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Kian and I finished up the campaign in LEGO Harry Potter 2 today and had a great time as usual. They made some enhancements to this version that made it even better than the first one and yes...I know it's actually called Years 5-7 but that wouldn't fit cleanly in the header ;)
The mission lengths are really good, averaging around 20 minutes each and allowing me to ration out the time easily with my son. They also did a good job of making all the objectives very clear so that we didn't get frustrated trying to figure out how to progress...like LEGO Batman suffered from.
They made some fun gameplay improvements as well. When we played through the previous game it always seemed like Ron was an afterthought and barely useful. They addressed that in this version by adding Weasley Boxes that can only be used by the family and give various temporary abilities and ways to clear the path.
From a Developer's perspective, I am so jealous at how they got to reuse so much of the school grounds from the previous game. They did add a lot two it, but having that to start with had to be a huge time saver and benefit. Hermione also has her "bag of holding" from the movie which works as an easy way to give the player basically any kind of mission progression item they need. This gave them great freedom in being creative in the missions and it added a lot to the experience.
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In an effort to clear out my backlog, I jumped back into Darksiders...which I had only put about an hour into when it released. I always wanted to finish it and I thought it would only take me 8-10 hours to get through, boy was I wrong.
The combat systems reminded me a lot of God of War, but the game really shined in how you explore the world. I often felt like I was playing Legend of Zelda as I would come across something I couldn't get to and make mental notes to return when I had some new item or ability I didn't yet know about.
They did a fantastic job of giving new weapons and abilities pretty frequently throughout the entire course of the game. Every time I assumed I had everything...there would be something new to show up. On top of that, each area of the world was custom tailored to utilized the new trinket that you've just been given. So, not only was it fun and exciting but I also felt powerful and well trained before the end of the encounter.
In the end, it took me well over 20 hours to complete the game and I had a complete blast the whole time. It remained fresh and exciting throughout. There were a few battles that made me want to throw my controller, but it reminded me more of the old school days than really frustrating me. I can't wait for the sequel coming soon...I may have to ask Haydn for a build this week so I can check it out.
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I had pre-ordered Skyrim and had it sitting on my TV to play the following weekend when my wife told me she was interested in playing. Great! I've got other things to play so go ahead dear...little did I know it would become the game she played every night for weeks. In order to allow me to actually play it, she bought me a second copy for my birthday a few weeks ago.
I had tried Oblivion before and couldn't really get into it..I think partially because I like to play a thief and had difficulty determining when I could steal something (damn you color blindness!) This time, I didn't have this issue so I was off to a great start. I began by focusing on the main story line and then stumbled upon the Thieves Guild in Riften...YES. I quickly abandoned all other story lines and focused mainly on these quests.
This story line is one of the best I've ever played in any genre of video game. They are well written and keep things fresh as you play along including great plot twists and character development of the NPCs. As I neared the end of the story line I realized that I had put over 40 hours into this game already and I must break away if I'm to ever play anything else. So, I've decided to break up my play by story lines and will come back in a few weeks to try another one.
As I finished up the Thieves Guild story line my only complaint was that it didn't really tell me that I had finished it. I expected some fanfare and in the end was left wondering if I'd actually done what I needed to. After talking it over with my wife, it turns out that there's more to "returning the guild to it's former glory" and I have a lot more to do.
The thing that I've enjoyed most about Skyrim so far is the conversations that my wife and I have had about it. Since she had a long head start, she gets to help me out with tips every now and then which is a new thing for her :) We used to play a lot of Dark Age of Camelot together and this has a lot of that same feel for us as we kind of experience it together even though we play separately.
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I have a bad habit, like many people, where I buy a lot of games and then they sit on my shelf mocking me as I try to find time to play them. Well, I've decided that this year is when I put a serious dent in that stack!
I have a comfortable chair set up in front of the tv and have my Astro Gaming A40 wireless headset for fantastic sound that won't wake up my son at night. I also have a supportive wife who encourages me in my endeavor (and is also absorbed by Skyrim).
