MrBCut Blog RSS feed - Mod DB

I'm back. Did you miss me? Well up yours! j/k!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:52:04 -0500

-Whoa! Do I have some explaining to do... Been gone a long time right? I'm sorry. For a while it was hard to keep up with the blogging. Man, I work, I go to school, and I'm working on this game. So excuse me! Things have been going very well. To all the young and inspiring people out there - Hard work does pay off and it has it's rewards! Trust me! -E.........A........work........ - it's like your a slave No. Just kidding. but let me shed some insight about working at EA and maybe this is perhaps true in any game company. If you are a new and budding tester, it will be a lot of fun at first. Yay! But if you want to really be a part of game development and have more responsibilities and display your talent and what you're capable of, work goes up and fun comes down. It become a job. But a rewarding job. I remember when I first started there it was great. I pursued programming any way I could with any task. I bugged the hell out of managers and other engineers and was always nosey. Then I finally got my chance performing automation scripting. From their, I gained the respect of my coworkers and mangers. Since then, after being laid off(thanks Microsoft for the crappy launch of your Xbox 360 that cost people their jobs - http://kotaku.com/gaming/electronic-arts/ea-lose-money-sack-a-bunch-of-people-318036.php) I hate Microsoft now. Go PS3! Wii is a gimmmick) I went back to school worked toward finishing my degree and worked at Sony for a while :) .Then one day got a call from EA to come back home. The second time around it was much easier to kick a$$ because some of my friends already cam back and remembered me and some friends survived the cuts and not only that, it kind of felt like I came back like a Jedi - I kicked a$$. So to make a long story short, congratulations are in order for me because after hard work, persistence, and acquiring knowledge and showing it, now I am a permanent employee working with the biggest label there under EA as part of the internet group. So that's what's been going on friends... -Uhh...yeah that's great. Aren't you working on a game or something? So all that has been going on, which brings you all up to date and what's going on with our mod project Harmonic Illusion. Yes, it is still in progress and I am very happy to say that and even happier to announce that great progress we've made. We started with 3 guys and now we have 6 and maybe a 7th on the way and we cover all the appropriate disciplines we need to: art, animation, level design, engineering, and we are working on sound. I take on the engineering responsibilities and let me say I am really glad to work with the other guys. They are super talented and I could never do what they are doing. But as the engineer, everyday i appreciate the Unreal Engine more and more. We have a new team member the was part of a team that created a Mod with the Steam engine, and I remember in the very beginning we were discussing design implementation and planning we considered using it, but I think we made a good choice with this engine. I have some great screenshots and artwork I would love to post, but let me get permission from the other guys and see how the feel about it, okay? -Until next time. No I promise this time!... My next blog, I'll try to write tonight. I got a long day ahead of me, but I want to talk about the things I've been going through with the tutorials for the Unreal Engine, the pros' and con's of the success of the launch of the first prealpha runtime and where we are at now and what to expect next. Until then guys have a great day . And stay out of trouble and work hard. Damn it! ;-) j/k, lol.

UT3 - it's time...

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:27:35 -0600

-Finally going to go pick up my copy of UT3-. I have a PS3 ( say what you want, but this is an awesome machine - trust me. i have the first gen PS3 plus I was working at Sony at the time of development and launch so I know all the ins and outs of it) and I can't wait to play it on there. Found out that any USB or Bluetooth keyboard is compatible with it for gameplay so that's great. Hopefully this means no matter if you're playing on PC or console you're skills will continually get better because of the familiarity with controls. -PS3 + UE3 = Uber UT3- I can't wait to see how the Unreal Engine 3 performs on the PS3 with UT3 (say that 3 times fast, lol ) Now there are other games out there that have the Unreal Engine 3 used on it, but this is my personal benchmark standard for the machine and I can't wait to play it. Although I have already seen gameplay footage of UT3 at the 2007 GDC, this time it';s different of course because it's the finished product and it's my personal gameplay experience and I hope to find some familiarity between it and UT 2004 /UT2 engine. I have a feeling it will be hard to notice. -UT3 anyone?- So if anyone out there in ModDB land plans on playing it on the PS3, my gamertag is going to be MrBCut and if you are planning on modding or are currently modding some stuff with UT3, or if you know of some good resources on here about any of that for the ps3 or PC, I'd love to hear from you! It's going to be cool to discuss the technology, ideas and capabilities of how the PS3 and UE3 are going to work together in the future. All right see you guys then. Stay Tuned for more updates about our mod too... MrBCut

Man have I been busy with this stuff!

