tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60100648278114704672024-02-19T23:56:59.849-08:00Indie Game ProducerThe half truth about my life as an independent game producer.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-35622399039999189412013-02-14T20:47:00.002-08:002013-02-14T20:47:30.089-08:00My Parents vs. EntropyIf it were a fight to the death between my parents and entropy, entropy would lose.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-2448577431564452512012-09-12T13:36:00.002-07:002012-09-12T13:36:55.937-07:00Please Support Planetary Annihilation!Several of the tastiest original authors of the best real-time strategy game of all time, Total Annihilation, headed up by Jon Mavor, the technical genius behind the original, have created a Kickstarter campaign for the spiritual successor, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts" target="_blank">Planetary Annihilation</a>:<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/114/164/d84dbdda32e4267535fdd1f96b11ed68_large.png?1344992070" width="320" /></a></div>
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They have already blown past their goal of $900k and are up to $1.75M at the time of this post. We're in the last 45 hours of the raise now. If they break $2M, we get a live orchestral score, and if they break $2.1M, we get a documentary of the entire production. Could you make a pledge and help them meet their goal?<br />
<br />Here's the link! Click like the wind!<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts</a><br />
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Huge, huge, huge props to Kickstarter for creating a place where great games can be directly funded by their ardent fans.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-90570615138318740772012-08-10T18:30:00.003-07:002012-08-11T11:58:06.542-07:00Summer 2013 Prediction: Riots in Los AngelesI have a disturbing feeling we're going to have riots in Los Angeles in the summer of 2013, and I think it will be due to a few factors:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>We're experiencing huge corn crop failures due to the drought this year. This has sent corn futures soaring. Corn ends up in all the cheap processed foods that feed the poor, and that means the price of that cheap processed food will go up after those prices have had time to bubble up through the food production system. <br /></li>
<li>The drought is making clean water more scarce. Los Angeles already imports most of its water from outside of Los Angeles, but it's not like outlying areas are experiencing any less of a drought. This is going to escalate the price and availability of clean water.<br /></li>
<li>Something tells me gas prices are not likely to go down, and the buses in LA are a pretty miserable experience. They get held up by the infamous LA traffic just as cars do, and they're not well air conditioned.<br /></li>
<li>The wealth gap between the rich and poor certainly won't be any narrower next year. I think the riots will be partially motivated as an excuse to loot in an effort to catch up.<br /></li>
<li>The jobs situation isn't likely to improve. The education and literacy levels in the rough neighborhoods of LA aren't too hot, and every year we slip behind other nations on public education, it makes it harder for locals to make a living wage.<br /></li>
<li>Temperatures are going up. Particularly in the
asphalt jungles relegated to the poor in Los Angeles, next summer is
probably going to feel like they're living on a baking sheet left in the
oven for too long.</li>
</ul>
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So you've got a bunch of people who have barely enough money for food and water now, and it's going to be even harder for them to survive when the prices on that cheap food and water go up, then we're probably going to have another summer of record high temperatures, and excessive heat has a track record of inciting violent crime in LA.<br />
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From there, I think it'll just require a small nudge, some incident to spark riots. It could be one of a number of issues ranging from police brutality like last time up to slow response on a natural disaster or something as simple as a lag on the issuance of adequate food stamps and welfare to compensate for the increased costs of living. I'm guessing the media will attribute the riots to just the incident, and the solution will probably be perceived as needing more police instead of trying to understand the problem holistically. It feels like that high school experiment where you super-saturate hot water with dissolved salt, slowly cool it, and all it takes is one more grain of salt for it to tip the scales and make it all suddenly crystallize and fall out of the solution.<br />
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I'm not one for making such specific predictions at specific times, but I feel unpleasantly certain this one will come true. I'd welcome comments telling me I'm insane and explaining precisely why. I totally want to be wrong on this one.<br />