There will be a huge range of games including co-op stuff I play with my son as well as lots of Action, Shooter and RPG games on my own. In order to keep my self going and to keep track, I've added a list on the right side of my blog that shows which games I've finished so far. I'll also do individual posts as I work through each game to give my thoughts on them.
I also have a separate goal to read a lot of books this year, so I've added a list of books as well to keep me motivated.
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I
had another successful week and with the only "cheat" being some Champagne at a company party. Getting to eat out at lunch occasionally has been nice and I've found it easy to stay on diet at the Mongolian BBQ place near work.
I
weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 2.6 lbs! That makes a
grand total of 46.8 lbs in eight weeks on the diet. I was able to get on the elliptical about 5 times this week, but didn't get much time using weights.
I now have one more week on Phase two before moving onto having a large breakfast every day. I'll finally be re-integrating carbs and higher fats back into my diet at a slow pace and preparing for every day life again.
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I had another successful week and stayed 100% to the diet plan. The one thing that did suck was that my birthday was yesterday and I wasn't able to eat cake :( I did get to have lunch at Red Lobster which was nice, though the cheddar biscuits taunted me from the nearby tables.
I
weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 3.8 lbs! That makes a
grand total of 44.2 lbs in seven weeks on the diet. I feel really good about the number and know that my added exercise has helped a lot. Along with my elliptical use 3-4 times a week, I've now added in dumbbell exercises to work on my biceps, triceps and shoulders.
I have officially started the four week transition off the diet as of today, which means having animal protein at lunch for the next two weeks. Mongolian BBQ today! (minus the rice and noodles) The last two weeks of the transition are adding a big breakfast of grains(toast, etc), protein(eggs/ham), Fruit and FAT(butter, cheese). Can't wait to eat eggs and toast again...
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Let me start off by saying that piracy is killing the Game Development industry and I'm kinda passionate about finding ways to eliminate it. So, the idea of something like the Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA) sounds interesting...but everyone I talk to is angry about it. So, I realized today that most of what I know about it has been passionate discussion and I decided to start looking into it myself.
I started by attempting to read the actual act itself and quickly found myself falling asleep...stupid politicians. I swear most of these things have to get passed because no one can actually understand what they are signing up for. I then decided to read over the Wikipedia page for it which was much easier to digest. The bill makes unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime with five years in prison for 10 such infringements within six months....seems reasonable to me. But the heavy handed part is that places like PayPal are barred from doing business with these sites and search engines can't link to them.
People For It Say
It protects intellectual property for Americans
It will create more American jobs
Stops flow of revenue to foreign sites
Provides protection against buying counterfeit prescription drugs
People Against It Say
Threat to online free speech
Negative impact to online communities (Etsy, Flickr, Vimeo)
Impacts to Cloud linking of data
Weakening of "safe harbor" protections for websites
SOPA wording is broad and could kill e-commerce (no one will invest because of legal liability)
Threat to users who upload content
Threat to internal networks
targets an entire website even if only a small portion does something illegal
includes VPN networks
Ineffectual against piracy (sites will just reopen elsewhere)
Invasion of privacy (IP blocking and deep packet inspection)
Lack of transparency in enforcement
Okay, after just reading this list of pros and cons I have to admit that I'm a bit concerned with it...but I still want to get more details on what people feel is going to happen if SOPA passes. I've been hearing about several protest actions so I was curious what exactly was happening on that front.
Apparently Go Daddy had initially announced support for SOPA and then users from Reddit organized a boycott in protest. Later Wikimedia announced it would move all of it's domains so go Daddy withdrew their support until it's supported by the internet community. This short lived support caused a mass exodus of users from their site. Personally, their quick change makes me hesitant about their company and I may have to move my domains elsewhere as well.
Reddit announced a blackout of it's site for 12 hours on January 18th and other sites like Major League Gaming are joining in as well. A bunch of higher profile companies like Google and Facebook are also considering this blackout...I would be very interested to see what that looks like.