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:24:50 -0600

I'm supposed to be pretty frequent with these blog postings, but I am stretched thin, let me tell you! Then it doesn't help that Christmas is around the corner. Everyone in the way on the roads and in the mall, just slowing my commute time trying to get home. Please people , learn how to drive! lol. Well if you observed the time of this posting, you'll notice that I'm up pretty damn late for a guy that has to be up at 6:30 a.m. But it's cool - I learned a lot tonight and it was definitely worth it. You know, I'll tell ya': those guys over there at Epic have things really figured out. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but a lot of developers are coming out with their own engines ( LucasArts, DICE, Crytek, etc. ) not just for their games but for licensing too, and I think that's cool, but I really appreciate Epic really opening the indie development support of their engine to n00bs even like me. Thanks guys! You are helping me make some important steps as I continue my pursuit in the game industry. So I was studying some info from their UDN site and it's has been the most resourceful of all info. Hey no offense to my ModDb community! lol You guys are great and you have really pointed me in the right direction and I really appreciate that. However, I'm going right to the source, so you can't fault me for that right? I learned a lot in regards to UE2 definition of mod support and really defining how to set up a mod project and using the -mod command line prompt in the Systems folder and how to set up your packages and configurations files so they are available in game. I even utilized our generic logo for the game through these settings and it was pretty cool! I really appreciate their exampled and I hope I get a chance to share with you all soon! Damn I 'm tired - I'll talke to you guys later! :) MrBCut

How the Unreal engine is treating me...

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:12:34 -0600

- My head feels like a bruised piece of fruit- Well its not that bad of a headache - it's actually a good headache from taking in so much stuff about the Unreal Engine. Everything from understanding the syntax and different implementation forms to reading Tim Sweeney's concept of the engine andthe design decision he made when he came about creating it. And I have to admit Tim Sweeney is an awesome guy! The Unreal Engine is awesome and I am really starting to fall in love with it. - Our team (Name pending...) - So as a group, our team meets every Friday and we talk about the things we learned and what we want to implement and we give each other assignments and deadlinedsand we think it's important to constantly put pressure on each other. lol - No it works! In fact, if you a look a blog I posted a few days back, you'll see that one of my friends working on the project with me named flipart, replied to my comment. Way to go man! Generate the buzz and introduce yourself! If this game is going to be awesome and reflect all the hard work that went into it, it's going to be because of him. This guy is talented and very artistic. I envy him...grrrr!! lol No, but seriously he is good. Hey check out his website, www.asylumartistry.com see for yourself - ModDB: "You don't have videos for us" - I keep seeing this little FYI thing on this page about "you haven't posted any videos". Well, you are in luck ModDB friends! I have recorded/documented so many cool things in my career in the game industry ( which can also be found on my website( well once I finish paying for a service provide, but actually I was trying to host myself here at home) that I would love to share with all you guys from veteran professionals to noobs! I'll post it in the vidoe section. - Packers lose, Cowboys win - Time for sleep. Work will be here before you know it and big meeting tomorrow. I got a lot of explaining to do. lol See ya' MrBCut www.asylumartistry.com

My first blog post...

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:20:50 -0600

Hey what's up Mod DB! I never written a blog before, but for this project, it's worth it. This project has been an idea for a long time. Almost a year now, and we are now putting together a lot of assets. My responsibilities include the programming. It's something I'm good at. I take Software Engineering classes at Cal State University East Bay. They don't offer any courses in game programming, but I've taken all my programming fundamentals and practices and applied it towards my passion and that's the video game industry! So I don't know how long or how detailed a blog is supposed to be, but I'm going to stop here. I have a lot too talk about, but a lot of work to do too. But I hope if you're reading this, that you get inspired and follow our Mod progress and process development. And I want to thank mod DB for having this. I'm starting to see the usefulness of this thing. Thanks guys! I'll try to enter one every day - but I don't know... Mr. BCut