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!

The Week before GDC

Hello my friends!

I hope you guys have had a lovely week. My week was pretty typical and I spent a lot of time on some side projects. I did do something very exciting this week. I went to a recruiting fair at the local Art Institute that was hosted by the IGDA. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of cool people. Recruiting fairs are always interesting because some conversations are good while some are barely conversations. It’s also weird as I find it’s hard to talk to some recruiters. I personally am just unsure of what to discuss with recruiters while some recruiters don’t actually even seem interested in talking with me. I did have some really good conversations and I’m hoping to hear back from some of them.

This Saturday I’ll be leaving for GDC and I’m super excited for it. This does mean that I won’t be posting next week as I’ll be too busy. I look forward to telling you guys all about it and the good stories that’ll come from it. This week though I’ll be relaxing for the most part and spending time working on side projects. Later this week I’m planning on watching Captain Marvel. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’ve heard mixed things about the movie, but I still look forward to seeing how it works within the Marvel Universe. It will be a very interesting week.

Well till after GDC my friends. I look forward to sharing the good news with you all next 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.

Oscars Weekend

Hello my friends,

I hope you guys had a good week. My week was pretty good a little hectic, but good. My cold is practically gone and is now just a bit of runny nose. I’ve been applying to more and more jobs and trying to expand the areas I apply to. I’ve also been working a bit in engine. It’s been a bit challenging working in engine as I’m not around people that understand the engine so I have to figure it out on my own. So far it’s been a lot of googling and messaging my developer friends. I want to learn more about Unity and Unreal so that I can start making my own side project in engine. I’ll need to start watching more videos about programming and level building in unity.

Yesterday was the Oscars. It’s the first time I’ve watched the Oscars with my family in a few years. The Oscars are always fun to watch. It’s cool to see all the different stars from all areas of the industry. The Oscars always become a bit of a game. I’ll play Where’s Waldo just trying to find the different stars. The other game I play is the guessing game trying to figure out who would win the award. I tend to be very good at guessing which movie will win the award. The hardest award to guess though is “Best Picture.” This is typically hardest for me as I tend to have seen only a few of the movies. I’m very picky in movies I watch right now, but I want to see more. As for The Green Book winning I have no opinion on it other than I was surprised it won. I know people are angry about it winning but I haven’t looked into it too much so far.

Well til next week you guys. I hope you have an awesome time and I hope to give you good news next week.

President's Day Relaxation

Hello my friends,

I hope you guys had an amazing week. My week was kind of meh. I spent the entire week sick which really hurt my productivity, luckily, I’m at the tale end of my sickness so I should be able to boost my productivity. I’m going to begin learning some new skills and working more in engine with side projects. I’m looking forward to resuming my own personal side projects as well. I’m hoping to keep moving towards getting a job as well. I’ll also begin updating my website again. I want to write more and edit my older stories. I feel that it would be a great way for me to improve my chances of getting a job if I have my portfolio constantly growing. At this point I will continue to go down all avenues to improve myself and my own project goals.

This weekend was nice. I got to relax and rest without being stressed. On Saturday I beat Kingdom Hearts 3. I enjoyed the game a lot and I’m curious to see what the future has for the series. I’ve heard a lot of differing opinions about the game. My opinion is based off being a recent fan of the series, but I’ve noticed people that were fans for years and waited for a decade dislike the game. It could be due to the game not living up to expectations or I’m easy to please. I may write a review on the game I just need to dedicate the time to it. On Sunday I participated in Harry Potter trivia. It was a lot of fun, but sadly I’m not as up to date on my Harry Potter knowledge. My team sadly did relatively poorly and we got I believe 8th place out of 15. It was fun just a little annoying to learn how little I know. Then today was President’s Day which was a great day for me and my mom to hang out and spend sometime together. It was nice as we never get the chance to hangout.

Well til next week my friends. I hope you all have a great week and that I can bring you all exciting news next week.

Winter Wonderland in Seattle

Hello my friends,

I apologize for my late posting I’m a little sick and completely forgot yesterday. I hope you all are doing well. My week has been decent apart from getting sick. I sold a bunch of my cards on eBay so today I’m shipping them out. I finished a project I was working on so now you can go and buy Tales of Mahabharata on Steam. If you do you’ll have full access to the core game we released late last year and the free expansion that adds the war to the game. I’m very proud of the game and I’m excited to see how it does. I’m hoping to start seeing more reviews on Steam so that I have more feedback to help grow from. So please check it out and let us know what you think.

