Fatherhood, Video Games, and Ice Cream

Currently Playing: Skyrim (Thieves Guild)

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:11:00 +0000

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I had pre-ordered Skyrim through and had it sitting on my TV to play the following weekend when my wife told me she was interested in playing. Great! I've got other things to play so go ahead dear...little did I know it would become the game she played every night for weeks. In order to allow me to actually play it, she bought me a second copy for my birthday a few weeks ago.

I had tried Oblivion before and couldn't really get into it..I think partially because I like to play a thief and had difficulty determining when I could steal something (damn you color blindness!) This time, I didn't have this issue so I was off to a great start. I began by focusing on the main story line and then stumbled upon the Thieves Guild in Riften...YES. I quickly abandoned all other story lines and focused mainly on these quests.

This story line is one of the best I've ever played in any genre of video game. They are well written and keep things fresh as you play along including great plot twists and character development of the NPCs. As I neared the end of the story line I realized that I had put over 40 hours into this game already and I must break away if I'm to ever play anything else. So, I've decided to break up my play by story lines and will come back in a few weeks to try another one.

As I finished up the Thieves Guild story line my only complaint was that it didn't really tell me that I had finished it. I expected some fanfare and in the end was left wondering if I'd actually done what I needed to. After talking it over with my wife, it turns out that there's more to "returning the guild to it's former glory" and I have a lot more to do.

The thing that I've enjoyed most about Skyrim so far is the conversations that my wife and I have had about it. Since she had a long head start, she gets to help me out with tips every now and then which is a new thing for her :) We used to play a lot of Dark Age of Camelot together and this has a lot of that same feel for us as we kind of experience it together even though we play separately.

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Gamestack of Shame

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:54:00 +0000

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I have a bad habit, like many people, where I buy a lot of games and then they sit on my shelf mocking me as I try to find time to play them. Well, I've decided that this year is when I put a serious dent in that stack!

I have a comfortable chair set up in front of the tv and have my Astro Gaming A40 wireless headset for fantastic sound that won't wake up my son at night. I also have a supportive wife who encourages me in my endeavor (and is also absorbed by Skyrim).

There will be a huge range of games including co-op stuff I play with my son as well as lots of Action, Shooter and RPG games on my own. In order to keep my self going and to keep track, I've added a list on the right side of my blog that shows which games I've finished so far. I'll also do individual posts as I work through each game to give my thoughts on them.

I also have a separate goal to read a lot of books this year, so I've added a list of books as well to keep me motivated.

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Gaming Weight Loss: 8th Weigh-In

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:31:00 +0000

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I had another successful week and with the only "cheat" being some Champagne at a company party. Getting to eat out at lunch occasionally has been nice and I've found it easy to stay on diet at the Mongolian BBQ place near work.

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 2.6 lbs! That makes a grand total of 46.8 lbs in eight weeks on the diet. I was able to get on the elliptical about 5 times this week, but didn't get much time using weights.

I now have one more week on Phase two before moving onto having a large breakfast every day. I'll finally be re-integrating carbs and higher fats back into my diet at a slow pace and preparing for every day life again.

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Gaming Weight Loss: 7th Weigh-In

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:47:00 +0000

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I had another successful week and stayed 100% to the diet plan. The one thing that did suck was that my birthday was yesterday and I wasn't able to eat cake :( I did get to have lunch at Red Lobster which was nice, though the cheddar biscuits taunted me from the nearby tables.

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 3.8 lbs! That makes a grand total of 44.2 lbs in seven weeks on the diet. I feel really good about the number and know that my added exercise has helped a lot. Along with my elliptical use 3-4 times a week, I've now added in dumbbell exercises to work on my biceps, triceps and shoulders.

I have officially started the four week transition off the diet as of today, which means having animal protein at lunch for the next two weeks. Mongolian BBQ today! (minus the rice and noodles) The last two weeks of the transition are adding a big breakfast of grains(toast, etc), protein(eggs/ham), Fruit and FAT(butter, cheese). Can't wait to eat eggs and toast again...

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Time to get on my SOPA box

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:01:00 +0000

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Let me start off by saying that piracy is killing the Game Development industry and I'm kinda passionate about finding ways to eliminate it. So, the idea of something like the Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA) sounds interesting...but everyone I talk to is angry about it. So, I realized today that most of what I know about it has been passionate discussion and I decided to start looking into it myself.

I started by attempting to read the actual act itself and quickly found myself falling asleep...stupid politicians. I swear most of these things have to get passed because no one can actually understand what they are signing up for. I then decided to read over the Wikipedia page for it which was much easier to digest. The bill makes unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime with five years in prison for 10 such infringements within six months....seems reasonable to me. But the heavy handed part is that places like PayPal are barred from doing business with these sites and search engines can't link to them.

People For It Say

It protects intellectual property for Americans
It will create more American jobs
Stops flow of revenue to foreign sites
Provides protection against buying counterfeit prescription drugs

People Against It Say

Threat to online free speech
Negative impact to online communities (Etsy, Flickr, Vimeo)
Impacts to Cloud linking of data
Weakening of "safe harbor" protections for websites
SOPA wording is broad and could kill e-commerce (no one will invest because of legal liability)
Threat to users who upload content
Threat to internal networks

targets an entire website even if only a small portion does something illegal
includes VPN networks

Ineffectual against piracy (sites will just reopen elsewhere)
Invasion of privacy (IP blocking and deep packet inspection)
Lack of transparency in enforcement

Okay, after just reading this list of pros and cons I have to admit that I'm a bit concerned with it...but I still want to get more details on what people feel is going to happen if SOPA passes. I've been hearing about several protest actions so I was curious what exactly was happening on that front.

Apparently Go Daddy had initially announced support for SOPA and then users from Reddit organized a boycott in protest. Later Wikimedia announced it would move all of it's domains so go Daddy withdrew their support until it's supported by the internet community. This short lived support caused a mass exodus of users from their site. Personally, their quick change makes me hesitant about their company and I may have to move my domains elsewhere as well.

Reddit announced a blackout of it's site for 12 hours on January 18th and other sites like Major League Gaming are joining in as well. A bunch of higher profile companies like Google and Facebook are also considering this blackout...I would be very interested to see what that looks like.