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If you agree, what would you do knowing we have about a year before the excitement starts? Is there anything that could be done to mitigate the damage and help cooler heads prevail? I feel like we're sort of locked into this, that it's too large a problem, and that there aren't enough people who care to make a difference.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-90533477106913558932011-12-06T13:48:00.001-08:002011-12-06T13:51:25.731-08:00What's it like to be a baby?"It's like being in love for the first time in Paris after you've had 3 double espressos. It's a fantastic way to be, but it does leave you waking up crying at 3 o' clock in the morning."<br /> -- Alison Gopnik in her TED talk <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think.html">What do Babies Think?</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-21529826261758306822011-09-29T10:34:00.000-07:002011-09-29T12:47:06.489-07:00Bethesda vs Mojang(If you don't know who Mojang and Bethesda are and don't know about the lawsuit, skip to the bottom to read a quick background on this.)<br /><br />I write today to praise the noble Markus "Notch" Persson. Notch was already a hero and inspiration to me and to thousands of indie developers for making Minecraft, but he has elevated himself infinitely further in my eyes by making what could be a costly but ethical stand against Bethesda for levying a wrongful lawsuit against his company.<br /><br />Ethics are rarely used as the guiding moral compass people use to make big decisions. They get cited all the time when it's debatable one way or the other which path is more profitable, but rarely does someone make a big decision where the ethical path puts him in the charging headlights of an oncoming legal department from a corporate giant, and that is what Notch has done.<br /><br />He has responded to Bethesda's demands that he change the name of his game Scrolls with a simple refusal, and on threat of lawsuit, he has counter-suggested that they have a game of Quake 3 deathmatch to decide whether he can use the name. This was met with a lawsuit instead of a laugh, as well as the requisite headaches, costs, and time lost that this will mean for poor Notch and his company Mojang as they try to fight off this behemoth.<br /><br />Notch has just published the scary legal documents he's received from Bethesda, and I can only praise him further for forcing that transparency. It should be seen exactly how Bethesda is bullying this heroic indie developer, and it is an even bolder act of courage. It's a move that's liable to make the petty egos that approved of this course and that drafted those docs feel cornered and all the more motivated to crush him. And it's those wrong-doers that I want to put the spotlight on, because it's not as cut and dry as saying "lawyers are evil."<br /><br />Most people love the development side of Bethesda, the part that makes their games, and they feel this is a fight between their much less beloved legal department and Notch, but I disagree.<br /><br />The development side of Bethesda is the money making machine that funds the legal department. They have the leverage, and they aren't using it. While I'm sure they've pointed out it's in poor taste, they haven't done anything beyond that. They could privately insist to management that they drop this wrongful lawsuit, but they haven't. If they did insist and management didn't listen, they could probably end it quickly by publicly protesting that management drop it, but they haven't. If that failed, they could delay the release of Skyrim from 11/11/11, their widely advertised release date, even a week or two, which would cost Bethesda far more money than the lawsuit, nevermind the imaginary cost of Mojang's Scrolls to their brand equity in Skyrim and its assured 20 sequels, but they haven't done that either.<br /><br />Like every corporation does, the employees have been instructed not to discuss the case with anyone. So they're staying in line. They're cooperating. They're continuing along with Skyrim development, so that it can be released this November on schedule to keep the machine fed with ever-increasing revenues on their path to IPO.<br /><br />The developers at Bethesda have ethics, too, but they have the kind most of us have, the weak-willed sort that melts at the first suggestion that stopping wrongdoing might cost them something, might upset someone, might reduce the inertia of a machine that is perceived to be unstoppable.<br /><br />And that's fine. I'm sure many of them are concerned for their jobs and careers, their families, the usual concerns, and fear is a powerful motivator. But it doesn't absolve them. I hold them individually and directly responsible, particularly the leads and particularly Todd Howard, the producer. Together, they are funding this. Together, they can stop this. Together, they have decided not to. Instead, they're going to let the machine they're funding run over a hero and a fellow developer.<br /><br />I stand behind Notch on this, and I'd like to propose a toast to his courage and offer a prayer that he wins the day in court.<br /><br />----<br /><br />Background: Bethesda, makers of the games Oblivion, Fallout 3, and the upcoming Skyrim is suing Mojang, makers of Minecraft and the upcoming Scrolls for using the name "Scrolls." They claim it violates their trademark Edler Scrolls, which is what they've named their RPG series of games, that most gamers know as Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, as this is how they focus their marketing, when in fact, the full names are actually Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The unreleased Mojang game, by contrast, is simply called Scrolls.<br /><br />Bethesda is a very large developer based in Bethesda, Maryland and owned by ZeniMax, which owns several developers now, including id Software (Doom, Quake, Rage), Machine Games, Arkane, and Tango Gameworks. Bethesda's Elder Scrolls games pioneered the migration from overhead-view RPG games to first-person view RPG games. They are immense worlds you can roam freely, and they're much beloved by tens of millions of players. Their new title Skyrim is the latest in this series and a hotly anticipated visual feast. They are now one of the game industry behemoths, and each game release grosses many hundreds of millions of dollars for the company.