Art Test from Naughty Dog

Some time between 2 and 3 pm yesterday, there were a couple of bugs in our database that needed to be updated as they had been sitting there untouched for quite a few weeks now. I needed to get them closed off. But I just wasn't feeling up to it. So I thought to procrastinate a little bit. I had exhausted all other means of procrastination when I said "Hey, I know! I can check my email!"

Which I did, without realizing the surprise that was waiting for me. There was an art test from Naughty Dog in my inbox. I had applied to an environment artist position with the team a few weeks back but I didn't think I was going to get a callback because

1) I'm Canadian
2) I don't have experience
3) My cover letter said "Dear Rainmaker"

A few days earlier I had received a "We are reviewing your qualifications" and thought, oh it's just another one of those. So yeah, DEFINITELY surprised that they wanted to take my application process to the next step. I told a couple friends on MSN, one of who flat out didn't believe me (not that I blame him).

Cause I mean, this is the maker of UNCHARTED, only among the best looking games ever! What in the world would make them want to look at little ol' me?! Well I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. So today I get started on the art test. I have 2 weeks to do it, strictly modeling. Wish me luck!

New Home!

So I've moved out of Port Moody, finally. I've been aching for this kind of freedom for a very long time now. From little things like mother coming into my room unannounced with the laundry, to not having the living room to myself because brother and his girlfriend are occupying it, watching TV or whatnot. I've been confined to my room recently, as it has been my only place of solace.

That changed when my friend at work Mike, asked me if I was interested in moving in with him and his other room mate Jamie, who also works with us. I was a little nervous at the prospect of leaving home because this was my first time doing so. I wasn't sure what kind of a room mate I would be, what kind of unwritten rules there would be to abide by.

I requested leave for the week of May 110th to work on my portfolio - completely forgetting that I'd planned to make the move that week. I ended up moving the first of my belongings over on the saturday before, and spent that week settling into my new place (which saves 45 minutes off my commute to work every morning.)

The Deep South

I went to Atlanta, Georgia for Christmas Break from Dec 26 to January 3. Touched down in Atlanta at night at around 10:30. Taxi ride in a van with a driver from Jamaica who had been living there for some time. Told me where I was staying was a safe part of the city with police 5 surrounding police outposts. Bums were the biggest problem but it's not like they were dangerous. Around 1 AM went out to look for some food and found a karaoke joint called Metro City where the people singing inside could be heard around the block. Had beer and chicken wings there - alone - but it was still delicious, all while listening to the people sing downstairs. Little bit later, walked back to the motel to get some sleep.

The next day I woke up early at around 8 something. I wanted to spend some of the day touring and trying out the local cuisine. For the first few hours I looked up local restaurant Benihana, the Coke Factory and the aquarium, and worked on my Balamb Garden scene for a few hours. Later in the afternoon, I went to the nearby Marriott hotel and found a Starbucks where I bought my Starbucks Atlanta cup from. Another one to add to the collection!

recent developments

I'm typing this as I'm watching Roswell. It's a pretty interesting show and I never got into it back when it was running. Since my last update I've joined 3 online mods but to be honest, the first one I don't think I'm going to be doing much work for as the guy doesn't seem to know what he wants and I don't like the kind of direction the producer is trying to take his project. the second one wants to make me their character modeler but I don't have any concept art or anything to go by, but I'm making the most out of what I have. But it's a struggle, I admit. The third one seems to be the most organized, gave the most professional image I've seen. They got me making some trees and vegetation. Considering I've never made a tree in my life, I seem to be doing a good job. So far I've gotten no negative feedback but it's hard to tell considering I just started with them.

Workwise, word seems to be that I will be transferring back to Artworks after skate 3 is done. I couldn't be happier at the news. The first person to give me an inkling was Karl. A little bit later I spoke to Marv who had moved down to IHOQ from CTU. He didn't seem like his usual cheerful self and I attribute it to him being transferred from CTU down to WWQA. I felt the same way when I got transferred. I'm enjoying working on Skate 3 as a POC, I've been given more responsibility than I've had in any of my past jobs and I seem to be handling it better than Kat expects, which only makes me happy. So the wait to return to Artworks will not be long and agonizing even though I am excited to return. Because another thing I'm looking forward to is seeing this project through to the end - the first triple A title to have my name on it.