Now I feel like I have a decent overview of what the issues are and how people are passionate about it, but I still feel like I don't have enough meat into exactly WHAT they think is going to happen. I'm going to start reading some articles to get their individual perspectives.

I just read a NYT article saying the white house opposes the bill. They agree that piracy is a huge problem in America but the bill as-is reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk and undermines the global internet. Now for some detailed concerns, they say the bill handcuffs search engines and payment processors like Paypal. It also allows private citizens and companies to sue to stop what they BELIEVE to be theft of protected content. I don't know about you...but the amount of lawsuits that already happen because they CAN is incredible. This could get out of hand fast.

Hitting closer to home...Bungie came out in opposition of the bill citing the same reasons in the list above. While they didn't talk in detail about how it will affect the Game Development industry, they agree that it certainly will if passed as proposed. Other companies like Epic Games, Riot Games and Red 5 Studios have also come out in opposition.

The thing that is consistent here is that everyone agrees that piracy is bad...they just don't agree with SOPA as it currently is written. It seems that major revisions would have to be made for it to get into any kind of a state that will help actually solve the problem without changing the American way of life. I'm really glad I took the time to look into this for myself tonight and have learned that I am firmly on the side of SOPA opposition...until they fix it.

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Planning Disney World In March

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:25:00 +0000

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In my quest to visit Disney World in every month of the year (and the guilt of not taking my son with us next month) we have decided on a family trip in March! We are taking the week that my son is on spring break and heading down for a 8 night stay at Pop Century. We have a fantastic deal on room and dining along with our Annual Passes and free flights gained during Hall of Fame means this trip will be super cheap for us.

Spring Break is a pretty busy time at Disney World, but will be fine with some extra planning up front and a good Touring Plan. The first step is always to check the Crowd Calendar for the best parks each day that we visit. Want two days each in Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney Studios along with one day in Animal Kingdom...this makes picking the right days much easier. It's also important to know what shows or events you want to make certain you see, for instance we want to see Fantasmic! but it only shows a few nights a week. So, I can start making my plan by being at Disney Studios for one of those nights and let the rest of the trip begin falling into place.

The next major step is to plan out the Dining Reservations that you want and often need up to plan them 180 days ahead to ensure that you get them. Knowing what parks you are visiting helps you decide when to get the reservations, but you may have to change your plans a bit if you can't get the time or date you really want. Since we have the Dining Plan for this trip, we have 8 sit down credits to use(one for each night in the hotel) and I'll go over each meal and why we chose it.

Day 1

We arrive late the night before and don't want to get up super early so we decided on a 10:15 reservation at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort. We had a really good time there last time for dinner and are looking forward to trying breakfast. We have free valet parking with our Tables in Wonderland card so we plan to just walk over to Magic Kingdom once we are done eating. It's a neutral park that day according to the Crowd Calendar but this fits best into our overall plan so it's not a huge deal.

Day 2

Even though it's also a neutral park, we plan to spend this entire day at Epcot. This is also a case of it fitting into our plans best and getting there before park opening will ensure two rides on Soarin'! We have a 6:15pm dinner reservation at Biergarten, which we have always wanted to try but haven't yet gotten the opportunity. Along with having a full German buffet with lots of choices, they provide traditional Oktoberfest entertainment! My son will have a blast watching them sing and dance and I wouldn't be surprised if he joins in as well.

Day 3

Magic Kingdom is the best park today and also has early morning Extra Magic Hours which allows guests staying on Disney property to get an extra hour before park opening. We are early morning people so this works out great for us and we'll get through a ton of attractions before most people are out of bed. We don't have any table service meals planned today so we can focus on the park. This likely means Dole Whips and Pinocchio's Village Haus.

Day 4

Disney Studios is the best park today and Fantasmic! is also showing...this also means we don't have to be there early. Since this is the mid point of the trip we like to sleep in and have a late breakfast somewhere before heading into the park. The location of this meal isn't crucial, so I decided to let my son decide where he'd like to eat out of a handful of suggestions. He decided on Ohana so he can see Lilo and Stitch and we now have a 10:30am reservation. After that we will spend the rest of the day in Disney Studios and almost certainly eat dinner at Pizza Planet.

Day 5

Animal Kingdom is the best park this day so we decided to get an 8:05am reservation at Tusker House so we can see the fab 5 in safari outfits! Notice the time is an hour before park opening? Any time you can do this it works out really well...you get in up to an hour before park opening and finish eating just about the time attractions open. You'll want to take a resort bus to the Animal Kingdom for this because the parking lot is notorious for not opening until closer to park open time.

We plan to be done in the park by 3pm or so and will then head to Downtown Disney where we will have dinner at the amazing Raglan Road. Irish cuisine and a proper Guinness are just what the doctor ordered. My entire family has a blast watching the Irish dancers in the center of the restaurant. Above is a video of my son trying to dance like the Irish Dancers after we left the restaurant.

Day 6

Epcot is the best park and we've once again secured an 8:05 breakfast reservation...this time at the Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus House in Norway. My son is fascinated with the princesses and talks like crazy to them when he sees them. This meal is a great alternative to Cinderella's Royal Table with a lower cost and same group of princesses. This meal is served table style, but there is also a buffet that has an assortment of fruits and breads.

We have a 7:00pm dinner reservation at Via Napoli...one of our favorite restaurants in Disney World. It has authentic Italian food and they bake pizzas in brick ovens. My son likes eating there even though there isn't any characters walking around, but he also loves pizza :) You can check out my Via Napoli review here.

Day 7

Disney Studios is the best park for our final day at Disney World and since our first day here had a late start, we plan to get here early and make sure we see everything. Making the mad dash for Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes at park opening is nearly a must if you want to see it. We do plan to have an early dinner at a place we've always wanted to try...Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. You get to eat inside of a 50's car and watch old Sci-Fi movies on the huge drive-in screen throughout dinner. Kian should really enjoy this! Disney Studios is also open until Midnight with extra magic hours and Fantasmic! is showing again in case we missed it before or just want to see it again.

