jbsheblak

Alrighty, here is my monthly update to keep you cats "in the know" on my status.

I went to The Warped Tour today in San Francisco with a couple of my CA buddies. Now, I'm not normally the type to go to one of these things, but I didn't completely hate it. I mean, it's still not really my cup of tea, but I still enjoyed myself. The scenery was beautiful. The venue was right on the bay at pier 39. So, you had the bands playing with the water and the bay bridge right behind them, cool. I saw Armor for Sleep, "Butt-fare", Saves the Day, Thursday, Less than Jake, Saocin, and Emery. Yeah...lot's of screaming...

Also, this Wednesday I'm heading up the Seattle to try to work out a final deal with Valve on our game project with them. If everything goes right, we should start working around the time that I get back in Austin, which is awesome. They are paying for the flight, the accommodations, and even a driver ( named Mikhael ) with a towncar. Huzzah!

So, you are you guys and your summers going? Let me know!

[Addition]

Italy vs France. Most entertaining game I've ever seen. GOOYAH!

Wikipedia : Head Butt

Short update.

Things are going great, Electronic Arts is freaking amazing. I'm so in love with my job and I'm in the process of finding a nice California girl. I want to drop out of college. That's not a joke, I really don't want to come back.










...but don't worry, I'm coming back.

ok, here we go.

I've got most of my stuff packed, ready to be shipped out of my Austin apartment. It feels a little strange for the school year to be over already, it just seemed so short. However, schools over and it's time to adjust again.

Most of you know that I'm heading over to Redwood City, CA for an internship at Electronic Arts : Maxis. I can't even describe how excited I am about this. It's crazy to think that before I went to California a few months ago, I had no idea if I'd ever break into the industry, and now I'm getting offers from multiple places. It feels good to be honest. But I'll wrap that up there, because I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. More, I'm just trying to express how appreciative I am of the situation I'm in.

The downside to doing this internship is that once again, I'll be spending a summer without the friends that I love. So, I'd like to give a shout out to each one of you if I can. Basically, it is just thoughts that I have in my head that I either haven't had a chance to say or won't get a chance to say this summer.

Keep in mind, I'm not really sure who all reads this, so if you get left out, don't think that I've forgotten about you...it's just that I don't think you read this.

Erin (Carrot) : It's strange how far we've drifted apart. I'll take the brunt of the blame for this. There are probably things I should have done differently. I just hope we are not on bad terms. This is for you, I hope you remember it.


Lynze : I'm a total asshole and I can't see why you still want to hang out with me. I've probably done more nasty things to you than all of my other friends combined, but for some reason, you stick with me. Thank you. This is for you.


Angela & Sarah : Thank you so much for going to lunch with me last week. It was great to see you guys again. Angela, you rocked as always. Sarah, you were great too. Sorry I was an asshole last year. Sarah, this is for you.


Marshall : I think it's cool that you're trying to get into gamedev. You've got a long road ahead of you, but you should do fine if you really want it. That's the one thing that separates people who make and don't make it, the real desire. I'll be sure to give you advice whenever you need it.


Chrisie : Geez, I don't know why you like me so much after what I've done to Lynze. I'd like to think that it's because of your new Catholicism, and if it is, fantastic! Congrats btw on that.

James : Dude, you rock. That is all. That's all that needs to be said.

James Chen : Dude, you rock. That is all. That's all that needs to be said. x 2

Kellen : I'm going to miss you man. I hope you have fun in all of your future endeavors.

Eric : There's not really much I keep from you....so, yeah. I am pretty excited that you are trying to graduate at the same time as me. It's about time we start crackin' at them games. Who knows, maybe someday we'll actually start that company. Oh, also I think it is very brave of you to transfer to UTD. There was definitely a trade off between having friends around and doing something for your future. I think you made the right choice.

Here is the game I made for gametech class this semester. The basic idea of the game is to move the turrets around to defend your house from the waves of evil ghosts and skeletons.




Go here to download the game

If anyone knows someone who is looking for a summer apartment, I'm looking at leasing out my room from May 18th to July 31.