<br /><br />Mojang is much younger company than Bethesda and independent. It has only the success of Minecraft, a game written largely by a single developer, Markus "Notch" Persson. It is a little like Legos brought to life in a computer. It's a triumph of savvy design and technology over gee-whiz graphics, and it is one of the games you keep on a short list of counter-examples if someone should try to suggest to you that games are no longer innovative or that they've become uncreative or treadmill exercises. It also has millions of fans but news of Minecraft spread mainly by word of mouth and the press as they began to realize it was turning into a phenomenon.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-61352676877073770702011-03-18T22:43:00.000-07:002011-03-18T23:01:01.321-07:00My grandma died today. She was 100 1/2.<br /><br />Did you meet her? I loved her. She was quite a grandma.<br /><br />She taught me to always walk on the street side when escorting a woman, to open her door, and to offer my arm for her to hold onto. She was an artist, and I loved her paintings. Everybody loved her paintings. I'm sure she taught me many other things, probably ingrained so deep I'm not even aware of them. I am sure that I am in part her now.<br /><br />I loved the way she moved her hands, and I don't think anyone else noticed. I don't know how to describe it. By the time she was 100, her fingers were a little too large for the gestures she was unconsciously making, but I could see the elegance of their movements even then. I could see the artistic power in them. I've always been envious of that. I wish I could move my fingers like she could move hers. I think I have a sliver of her talent in my thoughts, but not my fingers, not like hers.<br /><br />I don't like how she went. She had to give up her house, which was hard for her, her well-being was the source of a lot of unnecessary drama between my father and uncle, and she forgot her family in the end. I wish we had a better way to go, where we could pick our time and celebrate our lives and be surrounded by our family. I wish I could have spoken to her one last time. I don't like all of the unsaid things.<br /><br />I imagine the negative space of whatever quantum remnants of her consciousness are mingling with grandpa's now. It makes me happy to know that I got to be in the same universe as both of them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-66941224373091011692010-09-24T09:25:00.000-07:002010-09-24T09:35:42.424-07:00Freddy Ties One OnDue to the excruciating coolness of their parents Tom and Julie, I had the pleasure of attending Burning Man this this year with my niece Madelleine (17) and nephew Freddy (5).<br /><br />I worry however that Freddy might have had a little too much fun.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt-etqWcYHDxQ6ps-nzlN2Uv-jC_5a7KLsSBqMeP-A1tu6eA0Tz7-Y8niYR2jMHzhxfVPUUZcVA8sWvzyRjjKMeIUmoH_-tLuD09xnQSlZWCvoUrSj4L-6RITGaD4Sto1m4kEfNvY7FVI/s1600/freddy_ties_one_on1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt-etqWcYHDxQ6ps-nzlN2Uv-jC_5a7KLsSBqMeP-A1tu6eA0Tz7-Y8niYR2jMHzhxfVPUUZcVA8sWvzyRjjKMeIUmoH_-tLuD09xnQSlZWCvoUrSj4L-6RITGaD4Sto1m4kEfNvY7FVI/s320/freddy_ties_one_on1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520519071610297554" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-83605273384693100562010-08-22T23:19:00.000-07:002010-08-22T23:23:28.444-07:00Iran's Bomber Drone Elevates the English LanguageI read this in the first line of a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11052023">BBC story</a> on Iran's new bomber drone and couldn't believe my luck:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the plane could serve as a "messenger of death", but that its key message was one of friendship.</span><br /><br />Some words when strung together are just far better than others.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-65347693942457595882010-08-10T11:09:00.000-07:002010-08-10T23:58:12.159-07:00Privacy is BadI read this recent story on slashdot, which explains that WikiLeaks is being irresponsible by not redacting names from documents they leak:<br /><br /><a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/08/09/2319222/Human-Rights-Groups-Join-Criticism-of-WikiLeaks">http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/08/09/2319222/Human-Rights-Groups-Join-Criticism-of-WikiLeaks</a><br /><br />Releasing information does not put civilians in danger. Releasing information makes it easier for assholes to put civilians in danger. It also makes it easier for good people to reach and help endangered civilians.<br /><br />Redacting anything is a giant waste of time and resources and reduces the collective knowledge and wisdom of the human species when considered as a whole.<br /><br />That our culture and legal system are built around the need for privacy in an age where privacy is fast evaporating is a serious issue. It's not that we need privacy. It's that we need to adapt to not having it, to living like people used to live in small towns where nobody really had secrets. It takes getting used to, but we had better get used to it, because it is our future.<br /><br />Mr. Assange is an international hero for having the bravery to do what he does, and my complaint with him is quite the opposite of Amnesty International's. That he redacts anything is a waste of his valuable time.<br /><br />By the way, props to <a href="http://www.jacehall.net/">Jason Hall</a> for his success in both the game and entertainment industries and for his discipline at the gym to carve the image of a real man, but if you want to see an actual real man in action, it's this frail looking dude with the grey hair:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_assange_why_the_world_needs_wikileaks.