Happy Birthday… to ME!

Hurray, yet another year has come and gone… and I still wonder where it went. 😆 Here’s to another great year!

Status of Area 51: Data Storage

This level has only been downloaded a total of 35 times in 2 weeks from Unreal Playground. This is definately not a high traffic site. Either that or people just don’t have an interest in Assault maps, because I know people still play Unreal Tournament 2004. It is still awaiting approval a week later over on Planet Unreal.

Work Computer HD Failure

The hard drive in my computer at work has failed. This computer itself is around 9 years old, though it has received some upgrades over the years, it was time for the hard drive to go. It had a good run. Now we have two options: Simply replace the hard drive in the computer or replace the whole computer. Given its age, we are leaning towards the latter, given we can acquire the funds for it.

We have two options with this choice: Buy all the part individually and assemble it ourselves or just pay someone else to build it for us. Now, I have never built a computer myself; whether it be because of laziness or unwillingness to try. I’ve always been more of a software guy, though I do understand the parts and how to put them together.

Basically, we either choose to do it ourselves and risk screwing something up or letting somebody else do it and if something goes wrong, they have to fix it. We’ll decide soon I suppose.

Journey to Infinity

One of our goals here at the Cybersphere is to convert the older planetarium shows that use sorely outdated equipment such as 35mm projector into a newer system. This system is of course Evans and Sutherland’s Digistar 3 projection system. For those that don’t know, this system uses 6 projectors that are positioned around the dome to project full motion video seamlessly across the entire dome.

We been working on converting the first of our older shows, Journey to Infinity, for use in Digistar. We are of course, updating things where possible. We want it to be a massive improvement over what the show originally was. It has been an awesome learning experience and is just simply fun to work with. So far, we’ve made decent progress on the show and have learned a lot. Every step we take moves farther and farther along.

Graduation “Celebration”

I had some of my family over today to “celebrate” my graduation. If you know anything about my family, it was as boring as ever, but at least there was plenty to eat. Chicken from Zaxby’s, crackers and sliced meats, fresh cut veggies and fruits, chips and dip… and of course, cake… and it wasn’t a lie. Mmmmm…

A51:DS Planet Unreal

I have also submitted Area 51: Data Storage for approval on http://planetunreal.gamespy.com. Once approved, my map will become even more accessible to everyone.

The Hunt Continues

The search for a full time job as a level designer continues as I rampage forward towards my career. Targeted today were level design (or world design… or whatever they want to call it) positions with Planet Moon Studio in San Francisco (CA), Airtight Games in Seattle (WA), GearBox Software in Dallas (TX), NCSoft in Mountain View (CA), and Insomniac Games for their soon to open North Carolina studio. With luck, maybe I’ll actually hear back from one of them.

Resume Updated

Minor changes to my resume to reflect recent acknowledgements.

A51:DS Good?

So far there’s only been 20 downloads on Unreal Playground and only 1 person has commented. At least he said he liked it. I do wonder what the others thought though…

You have completed level 2! Advance to level 3!

I just got home from graduation. Now I am finally “free” from school, but not from learning, that will definitely continue. The future is ahead of me and if I want to get a good place in line, I’d best get a move on.

I finished as Valedictorian of my class with a GPA of 3.8, which grants me the Highest Honors award. I was also nominated to Who’s Who among Junior College Students back in 2006.