Now I feel like I have a decent overview of what the issues are and how people are passionate about it, but I still feel like I don't have enough meat into exactly WHAT they think is going to happen. I'm going to start reading some articles to get their individual perspectives.
I just read a NYT article saying the white house opposes the bill. They agree that piracy is a huge problem in America but the bill as-is reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk and undermines the global internet. Now for some detailed concerns, they say the bill handcuffs search engines and payment processors like Paypal. It also allows private citizens and companies to sue to stop what they BELIEVE to be theft of protected content. I don't know about you...but the amount of lawsuits that already happen because they CAN is incredible. This could get out of hand fast.
Hitting closer to home...Bungie came out in opposition of the bill citing the same reasons in the list above. While they didn't talk in detail about how it will affect the Game Development industry, they agree that it certainly will if passed as proposed. Other companies like Epic Games, Riot Games and Red 5 Studios have also come out in opposition.
The thing that is consistent here is that everyone agrees that piracy is bad...they just don't agree with SOPA as it currently is written. It seems that major revisions would have to be made for it to get into any kind of a state that will help actually solve the problem without changing the American way of life. I'm really glad I took the time to look into this for myself tonight and have learned that I am firmly on the side of SOPA opposition...until they fix it.
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In my quest to visit Disney World in every month of the year (and the guilt of not taking my son with us next month) we have decided on a family trip in March! We are taking the week that my son is on spring break and heading down for a 8 night stay at Pop Century. We have a fantastic deal on room and dining along with our Annual Passes and free flights gained during Hall of Fame means this trip will be super cheap for us.
Spring Break is a pretty busy time at Disney World, but will be fine with some extra planning up front and a good Touring Plan. The first step is always to check the Crowd Calendar for the best parks each day that we visit. Want two days each in Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney Studios along with one day in Animal Kingdom...this makes picking the right days much easier. It's also important to know what shows or events you want to make certain you see, for instance we want to see Fantasmic! but it only shows a few nights a week. So, I can start making my plan by being at Disney Studios for one of those nights and let the rest of the trip begin falling into place.
The next major step is to plan out the Dining Reservations that you want and often need up to plan them 180 days ahead to ensure that you get them. Knowing what parks you are visiting helps you decide when to get the reservations, but you may have to change your plans a bit if you can't get the time or date you really want. Since we have the Dining Plan for this trip, we have 8 sit down credits to use(one for each night in the hotel) and I'll go over each meal and why we chose it.
Day 1
We arrive late the night before and don't want to get up super early so we decided on a 10:15 reservation at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort. We had a really good time there last time for dinner and are looking forward to trying breakfast. We have free valet parking with our Tables in Wonderland card so we plan to just walk over to Magic Kingdom once we are done eating. It's a neutral park that day according to the Crowd Calendar but this fits best into our overall plan so it's not a huge deal.
Day 2
Even though it's also a neutral park, we plan to spend this entire day at Epcot. This is also a case of it fitting into our plans best and getting there before park opening will ensure two rides on Soarin'! We have a 6:15pm dinner reservation at Biergarten, which we have always wanted to try but haven't yet gotten the opportunity. Along with having a full German buffet with lots of choices, they provide traditional Oktoberfest entertainment! My son will have a blast watching them sing and dance and I wouldn't be surprised if he joins in as well.
Day 3
Magic Kingdom is the best park today and also has early morning Extra Magic Hours which allows guests staying on Disney property to get an extra hour before park opening. We are early morning people so this works out great for us and we'll get through a ton of attractions before most people are out of bed. We don't have any table service meals planned today so we can focus on the park. This likely means Dole Whips and Pinocchio's Village Haus.
Day 4
Disney Studios is the best park today and Fantasmic! is also showing...this also means we don't have to be there early. Since this is the mid point of the trip we like to sleep in and have a late breakfast somewhere before heading into the park. The location of this meal isn't crucial, so I decided to let my son decide where he'd like to eat out of a handful of suggestions. He decided on Ohana so he can see Lilo and Stitch and we now have a 10:30am reservation. After that we will spend the rest of the day in Disney Studios and almost certainly eat dinner at Pizza Planet.
