James Wynn

Its been quite some time since the last post here and apparently even my gallery broke while I was away. But that is now fixed and the site is seeing a few changes. Hopefully the title graphic will even see an update and pull it away from the default image.

Its been a never ending onslaught of rushed deadlines and hurried fixes for the last several months, but now things are starting to calm down to a point where side projects can be addressed again. McLarin Adventures, the game that has eaten up so very much of my time, is really starting to play and act like a game. It has come a long ways since I joined the team a little over a year ago. The lag on the UMPC has finally been sufficiently dealt with, and most of the stability bugs have been squashed.

It seems all the hard work has been rewarded as the entire team is going to the Game Developers Conference this year. The game won’t be entered into the IGF this year, but it should be ready for ‘09 at which point there will hopefully be a Serious Games division. In the mean time though, San Fransisco will be a relaxing change and the opportunity to network with more industry people should prove quite entertaining.

So, I attended the Game Developer’s Conference 2007 in San Fransisco. Was a rather good time. Hanging out with tons of people who love making games, playing games, and drinking. It hadn’t occurred to me that game developers would be notorious binge drinkers, but it really makes since after some thinking. After all the sessions ended, if everyone didn’t go to an after-party to get smashed on free booze, we just wandered around the expo center and pillaged the free beer from the studios/vendors.  A good time was had by all.

I shook the hand of the man who invented Tetris, saw Shigeru Miyamoto talk about Mario, and Eiji Aonuma talk about Zelda (both of these talks were nothing less than spectacular), and met the directors/developers of many studios who make some of my favorite games.  Most of the vendors/studios were giving out tons of swag; picked up numerous t-shirts, mugs, stickers, etc.  One of the things I got was a free copy of Madden 2007, which I will rant about later.

After talking to many recruiters and other developers I’m feeling much more marketable now.  Not necessarily in comparison to them, but in comparison to what they are looking for.  It really puts the industry in to a slightly more friendly and tractable perspective.

In short, the conference was an absolute blast. Will definitely have to make it a habit.

So, I’ve officially graduated and I didn’t even get a ceremony from my school.  The University of Oklahoma’s College of Engineering is pretty awesome like that.  In fact now that I have a real software job I’m seeing all the holes in my education.  I’m becoming increasingly irritated by this “education” that I have received.  Appropriately nonsensical words like “craptastic” come to mind.

This experience has led me to decide to write not only a review of my education, but an in depth critique if time permits.  I’d like to start with my program in particular, but in the long run I’ll review the entire educational process.  I’ll try to push out the first part before the first of the new year.
Incidentally, and not connected in any way to my graduation, I’ve also chopped the mop.  No, it wasn’t to impress prospective employers.  I don’t play that game.  In fact I did all my interviewing and got my job long before I cut my hair.  I’ll try to post some pictures before too long.

Some time has past since I last posted anything and this has been due to many factors. School and work keep me busy, but not quite as busy as one might think. This is my last semester, so I get to deal with all that goes along with graduation. Also, I have a new job this semester which I enjoy quite a lot. I happily and with a small amount of pride can say that I make video games. Sure these things keep me fairly busy, but the real distraction has been the same thing it has always been, namely girls.

I try to keep my rants on here as far removed from my personal life as I can. I do this mostly because I hate reading other people’s rants about trite drivel that everyone else goes through, and can therefore not abide subjecting others to this as well. Occasionally though, I break this rule if something personal is the main source of my ranting and frustration.

I’ve learned quite a few things lately. Most important is that my first instinct with girls is 100% correct. I can tell within minutes whether they are worth the time, and usually it seems that they aren’t. Perhaps I should search for better stock. I’ve been told I should check libraries and churches, but I’m hesitant to disturb those ‘good folk.’ Another thing that I’ve noticed and I cannot seem to get past the accuracy of this generality, is judgement based on name. They can say you can tell a lot about a person by their name, and I agree. Is this societal? Or does it perhaps say something about the type of people their parents were? Nicknames seem to be even more telling.

This has been very general ranting about girls thus far, but really its one girl in particular that has gotten under my skin. I cannot abide flaky people, and I CERTAINLY cannot abide flaky girls. People that cannot communicate; people that cannot respond; people that cannot speak their minds; people that do not have the strength to say what they mean. Apparently she didn’t really care as much as she said, and apparently she didn’t find it important enough to say.

“Sometimes it takes a hard lesson to teach something already known.”