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_assange_why_the_world_needs_wikileaks.html<br /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-11153236050203468812010-08-05T22:32:00.000-07:002010-08-05T22:33:35.601-07:00Help Starlight Win the Pepsi ContestMy friend Jenny Isaacson helps run a foundation called the Starlight Children's Foundation (used to be called Starlight Starbrite if that rings a bell). It benefits seriously ill kids.<br /><br />They're competing in a Pepsi contest to win $250k to help make scary hospital treatment rooms a lot more comforting for kids so they're not freaking out quite so hard.<br /><br />If you could vote for them, I'd really appreciate it. You can vote every day in the month of August, if you want to help them knock it out of the park. At the time of this post, they're currently ranked #77 and need to hit #2. Just visit this link to vote:<br /><br />http://www.refresheverything.com/starlight<br /><br />You can login using your facebook account.<br /><br />Thanks!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-2885824232601323322010-07-26T11:01:00.001-07:002010-07-26T11:07:21.106-07:00Cat TortureI love cats as much as I love dogs, which is to say, a lot. It sucks that I'm allergic to both, but it's worth the sniffles to visit and play.<br /><br />That said, I share genes with my grandfather, who enjoyed experimenting on cats, and my father, who reduced us to tears of joy by putting a sock on the cat's head, putting paper napkin booties on it, etc.<br /><br />Particularly as a Los Angeles dweller, I still find something undeniably satisfying about poking fun at anthropomorphizing pet owners.<br /><br />It is for this reason that reading this led to more actual LOL's than I've had in quite some time browsing the web:<br /><br /><a href="http://webpress.posterous.com/why-never-to-ask-favours-from-the-designers-0">http://webpress.posterous.com/why-never-to-ask-favours-from-the-designers-0</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-24853988365812440532010-06-28T14:54:00.000-07:002010-06-28T15:02:07.180-07:00Caffeine as a DrugI quit coffee about two years ago. I drink a cup of green tea each day instead, which I've learned to love, and which keeps my teeth the English shade of yellow I've come to lean on to repel women and cameras.<br /><br />However, as a treat, specifically in business meetings, I treat myself to a cup or two of coffee.<br /><br />Turns out to be quite a treat. I've tried cocaine a few times, but cocaine has nothing on caffeine after a long withdrawal. Caffeine lasts much longer and has a far more productive, mood-improving result for me. I'm brighter, happier, and faster. There seems to be no down side except for getting addicted to it, which leads to tolerance, which leads to higher doses, which leads to GI tract issues, and eventually virtually zero benefit, all of which happens after a month or two for me.<br /><br />If you're really into coffee, I recommend this as an insanely powerful recreational drug:<br /><br />1. Give it up permanently.<br />2. Pick a day (no more than once every few months) to go nuts.<br />3. Have a small meal.<br />4. Pound a double cappucino.<br />5. Witness the joy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-26995168458749021562010-06-19T15:03:00.001-07:002010-06-19T15:28:54.955-07:00Beakiez Blue Sky PatchThis is what Beakiez looked like on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtJ3kfIXif8">Tuesday</a>.<div><br /></div><div>This is what the game turned into on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFXnid4EPNk">Wednesday</a>.<br /><div><br />If you already have the game, just run it again, and it'll autopatch. </div><div>Otherwise, you can grab it from here: <a href="http://beakiez.com">http://beakiez.com</a><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-80334883897157928222010-06-13T13:30:00.000-07:002010-06-13T13:45:34.813-07:00My Favourite Students at the 2010 Academy of Art University Spring ShowI serve the Advisory Board to the President of the Academy of Art University. Once a year, the school flies us up to see the Spring Show and give them feedback on the departments and how to improve the curriculum.<br /><br />Although we don't have much time to see the show, I try to carefully make note of as many students as I can whose work really stood out to me. I thought I would list them here (alphabetical order):<br /><br />Kristin Abbot<br />Jonathan Aguillon<br />Jonathan Ahn<br />Petur Antonsson<br />Benjamin Arthur<br />Debbie Bakker<br />Matt Beardsley<br />Sarah Bell<br />Hyun Bo Park<br />Miki Bong<br />Justin Bowen<br />Chris Carter<br />Gina Chang<br />Pan Chengwei<br />Alberto Contestabili<br />Leo Dasso<br />Laura Davis<br />Sam Filstrup<br />Paul Fletcher<br />Craig Fowler<br />Johan Friis<br />Liscelyn Grifal<br />Gak Gyu Choi<br />Chris H. Chu<br />Rory Hejtmanek<br />Greg Hinkle<br />Marquis Houghton<br />Steven Howard<br />David Hsia<br />Yunsung Jang<br />Kim Ji Won<br />Jenny Johannesson<br />Anton Kagounkin<br />Jeong-Yong Kim<br />Galina Korovitsina<br />Katie Kung rumford<br />Daryn Laborers<br />Manar Laham<br />Weishsuan Lai<br />Sungho Lee<br />Sunny Lee<br />Theera Leutkiattikul<br />Carlyn Lim<br />Yingjue Linda Chen<br />Karl Lindberg<br />Karl Lindberg<br />Rose Ma<br />Brittany Mclaren<br />Tiffany Moy<br />Roman Muradov<br />R.J. Palmer<br />Mario Para<br />Hans Park<br />Sagar Patel<br />Esteban Pecheco<br />Vorrarit Pornkerd<br />Tami Portman<br />Justin Promos<br />Ovetto Ray<br />Hye Ryung Pan<br />Marcus Sakoda<br />Brady Sammons<br />Josh Sanders<br />Lori Schkufza<br />Rishi Shah<br />Eddie Shieh<br />Cody Shipman<br />Eve Skylark<br />Angelo Soriano<br />John Staub<br />Louisa Surjana<br />Bryan Thompson<br />Emerson Tung<br />Wilfredo Valle<br />Jameekorn Varcharakomonphan<br />Diego Velasquez<br />Chris Vilchez<br />Mo Yan<br />Renee Yoch<br />Julia Yurtsev<br />Lylyan Zhen Li<br />Brian ZobelAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-45921342444272759542010-05-28T16:46:00.001-07:002010-05-28T17:06:46.526-07:00Capitalism: A Love StoryI have nearly lost the ability to walk because of a pinched nerve which is wreaking havoc with my left leg. I of course couldn't find an orthopedic to see me about it today and will have to wait at least a week to get an appointment. Perhaps that's why I thought of Michael Moore and the brilliant light he sheds on the inadequacies of our failing US government.