I know this has been a lot of info, but I wanted to make sure I explained what we wanted out of the trip and then how to go about planning it all effectively. Be sure and let me know if you have any questions or need anything described in further detail.

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Q&A: Would you give up everything to Design games?

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:48:00 +0000

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Today's question comes from Mark Galvez who asks:

"If you had to move out of state to further your education in this career/major, would you do it knowing you'd leave behind someone you consider your best friend, as well as the family members in your home?"

This is a tough one and the answer probably varies greatly from person to person. What I can do is tell you what it was like for me 13 years ago and how difficult a decision it was for me to make.

I knew from childhood that I wanted to make video games, but had no idea how to go about actually getting there. I did what I could...playing lots of games and focusing on PC hardware to stay current, but that wasn't getting me any closer. Then I heard about Full Sail starting up a Game Design program, but it was in Orlando and I had never lived outside of Kentucky where most of my family resides.

I had a bit decision to make...do I stay where I'm comfortable or move to a place where I only knew one person and essentially restart my life? After a lot of thought I realized that it was my chance to do what I always dreamed of and had to give it a shot. It was a huge change and became a lot of work as I gave everything I had to my education, but was TOTALLY worth it for me.

So, ultimately it comes down to how badly do you want it? Keep in mind that this is a temporary move for your education and then you have to see what the job market provides. Luckily these days you can make games for mobile devices easily from anywhere once you have a good education so moving back home could be an option for you.

Don't think just because someone can't make this kind of move that they don't have deep desire. Luckily there are fantastic options online now to get a degree in Game Design and not have to relocate. Full Sail recently added an online Game Design curriculum that I was on the advisory board for this year and I was really pleased with the program. If you really want to learn Game Design but can't relocate...take a look.

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Gaming Weight Loss: 6th Weigh-In

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:29:00 +0000

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I had a really successful week with 5 nights on the eliptical and a couple of nights doing crunches, pull ups and pushups. My eating was right on plan and I even had my first meal out! A restaurant near work had Salmon and Asparagus...was delicious.

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 6.8 lbs! That makes a grand total of 40.4 lbs in six weeks on the diet. After having a disappointing loss last week (1.6) this is a huge come back and I'm really happy about it.

We have one more full week on the diet before beginning the four week transition back to normal life. The first two weeks will be adding meat at lunch and the last two will begin integrating carbs and fats back into our diet slowly.

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Fitocracy

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:03:00 +0000

A few months ago I heard about Fitocracy, a website in development that turns exercise into a game(similar to Chore Wars). Since I'm a fan of achievements in general, it seemed that using this type of system might add some extra fun to working out. I signed up for the beta, but had completely forgotten about it until I got an email from them a few days ago saying I'm in!

Months ago, my hope was that it would be a motivation to actually begin exercising, but now that I'm already exercising regularly...it's a way for me to track progress and feel extra reward. There is no better example of Gaming Weight Loss than this website! Not only is it helping me track my exercise routines and giving me feedback, but it also provides challenges so you know what exercises to try and how often.

Each time I complete a quest, at least one more shows up for me to attempt. It also lets me know which quests are expiring soon...this gives extra desire to try those out while they are around. There is also the ability to save your common workouts into a routine for easier adding to the days that follow.

You also have the ability to add friends so you can monitor each other's progress and achievements. You can make an additional game out of it by leveling faster than each other and leaving taunts in their feed. My profile is located HERE for anyone that is interested. You have to sign up in order to see it, but I do have a few invites left if anyone is interested. Send me a DM on Twitter @siawnhy

So far I'm still only allowed to do mild exercise with the diet that I'm on, but I'm getting in the Elliptical, Push Ups, Crunches and Pull Ups every day. Fitocracy also has a huge list of exercises in its database and also tells you the proper way to do them. So, once I'm ready to expand I'll have lots of suggestions. I'm really pleased with it so far and will do an update down the road after I've been using it for a while longer.

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Co-Op W/ Kian: Skylanders

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:34:00 +0000

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I picked up Skylanders along with six extra figures for Kian this Christmas and he was super stoked to open them. We play a lot of co-op together and this game looks great and scratches that old collectible itch for me. My Holiday Shopping Guide Post said that Skylanders was a great choice this holiday season, but had no idea just how fun the game is.

The basic premise is that you play as a portal master and the game comes with an actual portal device that you hook into the USB port of your console. There are versions for the 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS and PC. Each figure comes with a registration code for skylanders.com so you can play the web version as well.

To play the game, each player places a figure on the portal and that character shows up in game instantly and you take control of them. You can hot swap characters at any time and everything works really smoothly. Kian loves to change characters pretty often, luckily it's a very fast process so it doesn't become annoying too quickly.

They did a really great job of making the different character types worthwhile in the game as well. You can upgrade each Skylander as you play through the game giving them more powerful abilities as you play. They also integrated them into the world by having gates to certain areas that require a Skylander of a particular type(Fire, Water, Magic, Tech, Air, Undead, Earth, Life).

They also already have two expansion scenarios available and I can only assume more coming soon. These figures are sold out everywhere so Kian has only been able to accumulate a little over half of what they have created. It's such a great business model and Activision will likely make money off this for a long time.

Unlike a lot of kids games out there, Skylanders is really well done and a blast to play. I highly recommend it. The only downside we've found so far is that achievements are only given to the first player, luckily Kian plays alone when I'm not home so he's getting them as well :)

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Gaming Weight Loss: 5th Weigh-In

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:04:00 +0000

It was nice to be back home and on a normal eating schedule again! I also got 4 nights on the elliptical in during the week, so I'm pleased that my energy levels are back to normal. Being back at work keeps my mind off of food entirely.

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 1.6 lbs! That makes a grand total of 33.6 lbs in five weeks on the diet. While the number is a bit low, they said it's expected around this point. I really want to get it up a bit though.

While I have been following the diet just as usual, except for the Champaign we had on New Years, I want to kick things up a bit. I only have two more weeks fully on the diet before we start the 4 week transition off of it. I'm going to exercise more and see if I can get my weight loss next time up around 5lbs.

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2011 - My Year In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:09:00 +0000

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Happy New Year! As I look back at 2011, I realize that it's actually been one of the biggest years of my life. There's been a lot of changes and improvements in personal life as well as in my career. So, I'll take a few minutes to go over everything...I'll get the personal stuff out of the way first.

