, and she said we were her siblings. It was the first time we had all been in the same location in awhile. It was also really nice to hear the continued support from my family and friends who all believe in me and want to help me. I look forward to getting out into the industry.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you guys have an awesome week.

The End of my Masters

Hello my buddies!

           I'm sorry for not posting last week. I've been super busy. Last week I had my final BTS. It was very bittersweet. It was so much fun. I was a stage manager again, but this month had a special twist. We had a guest for the months career development panel. Our guest was Tionne "Tboz" Watkins, the head singer of TLC. She was really cool and fun to hang out with. It was also pretty funny when Garry Jones, Full Sail's President, found out it was my last one. He started joking about foreseeing a course failure in my future. He also would call me out during the panels for graduating soon and other stuff. Then it was really cool because I got to hear how many people were interested in helping me after graduation. The experience was really heartwarming and it was an honor to work with these different people. I look forward to returning for BTS in the future, but next time as a speaker.

           This was the end of my Masters program. Now I move forward into the world. I have graduation this upcoming Friday and the next day I fly home to Seattle. The entire program was without a doubt amazing. The ups and downs, the new experiences and a great way for me to grow my portfolio and network. The program led to me going to GDC and being able to expand my skill set. I'm so happy with my experience in my program. I may have faced all sorts of issues or problems in my experience, but they were all worth it. I learned so much via all of these problems. I'm excited but scared about my next steps. Who knows what will happen next, but without a doubt it'll be exciting.

           My studio also released the game I've been working on. It's currently in early access on steam for $4.99. The game is named Tales of Mahabharata. It takes an ancient Indian epic and gamifies it. I had a lot of fun working on it so check it out and tell me what you think.

           Well till next time you guys! I hope you have a great week and are ready for the future.

Halfway Done with the Final Month

Hello my friends!

           This past week has been a bit exhausting. I've been super busy with everything that I've been working on. However, it's been worth it. We're so close to releasing our game Tales of Mahabharata for early access. I'm so excited for it. We've been running our Facebook and trying to post frequently. This allows us to build our audience and hopefully gather a following. It's been an awesome experience.

           The other aspects of this week are all school related. I've been wrapping up this month. Today I finished making my poster presentation and I'm going to be getting feedback on it soon. I've been able to combine all of my research and create an argument for my topic. I believe I've said my topic before but just in case, my topic is "How to Improve Narrative." I go into detail on my findings and the options I feel should be taken. I'm excited for everything that is going on and what the future holds. I'm a little nervous, but I believe in my capabilities and I'm ready to end my Masters with a great presentation.

            Well till next week my friends! I have BTS next Saturday so I maybe a little late. I hope you guys have a great week and everything goes well.

Beginning the Job Hunt

Hello my friends!

            This past week has been very busy. I've had a lot of work going on for my studio. Its made everything more exciting and a bit stressful. I'm luckily getting to a point that is less busy. It's worth it though. This amount of work and stress is simply going to help me be more prepared for the future. I need all of the experience and skills I can get. This will push me further into the future and forward to a place where I can meet my goals.

            Going based off of my experience and busy week. I've begun to start looking for jobs. This has been a little daunting. I keep encountering jobs that I feel may be a bit out of my league. I'm trying to find the best path towards my future. Luckily, I've had a lot of help from all sorts of different people. These different things have combined to lead me to believe I can meet my goals. I am excited to push forward, but I'm intimidated at the same time. 

            Well I look forward to talking to you guys another time. I hope you guys have a great week and all of the best luck in the world.