Here's the info:

2/1 ~ 700sq ft.
$415 a month, TV cable, gas, water, waste, trash, included.
Split electric bill with my roomate (it usually costs me around $25)

It's located on 38th street between Speedway and Gaudalupe. Half a block from the IF bus so you can get to campus in about 6 minutes (from the time you step out my door to the time you arrive on campus).

Very quiet and safe neighborhood. I've never had any sort of problem.

I'd prefer the resident to be male, non-smoking, non-drug using. Maybe a little flexible on the male part depending on what my roommate things.

So yeah, if you know of anyone who is panicing at the last minute to get a place, I can help. Have them call me. 361-935-0700

Hey guys/gals, I probably haven't spoken with most of you in awhile so I thought I'd do a little update post as to where I'm at.

Let's see, where did we leave off? Well, I went to California about a month ago for a really big game developers conference. That was pretty cool, in a nerdy way.

Since I've been back, it's just been about getting into a school oriented routine. It doesn't seem to be working very well though, because school takes up such a miniscule portion of the day. I think I'm in class around 3 hours a day, max. Whatever, at least my classes are decent and not too hard.

Except for game-tech. This class is sucking up all of my time. In the class, we have to develop a complete game engine and game. Note: this takes most professionals at least a year. It is both cool and crappy that the professor is pushing us so hard, but I must admit, I've been learning a lot of useful techniques both in and out of class. That reminds me of a topic I've been wanting to research about computer scientists and exploitation, but let's leave that for another time.

Oh, here's a little development shot of what we have so far:



Let's see, what else. Oh, I accepted a job in San Francisco, CA at Maxis. For those of you who don't know, Maxis is the company that makes games such as SimCity, the Sims, the Sims Online, and Spore. So I'll be working there all summer, which should be cool. Strangely enough, Valve software (the makers of Half-Life) has been in contact with us a lot recently about hiring us to make them a mod. There's a lot of issues that we'd have to negotiate on with them for that one though, but again, good experience.

Damn, this whole post was about games...that seems to be the primarly focus of my life right now.
I'll be trying to get in touch with all of you so we can hang before I leave.

Bummer of the night:

Hearing that your friend from highschool died in Iraq.

[THE GDC STORY]

It's time. No more waiting.



Thank you so much Lord. Hello future.

Abortion: Keep that shit legal. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally against it on moral grounds and I think that everyone that goes through with it (even rape victims) definately lack a conscience, but the government shouldn't regulate this form of immorality. If you disagree on that point, fuck off, it's a non-issue. Let God sort things out.

Affirmative Action: Against. Nigga plz. Based on my experience in highschool, any minority that really busted his/her ass off in highschool like I did has my respect and went to college. The others don't and didn't.

Free Speech: Yessir, refer to Eric's fake Voltaire quote.

Campaign Finance: No Comment.

Energy: Clean it up. I can't wait for the hydrogen days. Honestly, I can't. My leg is shaking.

Environment: I like bears.

Iraq War: This is complete non-issue. It's not like anyone's opinion on if we should or should not have gone is worth anything. It's a perfect fit for the "hindsight is 20/20" quote. I think we just need to get things done and pull out SLOWLY. Don't screw up the pullout. Take more time if it is necessary. Just make sure that there isn't a massacre once we leave.

Privacy: Privacy is such an ambiguous term. If you really want to keep information away from others, encrypt your stuff, otherwise, it's your own fault.

Marijuana: Make it like alcohol. Ban cigs, just to mix things up.

Nuclear Proliferation: There's no solution to this.

Terrorism: terrrrism is a very grey issue. There are many shades of evil and terrorism scales the entire thing. "Freedom" also resides in a few spots of the gradient.

Welfare: Nope.

College Students Arguing Politics: Totally useless. I hate how college makes students think that because they have this new sense of freedom from their parents that they automatically have this new level of intelligence that makes all political issues clear. Truth is, these students are learning things on a daily basis and have no experience in the real world. Universities pride themselves on teaching Utopian ideals that utterly crumble in the real world. Some will say, "oh, but I'm a government major." Bullshit. If you really wanted to make a difference in politics you'd be out making a difference in politics instead of second guessing the president at every step. Stop bitching and make a difference. Because of this, I don't trust views from anyone under 24. That includes me. Don't let any of my ideas sway how you feel, because I'm still young, naive and aware of it.