<br /><br />Whatever the reason, I hobbled over to my computer and watched <a href="http://michaelmoore.com/books-films/capitalism-love-story">Capitalism: A Love Story</a> today. I was standing throughout the whole movie in order to avoid having to sit down or stand up, which is incredibly painful, so keep in mind, if the movie sucked even the tiniest bit, it was unusually easy to walk away, or hobble in my case.<br /><br />It didn't suck. As a game designer, I've been crying foul about the incredibly poor game design of capitalism for years, but I thought what Michael Moore did by interviewing priests was sublime. They were straight up about it. Capitalism is evil. It's hard for me to even write that. I was raised on the American Dream, and when I'm flush with cash, it's a heady trip. I want to play the game, but I see how heavily the odds are stacked against indies because I work as an indie producer. Surviving without ethical compromise is very challenging.<br /><br />Also not fond of most organized religions, but I have to say that as a pretty staunch athiest, it was super refreshing to be cheering for the priesthood in this film.<br /><br />Unregulated capitalism is going to be the end of us. It needs to change pronto. Einstein was famous for saying:<br /><br /><blockquote>"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."</blockquote><br /><br />The concept of unregulated capitalism has such a clean, simple sounding design to it, that I believe otherwise good people fell into the trap of thinking that unfettered free market capitalism was the answer. It obviously isn't.<br /><br />See it. I think it's the most important film I've ever seen.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-15416849224215570552010-05-04T15:40:00.000-07:002010-05-04T15:43:48.547-07:00Beakiez made it onto The Needles!I'm afraid I'm stoked. Beakiez made it onto The Needles, Andy Chalk's popular column at The Escapist. It's <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/the-needles/7519-The-Needles-Beakiez-Casual-Gets-Hardcore">an incredibly well-written article</a> that talks about the game and some of the trials and tribulations we've been up against with Beakiez. Check it out!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-82136375063637814382010-04-17T11:57:00.000-07:002010-04-17T12:04:57.699-07:00The Wrath of KahnI just watched The Wrath of Kahn again. Incredible movie. Incredible music. Brought me to tears once again.<br /><br />Carefully looked at everyone driving that film to see what became of their careers. I thought surely the director and writer(s) would rise to meteoric heights from that, but only James Horner went on to be increasingly successful. Though I don't want to detract from the superb writing, directing, and much of the acting, this cemented just how important music is to the medium of film. I come away all the more convinced that music should tell the story and dictate the edit.<br /><br />At a couple points, I realized I recognized some of the exact passages in Kahn were used in Aliens, too, even before I realized he did both. Horner does completely awesome things with horns, appropriately enough. Don't think I've heard any film composer top what he does with a horn section, but he's just all around incredible.<br /><br />I also remembered that the new Star Trek film was released by tricking movie-goers in Austin into thinking they were going to see a showing of the Wrath of Kahn, and then surprising them with a sneak preview. They were ripped off. Kahn was the better film by far. They should have hired Horner.<br /><br />Back to what is likely to be an educational but dull weekend migrating and debugging server code, but I am at least inspired and energized.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-88355114627646136552010-04-11T05:33:00.000-07:002010-04-11T07:50:42.948-07:00West and Zampella vs Activision, Part 2From Page 11 of <a href="http://media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/108/1082884/imgs_1.html">the Activision counter-suit</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>39. Knowing the wrongfulness of their actions, West and Zampella took steps to keep their actions hidden. West and Zampella sent and received the following messages in an apparent effort to covertly copy certain materials, reading in part: "Dunno how to scan secretly [sic]... [IW Employee's] computer down... [IW Employee] did it for me last time... Really. No paranoia about it being in [IW employee] user folder? Her comp down anyway now... She had a secret area it scanned into... Probably better to just photocopy and Fedex... Can scan or photo- your call... Boom boom pow. Away."</blockquote><br />Looks like Activision has been reading emails and IM's. There are a lot of other allegations in there, some of them quite specific like the above, suggesting they have concrete evidence to support them.<br /><br />The bulk of Activision's argument is focused on Jason and Vince's duty of loyalty and fiduciary duty to Activision shareholders. They have an employment agreement, they feel it's in breach. It's a pretty simple argument, not unlike the argument Jason and Vince are making that Activision is in breach of their MOU.