When we moved to Champaign back in 2008, we only had 2 days to find a place to live before I started work and our stuff was on a truck heading our way. We found a tiny house that seemed to have most of what we wanted, but after a while we realized the 800sq ft was way too small. This year we finally moved into a much bigger place, nearly doubling our living space. It was a huge deal for us and making our home life better.

I had been driving a 2000 Chevy S-10 that I bought new shortly before graduating from Full Sail in 2001. I racked up 125k miles and while it had never given me any major issues, I could tell that things were coming soon. Also, living in Illinois with a lack of 4-wheel drive made things difficult for a quarter of the year. So, I bought my dream vehicle this year... 2011 Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab. Jumping 11 years in a vehicle made me feel like I bought something from the future, it is amazing and I love it.

I had been running a blog series on my path to weight loss, but found that every time I would make some progress...my old habits would bring me down. Late this year I finally decided to participate in a weight loss program that is run by my doctor and am seeing amazing results. I'm down 32lbs already and cruising toward my goal of at least 50. But the best thing is that the diet is teaching me to eat better and my habits have radically began to change. Once the diet is over, I'm confident that my new way of eating along with my added exercise will help me be healthy for years to come. I've already been taken off half the meds that I have taken for over 5 years.

I talk a lot about Disney World on my blog and used to only get there about every other year. This year we had two full family vacations that included Kian doing Jedi Training Academy and being Prince of the Day. In addition to that, I was able to visit on three other times for at least a day and got to meet some of my internet friends for the first time. I also got to experience my first Food and Wine Festival with my dear friend Wendy. It's been a year full of Disney and a frequency that I hope to continue. We already have a February trip planned for our 10th Anniversary as well as a June trip for our first Star Wars Weekends!

Now on to how 2011 has been for my Game Design Career. After finishing up development of Red Faction: Armageddon, I moved into the role that I set out 10 years ago to achieve. As of April of this year I am Design Director on an unannounced project at Volition and am having a blast. Things have been going really well so far and I love my team. Now if we can just get the price of THQ stock to rise...sigh.

I focused a lot on doing regular blog posts on Game Design which I found not only helped others but also kept me thinking about things that I either took for granted or didn't evaluate enough. I also started posting on the #AltDevBlogADay site and it has really kept me motivated to post. What I didn't expect is that Gamasutra has picked up several of my posts and put them on their site. It's really nice to get emails and messages from friends informing me of the posts and giving congratulations.

Last, but certainly not least, It's been a huge year for me and Full Sail. I stayed a couple of extra days after our January Disney trip to visit Full Sail and do a presentation about my career. In June, myself along with two other teammates came back to do a Red Faction: Armageddon presentation and meet with students. I later came back to be part of the Alumni Advisory Board that looked over the curriculum and give expert feedback on where they can make improvements to the Game Development and Design programs. I really enjoy helping out and interacting with students...I was exactly where they are 10 years ago and would have died to have someone in the industry to talk to.

By far the biggest news was my induction to the Full Sail Hall of Fame and the festivities last month that were absolutely amazing. The weekend was filled with dinners, drinks, concerts and lots of flair...they made us feel like Royalty. It was a truly humbling experience, especially looking at the amazing people that are also included. I made some great new friends and can't wait to go back for next year's ceremonies. I have a big post about the Hall of Fame HERE that even has video the entire ceremony.

Yeah...I'm not sure how I will ever top this year, but I promise I'll do my best :) I guess I do have a few resolutions that may help:

Read more Game Design books and articles
Play more games, including with my son
Continue my weight loss and keep it off
Get back into Programming
Improve my Photography skills

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Disney World Adults Only - Take 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:22:00 +0000

I did a post a few months ago about our upcoming trip to Disney World to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary, but since then I've made some significant changes. These changes came because of great news...a close friend got me a fantastic deal which further lowered our room rate and gets us the Dining Plan for nearly half off! The only change to our room is that we are now staying at Port Orleans Riverside instead of French Quarter...just a small change in theme.

Our dining plans is what is changing pretty drastically. Since my last post, we had decided to try Brown Derby, Flying Fish and California Grill (in addition to our fantastic dinner at the Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's on the night of our anniversary). The problem is that all three of those restaurants are Signature Dining and would cost two Table Service credits each. We have 4 credits each and would rather get more bang for the buck, so we've decided to keep the California Grill dinner during the Wishes Fireworks and replace the others.

After a lot of planning and getting suggestions from trusted friends (thanks AJ!) we've decided on the following restaurants. Keep in mind, we are going without our son for the first time and want to experience things that he won't enjoy for several years...and we want it to be romantic when possible :)

Day 1 (10th Anniversary)

We've decided to have a late breakfast at Kouzzina by Cat Cora and are both really excited to start there. The Baklava French Toast looks amazing and I've heard really great things about the Coffee. We will probably pay for this meal out of pocket using our Tables in Wonderland card since it's the cheapest of the bunch and are short one Table Service Credit. Tip: Tables in Wonderland also gives you free Valet Parking at restaurants on Disney property. We will be using this for both of this day's meals :) We're going to wander around World Showcase for a few hours before dinner.

Dinner will be the amazing Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's which consists of around 11 courses that are made specially by the head chef for each person. It's a four hour experience that includes wine pairings for each course and a custom menu for each person that attends. We have this table all to our selves :)

Day 2
We're getting up early to be at Disney Studios for park opening...those Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes are a must! We'll also ride Star Tours about a dozen times, but we're really looking forward to soaking in One Man's Dream and all the little things that we don't normally get to experience with a 7 year old.

In the afternoon we are heading to Epcot where will likely use a Quick Service credit for lunch somewhere in World Showcase. The highlight of the evening will be dinner at Teppan Edo, a hibachi grill, in the Japan Pavilion. What's not to love about tempura and meat being grilled right in front of you? We'll spend the rest of the evening in World Showcase as well as the Boardwalk area.

