The job hunt still continues. After being officially laid off last Friday (December 18th), I'm officially job hunting and eligible. Time to polish off some books and get back to studying.

The job hunt continues! It seems that EA decided to lay off my studio a few months after I was hired. Bummer, I got a couple months to find a new job though. So time to polish off the site and hope the recession is ending with a block buster holiday season. With some of the games coming out, I should hope so :3. Now off to check to see if my senior project files still download.

Anyway, in commemoration of this new step in my life, so similar to the one before, I'm updating the character sheet.

Status: Project managing three games, recruiting/game designing for them as well, looking for a new job, taking care of all the people with flu back home.

Name: Christopher Lee
Classes/Levels: 1st Level Game Designer and Programmer / 1st Level Martial Artist
Race: Human(ish)
EXP: 1500/3000
Hit Points: 8/8 (+2 Bonus for living through layoffs and corporate hell)
Armor Class: 11

STR: 9
CON: 10
DEX: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 15
CHA:14 (Changed to reflect current status as a reluctant project manager.)

Current Skills in use: Blogging (+2), Game Design (+6) , Job Hunting (+3)

Feats: Die hard, Skill Focus (Programming), Iron Will.

EQUIPMENT
Weapon: Keyboard
Armor: None
Accessory: Dilbert Book (+1 to looking smart)

Did a little maintenance on this old girl and put up a link to my linked in profile on the left! And cleaned up the resume and my old files. Woot?

Funny how we forget these things in the hustle and bustle of life. I made this blog to help me a get a job, and in moving, graduating from college, and actually GETTING a job. I forgot it.

I got a job at EA for the past 2-3 months and it has been wonderful. I was working as a Game Designer / QA monkey. They laid off the whole company today. The job search CONTINUES!

The last couple of weeks has been me cleaning up my life of four years hanging in this college town, and working on the Torque game projects. So with that in mind there has also been a job hunt so this blog has remained un-updated. Not much to say besides: Moving, looking for a job, and still making video games. - Chris Lee

It's been a long time since I posted much on this blog, and over the last few months it was sparsely populated due to my final quarter at Cal Poly. So here's a nice big update in my quest to break into the video game industry.

I'm working on two mobile games, and a browser game as project leaders/programmer/writer-editor. That's to keep my occupied while I continue my epic quest to get into the game industry, and of course if I'm real lucky I might become self employed. We'll see.

Either way, I'll be updating this once a week to give one word of wisdom and a nice little update into the epic quest of making video games.

Experience: Reincarnated as level 1 Computer Science Grad. 0/1000
Equipment: Old computer, dreams, and lots of persistence. +3 Keyboard of coding.

I've graduated from Cal Poly as a Computer Science Major! I'm still maintaining this web site in my search for a job though. Though as a Cal Poly grad, I don't think it will be a huge uphill battle. Knock on wood though right? Either way, hooray!

Ack, my senior project files were taken down, just re-posted them so now the links on the side should give you a .rar file with my senior project paper and source code files from a file hosting site. You can also get my CSC 300 Ethics in Computing paper as well.

Fixed the resume, fixed the senior project download. Now the resume looks nicer cause Google docs kinda stretches it, and my senior project is now downloaded as a .doc and a bunch of source code files.

Uck. For some reason half my pictures and figures don't appear right on Google docs.. Going to move it somewhere soon so people can just download it...

So it's been about three weeks since my last post. Here's why. Three weeks ago I had to hoof it on final projects. Two weeks ago final projects were due plus early finals. Last week late projects were due plus normal finals. This week was spring break, the very first time I got to see my fiance in months due to projects, finals, two jobs, looking for a Game Developer job, preparing for GDC, and trying to be clever in this blog. I failed that last one, but the rest has gone quite nicely.

Weapons: Cards, resumes, killer new outfit.

Objective: Goto GDC and schmooze the elite.

Should be fun, Darius is going to have a seminar I'm going to. Always wondered what he looked like since his avatar is kinda funky.

- Chris Lee

So it's been a while, I've been on a huge project whose details are forthcoming, and I posted my senior project on the side there so people can be all impressed about how awesome it is when they come to the site. I'm going to shove example code on there soonish too. - Chris Lee

So I just got an A on my senior project, which is what I've been spending a lot of time on. It's about video games so I'm going to shove it on this blog as soon as I have everything submitted to the school and everything, maybe some employer will see it and be impressed XD. We'll see. Getting jitters over the GDC, far too excited to go. Happy trails true believers.

Android game thing is coming alone, as is my other little projects. I'm finally catching up with school but I tell you it's an uphill battle. Getting resume looked at for the GDC. Peace out ya'll

Saddening week. Denied scholarship thing for GDC (Free Pass, plus a personal mentor-type.), places that wanted to hire me are on hiring freeze, places I didn't want to go to closed down jobs where I could work. Spent the last couple of days feeling a bit down. And now I'm registering for the GDC. So I'm still super-excited for that!

Lesson: Never let setbacks keep you down.