POC

After Golive, things turned out for the better. I remember on one of the many beer nights with Kat and crew, mentioning that i was interested in more responsibility after the drone jobs i had with fifa and Golive. I asked for responsibility and did I ever get it. Becoming a point of contact for the skate 3 team is probably one of the best things that can happen to me here - and the worst at the same time. Good because I get the experience art testing for blackbox, bad because i'm new to it. it's nothing like testing for EAC. pre-integration and post-integration are one in the same. the job requires me to stay with the artwork from concept to integration, keep up to date with all the districts and lots, write reports and help direct testing efforts. I work under kat, and alongside carly. my main art responsibility is the environment.

ARGH

I tried signing into this account by making a typo in my email address like I usually do. Work sucks. I didn't want to get transferred to Mass Effect 2 because I want to enjoy the game as a game. Very bitter about being transferred to the team until Marv called me back up to artworks to work on NCAA while Katie was off on vacation. I ended up taking Emily's position but all the better for it because she's brand spankin' new to the company and i'm not sure she could have handled the stadiums and renders thrown at me. Hell i'm not too sure i even handled it the best way, i just sort of winged it. But Jason and all them seemed happy with the work i was doing so i just kept on doing it until told otherwise.

Monday came around and Katie returned from her vacation and replaced me on that team. I updated her on what we were doing and tried returning to mass effect where i belonged, until i found out that they actually replaced me with new testers citing our conversation last week. Pretty much I told them it looked as if NCAA wanted to keep me doing their work, but this was out of their jurisdiction although I'm not sure mass effect knew that. So for an hour or so, i was a rogue tester with no dedicated project, until yavar put me on the go-live team (and in all honesty i hate it) because i'm not doing any work - just attempting to repro issues users are having so that devs can make a patch and I start at 6:30 in the morning. The only perk is getting off work at 3:30 pm but it really doesn't make up for an overall shitty situation.

This experienced has further firmed my resolve in getting out of VMC QA and looking for a QA job with a company that 1) pays me what my job is worth and 2) gives me opportunities to climb up the corporate ladder. It gives me hope that this company i'm at is the only one that does things like this.

Latest Developments

It's been a solid few months since I've updated this blog. Too much has been going on in the professional, personal, and social scene. Here's the jist of what's happened sofar.

1) Personal: Grandpa hasn't been doing too well for the last few years, health is steadily going downhill. I thought about taking a trip to Singapore to visit him but because my job is doing a good job of keeping me busy, I decided not to go. That was until Grandma, on the other side of the family was diagnosed with cancer of the liver or gallbladder variety - still not sure as to what the details are. So in July, I took 13 working days off Tennis and headed to Singapore to visit the ailing grandparents. The country was hot and I had a horrible time with the weather although I ended up being able to see the grandparents and catch up. Also met a few of the cousins' friends. Overall, a decent trip and some much needed time off.

2) Social: Pretty much CL - she's the girl I've pretty much made all my mistakes on. We've known each other since we were 13 which means as off this writing, about half our lives. So because most of our relationship involves us fighting and bickering, naturally she bitches about me, but I had no idea to the extent. Turns out she pretty much turned her parents against me (although whether or not she intended to is questionable.). One fine Sunday about 4 weeks ago I went over to her house and when it was dinner time, they invited me to join them for the meal, which was a nice thing to do. Dinner ended up consisting of me having to endure her mother's verbal abuse. Would have talked back, except I was in their house eating their food and by talking back, would have made things worse. Next time I see her however, it will be on the street and shit will hit the fan and I will hold nothing back. Decided to cut off contact with CL as I don't see her changing anytime soon.

3) Professional: Tennis got canned about 4 weeks ago, around the same time with the trouble with CL. They decided to move me to FIFA which has so far been the absolute worst project I've ever been on and most of my co-workers (and other friends in the industry) agree with me. It's been 4 weeks - I'm on my fifth week now - of hellish kit verification and I would rather slit my wrists. Experience is experience however and I'm definitely glad I went through this, so I can appreciate other projects more. Unfortunately plans with the project involving mountains (I'm not at liberty to discuss the specifics lest I get fired) didn't pan out. They were given an extension which means need for Artworks QA testers won't come for months. So I will be moved to one of two other titles involving an EAX title or a Bioware title. I'm not too thrilled about the move. Yes, it will be a change from FIFA and yes, I'm sure I will have fun. But the reason for my unhappiness is that my role won't quite be the direction I want to take my career in. And suddenly this job is starting to feel like a dead end.

That's catches me up to the present. Still hoping everything turns out for the better cause if I have no hope, I have nothing. Oh yeah, and I'm trying to quit smoking.