The past week has also been strange due to the winter storm in Seattle right now. This is the most snow I have ever seen in Seattle and it’s going to keep snowing. Typically we maybe get an inch or two where I live, but as of right now it’s about a foot deep. This probably means it’s going to be a hot summer which in Seattle can be very bad. Many older homes in Seattle don’t have A/C as it wasn’t needed, but now summers are getting into the hundreds which can be bad. With climate change going on we have been seeing more and more of these rapid and extreme changes. In Florida it meant I had more hurricanes. In Washington it means the weather will go from very cold to very warm. I love snow, but most people in Seattle are not ready for this amount. Hopefully, people are staying safe and warm.

Well til next week my friends! I hope you guys have a wonderful week and stay safe. I hope to have more good news next time!

Game Writing a Unique Type of Writing

Hello everybody,

I hope you all have had a great week and that it was filled with excitement. My week was pretty good. I continued with making steps towards finishing a side project. I’ve been making progress on my story bible, sadly not as much as I’d like. I also have decided to sell a bunch of my old trading cards. I’ve never actually sold trading cards before with the mindset of actually making some amount of money. It’s weird to go through the process as I’m also not sure what the best way is to sell them. I’ve been told eBay but I’m not well versed in selling on eBay. I was also looking into TCGPlayer but they were a bit more convoluted. I decided to sell my more expensive cards on eBay while seeing if I can sell my cheaper cards at a card store for good money. I felt the need to get rid of my cards so I can clear space and maybe someday I can start a new collection. I’m keeping some cards for sentimental reasons, plus I have some cards that are hidden somewhere that I’ll have to find.

I had fun last week talking about story bibles so this week I thought I’d talk about how game writing differs from screenplay, animation, and prose. Game writing’s key point of difference is the way it is consumed by the audience. With game writing the audience is a part of the story unlike almost all other forms of writing. This means that often game writing is more in depth as you have to account for the different possibilities that a player might come up with. It also is very heavily influenced by the form of game you are writing for. In a more linear game like a Call of Duty your story will be very straightforward with very few extra story moments. While a game like Fallout is very expansive and will often have a much longer story or expansive story. This isn’t always the case but it tends to be like that. You also have to create what are called barks. These are the various random bits of dialogue that a character might say. These can be exclamations of pain or a joke or a ‘hello’. These are the simplified ways that define game writing versus other forms of writing.

Well till next week you guys. I hope that you have a great week and that I have some good news next week. I also like giving these little lessons on writing, and I hope you guys are enjoying them to.

The Purpose of a Story Bible

Hello my friends!

I hope your past week went very well. Mine was busy but relatively uneventful. I spent time doing my usual routine and had a dentist appointment. The most eventful thing was a meeting I had with two recruiters that work for a technology staffing company. It was very interesting chatting with them and discussing with them what my goals are. They also told me of various services they offer in order to help new graduates find a job. There was one issue though. Their company doesn’t typically work in the gaming fields, however, they said that they do have some connections. They also said they’re still willing to help me with my resume and various other things. Which I am very thankful for and I look forward to any help they can provide.

Now for the other aspects of my week. I’ve been spending a part of my free time on a side project that is a story bible for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I’ll be uploading an updated version of it today, so you can see the progress I have made on it. Now some of you may be wondering what a story bible is. A story bible is a long document that explains the world of whatever project you are working on, if you are familiar with the Silmarillion that is very close to a story bible. This is something that is used to document and record the different aspects of your world and it will help you when creating stories and concepts while within this world. The length will also depend on the project. For example with a historical fiction based in World War II where a team of highly trained Jewish Soldiers are on a mission to kill as many Nazi’s as possible your story bible would be relatively short. You are only changing small portions of world history to create a more interesting story, but if you continue the world after it your story bible will only get longer. In something like my story bible I am building the world from the ground up. I am taking various aspects of preexisting Dungeons and Dragons worlds then reworking them. This can be seen in how the gods come to be in my version. Ultimately the story bible can be used to ensure consistency and provide a more expansive story. This can also make your world feel more alive and make people want to delve even further into your story, sometimes making stories of their own for your world. Another important aspect is that you stick to whatever your story bible says happens or can happen. If you don’t stick to it this creates inconsistencies that can make a story difficult to attach to. This is why a story bible is necessary as it serves as a fantastic way to ensure you have a consistent story line and can answer questions that may come up. This is why I have been spending time creating this story bible. I love creating worlds and the little intricacies of them. They require a lot of research and time, but the pay off is great. I love the idea of providing my players with and exciting in-depth experience that they can explore and grow as they please.

