What have I been up to? Shooting video for 343 Industries!

So after 6 months of unemployment, getting my CSM (Certified Scrum Master) and working on a 1 year certificate from MSU (Michigan State University) in Game Design and Entrepreneurship, I landed a gig as an Associate Producer at 343 Industries.

I'm still working on games, I had a hard time finding employment for some reason, three times I was told I was hired, only to have the position canceled or some kind of hang up in HR, it was bizarre.  Anyway, a lot of those jobs side tracked me into doing prototypes, etc. as part of the interview process, did them, was told I was hired and then something would always result in it not coming through... It's fine though, I'm working for 343 and it's going great.

Still not sure what I'm going to do with this blog...  A game came out about 2 months after I posted my Defend the Earth video, and it was pretty much the same game I was working on, but with neon vector graphics.  It discouraged me a lot from finishing the title, still might do it after this MSU course is finished though.  For the MSU course I was required to concept, develop and publish a game in 2 months.  I'm working with Danielle on this, and it's coming along pretty nicely.  It's a voxel game in the style of Zombies Ate my Neighbors, but with an interesting

It will be a browser / phone game.

Here's the pitch she made for it:

This was my pitch for a Bolax themed Dungeons spinoff VR game:

Oh and I went to Steam Dev days got a free Steam Lync and a Steam controller, wish they gave out Vive this year (would love to dev on one, the theme of this event was very VR orientated, gave me a ton of ideas and the Vive is simply amazing) but hey free controller! :D

The Microsoft Shuffle.

Well, I was told last week I was getting my own private office, very excited.  Then this monday I was given three weeks notice.  We just merged with another team, and it pushed our head count to high, so seniority rules.  Understandable, but now I'm stuck job  hunting again.

Been working through a web app development course, got inspired to make a web app / universal app for the Windows phone due to their barren marketplace.  I will be sure to share the beta here, once I have it live on my site.

I also registered a trademark for it ;)  I'll share it, along with the site and our logo at the same time.  I've never filed a Federal trademark before, always relied on the cheaper State ones prior, didn't know I was lose my job at the time, but I did score a sweet URL and an even sweeter Trademark name,  thanks to Danielle's wonderful suggestions!

Anyway, more coming soon-ish.  Just wanted up date this thing, since it's been neglected for a while.

William

We lease it back from the company we sold it to and that way it comes under the monthly current budget and not the capital account.

Yo,

Just a quick update.

This is an early draft of my game trailer for "Defend the Earth".  Still not sure about the dialogue sequences yet.  I have also discovered that Fraps does not like capturing footage from Unity Preview.  Anyway, I'm not sure when I will give this another pass and fix it up at the moment, I go to work today at 9-5 after New Years break.  I've been sick for a week so now that I'm pretty much well again I have to get back into the swing of things.  I have 1 month to prove myself in my new position, so things are going to be a bit stressful this month.  Did I complete anything on my list from my last post?  Not really.  Was still too fuzzy headed to think clearly enough and work on anything major.  Then New Years came and Danielle insisted we break open our Xmas gift of Dying Light.  I also visited some friends and tested out the Gear VR (very cool) and got a ton of ideas :P

So yeah if I have time I'll try to complete my listed tasks as soon as possible, but right now my job / future is taking priority.  

Other than that, I hope you all enjoy the WIP trailer: