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.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
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.
Friday, September 18, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Another Job Opportunity ... maybe
It's been just over a year since i graduated and luckily I'm still here at EA. Somehow managed to miraculously survive the layoffs. Lee just got a job here as a marketing assistant tft. He gave me a heads up the other day that Artworks is looking for a head artist and I'm definitely going to apply when i can get a good head done next. Chances of me getting the job I would say, are slim to none. But I will still try. Here's hoping I can pull it off since it's been about 2 weeks since I've touched my portfolio. Lots of catchup work to do.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
So after John left, I started kicking the networking into high gear. Eric, as I mentioned in my previous post gave my portfolio a quick critique and promised to get a meeting set up with one of the directors of artworks. I had to pop by his office to remind him a few weeks after the fact - also considering around that time a bunch of artists were let go from the department so i figured lying low until the situation boiled over would be a good idea. Eric scheduled a meeting with julia, the director lady, who then gave me some insight into what working in the department was like, how they would hire me and who would be doing what evaluation. Turns out Brandon will still be reviewing my stuff, since as Eric put it, he is somewhat of an artistic gatekeeper to the department. So if he's telling me to work on hands, feet, and drapery, that's exactly what Josh's is gonna have to do!
Was talking to Dad about the English language the other day, and started telling him about all the strange words Xine, Andrew and me made up that we use regularly like tpaha and ESL. I guess not so much strange words as redefining acronyms as actual words. It got me thinking how I kinda miss them both.
Posted some of my games I never play anymore for sale on craigs list on monday. Figured I had too many video games lying around that mean nothing to me - like GTAIV which there was a big hoopla about yet after buying it, found there was very little incentive for me to keep playing. It was just boring - the characters, the environment, the music. Don't get me wrong, realistically beautiful ... but about as exciting and adventerous as real life. Actually, less so because I'm sitting in front of a TV all day.
Another was I put up on sale was Assassin's Creed. Again, beautiful graphics, excellent mood, but the gameplay was boring as ever. It pretty much consisted of 1 mission with a series of objectives to complete, after which you were rewarded with a new ability. Do that nine times with little to no story/character development each time round, and you've got the entire game.
The original Skate. That one went on sale. Mostly because I liked Skate 2 much better and can safely say I will never touch the original game again. Sorry Gord.
Bought Too Human last week. Played it about twice, both in the same day and realized I didn't give a damn about that game either. Reading about it, it sounded to me like a game I'd be all over. I liked the unique blend of Nordic mythos set in a sci-fi world.
Was talking to Dad about the English language the other day, and started telling him about all the strange words Xine, Andrew and me made up that we use regularly like tpaha and ESL. I guess not so much strange words as redefining acronyms as actual words. It got me thinking how I kinda miss them both.
Posted some of my games I never play anymore for sale on craigs list on monday. Figured I had too many video games lying around that mean nothing to me - like GTAIV which there was a big hoopla about yet after buying it, found there was very little incentive for me to keep playing. It was just boring - the characters, the environment, the music. Don't get me wrong, realistically beautiful ... but about as exciting and adventerous as real life. Actually, less so because I'm sitting in front of a TV all day.
Another was I put up on sale was Assassin's Creed. Again, beautiful graphics, excellent mood, but the gameplay was boring as ever. It pretty much consisted of 1 mission with a series of objectives to complete, after which you were rewarded with a new ability. Do that nine times with little to no story/character development each time round, and you've got the entire game.
The original Skate. That one went on sale. Mostly because I liked Skate 2 much better and can safely say I will never touch the original game again. Sorry Gord.
Bought Too Human last week. Played it about twice, both in the same day and realized I didn't give a damn about that game either. Reading about it, it sounded to me like a game I'd be all over. I liked the unique blend of Nordic mythos set in a sci-fi world.
Friday, February 6, 2009
New Year
Well I haven't updated this blog in awhile so I guess its time to give a rundown on what has happened since my last post. Andrew and Christine came back this christmas, the latter returning a day after the former arrived. When Andrew got back, we went for sushi with jocey at this japanese restaurant in poco called ... i don't remember but i was damn good especially for the price. New years sucked because it snowed the whole time, and it was pretty much the worst new years of my entire life. I spent midnight walking home from Andrew's house all the way uphill, but we did have some good times at St. James Well drinking and eating. Only went there twice but there will be fond memories for sure.