Day 3

Our final day begins with trying the new breakfast buffet at The Wave in the Contemporary Hotel. We chose this spot because we can get our free Valet parking here and walk over to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Don't get me wrong, the buffet looks pretty amazing too...my wife was drooling over Sweet Potato Pancakes.

We have the Keys to the Kingdom tour starting at 9:30am in the Magic Kingdom which includes lunch and gets us done around 1-2pm. Since you have to be at least age 16 for the tour, this is a rare opportunity for us and we're pretty excited. We will then spend the rest of the day touring the Magic Kingdom, which will include a mandatory visit to Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip.

Last, but certainly not least, we walk back to California Grill for dinner during the Wishes fireworks show. They have a balcony for viewing (only accessible to guests with a reservation) and they pipe in the music for the full experience. Even though this meal takes two credits, after looking over the prices and the food itself...we feel it's worth it. Also, since we parked at this resort before breakfast...we simply walk down and pick up the car to drive back to the hotel. Nice!

So, that's our plans for the trip...what do you think? I've included our 10th anniversary info in each reservation so I'll be sure to report back on what kinds of special magic they throw our way :) Join the conversation below in the comments section, on Twitter or Facebook .

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Gaming Weight Loss

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:47:00 +0000

This was by far the hardest week of the diet. We knew going in that Christmas would be difficult, but didn't realize how much until we had to watch everyone eat such delicious stuff. It was the first time my wife and I started to feel we should come off the diet. With traveling and visiting over the holiday, we didn't have any time to exercise so I figured our weight loss would probably be low.

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 4.2 lbs! That makes a grand total of 32 lbs in four weeks on the diet. Seeing these continued results was an extra boost to our motivation.

My wife's parents GAVE us an elliptical while we were are their home visiting, so now we will have a great way to get in our cardio while it's cold outside this winter. Things are looking up!

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Gaming Weight Loss: 3rd Weigh-in

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:24:00 +0000

During the third week of the diet, I've felt back to normal. I'm sleeping better(our new bed helps) and still have not been hungry at all. I found this week that my pants have a lot of room in them and when wearing a belt, I have to go a ring tighter just to keep them on. My wife bought me new jeans in the smallest size she has ever bought for me, I'm getting thin! :)

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 5 lbs! That makes a grand total of 27.8 lbs in three weeks on the diet. My blood pressure is down another 6 points, so maybe I can get off of this medication soon. Christmas is going to be a bit stressful with all the great food around, but I shall prevail.

I'm also at the point in the diet where I can start adding in light exercise. I've been aching to get active again, so I'll start walking every day that I can and doing some light strength exercises. Can't wait to get going!

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Gaming Weight Loss: 2nd Weigh In

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:05:00 +0000

This last week has been much better on my physically. I feel basically back to normal and by the end of the week all of my nausea had gone. My energy levels have begun to rise and are even better than before I started the diet now. There were four days this week that I didn't even have coffee...the headaches only lasted a day. Guess i'll come out of this having kicked the caffeine habit as well!

I was lucky that a business trip was cancelled this week, because I was concerned it would be difficult to follow the diet perfectly on the run. This gave me a 2nd straight week in a routine and being able to follow it to the letter with NO CHEATING!.

I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 7.4 lbs! That makes a grand total of 22.8 lbs. I also lost another inch from my waist and some amount from every other location. Things are going well, just have to keep it up.

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Dealing with Change

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:51:00 +0000

A Game Designer starts with the vision of a game, or a feature for the game, and sets out to refine the idea until it achieves all the goals set out for it. Sometimes that journey results in scrapping the idea entirely because it didn't work out the way you hoped. In this case, you at least worked through the problem and fully understand why the end result came to be. A buddy of mine calls this "Killing Your Babies", not getting so attached to that idea and wasting time when it's not working.

But, sometimes this journey has the Game Designer molding and refining the idea until it becomes something special that fits perfectly how you intended it to! You start creating specs and getting the information out to everyone...ready for implementation to proceed. Then you get a kick in the nuts because some factor completely outside of your control says the feature needs changes or cut all together. These types of requests can come from many places: your discipline lead, Design Director, Producer or sometimes even from upper management.

The question is, how will you deal with this situation?

Talk Out The Idea

Coming up with ideas is only a small part of what a Game Designer's real job is...the rest is communication and cheerleading. It may be that you just need to properly communicate your idea to someone so that they fully understand it's need in the game. This may get you nowhere, but it's a really good place to start.

There will be the temptation to be forceful or even angry during this kind of conversation, but just realize that the person (probably) has a reason in their head that justifies the decision and you need them to see it your way. Try having a really good attitude about things, understand their concerns, and convince them why your plan is the right direction for the game.

Own The Idea

The worst thing you can do is take the attitude of "They are making me do this, so everyone around me is gonna know it!". While this may be true and that info is a small part of what you communicate(for context), this can't be your justification for the changes going forward. You need to take a step back and re-evaluate the new direction for this part of the game and get on board with it...even if you might like the other idea better.

This isn't an easy thing to do sometimes, but keep in mind that as a Designer you are the beacon holder for the fun of your game and the rest of the team count on you. If you are not, at least seemingly, fully behind the new direction for the game then no one else will be compelled to put in the kind of work necessary to make it the best it can be. I'm not suggesting you fool others here, just saying that you need to get on board and make sure others see that you are.

Justify The Idea

We've developed a process at work where we create a Design Brief for every feature that not only talks about it's function in the game, but also it's emotional goals and justification. I've found that whenever changes are necessary, I can go back to this document and use it as a measuring stick to see if the goals are being achieved. I've even found that a new decision ended up supporting the vision of the game better once I was forced to rethink it.

The Design Brief is also a fantastic tool for relaying the vision and getting the entire team in sync about what you are trying to create. Discussions can get passionate at times and everyone has their own preferences which they push for. The Design Brief really helps minimize heated conversations and make sure that you are all narrowing toward the same goal.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that there will always be situations out of your control, but you can control how you deal with it and the message you send to your team. In the end, you may feel like you are compromising with an inferior feature but you have to put everything you have into making that work as well as it can for the game. The entire team is going to be looking to you, do you want them to be bummed they have to work on something or focus on how great the new thing can be if everyone works together?