Not too many posts lately cause I'm not searching for game work exclusively as of late. Demo going okay, the company is keeping us waiting. But we're getting a lot of work done over the excitement that's running through our blood. Waiting for GDC stuff to come through, my preparations were a little ahead of time but I hate waiting til the last minute. So that's today's advice, NEVER wait til the last minute. Just in general.

So we're getting the demo out the door, if we don't fail miserably I'll tell you guys whatever, my NDA will let me. I'm super excited though, you imaginary users should be too! Also my business cards look awesome, I'll post pics later with some props to the guy I got the idea from at (http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com/). Cool dude, check him out.

Not a lot of posts because I've been doing more and more of the same. Even the same work really ;3. But today is special, getting ready to demo a game to a publisher. Kinda nerve wrecking eh. Oh and I'm getting my business cards today. I'll post a pic of it later.

So I just finished the first final draft version of my senior paper. Clocks in at about 28 pages. Yea, pretty harsh, but as soon as I clean it up and get it over with I'll have a LOT more time to prepare for the GDC and get some spiffy business cards made.

Tip of the day: Do your work early!

Less job type things go on over a holiday weekend but here's an update. Finished compiler, pounded out Android game specs over a nice 12 hour period, looking nice. That Sparkplay Media job I mentioned, yea that was filled. Didn't even get a response with a super nice coverletter + resume. Bummer. Oh thee well. Getting in touch with some recruiters later.

Today's Advice: Get a bunch of people to touch up your resume. Look into business writing style (I totally didn't know they weren't supposed to be indented for example.)

CONFLICT: The two body problem rears it's ugly head.

A technical recruiter contacted me for a possible job at a game company that is among my most revered. 400 miles away from where I want to be. It breaks my heart.

Of course I haven't yet heard back from my dream job and I doubt I will. A couple weeks back Sparkplay Media put up a job on GameSutra about a content designer. Basically designing and scripting quests for their fantastic looking MMO. I spent hours crafting a perfect cover letter and with a bunch of my friends and colleagues tweaking my already polished resume. Sadly no word, very dissapointing, but I still hold out some hope for that one.

That's my dream job but I'm still preparing for GDC, still applying for jobs. And I got a very nice technical recruiter looking into jobs for me in the Bay Area (It'd really break my heart to have to be far away from my fiance). We'll see. Got more compiler work to do. Working on my Android game and a personal project game that I had to blow the dust off last night.

Today's Advice: Persistence, Persistence, Persistence. That and check out Sparkplay media, their game looks bad ass.

Char sheet update: +8 experience for natural 20 roll of (Recruiter finding resume online) check. Recovered Hp Damage. Armor change: Camos and sarcastic t-shirt. Weapon: GDB (Blasting away bugs like no other).


Current skills in use: Blogging (+2), programming (+7 'Bonus for GDB and temporary from professor help')
EXP: 1034/3000
Armor: Camo and sarcastic shirt
HP: 6/6

So today is more work on that compiler, but I got a lot planned for our little Android Application today too! Got the lead artist pumping out all the art, and I got my team pretty pumped. Gonna be sweet. Still preparing for the GDC, last night I bookmarked every good game company I'd want to work for and sent in applications where appropriate. I guess that's pretty good advice but I can't imagine people don't know about it, might as well put it up.

Good advice: APPLY EVERYWHERE, most places keep your resume on file even if they have no current openings.

So yea, not too much going on besides that.

Char sheet update: Recovered temporary dex damage, hit points +2 then -1 for strain and slight injuries, current skills in use changed, wearing a Gi again. +4 total experience for continuing to work fairly hard

Current skills in use: Blogging (+2), programming (+5), Martial Arts(+6)
dex: 12 (was 10)
EXP: 1026/3000
Armor: Gi
HP: 5/6

Update: Well today is another day chock full of work. I was inspired to write this this because my partner and I were forced into writing a for loop. A for loop whose initializer takes up 4 lines and has to iterate over 3 lists at once. As for games I've put up a lot more effort this last night.

Todays Tip to break into the industry: Make games, then put it on your resume. Any game will do! Especially ones you can demo. Peace - Chris Lee

So I've spent the last 10 hours working on that compiler some more and it's only week 2 of 10. *Sigh* It's going to be a long quarter. On the plus side game work on my active little Android app continues!

Also I've just picked up both "Crushed: The Doomed Kitty Adventures!" two are available from Angry Viking Press and the website is here: http://www.supermegatopia.com/whatsnew.htm.

Unique, kinda raunchy, but HILARIOUS. I highly super recommend it! Back to slaving!

No change on character sheet.

The quest continues! Current quest status:

Get Job as a Video Game Programmer! (Incomplete)
Get Website (Complete!)
Make Business Cards (Incomplete!)
Stalk... err, research some people for GDC (Pending)
Finish up polish on essays for GDC Student Scholarship (COMPLETE)

So after Karate this morning I've been coding until about. Now, and I'll be coding some more with some breaks for eating a three hour class which is, yeah more coding. On the plus side that class has a big quarter long project in which I will be making another video game, boo yah. If it becomes something more I'll post about it here. 'Sides that, my intrepid quest to become a game programmer continues as I finished up my essay to enter a scholarship contest whose prize involves being paired with a mentor for GDC. That would be the ultimate networking and awesometastic oppurtunity so I put a lot of effort into the essays. Cross your fingers non existent readers! Must be getting back to coding, for it is a harsh mistress and only allowed me a break to let the lashes heal JUST enough to stop being numb and allow for more pain later. Below is a character sheet changelog.

