"Life's a mess, so keep a bucket nearby"

So, it looks like Sam will be visiting in March, if all goes according to plan. I will of course be busy will schoolwork, but I'll give him a list of things to do. If weather permits, there maybe some hiking. If not, I'll give him chores. What's that Sam? You want to see Seattle? Hmm... let's see... fresh out of that. CHORES.

Not much report this week. I do have a lot on my plate already, but I always like to have "more than I can handle" on my to-do list. We're setting up the architecture for our game, and take my word for it, technical documentation is the least fun part of making games. It's like ripping off a band-aid, only the band-aid is 44 pages of boring. I got to write the game design document last week though, which was a lot more fun. It basically describes the entire game. I took it upon myself to do it on my own, because that's the kind of stuff I'm into.

Also, did you know there's going to be a Wii Music? It will be a game my brother will beat me at. HERE:

If you don't know Japanese, he's saying "Riley will beat his stupid brother at this game. He will also beat his stupid sisters. He will beat everyone. Riley will be so great, he will defy the gods themselves at the very music they invented. It's too bad he's so ugly. La la la la. WIIIIIIIIII".

PS. I think they sent my financial aid to my home address, so if you all get the chance, forward it my way. Did this happen last semester?

ZOMG Trains!

So, every year there is a weeklong conference in Cali called GDC (Game Developer's Conference). Important game people talk about the state of the industry, talk about things they're working on, talk about employment opportunites, share ideas and information, and, most importantly, party. Am I going? Yes I'm going. Normally passes are super-expensive, but I got accepted as a volunteer, which means in exchange for having free full-access I have to put in 20 hours of work. But from what I understand, I can request which places I want to work, so I will be able to go to important talks and stuff that'd I'd want to be at anyway.

Although the talks will be awesome (There's one about Smash Brothers, I will try my best to go there), I think the main point for students is to set up connections and talk to potential employers. A lot of companies look for recruits there, so I have to update my resume. Digipen sets up their Spring Break to be the same week as GDC for this very reason. A bunch of us got a train car to go there and back and also share a hotel, so I think it's going be a great adventure. Smash Bros got delayed again, but at least I don't have to take a weeklong Smash break.

Speaking of geek things, I watched a whole bunch of One Piece this week and am caught up with the series completely. One Piece is an action-comedy about pirates, and in my opinion the only good anime still being made. Most anime = craptacular. One Piece = hilariously exciting. So, the episodes I hammered through had amazing story, and we learned a lot about a character I had previously considered boring. Plus, now there's a cyborg. SUPER! There's a total of about 340 episodes thus far, so I wouldn't recommend starting from the beginning, unless you're hardcore.

Caught up on cartoons, so I can plow through my schoolwork. There's a lot on my plate already, so I gotta get crazy. I may be doing some cel-shading for our new game, we'll see.

GO FIGHT WIN.

Round Two

Herro! Back to business. My break was great, caught up with family and friends, and now the semester is up and running. This semester looks to be a little more challenging.

I'm taking another game project class, where we are making a complete game. This time we are throwing out XNA (The game studio we were using before) and making from scratch. This is something we have to do eventually anyway, so while this semester's game might not end up as good because we have to spend more time learning, next YEAR's game (the defining project of our degree) should be that much better.

Also, I am taking a challenging math class (we need computers for this one, what with all the 3D!), a networking class (easy but necessary), and a new graphics class. The graphics class is the sequel to the class we were learning how to render stuff onto the screen. This time, we will be learning lighting, shading, modelling and other things.

I didn't think about it before, but a good game programmer has to be a master of several fields. Not only computer science (some tricky computer science!), but we also have to have a deep understanding of things like physics and lighting, and other things in the natural world that we would want to simulate. This also includes AI, 3D math, and statistics. AND if you want to be a game designer like me, there's even MORE on your plate! I need an understanding of story structure and good characters, of music, art, and obviously fun game mechanics. Then there's optional stuff like history, mythology, and other things that would be specific to games. I will be like Leonardo Da Vinci, except a version that likes girls and isn't interested in helicopters.

There is a lot for me to do. Fortunately, I'm fearless. RAWR.