The Wheel Man
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti2jrDR6Mao]
There have been several games that have recently caught my attention. The Wheel Man is one of them. The fantastic cinematics and the undeniably believable render of Vin Diesel makes this, slightly overused action star, as cool as ever.
Other games like the yet to be released Stranglehold, and Command and Conquer 3 are making me ever more curious about the possibilities of what can be done with the interactive media when combined with great camera angles, recognizable human faces, and novel like plots.
Working Late
FullSail is all about late nights. This month I have a class three times a week that goes from 5:00pm and ends at 1:00am. That follows up with another class the next day from 9:00am to 5:00 pm. The hardest part about FullSail isn’t the hours but learning to spend them wisely. You see one of the very cool things about the school is that every day you can meet someone who will probably end up in the entertainment industry, interesting people, and yet very carefree people at the same time. While no amount of knowledge will compensate for a strong network of connections, no amount of connections will compensate for any amount of knowledge. It’s just the way things work I suppose. The problem I run into is deciding at what point and time am I to indulge in my own studies. Don’t get me wrong I’m not exactly struggling in fact thus far I have went through with bare minimum, but seriously that’s not why I am here. I came to FullSail not to be average, nor have I forgotten how hard it was not so long ago working full time and coming to a home that I couldn’t even call my own. Time to level up my time-management skill …
Game Design Tutorial
The past two days I spent attending the Game Design Tutorial. The focus of which has been MDA
Mechanics
Dynamics
Authentic
Coming from a web design background MDA seemed a bit of rhetoric to me. It focuses on the idea of sticking to theme/goal/and really simplifying out the gameplay mechanic without using words like FUN and GAMEPLAY. This is huge, it was a pleasure to attend this knowing that the thinking is being made more popular because even if it is an obvious, it is often overlooked and skipped.
Pre-GDC
Tomorrow is GDC you can feel it in the atmosphere. The morning started off with a wonderful chat over breakfast with man who had just finished having breakfast with his family. He let me sit at their table since seating was in short supply. After breakfast I had a very interesting conversation with him about the IT industry and the innovation revolved around Google Inc., Apple, and the rest of silicon valley. If time permits I definatly want to head up there and check it out.
After some more time spent over Calculus on the train, I bumped into an old buddy from my first GDC at King of Prussia, PA. Kevin Dunde is easily spoted with his cowboy hat and was with his friend Paul Frost both of whom came all the way from Canada for the week.
Later at Virgin Records cafe I met up with Nikki Inderlied and Jack olmsted from I4U News. I think Jack was helping Nikki advice, who was also here at GDC for the very first time. Anyways, after wraping up with soem more Calculus I’ll head back out into the city and see what else I can find.
Straying into San Francisco
Awe San Francisco: The City of Grandeur and Exhilaration.
After a brutal eight hour long flight, or the sum of two, I had finally made it. Expedia.com had done a wonderful job of booking my flight and hotel. I had no problem although I was a little worried, I haven’t flown or ever flown by myself before. I settled into my hotel, Good Nite Inn, and than took BART towards Powell St. in downtown San Francisco.
I didn’t make it up the steps of the train station where I was blown away and forced to start snapping away my camera. I have never seen a more beautiful city in the states, and I’ve been around too. I’ve lived in Philadelphia for seven years, and I’ve been to New York, pre-9/11 and seen the gorgeous streets of Boston. Still nothing comes close.
On the train I met a girl who had traveled to San Fran. from Osaka, Japan. I spoke with her for awhile and soon after it really hit me. There are probably more Asians here than Caucasians, and believe me I don’t mind one bit. I’ve always dreamt of going to Japan and seeing Tokyo and this gave me just a small insight on what it might be like. This was all made even more appetizing since 4/5 could be models.
Yep I was sold! I called my friend and exclaimed that I want to live here post graduation. I really thought that I would end up somewhere in Europe if I had a choice, but I don’t think I would be unhappy living in California.
Right now I’m hanging out inside Virgin Records’ Cupcake Cafe (free internet) and try to get some work done for Calculus. Afterwards I’ll try and make it down to the Golden Gate and see if I can catch a picture of it in the sunset.