Ramblings and Stuff

So yeah, as the one or two of you that actually look at my page may have noticed, I'm no longer at NCsoft working on Tabula Rasa. I've moved on to Spacetime Studios to work on an as yet unannounced game of space fighting greatness, or as quoted from our website, "Spacetime Studios' unnamed project is a massively-multiplayer online game that features a unique combination of space flight and role-oriented (RPG-style) combat." Yep, that's about all I can say about the game, other than I haven't been this excited about working on a game since I started working on Fallout 3 back during the Black Isle days (it still pains me that BIS effectively shut down and the project was canned, but life goes on and I'm in a much happier place, now. *playfully grabs at imaginary butterflies*).

Check out the Spacetime Studios website for updates and developer blog posts.

Now onto part deux of this blog – the Step Off Fat Bastard section. The one or two of you might know from my previous, infrequent blogs that during crunch time on Tabula Rasa there was a weight loss challenge at NCsoft (yeah, great time to watch calories, during crunch – BRILLIANT!). I lost 20 lbs. and have been successful at maintaining that weight. Now it's time for me to lose another 20 lbs., so I started back at watching what I eat and upping the intensity of my cardio and weight training at the gym. It's kicking my ass, but it's supposed to, right? We'll see how that goes with the holidays coming up and all the sweets that come with it, but I'm feeling pretty confident about all of it.

Speaking of games, in particular MMORPGs, I've re-upped my World of Warcraft account after taking a few months off, and I've been playing Everquest 2 during that time off from WoW. With WoW I've put my level 70 Night Elf Hunter (no Mohawk) on indefinite leave until I get the urge to grind for gold, faction, or whatever, and am now leveling up my Orc Warrior named Puuk (naturally enough). There's been enough fixes to the beleaguered and often ignored Warrior class to warrant me another try at this character, which is level 51 at the moment. It's been fun so far, mass murdering the indigenous life in the Blasted lands, but I can't wait until Puuk is 58 so I can get into the Outlands. Plus the gear at 51 is pretty non-existent, so I can't wait to get some good gear from the Outlands, as well.

EQ2 has been surprisingly fun these past few months. I've got a level 25 Ogre Shadowknight (also named Puuk) which fits my criteria for a tank-mage quite well. He does good damage and can take a lot of punishment, plus the heroic opportunity attacks really makes the combat seem more involving. Granted the art direction and engine performance in EQ 2 still leaves a lot to be desired, but the game play is solid and there is always something to do. I think I'll be playing this for a while.

That's about it on the game front. I haven't had much time to play anything else, though I will eventually get the Orange Box and play TF2… eventually.

Lastly, as for the Austin Game Conference, there really isn't that much to say. It was interesting and sometimes amusing to hear other developers speak about their trials and tribulations at their studios and during their careers, but all-in-all it really wasn't very informative. However, I consider the experience to be extremely beneficial for two main reasons; 1) I ran into a friend of mine from Raven Software, so we hung out for the conference and 2) I got to meet with the Spacetime crew and it helped launch me into my new position. Two great outcomes that go great together!