<br /><br />What's conspicuously missing is the explanation that Jason and Vince were warned that their behavior was unacceptable and that their jobs were in peril as a result. The reason that doesn't look good for Activision is that Activision is asking for reimbursement of everything Jason and Vince have been compensated since they first demonstrated the alleged disloyalty and insubordination.<br /><br />If the insubordination was so dire and obvious, then they could have fired Jason and Vince long ago, or at least warned them. Instead, they kept them on, and Jason and Vince delivered the best-selling console game of all time. Woops. It appears they did the shareholders a solid, despite Activision's arguments in this counter-suit that Jason and Vince haven't acted in the best interests of the shareholders.<br /><br />But Activision isn't alone in making shaky arguments. This was a part of the response from Robert Schwarz, the attourney representing Jason and Vince, in <a href="http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1082896p1.html">his statement to IGN</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>"Activision's inaccurate and misguided allegations lose sight of the reality here: None of the false claims of insubordination or breach of duties had any negative affect on Activision -- none. Modern Warfare 2 has been the world's most successful video game," Schwartz added.</blockquote><br />If the allegations are inaccurate and misguided, then you don't say that the things which didn't happen didn't have a negative effect. That's equivalent to saying they did happen, but they didn't have a negative effect.<br /><br />I'm noticing the broken logic, the mis-used "affect" above, and the typo in this statement below, as well:<br /><br /><blockquote>"The conversations with IW employees, talent agents, and others during these negotiations with Activision <span style="font-weight:bold;">were conducted in disrespect of Activision</span> but to see if Activision's proposal could work." <br /></blockquote><br />I think he meant "were conducted <span style="font-weight:bold;">not</span> in disrespect." Getting this wrong is bad enough, but getting it right yields another dangerous double negative. You lose either way with a statement like this.<br /><br />I hope Mr. Schwarz was either having an off day or that IGN did an unflattering job of transcribing this from a phone interview, because it's inviting the scary. Activision wants to protect not only one of its most prized IP's but its ability to prevent employees from shopping themselves for better deals. There are billions at stake for Activision here, but as a percentage of their net worth, a lot more is at stake for Jason and Vince.<br /><br />Were I Mr. Schwarz, I would not play the outraged denial routine quite so loudly. It's trite and not particularly convincing, which is undermining his otherwise valid points.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-91954684832974387942010-03-30T18:40:00.000-07:002010-03-31T17:57:08.712-07:00Beakiez Sneak PreviewWe've been working hard to make Beakiez prettier. Someday (I hope soon) when you next run it, the game will automatically download a patch, and you'll get this new, much prettier version of Beakiez automatically.<br /><br />We just released a <a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/sneak-peek-beakiez/63855">sneak preview video</a> of the new look. You can see a before-and-after effect by comparing it to our <a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-beakiez/63819">launch trailer</a>.<br /><br />Our new GameTrailers website with both videos is here:<br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-beakiez/63819">http://www.gametrailers.com/game/beakiez/12913</a><br /><br />Beakiez <span style="font-style:italic;">almost</span> made <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2010-03-31-videochat31_CV_N.htm">this article in USA Today</a>. I'm about seven paragraphs in, and the guy on the other end of that skype chat I'm talking about is Kevin Depue, who is the co-founder of opGames, the team behind Beakiez.<br /><br />Will keep at it. The world must hear our cry to pop the bubbles to get the fruit to make the gas to fart more bubbles to free the beakiez with! Help greatly apprecaited! :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-90279628163103330872010-03-23T17:17:00.000-07:002010-03-23T17:29:07.887-07:00"I Play W.o.W." videoJason Hall just released the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltM5jHIJFw4">"I Play W.O.W" video</a>. My friend <a href="http://www.anorei.net/blog">Anorei Collins</a> (look for the gravity-warping decolletage) and I are in there briefly as dancing WoW addicts starting shortly after 3:30.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-80303056579180708102010-03-04T10:27:00.000-08:002010-03-09T17:58:08.840-08:00Jason West and Vince Zampella vs ActivisionThis is from <a href="http://kotaku.com/5485703/ousted-infinity-ward-founders-lawsuit-against-activision-%5Bthe-court-documents%5D/gallery/10">paragraph 32 on page 10</a> of the court docs regarding the lawsuit between Jason West and Vince Zampella and Activision:<br /><br /><blockquote>Activision conducted the investigation in a manner to maximize the inconvenience and anxiety it would cause West and Zampella. On little notice, Activision insisted on conducting interviews over the President's Day holiday weekend; West and Zampella were <span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">interrogated for over six hours in a windowless conference room</span>; Activision investigators <span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">brought other Inifinty Ward employees to tears</span> in their questioning and accusations and threatened West and Zampella with "insubordination" if they attempted to console them; Activision's outside counsel demanded that West and Zampella <span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">surrender their personal computers, phones, and communication devices</span> to Activison for review by Activision's outside counsel and, when West and Zampella asserted their legally protected privacy rights, Activisions counsel said that doing so constituted further acts of insubordination.