-6 EXP for creating magical items (Compiler + game work), + 8 EXP for martial arts practice and enduring coding torture. -2 hit points from various injuries, and a temporarily lowered dex from strained muscles. I'm also wearing different armor, because I'm too lazy to change out of my Gi pants. They're just so darned comfy!

EXP: 1022/3000
Hit Points: 4/6 (Martial Arts Strain, coding mistress ethernet o' nine tails lashes)
Armor Class: 12
DEX: 10(12) (Pulled a muscle)
Current Skills in use: Blogging (+2), Programming (+5), Job Hunting (+3), Tumble(+5)
EQUIPMENT
Armor: Gi

Finally onto rant and current status of my epic quest to make quests for a living.

The difficulty of breaking in. I've been looking at applications for a couple years now and almost every single one has (2-5 years experience, must have shipped 1-5 AAA titles). The only ones that didn't were "Internships" usually unpaid, mostly through specific colleges or programs. You know what? I won't explain the logical paradox of every single job requiring something that makes it so nobody will ever be qualified for these positions. Where do they want me to get this experience? Magical land of game development where all n00bs go to stop being so damned incompetent? Perhaps every single employer compensates for padded resumes by assuming everyone is a liar?
My friends say "You got to know somebody", I'm really damn tired of the haves and have nots but I won't go into that right now. Point is you gotta know somebody, and I saw Darius Kazemi's blog which had lots and lots of good advice for doing just that. So, I booted up this old blog (Get a website he said), I'm making business cards! I got a nice well constructed resume, and I have a natural advantage that most people in my major (CSC) don't have. I can talk, and I can talk well. I always found it annoying that I'd almost always end up being group leader of every project since I got to Poly because most of my group members were not capable of any social graces of communication abilities. Kind of the stereotypical and sadly true in most cases that I've been in. So here's what's goin on right now

1. Get those business cards. 2. Prepare for GDC by reading more and maybe looking some people up. We'll see.

Below is my status and current character sheet. I've awarded myself 20 experience points for successful blogging check.

Status: Senior Project + Building a Compiler + Making Three Games + Searching for Job(Hopefully Game Programming) + Preparing for GDC. I'm a bit busy

Name: Topagae
Classes/Levels: 1st Level Programmer / 1st Level Martial Artist
Race: Human(ish)
EXP: 1020/3000
Hit Points: 6/6
Armor Class: 13

STR: 9
CON: 10
DEX: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 15
CHA:11

Current Skills in use: Blogging (+2), Programming (+5), Job Hunting (+3)

Feats: Die hard, Skill Focus (Programming), Iron Will.

EQUIPMENT
Weapon: Keyboard
Armor: Router of the Gods +2
Accessory: Spider-Man Keychain

So here's my debut game review and some rants on the current state of my epic quest.

First off, a game everyone should play Planescape Torment:

Planescape Torment is a game that's like reading a life changing fantastic fantasy novel. Now I've lost about half of you, but the rest of you I'm sure have an anime eyebrow in the air that can only be described as "Go on".
Now for context I'll give an example. There are plenty of people who will understand this, playing Planescape Torment is as life changing and as important as reading Dune or Ender's Game. Yes it's that good.
The game revolves around a deadish guy called only "The Nameless One". You don't remember anything about your past, you look like a corpse, and whenever you die, you wake up a little while later. The game revolves around you going around figuring out what you were doing in the past several hundred years along with meeting some friends of a more recent past life.
You know when you've closed a book and you hold back tears. It's the last of a series and you've felt like you've just lost a friend? This game's dialogue, storyline, and cast of characters is just that good. And the best part is the scope. You can play the game ten times and not see or meet everyone. All things aside you can usually choose to be the most moral champion, or the most vile bastard, there's just so much to see you can never get it all in one play through. Played a in a world within worlds connected to other worlds randomly where faith and belief make reality. I'm almost afraid to give away all the "Oh man that's AWESOME" moments in fear it'll ruin the experience even a tiny bit you'll just have to trust me and go play it.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with but a single step.

So my name is Chris Lee and this Blog will cover my thoughts on whatever I feel like writing. Though mostly it will contain reviews on games that I'm playing, updates on games that I am making, and the main event will be chronicling my journey to getting a paying job in the video game industry(Or alternatively a paying job as a programmer as a lead in to finding work as a game programmer).

History: I always knew I loved games but before my programming days I was more of a writer. The most rewarding thing in the world is making a room full of people laugh, and I loved to do it. But I had a technical yearning in me as well. With a bunch of nerds who did nothing but play D&D and video games with me it was inevitable that I become obsessed with computers. Long story short, I've loved just about everything on the internet, and on the gaming scene since about the 4th grade. I loved Ultima Online despite the fact that I really, really sucked at it, and I obsessively played just about every RPG to come my way my whole life. On with the blog!