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Gaming Weight Loss: Weigh In

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:59:00 +0000

I've been on this Ideal Protein diet for a week now and it's time for my first weigh in. Every week I meet with the diet consultant in person, along with daily phone calls, to check my weight and measurements. I'm anxious to see how I did!

One of the great things about the diet so far is that I'm not hungry at all...in fact I have to make myself eat the required food. There are a lot of options and most taste at least decent, but my stomach has been pretty queasy over the week as I transition.

I entered full Ketosis on Saturday and made the mistake of doing some lawn work that morning. I got really light headed and ended up having to lay down the rest of the day. By the end of the weekend, a lot of the ill effects were gone...though my stomach queasiness is still there. But things are evening out and I'm starting to feel more normal again.

Ok now for the big results...I've lost 15.4 pounds in the first week! I've also lost an inch from my waist, 1.5 inches from my chest and some amount from every measurement. My blood pressure is down 8 points!

Keep in mind a few things about this diet:

The program is run by my Primary Physician with constant monitoring
Men lose weight faster than women and the first week is usually the biggest loss. I certainly don't expect this much going forward...more like the 3-7 range they expect.
I followed this plan perfectly and didn't cheat even a little bit.

The main motivation for this diet for me is to get my weight down and come off of some meds that I'm taking for blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. Also, I'm at risk for Diabeties and really need to get healthy. This diet is only the first step and is teaching me to live better going forward. I'm drinking 80oz of water a day, that would have easily been soda before :(

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Gamer's Holiday Shopping Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Stick with me kid...I'll make sure you know exactly what to get [insert gamer's name here] during this crazy holiday season.

Game Consoles

Ok seriously...who wouldn't want a console that looks like R2-D2? It even makes his sounds! Sure it might be a little expensive, but this Star Wars Xbox 360 is making me consider buying my 4th for our home.

This Uncharted 3 PS3 Bundle gives you both a huge 320GB Hard Drive as well as one of the best games ever...much less this Holiday Season.

Accessories

I recently purchased these A40 Wireless Headphones for myself and can honestly say they are amazing. I wondered what a 7.1 headset would be like...it's like sitting in the middle of a theater. Any gamer will want these for their Xbox, PS3 and PC (it works on all!)

Games for Adults

Support my studio and get a fantastic game at the same time! Saint's Row: The Third is our latest release and the Platinum edition comes with a headset that will Autotune your voice like Zimos. Who wouldn't want that?

This is the title I most looked forward to this holiday season and dropped everything to play it the day it released. Batman: Arkham City is a fantastic game that really makes you feel like Batman.

If you're looking for the most gaming hours for your money, nothing will come close to Skyrim. I have friends that are already well past the 100 hour mark and will likely at least double that. I can barely wrestle my copy away from the wife to play it :)

If you didn't purchase it with the bundle above, you really need to be sure you buy it now. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is one of the best games that I have ever played with level designs that are truly inspired.

The holiday season wouldn't be complete without a Call of Duty game and Modern Warfare 3 is setting sales records this holiday. Want to be one of the 25+ million people to support my friends at Sledgehammer?

Games for Kids (and Adults)

If you're anything like me...you rarely find an excuse to turn on your Wii. I thought I may never again until I heard about Zelda: Skyward Sword which is now near the top of my own Holiday wishlist.

Another game that is near the top of my Wishlist is Super Mario 3D Land. I'm still having a little trouble fully getting into playing my 3DS, but I have no doubt this will help that problem.

If you're looking for a fun side-scroller with 4-player co-op, look no further than Rayman Origins. I'm really looking forward to playing this one with my son over Christmas.

This is one that I'm really excited to try out with my son since he loves games like Bakugan and Pokemon. Skylanders comes with the game, Portal of Power and 3 characters which is enough to get you started playing. Additional characters are available for purchase which unlock them in game as well as new areas to explore.

My family would spend every day in the Disney Parks if we could...now Kinect Disneyland Adventures is here to help scratch that itch between visits. It's great fun and bonding time for parents with their children and you get to play with "The Mouse" :)

Ok...that is the essential list of gamer's needs this holiday season! Did I miss anything you feel should be added? Talk about it in the comments section, on Facebook or Twitter.

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Gaming Weight Loss: New Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I'm doing something today that I've never fully done before...starting a diet program. I've done lots of things in the past to try and lose weight, but nothing completely structured. Under the care of our physician, my wife and I are starting the Ideal Protein Diet which will get my weight down and then I come off the diet and just do maintenance going forward.

The reason I feel this will work for me is because nearly all of the food is provided and we get to choose from a ton of options for each week's food. It's going to force me into better eating habits and then teach me how to use them going forward. I'm really excited and motivated for this and have a weight loss goal around 50-60lbs. They say a man will average 3-7lbs lost every single week without fail as long as you stick to the plan.

One of the other interesting things about the diet is that exercise is actually discouraged because of the state that the diet puts your body into for burning the fat. I'm not supposed to get my heart rate above 120 and I bought a wrist watch that will monitor that for me. My guess at this point is that playing Kinect games will allow me to get some activity without getting my heart rate up too much...but that's a test for later!

Week one is supposed to be the most difficult as my body will be transitioning into this fat burning state and i'll likely have low energy and be grumpy. Look for my tweets as they might be rather amusing.

Wish me luck!

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Currently Playing: Skyrim

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Let me start out by saying that I converted to a primarily console game player many years ago, so I shall not get into the debate about which platform. I like to sit on my couch with a controller :) Even with the heavy holiday lineup, Skyrim is one that I've been looking forward to for some time. I didn't spend much time with Oblivion, or any of the other Elder Scrolls games in the past...but this one looks fantastic and I decided to put the time commitment to it.

I was all prepared to play and was suddenly faced with a situation that I didn't expect...my wife wanted to play as well. Her sister had put many hours into Oblivion and had told her a lot about it over the last few years and a co-worker had been talking a lot about Skyrim and the kinds of things possible in the game. This peaked her interest and she was telling me about the game and that she may want to try it...I told her it's over there on the TV stand. She didn't realize we had it and was super excited.

