Contraption | Free Games

For those of you who don’t know, we’ve got an awesome final project game coming for this month’s presentations called “Contraption”.

Basically you have to place specialized track pieces to guide a ball into the goal at the end. The game uses Ageia PhysX and even includes achievements! But enough with the bragging.

The Contraption team has just posted an updated version for people to Beta test and you could possibly be included in the credits of their game!

They have a beautiful flash site to compliment the game. Check it out here!

Shout outs to Ben Retan and my relative, Jason Brown!

New Management (and new GAMES!) | General

Hey guys! Well as you all know Booker is off to greener pastures and has left UdderPunch in my trusty hands.

We’ve got 4 new games up. Arena!, Ereta, Trapped, and Death of a Dragon. Look for them under the SGP section!

And for those of you who don’t know me allow me to introduce myself:

They call me David, last name Brown, recognize game I’ma lay mines down.

Me saying things like this is probably why I don’t have a girlfriend…

For the non-believers | Me Stuff

Hey guys. So, I’ve been away working in the real world for a week now, and I’ve got some info for you. For those of you out there that think that SGP is an inaccurate representation of the industry, you’re wrong. I’d like to tell you what’s happened to me in the WEEK I’ve been working with my new company.

More than two weeks ago, when I accepted the job, I had to make a schedule detailing what I’d be working on till March. (March 1st is the launch date) I finished this schedule detailing that I would basically be writing all the game logic on the project. It’s an MMOCC (Massively Multiplayer On-Line Chat Community) so I have to get the players walking, talking, and interacting with the world. My first day was Tuesday of this past week (January,22) and I met the team and started production. Well it just so happens that Friday (January,25) the owner/boss of the company had a big meeting with some potential investors. Because of this, he basically wanted to show off the game in it’s entirety. Problem was that we only have 3 flash developers and all 3 of us just started that day. My goal was basically to code everything I had previously scheduled for a month, in 2 days. Needless to say, all-nighter’s were involved.

As if that isn’t enough, our project manager gets a phone call the night of Tuesday the 22 (my first day) from one of the 3 developers saying, “I took another job, good luck.” So we have to code the game with only 2 developers in 2 days. (it had to be done by noon on Thursday) This also meant that I had to write everything that developer was going to have for the presentation.

Oh, I forgot to mention one little thing. We decided (and this decision should have been made months ago) that we would change all the existing code base from AS2 to AS3. This is similar to if your boss came up to you and said, “Hey I know you’ve got a lot of work done in C#, but you and I both know it will run faster in C++. So, I need you to recode everything you’ve got in C++.” So on top of everything else I have to re-factor existing code bases into a new programming language. (Despite my current bitching, this was the right decision - AS3 is 3 times faster than AS2, I don’t know wtf they were thinking using AS2)

So to sum up, I’ve been with this new company for less than a week and already I’ve had a team member drop out, had to rewrite a code base in a different language, write/fake functionality that should have taken me a month to complete, and pulled all nighters. If this isn’t SGP on crank I don’t know what is. So, stop your bitching and get back to work. The hell we put you through in SGP (including the wheel of misfortune) really happens. So appreciate the experience.

And, in-case you were wondering the other flash developer and I DID get EVERYTHING the boss wanted done (or faked) and his meeting was a success.

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish | Me Stuff

For those of you who haven’t heard I am leaving FullSail. I recently accepted a Flash developer position for a company in Jacksonville.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the great people I’ve met at this job. This includes all the people that work at FullSail but most importantly you students. I’ve had a tremendously awesome time here working with you, but it’s time for me to move on. You guys have made this an incredible experience for me. Hopefully, you have learned as much from me as I’ve learned from you. I will miss this job, and believe it or not, I will miss you students. (some more than others… maybe some not at all)

So this leaves the question of who will run UdderPunch in my absence. David Brown is now taking the reigns of the Punch and will be steering it through 08. I will still be around posting every now and then and generally getting in the way, but Brown is running the show. You didn’t think I would let UdderPunch die did you?

If you would like to say bye, grab me in the halls before Monday January 10th. Monday is my last day at FullSail. Don’t think you’ve seen the last of me. Something tells me I’ll be making regular trips back to the campus for FullSail events and what-not.

Good luck out there guys, and stay in touch. My UdderPunch email is still going to be in effect.