Day 5
Animal Kingdom is the best park this day so we decided to get an 8:05am reservation at Tusker House so we can see the fab 5 in safari outfits! Notice the time is an hour before park opening? Any time you can do this it works out really well...you get in up to an hour before park opening and finish eating just about the time attractions open. You'll want to take a resort bus to the Animal Kingdom for this because the parking lot is notorious for not opening until closer to park open time.
We plan to be done in the park by 3pm or so and will then head to Downtown Disney where we will have dinner at the amazing Raglan Road. Irish cuisine and a proper Guinness are just what the doctor ordered. My entire family has a blast watching the Irish dancers in the center of the restaurant. Above is a video of my son trying to dance like the Irish Dancers after we left the restaurant.
Day 6
Epcot is the best park and we've once again secured an 8:05 breakfast reservation...this time at the Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus House in Norway. My son is fascinated with the princesses and talks like crazy to them when he sees them. This meal is a great alternative to Cinderella's Royal Table with a lower cost and same group of princesses. This meal is served table style, but there is also a buffet that has an assortment of fruits and breads.
We have a 7:00pm dinner reservation at Via Napoli...one of our favorite restaurants in Disney World. It has authentic Italian food and they bake pizzas in brick ovens. My son likes eating there even though there isn't any characters walking around, but he also loves pizza :) You can check out my Via Napoli review here.
Day 7
Disney Studios is the best park for our final day at Disney World and since our first day here had a late start, we plan to get here early and make sure we see everything. Making the mad dash for Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes at park opening is nearly a must if you want to see it. We do plan to have an early dinner at a place we've always wanted to try...Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. You get to eat inside of a 50's car and watch old Sci-Fi movies on the huge drive-in screen throughout dinner. Kian should really enjoy this! Disney Studios is also open until Midnight with extra magic hours and Fantasmic! is showing again in case we missed it before or just want to see it again.
I know this has been a lot of info, but I wanted to make sure I explained what we wanted out of the trip and then how to go about planning it all effectively. Be sure and let me know if you have any questions or need anything described in further detail.
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"If you had to move out of state to further your education in this career/major, would you do it knowing you'd leave behind someone you consider your best friend, as well as the family members in your home?"
This is a tough one and the answer probably varies greatly from person to person. What I can do is tell you what it was like for me 13 years ago and how difficult a decision it was for me to make.
I knew from childhood that I wanted to make video games, but had no idea how to go about actually getting there. I did what I could...playing lots of games and focusing on PC hardware to stay current, but that wasn't getting me any closer. Then I heard about Full Sail starting up a Game Design program, but it was in Orlando and I had never lived outside of Kentucky where most of my family resides.
I had a bit decision to make...do I stay where I'm comfortable or move to a place where I only knew one person and essentially restart my life? After a lot of thought I realized that it was my chance to do what I always dreamed of and had to give it a shot. It was a huge change and became a lot of work as I gave everything I had to my education, but was TOTALLY worth it for me.
So, ultimately it comes down to how badly do you want it? Keep in mind that this is a temporary move for your education and then you have to see what the job market provides. Luckily these days you can make games for mobile devices easily from anywhere once you have a good education so moving back home could be an option for you.
Don't think just because someone can't make this kind of move that they don't have deep desire. Luckily there are fantastic options online now to get a degree in Game Design and not have to relocate. Full Sail recently added an online Game Design curriculum that I was on the advisory board for this year and I was really pleased with the program. If you really want to learn Game Design but can't relocate...take a look.
If you have any follow up questions or comments use the comments section below, Twitter or Facebook. Also, send in any other Game Design questions you have for future Q&A posts!
I had a really successful week with 5 nights on the eliptical and a couple of nights doing crunches, pull ups and pushups. My eating was right on plan and I even had my first meal out! A restaurant near work had Salmon and Asparagus...was delicious.
