What I've been working on recently (10/19/20)
So recently I figured I'd get back into rigging and making things just to get the rust off and have some fun doing it. The first thing I recently did was a rigged animation of pro wrestler Shark Boy swimming. The model came from the TNA Impact game but I rigged the model entirely.
The next day I got the idea to change the classic Nintendo boss Andross to resemble AEW wrestler Luther. The idea really spawned because Luther has an affinity for pointing at his head and Andross is all head and hands only. I took the model from Star Fox 64 and rigged/edited it.
What I've been working on recently
Given my current freelance status, I have had a lot of free time to work on my skills and work on things I usually don't tend to make. Mainly, I have been working with creating models of sports logos and designs within Maya. Some are just the logos themselves, some are interpretations of the logo. I also recently did an animation with a hockey stick and puck created in Maya as well.
PLAY NYC - 8/10/19
I had recently attended this year's PLAY NYC conference, the biggest video game convention in New York. While I had previously took part in the first two years of the event as a regular attendee, this year I was granted a "Dev & Pro" badge. This allowed me to walk the show floor an hour before the doors opened to the public, mingle amongst other developers and influencers in an exclusive lounge and attend an industry only after party after the first day had finished. I had an incredible time attending, playing some really cool titles I had never heard of and some that had progressed in development since the last conference. I also had the opportunity to mingle and network with a ton of folk within the industry and talk shop about our development experiences and the industry overall. If you ever get the chance to attend one of these events, I do highly recommend seeking out a ticket.
Gamedevs of color expo - 7/27/19
On July 27th, 2019 I had the pleasure of attending the Game Devs of Color Expo hosted at at the Schomburg Center in Harlem, NYC. Although the name does imply it is a conference made for people of color within the gaming community, it was a more so all inclusive to any race, gender, sexual preferences, etc. Three whole floors jam packed with tables ranging from single person teams showing off their small independent title to Nintendo, a major sponsor for the event, showing off the Nintendo Labo. The event also hosted panels and talks all day ranging from how hip-hop culture is an influence in gaming to getting your start within the industry. I was also lucky enough to run into Austin Walker (see left) of Vice Games and Giant Bomb fame. An outspoken member of the gaming journalism industry, it was such a cool moment just to talk to him for the few minutes I got to. From the networking opportunities I was able to take part in to just playing some extremely cool games, this is an event I can easily recommend to anyone from the casual gamer to the veteran developer.
The final stretch of scarf cats development
deep silver volition visit - 4/12/19
Capital city film festival - 4/19/19
Student game showcase - 5/2/19
During the final stretch of development for my last project at Michigan State, Scarf Cats (more info under the Portfolio section), my team and I were given the opportunity to bring our game to various places and show off what we had worked on. At the beginning of April, we drove from Michigan out to Champaign, IL to visit Deep Silver Volition. The team most known for the Saints Row series and the upcoming Shenmue 3 were an industry partner we had the pleasure of working alongside during development of the game and they invited us out to tour their studio and do a live demo for them. While there we also got to test out a project they were working on as well.
One week later, we were presented with the chance to showcase our game at the Capital City Film Festival in Lansing, MI. Not the most normal local for a video game demo per se but it was new eyes on our product so we gladly demoed for the crowd. Another game I had worked on, C4: Charged Cherry Chipmunk Chaos (which can also be found in my Portfolio), was also on display for demo at this event. While there were no awards or anything given out for a specific game, the amazing feedback and adulation we received for the game was a reward in of itself.
A day before graduation and the end of our dev cycle, we had the Student Game Showcase. Every team from our class and other younger classes had the time to show off what they had been working on during the past semester or two to the general public. During the event, a poll was open to attendees to vote for their favorite games and would be tallied by the end of the event. With a total of over 90 votes, Scarf Cats claimed victory to both the People's Choice (fan vote) and Best in Show (staff vote) awards. An amazing accomplishment in my mind for a game that went through immense amounts of changes. Could not thank the team that worked on it enough.