My desire to play the game took a sudden backseat because there is no way I'm going to discourage my wife from trying a new gaming experience :) She's a gamer but normally doesn't get into this type of game so I'm happy to see that she's broadening her horizons. Luckily for me, there's a ton of games to play right now so I had plenty to choose from. I still get to play Skyrim, but It's a part time game for me right now.

I've been enjoying the game so far, playing as a Khajiit Rogue. Well, I say that...because that's what I'm choosing to do as I play along. The game never actually told me to chose what I want to do or be. That's actually kind of awesome now that I think about it, though I wonder if it will be confusing to people that are new to the series or RPGs in general.

I'm finding stealing much easier in this game since Oblivion apparently used a color red on a small indicator that I never noticed since I'm color-blind. I gave up on that game after a couple of hours constantly failing. I must be a rogue! ;)

I'm having some interesting conversations with my wife about the game and hearing about her experiences. I'm almost enjoying that more than actually playing through the game on my own. At this rate, it may be April before I get around to finishing it. But, i'll attempt to post more once I get further along.

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Full Sail Hall of Fame 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I've been getting a lot of questions about how the Hall of Fame went, so here's a post to sum it all up for everyone. It was a crazy week jam packed full of awesome events and fantastic people. But it started with us getting stuck in Atlanta overnight and flying into Orlando on Saturday morning. This wasn't all bad...since they gave us two free flights EACH and put is in a hotel :) So my wife, son and I will get two free paid flights to Disney World.

Of course when we did arrive on Saturday, we met up with my parents and sister to spend the day at Magic Kingdom. This was their first chance to experience the parks with Kian, so they were just as excited as he was. The park was open until midnight, so arriving late morning didn't affect us too much and we got a great full day in.

Now onto the festivities! We checked into the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios and it was really nice...Full Sail took great care of us. We had a room overlooking the water and was a short walk to the restaurants that were waterside. I had a lot of family come down for the event and it was great having them all close by as well. Full Sail also provided transportation around town and assigned us a Concierge who took care of anything that we needed. It was truly all-star treatment and made us feel quite special.

I headed to Full Sail along with my presenter, Jim, and the other inductees on Sunday morning so we could get familiar with the location of the ceremony and get last minute info. It was quite humbling to be included with some pretty incredible people and was nice to get to know them better. You can read up on them and their achievements here: http://www.fullsail.edu/news/headlines/2011-08-16-2011-full-sail-hall-of-fame-inductees-announcement

On Sunday evening we had the first Hall of Fame event at the Velvet Lounge in the Hard Rock Hotel. It was a laid back event with plenty of food and drinks which went well into the evening. This was my first chance to meet and get to know some of the previous Hall of Fame Inductees and was humbled even further by their achievements.

Induction Ceremony

Monday was the big day which started bright and early by getting all of us to the Green Room in a building adjacent to the Full Sail Live venue where the ceremony would take place. They then had each of us walk across the red carpet to the main building as we were introduced by Tracy Wiu.

Once inside, they gathered together all six of the inductees for a quick photo. They had us wait out in the main entrance area so they could set the stage and have us enter and take our seats. It was nice that we began the ceremony sitting with our families so we could enjoy things and be a little more relaxed before our time with all focus on us individually.

Once my turn came around they played a fantastic video put together by the Full Sail crew that included pieces of an interview that I did with them and some footage that they came to Champaign and took earlier in the year. The video did a great job of giving insight into my career. Then Jim went up and did a fantastic job introducing me and talking about what it's like working with me now.

I told people the day before that I likely wouldn't make it through my acceptance speech without getting emotional...I was right. It was already such an overwhelming experience and once I started talking about my family it was over. At one point Garry Jones came up to give me a hug when I got a bit choked up, lol.

Watch live streaming video from fullsailuniversity at livestream.com

Here is the entire Induction Ceremony for those who would like to see it :)

After the ceremony was over, they took us over to an adjacent building where they keep a permanent Hall of Fame museum. They lined us up and on the count of three we all pulled to unveil our new Hall of Fame Wall. I'll be forever placed next to my new pal Culley Bunker.

One of the photographers got this great shot of my son holding my Hall of Fame award in front of my picture on the Hall of Fame Wall.

The evening included a really nice catered dinner that included all of my family and friends that came to visit. It was nice to spend some time with them after all the pressure was off. The night was capped off with a great concert from Marc Broussard. I hadn't heard of him before, but he has a great sound and we really enjoyed it.

Volition Day

The next day was focused around the group of Full Sail grads that now with with me at Volition. They recently finished working on Saints Row: The Third and came down to promote the game and talk to students about their various aspects of it's development. Jim and I moderated a 2 hour panel where I let them dive into their rolls on the project as well as questions from the audience.

No trip to Full Sail is complete without the customary signing of Omar's head. It's a tradition that started a couple of years ago and this was my second time participating.

Final Day

I checked out of the hotel and headed to campus to spend some time with students. I began by visiting a class and taking questions for about an hour before chilling in the main lounge area for a bit. That afternoon, I was on a panel talking about "Where the Gaming Industry Is Headed". The room was packed and we got some great questions from the audience. Once that was over, I had to hurry to the airport to head back home.

It was a fantastic, though very busy, trip and we had an absolute blast. It was really nice to be recognized for my achievements and it helps put in perspective how lucky I've been over the duration of my career.

I think my favorite part of the trip was when I returned to the hotel room my first night and found this gift from my wife and son. <3

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The Big Weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:54:00 +0000

As I talked about in a previous post, Full Sail surprised me at a recent visit with the news that I'll be inducted into their Hall of Fame this year. This weekend begins the festivities and I can't believe it's already here. For those who are interested in seeing the Induction Ceremony and other events...it's going to be live streamed!

The live stream will be located here: http://www.livestream.com/fullsailuniversity

A complete list of upcoming events is here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=296920706992337

My family is arriving on Friday evening so we can spend Saturday at Disney World...I'm sure most of you are entirely shocked by this. But, this will be the first time that my Mom and Sister get to join us in the fun :)

On Sunday the Hall of Fame events begin starting with a run through in the morning then a dinner at Hard Rock Hotel with the inductees and our presenters. Monday is a really long day with the Induction Ceremony, Hall of Fame Wall unveiling and Evening Concert. Luckily i'll have plenty of family there to help my wife wrangle our son all day.