I
weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 6.8 lbs! That makes a
grand total of 40.4 lbs in six weeks on the diet. After having a disappointing loss last week (1.6) this is a huge come back and I'm really happy about it.
We have one more full week on the diet before beginning the four week transition back to normal life. The first two weeks will be adding meat at lunch and the last two will begin integrating carbs and fats back into our diet slowly.
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A few months ago I heard about Fitocracy, a website in development that turns exercise into a game(similar to Chore Wars). Since I'm a fan of achievements in general, it seemed that using this type of system might add some extra fun to working out. I signed up for the beta, but had completely forgotten about it until I got an email from them a few days ago saying I'm in!
Months ago, my hope was that it would be a motivation to actually begin exercising, but now that I'm already exercising regularly...it's a way for me to track progress and feel extra reward. There is no better example of Gaming Weight Loss than this website! Not only is it helping me track my exercise routines and giving me feedback, but it also provides challenges so you know what exercises to try and how often.
Each time I complete a quest, at least one more shows up for me to attempt. It also lets me know which quests are expiring soon...this gives extra desire to try those out while they are around. There is also the ability to save your common workouts into a routine for easier adding to the days that follow.
You also have the ability to add friends so you can monitor each other's progress and achievements. You can make an additional game out of it by leveling faster than each other and leaving taunts in their feed. My profile is located HERE for anyone that is interested. You have to sign up in order to see it, but I do have a few invites left if anyone is interested. Send me a DM on Twitter @siawnhy
So far I'm still only allowed to do mild exercise with the diet that I'm on, but I'm getting in the Elliptical, Push Ups, Crunches and Pull Ups every day. Fitocracy also has a huge list of exercises in its database and also tells you the proper way to do them. So, once I'm ready to expand I'll have lots of suggestions. I'm really pleased with it so far and will do an update down the road after I've been using it for a while longer.
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I picked up Skylanders along with six extra figures for Kian this Christmas and he was super stoked to open them. We play a lot of co-op together and this game looks great and scratches that old collectible itch for me. My Holiday Shopping Guide Post said that Skylanders was a great choice this holiday season, but had no idea just how fun the game is.
The basic premise is that you play as a portal master and the game comes with an actual portal device that you hook into the USB port of your console. There are versions for the 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS and PC. Each figure comes with a registration code for skylanders.com so you can play the web version as well.
To play the game, each player places a figure on the portal and that character shows up in game instantly and you take control of them. You can hot swap characters at any time and everything works really smoothly. Kian loves to change characters pretty often, luckily it's a very fast process so it doesn't become annoying too quickly.
They did a really great job of making the different character types worthwhile in the game as well. You can upgrade each Skylander as you play through the game giving them more powerful abilities as you play. They also integrated them into the world by having gates to certain areas that require a Skylander of a particular type(Fire, Water, Magic, Tech, Air, Undead, Earth, Life).
They also already have two expansion scenarios available and I can only assume more coming soon. These figures are sold out everywhere so Kian has only been able to accumulate a little over half of what they have created. It's such a great business model and Activision will likely make money off this for a long time.
Unlike a lot of kids games out there, Skylanders is really well done and a blast to play. I highly recommend it. The only downside we've found so far is that achievements are only given to the first player, luckily Kian plays alone when I'm not home so he's getting them as well :)
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It was nice to be back home and on a normal eating schedule again! I also got 4 nights on the elliptical in during the week, so I'm pleased that my energy levels are back to normal. Being back at work keeps my mind off of food entirely.
I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 1.6 lbs! That makes a grand total of 33.6 lbs in five weeks on the diet. While the number is a bit low, they said it's expected around this point. I really want to get it up a bit though.
While I have been following the diet just as usual, except for the Champaign we had on New Years, I want to kick things up a bit. I only have two more weeks fully on the diet before we start the 4 week transition off of it. I'm going to exercise more and see if I can get my weight loss next time up around 5lbs.
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Happy New Year! As I look back at 2011, I realize that it's actually been one of the biggest years of my life. There's been a lot of changes and improvements in personal life as well as in my career. So, I'll take a few minutes to go over everything...I'll get the personal stuff out of the way first.