Well I hope you guys have a wonderful week and enjoyed my sort of mini-lesson! I hope to have exciting news for you next week!

Continued Career Coordination

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys had a great week. My week went pretty well and was relaxing. I spent the week working on my resume and applying to various jobs. So far I’ve heard back from one company asking me to fill out a test. I did the test and sent it back so I’m hoping to hear from them soon. I’ve also seen more writing jobs which is very exciting so I’ve been applying to those as well. I’m just so excited for everything coming up. All these jobs that could be my next steps and GDC coming up. I’m hoping that nothing comes up that may set me back.

I’ve started trying to work around some of these set backs. I’ve begun using new things to help me stay on track. Such as Screen Time on my phone. This app is helping greatly. Often times when I’m supposed to be working I find myself getting distracted by my phone and having Screen Time on while working has been huge. This has also helped me finish tasks faster so I can spend more time job hunting or working on side projects. I’m hoping to find more solutions to set backs and issues I face.

Well till next week you guys! I hope that I’ll have some really good news for you, and that you guys have a great week.

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.

New Years and New Goals

Hello everybody!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great time bringing in the New Year. Mine was pretty subdued and relaxing. We watched Star Wars: A New Hope and tried to time the Death Stars explosion so that exploded right at midnight. We were really close to hitting it on the dot but we were maybe a minute off. The rest of the week was a lot busier. I’ve had to work a lot more Tales of Mahabharata in order to prepare for its upcoming expansion release. We’re in a phase where we are fixing any mistakes or issues with the game so that’s going to be my week other than job hunting and portfolio work.

Speaking of the ever present job hunt and portfolio work I’m setting out on a few new goals. I’m going to start uploading every week or so the updated version of my D&D story bible. This will be a way for you to see the progress I’m making on it and get an idea of the process I’m taking. Keep in mind it is a work in progress so right now it’s a little unorganized and a bit like word vomit, but I think it’ll be fun to show the progress. As for the rest of my portfolio. I plan on working on some more personal projects and other things to beef up my portfolio. I’ll also probably be expanding my job search soon as well to try and get a job to make money while I work on my game goals. It’s all very exciting and anxiety filled I’m excited to see where it goes.

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

Holiday Season Craziness

Hello everybody!

I hope you all had a wonderful few weeks and a happy holidays. I’m sorry that I didn’t post last week but it was all sorts of crazy. The holiday season is always nuts in my family. This is because my family is large and complicated. I always have around six celebrations with different family members and people. It’s fun and exciting every time, and I’m so lucky to have this crazy but fun family. It’s also fun to give everyone different gifts and celebrate the season. I found all sorts of fun things to give this year. I got my dad this cool alehorn that will be fun for D&D. I got these two silly pillows one covered in Guy Fieri that I gave to my brother, and the other was covered in a crying Kim Kardashian and I gave it to my sister. It’s always fun to see peoples reactions to the different gifts. I think everyone liked their gifts and that’s all I hope for.

The rest of the past weeks has been mostly working out different plans and schedules. One of the more exciting aspects of the week was having dinner with some old friends from my childhood. It was cool to catch up and reminisce as I hadn’t seen them in roughly 9 or 10 years. I was excited hearing about their lives and finding out we all wanted to work in the world of entertainment. One of my friends is currently in school for game audio. The other is wanting to do a lot more of film production. Both are currently in school and moving forward rapidly. It’s always fun seeing what’s going on with different people and how much everyone’s grown. I’m looking forward to the New Year and the possible future.

Well till next week you guys. Have a happy New Years. I hope to have more news for you next time.

A Christmas Cold

Hello everybody,

I hope you all had a good week. My week was fairly easy. The only thing that happened was I had a cold that has been messing with me. It’s made it more difficult to actually do any work. Luckily though the cold is nearly gone and hopefully, I can focus more. I’m excited for it to be gone so that I can enjoy the season without issue. It will also be very helpful for me while I’m job hunting and adapting my portfolio. Otherwise I’m very excited for the stuff going on this month.

This month is packed full of exciting events. There are all sorts of movies to see. I want to see Aquaman as I’ve heard it’s the best DC movie. I also would like to see Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse I’ve heard it’s really good. These may give me a chance to write some new movie reviews. I miss writing reviews but I don’t see movies or play games quick enough I feel. I also am excited for all of the Christmas shenanigans. It will be a crazy week and an exciting time.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you all have an amazing time and I hope to have good news for you all soon.