On Tuesday & Wednesday the group coming down with me from Volition will be doing a Panel and then meeting with students...maybe we'll find a few that come join us? ;) It's gonna be a time jam packed with activities but I'm really excited and can't wait to get started.

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Q&A: What are the common positions in Game Development?

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Today's question comes from Full Sail student @JohnRyanAudio, who asks:

"What is the difference between game development and game design, and what are the common job positions in each?"

Game Development is the act and process of making a video game and it contains many roles that can be filled. Any person on the Development team is part of creating the game in some way, but there are many different areas of expertise within. The bigger the company is, the more specalized each team member can get...on smaller teams you often have to wear many hats. I'll try to give a brief overview and can elaborate on areas if anyone wants further detail.

Game Designers A Game Designer generally spends pre-production deciding what kinds of features will work best with the game and creating documents and specs that gives the entire team a clear picture of what everyone needs to work together toward. During production...Game Designers are often building gameplay levels, balancing player and enemy features and working with all the other disciplines to ensure that work created is fitting within the design goals. The discipline generally breaks into:

System Designers - Responsible for the gameplay mechanics like weapons, AI, player abilities, etc. They generally spend a lot of time in spreadsheets or proprietary tools to balance elements of the game for fun and little frustration.
Level Designers - Create the gameplay layouts, script the encounters and utilize all the pieces provided by the System Designers to create a cohesive experience for the player.
Writers - Create the flow of the story and write dialogue for all the vocals in the game. They usually work with the voice talent to ensure proper line reading.

Audio Design is often considered a subset of Game Design, but their focus is quite a bit different. They have to work closely with the other Designers to figure out not only the audio needed for the gameplay that's expected, but also the mood that has to be achieved. While working on sound effects, voice and music they have a lot of areas to consider and have to be masters at what they do to create an ideal emotional experience that impacts the player.

The Art Team is a very diverse group that focuses on creating compelling visuals while trying to stay within the gameplay parameters set by Design. The best work generally comes when Art and Design are collaborating effectively from the start and have a clear vision together going forward into asset creation. There are probably a ton of specialties i'm forgetting...but here's the general break down:

Environment Art & Props - Work closely with Level Designers to create and populate and area that's not only fun but looks great.
Characters & Vehicles - Focus on modeling and texturing all of the characters and vehicles for the game. They have to focus on high quality visuals with strict memory requirements.
Animation - They create all of the movement sets for the Characters and Vehicles in the game as well as any other objects that require movement in the environment.
UI - Create the User Interface for the game with all of the HUD elements that the player uses. Creating something that is visually appealing as well as informational isn't always easy.

The Programming Team is a hugely diverse group of people who are responsible for all the underlying tech that the game is built upon. They provide the engine, rendering, AI functionality, tools for gameplay implementation, complex gameplay encounters, and just about anything else that isn't mentioned above. Programming is a place where you often find people experienced in very particular parts of game programming.

Production is something that varies widely from company to company. At Oddworld we had one producer who was responsible for the schedule of the game creation. At EA, we had many producers who were more in charge of the quality of various areas of the game (missions, outsourcing art, UI, etc) and then added Project Managers who were more responsible for the schedule. I've seen producers take on many hats, but they are always focused on getting the game complete.

Quality Assurance Team or commonly known as QA are the guys who make sure that the rest of the developers did their jobs correctly. They spend hours upon hours playing the same things over and over making sure that someones recent content or fix didn't break something in the game. People think it sounds fun to play games all day, but I can assure you...well it is...but it's also a lot of HARD work. Playing the same 10 minutes of gameplay for 8 hours trying to reproduce a bug that only happens .5% of the time SUCKS.

If there's something I've left out, it probably fits in one of the containers above. If there is an area you'd like to hear more discussion on, just let me know! Join the conversation in the comments section, on Twitter or Facebook. Please support the blog by doing your Amazon.com purchases through this link.

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Q&A: How Do You Handle Work/Life Balance?

noreply@blogger.com (Jameson Durall) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:12:00 +0000

Today's question comes from Andrew Meade who has heard a lot about the demands of game development and sometimes lack of free time. His question is:

"How do you balance work, family, and "me" time in a way that works for everyone?"

This is a pretty common question in the industry, especially with things like EA Spouse happening in the past. While the overtime philosophy is different at every company, I can say that I have seen an effort lately from studios to be more sympathetic to a proper work/life balance.

Demands are still going to be high, especially as a project gets near it's end. There is still a level of responsibility on you to get what free time you can and to use it effectively. This sometimes means managing expectations at work and taking on the appropriate level of tasks so that you actually do get some free time. This isn't always your choice, but it's important to be conscious of the work load and stay in good communication with your superiors about the time it's taking you to complete your tasks.

That said, once you do have time at home...how do you spend it? That balance has evolved a lot for me over my career. Early in my marriage and career, my wife and I spent a lot of time playing Dark Age of Camelot together. This meant that I got to kill two birds by spending time with the wife and gaming at the same time. In addition to this, my wife has always been super understanding and supportive of my need to play games and stay current with what's out there from the industry...I recommend having a spouse like this :)

Things changed quite a bit once our son was born seven years ago. All of my spare time changed to doing the extra things that HAD to be done around the house and then spending time with my wife and son whenever possible. Playing games and other personal activities took a back seat and only happened occasionally because of the new demands on my time.

Once my son got a little older, we started playing kids video games together and things started to change again. Now I was able to get the same quality time with him that I did with my wife early on, though the game content wasn't always the most exciting for me. Once we started playing the Lego series of games and things like the Disney movie co-op games we really started to hit our stride. Today it's just a balance of finding games that have appropriate content as well as a decent difficulty level for him.

My days generally flow like this now: Get home from work, have dinner, play games with son, watch TV with wife, play games on my own...go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Of course this schedule gets altered a bit once work demands start to increase, but at that point I try to come home early enough at least twice a week so that this day can at least happen frequently.

How do you handle your work/life balance when things start to get busy at work? Join the conversation in the comments section, on Twitter or Facebook. Please support the blog by doing your Amazon.com purchases through this link.

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