When we moved to Champaign back in 2008, we only had 2 days to find a place to live before I started work and our stuff was on a truck heading our way. We found a tiny house that seemed to have most of what we wanted, but after a while we realized the 800sq ft was way too small. This year we finally moved into a much bigger place, nearly doubling our living space. It was a huge deal for us and making our home life better.
I had been driving a 2000 Chevy S-10 that I bought new shortly before graduating from Full Sail in 2001. I racked up 125k miles and while it had never given me any major issues, I could tell that things were coming soon. Also, living in Illinois with a lack of 4-wheel drive made things difficult for a quarter of the year. So, I bought my dream vehicle this year... 2011 Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab. Jumping 11 years in a vehicle made me feel like I bought something from the future, it is amazing and I love it.
I had been running a blog series on my path to weight loss, but found that every time I would make some progress...my old habits would bring me down. Late this year I finally decided to participate in a weight loss program that is run by my doctor and am seeing amazing results. I'm down 32lbs already and cruising toward my goal of at least 50. But the best thing is that the diet is teaching me to eat better and my habits have radically began to change. Once the diet is over, I'm confident that my new way of eating along with my added exercise will help me be healthy for years to come. I've already been taken off half the meds that I have taken for over 5 years.
I talk a lot about Disney World on my blog and used to only get there about every other year. This year we had two full family vacations that included Kian doing Jedi Training Academy and being Prince of the Day. In addition to that, I was able to visit on three other times for at least a day and got to meet some of my internet friends for the first time. I also got to experience my first Food and Wine Festival with my dear friend Wendy. It's been a year full of Disney and a frequency that I hope to continue. We already have a February trip planned for our 10th Anniversary as well as a June trip for our first Star Wars Weekends!
Now on to how 2011 has been for my Game Design Career. After finishing up development of Red Faction: Armageddon, I moved into the role that I set out 10 years ago to achieve. As of April of this year I am Design Director on an unannounced project at Volition and am having a blast. Things have been going really well so far and I love my team. Now if we can just get the price of THQ stock to rise...sigh.
I focused a lot on doing regular blog posts on Game Design which I found not only helped others but also kept me thinking about things that I either took for granted or didn't evaluate enough. I also started posting on the #AltDevBlogADay site and it has really kept me motivated to post. What I didn't expect is that Gamasutra has picked up several of my posts and put them on their site. It's really nice to get emails and messages from friends informing me of the posts and giving congratulations.
Last, but certainly not least, It's been a huge year for me and Full Sail. I stayed a couple of extra days after our January Disney trip to visit Full Sail and do a presentation about my career. In June, myself along with two other teammates came back to do a Red Faction: Armageddon presentation and meet with students. I later came back to be part of the Alumni Advisory Board that looked over the curriculum and give expert feedback on where they can make improvements to the Game Development and Design programs. I really enjoy helping out and interacting with students...I was exactly where they are 10 years ago and would have died to have someone in the industry to talk to.
By far the biggest news was my induction to the Full Sail Hall of Fame and the festivities last month that were absolutely amazing. The weekend was filled with dinners, drinks, concerts and lots of flair...they made us feel like Royalty. It was a truly humbling experience, especially looking at the amazing people that are also included. I made some great new friends and can't wait to go back for next year's ceremonies. I have a big post about the Hall of Fame HERE that even has video the entire ceremony.
Yeah...I'm not sure how I will ever top this year, but I promise I'll do my best :) I guess I do have a few resolutions that may help:
Read more Game Design books and articles
Play more games, including with my son
Continue my weight loss and keep it off
Get back into Programming
Improve my Photography skills
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I did a post a few months ago about our upcoming trip to Disney World to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary, but since then I've made some significant changes. These changes came because of great news...a close friend got me a fantastic deal which further lowered our room rate and gets us the Dining Plan for nearly half off! The only change to our room is that we are now staying at Port Orleans Riverside instead of French Quarter...just a small change in theme.