Funeral and Smoke

Hello my friends,

I hope you all had a great week. My week was very interesting. For the most part I spent my week working on my side projects, job hunting, and D&D world. However, over the weekend my week got stranger. I had two major events that happened. On Saturday was the funeral for my Uncle Chris. The funeral was very touching. I was happy to see the family members I haven’t seen in years. There were also many stories that were told about his adventures across the nation. We also had tons of good food at the funeral. The other interesting thing that happened was I got exposed to a lot of smoke.

So to clarify the smoke was not from a fire and nothing was damaged. So, Saturday morning I awoke to my dads house being filled with smoke. My bed is in the loft area of the house over the living room and kitchen. The house was filled with smoke because of what my dad was cooking for the funeral. What he had been cooking in the oven overnight overflowed into the oven and began to burn. I have no concept of how long I was in the smoke, but it has made me sick for the past few days. I went to the doctors office today and they told me I should be fine I just need to rest. Hopefully, I heal quickly and don’t catch anything else.

Well till next week you guys! I hope you guys have an awesome week and I hope to have more news for you all.

Rejection and Growth

Hello Everybody!

I hope you all have had a good week. My week has been a little interesting. I have had various ups and downs throughout the week. I continued to spend time as the Dungeon Master for my family. This means I’ve been able to further expand the story bible for my campaign. I’m hoping to finish at least the bulk of it soon enough so that I can share it with you all. It’s been very exciting for me to be working on this and I’m hoping to make a well informed and written story bible. The week also contained some sad moments.

I received two emails from companies I applied to, both were the companies saying no. Both were for jobs I was excited about. I was sad to see the emails. However, I’m not about to give up on getting one of my dream jobs. I’m going to keep pushing forward and trying to get a job. I’ve reached out to the other Conference Associates of GDC for extra guidance. After reading the feedback I’ve received I’m going to try making these changes. I’m also going to try focusing on more ways to improve my portfolio. I’m also going to try getting back into writing reviews and other short stories. I just need to better distribute my time.

Till next week my friends. I hope to deliver good news and I hope you all have a very good week.

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.

A Week of Building

Hello my friends!

I hope you guys have had a great week. This week has been fairly easy going for me. I heard back from the company I applied to that had me take a writing test. Sadly, they said no to me and have decided to go with someone else. It’s disappointing, but I am still confident that I’ll be hearing good news soon. The most difficult part isn’t he no for me, the most difficult part is the lack of feedback. I want to know why I’m not being accepted into these positions. I email after each denial asking for feedback, but have yet to hear a reply. Otherwise the week has been spent working on other things.

This week has been spent working on various different things. I worked on the game I’m making with a few friends. Which has been going fairly well. I’m excited to see how it turns out and how people like it. I’ve also been working on developing the world for the D&D campaign I’m running my dad and brother through. Since I haven’t been able to work on the side game I started this has been my area to world build, and I’m hoping to return to my side project in the future. The only other things would be the job hunt. It’s getting harder for me to think of places to look. I’m still hopeful and reaching out to different people.

Well till next week you guys! I hope you all have an awesome time and I wish good luck to you all.

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.

Dreams

Hello my friends,

I hope you all have had a wonderful week. This week has been pretty exciting for me. I can’t say anything exciting such as getting a job happened, but I did apply to a dream job. I applied for a Game Designer position that is at a dream company of mine. This is a job I saw it and knew it was the perfect job for me. I nearly jumped out of my chair reading it. This is a job I have never wanted more in my life. I will say it made me very paranoid. I’ve been very uneasy about the whole thing and worried that I messed up parts of the application. I’m very hopeful though and I’m ready to give it my all if I get the job.

Other aspects of the past week were exciting as well. I got to play D&D with my dad and brother. That was a lot of fun as I haven’t been able to in a long time. It’s been very nice to explore a world I created with them. I’ve been watching a lot Critical Role as of late to try and figure out more ways to story tell. The Podcast/Twitch show has helped me gain a better understanding of the rules and different strategies. I’ve also been reading the different handbooks to better understand the gameplay. It’s been very exciting for me. This is helping me better understand my craft and how to create stories. I’ve been having a lot of fun making new maps and stories.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you all have a wonderful week and the our dreams continue to move forward. I hope that this week brings wonderful news and more exciting times.