Got back to work on January 5th and it was pretty much the same old thing, except maybe a little busier than before. I was assigned to Tennis but although the pay for my headcount in CTU is being supplied to tennis, I'm pretty much doing whatever CTU wants me to do. Identity crisis much?
Eric from work took a look at my portfolio and gave me some useful feedback. He encouraged me to apply to whatever artist position comes up, and I'm thinking SSX is the next thing I'll try and apply for because no doubt they'll be needing modelers. Whether or not I get the job, I'm not holding my breath but I don't think I have anything to lose by trying.
Chinese New Year sucked, as usual. Attended a dinner with family and friends that I didn't want to go to in the first place. I only ate a fraction of the 300+ dollar meal and i thought it was the biggest waste of time and money. Got home and made myself some dinner made of leftovers which filled me up right away. I guess some good came out of it though, I did get 320 dollars this year.
Vamsky from ff.net finally contacted me and we had our first live conversation that didn't involve email. I never thought this day would come but I managed to convince her to download msn and now we talk on a regular basis, trading story ideas, getting more ideas for future chapters in our fanfics. It's awesome to be able to talk to one of my other big influences on writing aside from Louise.
More layoffs at work, and it was announced at a meeting that i was late for because i got lost. And when i got there, i still didn't know what was going on as I walked in on my manager saying "...and i regret to have to tell all of you that." So I'm sitting there going "what did he just tell us?" but i found out after soon enough. Katie took me aside and talked to me in private in the rockband room about the kind of shit that hit the fan. people got let go from the company that I worked with, which was a little hard to take. Later, mike came up to us and told us he was leaving too - a fact that katie conveniently left out. But i guess i would have found out sooner or later.
There's a lot to talk about, not all of which i can recall that this moment, but this has pretty much been a rundown of what's been going on the last couple of weeks. This update has probably been the quickest update I've done to this blog, and the most number of words written in such a short span of time.
OUT.
Got back to work on January 5th and it was pretty much the same old thing, except maybe a little busier than before. I was assigned to Tennis but although the pay for my headcount in CTU is being supplied to tennis, I'm pretty much doing whatever CTU wants me to do. Identity crisis much?
Eric from work took a look at my portfolio and gave me some useful feedback. He encouraged me to apply to whatever artist position comes up, and I'm thinking SSX is the next thing I'll try and apply for because no doubt they'll be needing modelers. Whether or not I get the job, I'm not holding my breath but I don't think I have anything to lose by trying.
Chinese New Year sucked, as usual. Attended a dinner with family and friends that I didn't want to go to in the first place. I only ate a fraction of the 300+ dollar meal and i thought it was the biggest waste of time and money. Got home and made myself some dinner made of leftovers which filled me up right away. I guess some good came out of it though, I did get 320 dollars this year.
Vamsky from ff.net finally contacted me and we had our first live conversation that didn't involve email. I never thought this day would come but I managed to convince her to download msn and now we talk on a regular basis, trading story ideas, getting more ideas for future chapters in our fanfics. It's awesome to be able to talk to one of my other big influences on writing aside from Louise.
More layoffs at work, and it was announced at a meeting that i was late for because i got lost. And when i got there, i still didn't know what was going on as I walked in on my manager saying "...and i regret to have to tell all of you that." So I'm sitting there going "what did he just tell us?" but i found out after soon enough. Katie took me aside and talked to me in private in the rockband room about the kind of shit that hit the fan. people got let go from the company that I worked with, which was a little hard to take. Later, mike came up to us and told us he was leaving too - a fact that katie conveniently left out. But i guess i would have found out sooner or later.
There's a lot to talk about, not all of which i can recall that this moment, but this has pretty much been a rundown of what's been going on the last couple of weeks. This update has probably been the quickest update I've done to this blog, and the most number of words written in such a short span of time.
OUT.
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