Our dining plans is what is changing pretty drastically. Since my last post, we had decided to try Brown Derby, Flying Fish and California Grill (in addition to our fantastic dinner at the Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's on the night of our anniversary). The problem is that all three of those restaurants are Signature Dining and would cost two Table Service credits each. We have 4 credits each and would rather get more bang for the buck, so we've decided to keep the California Grill dinner during the Wishes Fireworks and replace the others.
After a lot of planning and getting suggestions from trusted friends (thanks AJ!) we've decided on the following restaurants. Keep in mind, we are going without our son for the first time and want to experience things that he won't enjoy for several years...and we want it to be romantic when possible :)
Day 1 (10th Anniversary)
We've decided to have a late breakfast at Kouzzina by Cat Cora and are both really excited to start there. The Baklava French Toast looks amazing and I've heard really great things about the Coffee. We will probably pay for this meal out of pocket using our Tables in Wonderland card since it's the cheapest of the bunch and are short one Table Service Credit. Tip: Tables in Wonderland also gives you free Valet Parking at restaurants on Disney property. We will be using this for both of this day's meals :) We're going to wander around World Showcase for a few hours before dinner.
Dinner will be the amazing Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's which consists of around 11 courses that are made specially by the head chef for each person. It's a four hour experience that includes wine pairings for each course and a custom menu for each person that attends. We have this table all to our selves :)
Day 2
We're getting up early to be at Disney Studios for park opening...those Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes are a must! We'll also ride Star Tours about a dozen times, but we're really looking forward to soaking in One Man's Dream and all the little things that we don't normally get to experience with a 7 year old.
In the afternoon we are heading to Epcot where will likely use a Quick Service credit for lunch somewhere in World Showcase. The highlight of the evening will be dinner at Teppan Edo, a hibachi grill, in the Japan Pavilion. What's not to love about tempura and meat being grilled right in front of you? We'll spend the rest of the evening in World Showcase as well as the Boardwalk area.
Day 3
Our final day begins with trying the new breakfast buffet at The Wave in the Contemporary Hotel. We chose this spot because we can get our free Valet parking here and walk over to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Don't get me wrong, the buffet looks pretty amazing too...my wife was drooling over Sweet Potato Pancakes.
We have the Keys to the Kingdom tour starting at 9:30am in the Magic Kingdom which includes lunch and gets us done around 1-2pm. Since you have to be at least age 16 for the tour, this is a rare opportunity for us and we're pretty excited. We will then spend the rest of the day touring the Magic Kingdom, which will include a mandatory visit to Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip.
Last, but certainly not least, we walk back to California Grill for dinner during the Wishes fireworks show. They have a balcony for viewing (only accessible to guests with a reservation) and they pipe in the music for the full experience. Even though this meal takes two credits, after looking over the prices and the food itself...we feel it's worth it. Also, since we parked at this resort before breakfast...we simply walk down and pick up the car to drive back to the hotel. Nice!
So, that's our plans for the trip...what do you think? I've included our 10th anniversary info in each reservation so I'll be sure to report back on what kinds of special magic they throw our way :) Join the conversation below in the comments section, on Twitter or Facebook .
This was by far the hardest week of the diet. We knew going in that Christmas would be difficult, but didn't realize how much until we had to watch everyone eat such delicious stuff. It was the first time my wife and I started to feel we should come off the diet. With traveling and visiting over the holiday, we didn't have any time to exercise so I figured our weight loss would probably be low.
I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 4.2 lbs! That makes a grand total of 32 lbs in four weeks on the diet. Seeing these continued results was an extra boost to our motivation.
My wife's parents GAVE us an elliptical while we were are their home visiting, so now we will have a great way to get in our cardio while it's cold outside this winter. Things are looking up!