</blockquote><br /><br />Obviously creepy, but also odd. Why does one interfere to this degree with the goose who lays the golden eggs? Makes me wonder what ATVI's hidden agenda is. It's not like the bonuses they owed Infinity Ward were all that significant compared to the bottom line that Modern Warfare 2 is generating. Something isn't adding up.<br /><br />And this is from Activision's 10-K filing with the SEC:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to <span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">involve the departure of key personnel</span> and litigation. At present, the Company <span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">does not expect this matter to have a material impact</span> on the Company.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Neat! They've figured out how to keep the departure of key personnel from materially impacting the company. Should definitely patent that trick!<br /><br />On the bright side, I'm pretty sure Activision is going to lose this one. I think even their management must be keen to lose at this stage. I've been talking to lots of serious cookie AAA developers. They're uniformly appalled by what is happening and in complete solidarity with Jason and Vince.<br /><br />If I were Activision, I would be apologizing and trying to find a graceful way to wriggle out of this, because the alternative, which is committing to winning the suit, means they need to launch a smear campaign against two of the most respected developers in the industry, and it's just frankly not going to work.<br /><br />This is a link to <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yceaqbj">Jake Simpson's post on the matter</a>, which goes into detailed analysis of the personalities and backstory of what is involved in the suit. Jake was one of the lead developers on the Sims and is well-known for not being afraid to speak his mind.<br /><br />Game designer Scott Jennings, one of the authors of Dark Age of Camelot, also weighs in with <a href="http://brokentoys.org/2010/03/04/activision-moving-from-sucking-all-the-fun-out-of-development-to-actually-killing-your-dog/">his post on the dark turn that publishers have taken</a>.<br /><br />Matthew Colville, a designer at Panic Volcanic and one of the folks who brought us Mercenaries 2 uses this sad tale of Modern Warfare to <a href="http://www.squaremans.com/?p=124">explain how publishers come to the creepy conclusion</a> that games are seen as little more than vehicles for launching brands.<br /><br />Dean Takahashi, who has consistently proven to be one of the most balanced and professional journalists in the game industry, has put up a <a href="http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/03/07/the-making-and-unmaking-of-infinity-ward/">great piece</a> that details the entire history of Infinity Ward, leading up to this sad conclusion.<br /><br />Veteran game industry attourney Dan Offner predicts part of the outcome at the end of this <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/35728246/site/14081545?__source=yahoo|headline|quote|text|&par=yahoo">CNET article</a> on the IW/Activision lawsuit.<br /><br />Never disappointed with ex-lawyer/now-super-agent Keith Boesky's awesomely informative, knowledgeable, and colourful posts, I have to admit it's killing me that he's delivering the responsible adult position of <a href="http://boesky.blogspot.com/2010/03/infinity-ward-and-activision-deja-vu.html">waiting until we know more</a>. Nevertheless, absolutely worth the read.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-8795476932276766922010-02-11T17:19:00.001-08:002010-02-11T18:38:41.993-08:00One year without a car in Santa MonicaWe're coming up on one year without a car, but in reality, I stopped driving it almost 16 months ago. These are 10 things that I've learned about life without a car in Los Angeles:<br /><br />1. The metro.net website has a service almost exactly like mapquest, and it'll give you multiple alternatives for how to get between any two points. It can take some work to get used to it, and you have to carefully check the results. It includes Santa Monica buses.<br /><br />2. The following things were a significant source of grief in my life before, and they are now completely gone now: finding street parking, parking lot / valet fees, parking tickets, speeding tickets, registration, insurance, visiting the DMV, inflating tires, rotating tires, general maintenance visits, repairs for unexpected malfunctions, gasoline, fighting traffic, and car washes. It's a longer list than I thought, and I'm <span style="font-style:italic;">thrilled</span> to be rid of it all.<br /><br />3. I am very afraid of dying and killing while driving, because I know what kinetic energy is, and I know that it grows linearly with your vehicle mass (mine was 3600 lbs) and with the square of your vehicle's speed. I was also constantly appalled at the inefficiency of transporting a payload of under 200 lbs with a vehicle that weighed almost 20X as much. If you aren't already, you should be afraid and appalled as well.<br /><br />4. I have an Enterprise rent-a-car over the hill. When I have an important business meeting in a part of town which is hard to access, I will rent a car, and I will try to schedule other meetings and errands that day which are not easy to get to via bus. I priced zip cars, which I thought would be more effective, but it turned out that renting a car for the day was cheaper overall. It's about $50 for an economy car with liability insurance. I can go for weeks without needing to rent a car, and savings, even at $50/day is huge.