Saturday, April 26, 2008

Work life after Creed

It's been around 8/9 months since I returned to England now, and even though it's my home country it's taken a little bit of time to get used to everything again, and only now am I starting to feel back at home.

My blog updates have been few and far between in that time, probably in part due to the evils of facebook, which I am seriously considering knocking on the head, if it weren't for how difficult it was to just switch off from it I would of probably done it alot quicker. Although it have to admit it has kept me in touch with a load of friend back in Canada as well as old school friends, but I can't help feel that because I know what they are upto with pictures and posts about their latest comings and goings I don't need to actually talk to them, pros and cons I suppsoe.

Anyway, things at my new company Pivotal Games haven't been easy, with plenty of ups and downs and alot of thinking "have I made the right decision", to be honest the jury is probably still out on that one, although I don't regret anything and everything really does happen for a reason. 9 months on and I'm finding that Assassins Creed is becoming a distant memory, and I am now starting to apply all the things I'd learnt to my new job, and finally the fruits of that are showing themselves. Although I can't talk about the project I'm working on for obvious reasons, I can say that with everyday I am starting to feel a little more comfortable in my role, and the fun it just beginning as gameplay is starting to go in.

This is my first game at Pivotal as I arrived too late to have an impact on their latest release, so I focused my time on getting the tools and pipeline up to scratch for their future projects. Pivotal's (to me at least) animation department is coming on leaps and bounds, we are starting to build some fantastic tools which I truely believe will end up rivaling those I was used to using in Montreal, the animation department is now taken seriously which is one of the things I was brought in to do, and provided the progress continues and we are allowed to work in this way I am confident that this game; what ever it ends up being, will not only look great but feel great to play as well, we have just completed our first motion capture shoot, to add some extra realism, but even with the placeholder animation done by the team is feeling solid.

We'll have to see what happens in the future with the company and the project but it could potentially be some very exciting times ahead, following on from Assassins Creed as an animator isn't going to be easy, but rest assured I'll give it a damn good shot...

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Jamie's Gambling Stag

Feeling a little fluffy in the center of Birmingham.
So one of my friends from Uni is getting married this May, which of course means that it's an excuse for us all to get together and give him a decent send off... Although "send off" probably isn't the best term to use.
Anyway Andy, Justin and I traveled up to Birmingham from Bristol for a weekend of gambling, football, dodgy chinese meals and plenty of drinking. My advice to you... When in a large group don't go to a chinese resturant at the end of the night, you'll only regret it the next morning (and probably a few days after as well). All you can eat for 20 quid can only end up messy in more ways than one.
Anyway, pictures of the weekend can be seen here.
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