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During the third week of the diet, I've felt back to normal. I'm sleeping better(our new bed helps) and still have not been hungry at all. I found this week that my pants have a lot of room in them and when wearing a belt, I have to go a ring tighter just to keep them on. My wife bought me new jeans in the smallest size she has ever bought for me, I'm getting thin! :)
I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 5 lbs! That makes a grand total of 27.8 lbs in three weeks on the diet. My blood pressure is down another 6 points, so maybe I can get off of this medication soon. Christmas is going to be a bit stressful with all the great food around, but I shall prevail.
I'm also at the point in the diet where I can start adding in light exercise. I've been aching to get active again, so I'll start walking every day that I can and doing some light strength exercises. Can't wait to get going!
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This last week has been much better on my physically. I feel basically back to normal and by the end of the week all of my nausea had gone. My energy levels have begun to rise and are even better than before I started the diet now. There were four days this week that I didn't even have coffee...the headaches only lasted a day. Guess i'll come out of this having kicked the caffeine habit as well!
I was lucky that a business trip was cancelled this week, because I was concerned it would be difficult to follow the diet perfectly on the run. This gave me a 2nd straight week in a routine and being able to follow it to the letter with NO CHEATING!.
I weighed in this morning to find I'm down another 7.4 lbs! That makes a grand total of 22.8 lbs. I also lost another inch from my waist and some amount from every other location. Things are going well, just have to keep it up.
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A Game Designer starts with the vision of a game, or a feature for the game, and sets out to refine the idea until it achieves all the goals set out for it. Sometimes that journey results in scrapping the idea entirely because it didn't work out the way you hoped. In this case, you at least worked through the problem and fully understand why the end result came to be. A buddy of mine calls this "Killing Your Babies", not getting so attached to that idea and wasting time when it's not working.
But, sometimes this journey has the Game Designer molding and refining the idea until it becomes something special that fits perfectly how you intended it to! You start creating specs and getting the information out to everyone...ready for implementation to proceed. Then you get a kick in the nuts because some factor completely outside of your control says the feature needs changes or cut all together. These types of requests can come from many places: your discipline lead, Design Director, Producer or sometimes even from upper management.
The question is, how will you deal with this situation?
Talk Out The Idea
Coming up with ideas is only a small part of what a Game Designer's real job is...the rest is communication and cheerleading. It may be that you just need to properly communicate your idea to someone so that they fully understand it's need in the game. This may get you nowhere, but it's a really good place to start.
There will be the temptation to be forceful or even angry during this kind of conversation, but just realize that the person (probably) has a reason in their head that justifies the decision and you need them to see it your way. Try having a really good attitude about things, understand their concerns, and convince them why your plan is the right direction for the game.
Own The Idea
The worst thing you can do is take the attitude of "They are making me do this, so everyone around me is gonna know it!". While this may be true and that info is a small part of what you communicate(for context), this can't be your justification for the changes going forward. You need to take a step back and re-evaluate the new direction for this part of the game and get on board with it...even if you might like the other idea better.
This isn't an easy thing to do sometimes, but keep in mind that as a Designer you are the beacon holder for the fun of your game and the rest of the team count on you. If you are not, at least seemingly, fully behind the new direction for the game then no one else will be compelled to put in the kind of work necessary to make it the best it can be. I'm not suggesting you fool others here, just saying that you need to get on board and make sure others see that you are.
Justify The Idea
We've developed a process at work where we create a Design Brief for every feature that not only talks about it's function in the game, but also it's emotional goals and justification. I've found that whenever changes are necessary, I can go back to this document and use it as a measuring stick to see if the goals are being achieved. I've even found that a new decision ended up supporting the vision of the game better once I was forced to rethink it.
The Design Brief is also a fantastic tool for relaying the vision and getting the entire team in sync about what you are trying to create. Discussions can get passionate at times and everyone has their own preferences which they push for. The Design Brief really helps minimize heated conversations and make sure that you are all narrowing toward the same goal.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that there will always be situations out of your control, but you can control how you deal with it and the message you send to your team. In the end, you may feel like you are compromising with an inferior feature but you have to put everything you have into making that work as well as it can for the game. The entire team is going to be looking to you, do you want them to be bummed they have to work on something or focus on how great the new thing can be if everyone works together?
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