<br /><br />5. The Santa Monica Big Blue Bus system is great. For $0.75, it'll take me to Malibu, the LAX airport, UCLA, and anywhere in between. The Rapid 3 route is particularly yummy for airport flights. For $0.50 more, I can get a transfer to a metro bus, which would otherwise cost another $1.25.<br /><br />6. I love living locally, but some of my friends are still pressuring me to get a car. I don't expect that to let up, but I'm so much happier without one that I am happy to bear a little peer pressure.<br /><br />7. The best parties are often in inaccessible places, and this is a big weakness of not owning a car in Los Angeles. If you go by bus, then if the party runs late, you run the risk of the buses stopping. Even if they don't stop, they're running very seldomly late at night, and you can easily spend 30min or more in the cold waiting for the next bus. My solution so far has been to crash at a friend's place either at the party or nearby, and then buy breakfast. It's working out so far.<br /><br />8. Dating is more challenging. I need my date to come here or for her to quickly become comfy with me staying over. I'm so selective, however, that I have flown women in from other countries, so whereas this is a pain in the butt, the bigger issue of finding the right girl dwarfs it.<br /><br />9. I work primarily out of my home. If I didn't, I would have to work somewhere that was on a convenient bus route. I am definitely noticing a tendency to want to close deals with accessible locals, now, and I think this is a healthy pressure.<br /><br />10. I moved to a neighborhood near Main St. where almost everything I need is within walking distance, and I have developed relationships with local businessmen because of it.<br /><br />Overall, I heartily recommend selling your car. When I pitch others to do this, I invariably get push-back saying that they won't be able to get to hard-to-get-to places. Indeed, they won't except when they occasionally rent/borrow a car, but by analogy, I like to point out that Cortez burned his ships, so that they would be forced to press ahead and would be unable to retreat. It is a very similar sort of thing. It sounds scary, but it helps you commit to living locally. I now know what that is viscerally, not just in concept, and I find it's definitely a better way to go.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-37152349678952191622010-02-11T16:32:00.001-08:002010-02-11T17:00:15.271-08:00I love music and can't help youIf you're a music composer looking to break into the game industry, please read:<br /><br />I'm not going to reply to your email. It's not because I don't love you. It's not because I don't love music. It's because of all the jobs that need doing in game development, music composition is the one with by far the most competition. There are tons of music composers out there, and worse, now that the music industry is collapsing, you're competing with big names who are looking for work in games as well.<br /><br />Plus, I'm generally not the guy who makes that call. I raise money to get games in development, I do game design, I look for teams and people, help with publicity. Music isn't a part of that process, and when it does become part of the process, it's usually the dev team's call, not mine, and most of them usually already have a relationship with someone they like to use.<br /><br />If you're trying to break in, start with small, small teams. Research the mod community. Find out who is doing cool stuff, find peeps you like, and give them music for free. Stick with them. Help them make the game.<br /><br />Also, get your hands dirty in the level editor. Learn how to make your music more procedural and responsive to the game mood. Learn to work within the feature and real-time performance limitations of the playback system. Learn the level editor also because frankly, you're not going to be able to feed yourself reliably on what the game industry pays composers.<br /><br />It's a very different kind of composition these days. Gone are the days where you send out a *.wav file with the final score. You may have to say goodbye to your beloved DAW and learn to work with wobbly, incomplete game development tools.<br /><br />Most of all, I encourage you to get involved in the process of making games. It's a very different beast musically, depending on engine technology and platform, and practice makes perfect.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-43531773813113846372010-01-10T19:45:00.001-08:002010-01-10T19:50:13.356-08:00SSD Drive in my MacBook ProI upgraded the hard drive from my 15" MacBook Pro (2.16Ghz) to a 160Gb Intel X25-M SSD yesterday. It has completely overhauled my computing experience. Applications open nearly instantly. Big fatty apps that eat a lot of memory return the desktop to full functionality as soon as you quit. Loading any files is nearly instantaneous. The giant dog of a proggy, Mail.app, now loads instantly.<br /><br />Ironically, the last computer I owned that was this responsive was my 1MHz Apple //e with a 5Mb Sider hard drive.<br /><br />At just under $500, it's not cheap, but it is a much more dramatic improvement on my computer's overall speed than any big upgrade I've ever done, and at thousands of dollars less. I recommend it to anyone.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010064827811470467.post-3506585694880553502010-01-07T14:12:00.000-08:002010-01-07T14:14:07.050-08:00The Psychology of Video GamesMakes haste to <a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/">The Psychology of Video Games blog</a>. It's educational, funny, and all win.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06482957323389933475noreply@blogger.com0