I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting on a regular basis, but I've been so busy over the last few weeks and I've still to do most of my Christmas shopping...
The writing and design work I'm currently doing for another game company is going very well. Some days I stare at the screen, wondering if I'll ever have another good idea in my life, but this is usually followed by a day where it all flies onto the (virtual) page as if a tap has been turned on. I love days like this, particularly when the story and gameplay mesh well together. I honestly think that players are going to love this game.
My spare time has been split between creating the Mr. Smoozles strips and learning some new software. Although I've had a look at
Blender before, I've been approaching it much more methodically and am moving on in leaps and bounds. Thankfully, I've had some experience with 3DSMax and Maya, so it's not like I'm learning 3D modelling from scratch, but like many of these software packages they take some getting used to because of the non-standard interface.
The reason I'm learning Blender is that I'm hoping to use it as part of the development of a new project, details of which I should be able to expand upon very soon, all being well. There may be a little surprise or two in there.
In the last few weeks I've had to turn down a couple of writing jobs, not because I didn't want them, but because of my commitment to the current project, which will keep me occupied until early February. I hope that it's a sign of more work to come that will fit better with my schedule.
On top of everything else, I've also managed to fit in three interviews. One was done for Game Tunnel (though I don't know when it will appear) but the others were for students doing school or university projects. One of the questions that came up was about what I enjoyed about my work. When I thought about it, I realised that I'm in such an incredibly fortunate position. Although I put in a lot of hours at the computer, I get to cover a variety of tasks in what I do, utilising a number of skills that few people probably have the opportunity to match. I hope it never ends...
