so i'm back in school and i just finished my first semester. basically i've done more math in the last 2 months than i think i've ever done over my entire life. i'm enrolled at devry university getting my bachelor's in game and simulation programming. long term, the idea is to be an artistic director at a gaming software company. ie: EPIC, Bethesda Softworks or Blizzard. until then, i would settle for being a standard pixle jockey, which is what i do now, but i want to create the visual inspirations for games.
even if you're not a fan of video games, you should at least appreciate the amount of time, effort and talent that goes into today's games. technology has brought it to a point where you're basically playing a full length movie multiplied by about 40 hours. also, it's not bad business to be involved in. for example, when the movie Dark Knight opened, it took in $66.4 million in the first day US release. this was record setting of course, but a mere pittance compared to what i'm talking about. opening weekend it raked in a staggering $158.4 million. today's release standards makes that roughly three or four days. not bad. however, when you compare that to say first day release numbers of the ultra popular HALO 3 which in the First Day, brought in over $170 million!? and That was in 2007.
the economics are indeed a huge incentive. however, my inspiration comes from looking at the conceptual art of these amazing titles: God of War. Prince of Persia. Fallout 3. Gears of War. Diablo III. there are more. i have images in my head, concepts both visual and literary that rival the best of the best. i can fill sketchbooks and spit pixles in photoshop like it's nothing. so then why, i'm sure you would ask, am i not doing this already? well, the larger studios like the ones i named don't want to hire someone who can only do one thing. in order to be considered today, you need the skills and knowledge to create the art And know how it would translate into gaming physics. which i can assure you are much more complex than water spinning in a static bucket in a vacuum. there isn't anything i can't create in Photoshop and i can write in HTML and CSS like breathing, and if games were created with such languages, and self taught skills i wouldn't be writing this. therefor i go to school to learn the software and languages i need.
one of the problems i face, is having to move from my current location. i've been to and lived all over the world but Salt Lake is my home. my mountains (yes, they're mine) represent too much of an absence in my life to be away from them for too long. unfortunately, the types of places i'd want to work just aren't here... so... i come to a choice when i start begging studios in Irvine or Montreal or even London whether it would be worth leaving to get my foot in the door. i have time to decide, but i know it will be a difficult one still.
and for any of you who hold onto the stereotypical bollocks that is believing only the overweight, socially inept, parent's basement living "nerds" plays video games... or actually believe that the violence in today's games have more to do with kids behaviour than simple mental weakness... turn off fox news and wake up. my girlfriend plays World of Warcraft with me and she's hands down the sexiest being on the planet. besides, i give it 20 to 50 years before we're all living in a 50% global virtual reality and living on the moon with micro-chips and wifi in our heads. either that or struggling to survive in the post-apocolyptic world so many movies and games suggest we may... ( oh please yes please!) either way, i'd take the kid who grew up playing Fallout and Resident Evil on my team over any so-called natural leader any day. ( alot of that last sentence rhymed... )
moss
out.
