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After a long time of avoiding questions about my current project, I'm excited to finally say that Agents of Mayhem has been announced!  Check out the trailer on IGN :)



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I came across this the other day and absolutely love it!  Anyone in the industry will get a kick out of it and it's good insight for those that are interested in making games.

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A panel with fellow Game Developers Grant Shonkwiler and Elbert Perez where we talk about how to impact your players in today's games.

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Q&A session with Full Sail University students about how to build a career in Game Development.

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A panel with fellow Game Developers Chance Glasco, Elbert Perez, and Cordy Rierson where we talk about the current console generation.  Moderated by Rob Coble.

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A short interview with tips on using your time at Full Sail effectively and preparing for getting your first job in Game Development.



You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe via RSS or email.  Please support the blog by doing your Amazon.com purchases through this link.

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Induction speech from when I was inducted into the Full Sail University Hall of Fame in 2011.

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Presentation at Full Sail University in 2011 where I talk about my first 10 years in Game Development.  The Powerpoint presentation I used can be found HERE

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It's time for my favorite week of the year!  I want to see as many of you as possible, so I'm including my scheduled time below.  Click the links for more detailed info.  My time outside of these events is pretty limited...it's a hectic week!  But, I'll do my best to make time for anyone that wants to chat :)

Wednesday, February 17th 2016

11:00AM - Gaming Greenroom
Open Session Meet & Greet w/ Students
Full Sail Building 3F, Room 111A

2:00PM - Workshop: Life After Full Sail
Hosted by Larry Katz
Full Sail Building 3F, Room 112A

4:00PM - Gaming Greenroom
Open Session Meet & Greet w/ Students
Full Sail Building 3F, Room 111A

Thursday, February 18th 2016

11:00AM - Gaming Greenroom
Open Session Meet & Greet w/ Students
Full Sail Building 3F, Room 111A

2:00PM - Panel: Beyond Mechanics: Designing a More Powerful Game
Moderator: Fernando De La Cruz
Full Sail Building 3B, Auditorium

4:00PM - Gaming Greenroom
Open Session Meet & Greet w/ Students
Full Sail Building 3F, Room 111A

Friday, February 19th 2016

11:00AM - Gaming Greenroom
Open Session Meet & Greet w/ Students
Full Sail Building 3F, Room 111A

2:00PM - Panel: 48 Hour Game Project Presentations
Hosted by Robin Koman
Full Sail Building 3B, Room 113

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I'm focusing on getting back to the things I enjoy and improving myself both personally and professionally this year.  Luckily I have a lot of overlap in those areas :)  So, here's my resolutions for 2015:

Consistent Blogging - I really fell off of blogging last year and missed it a lot.  This year I'm committing to at least one post a week and hopefully much more than that. Part of what I intend to do is regular updates on the progress of the resolutions below.

Game Design Focus - This is one that will be hard to list a set of criteria for, but my goal is to use this year to work hard at improving my craft and being a better Game Designer.  It will be a combination of reading more articles, focusing on getting better with the tools I use daily, and doing more competitive analysis.  I'll just have to evaluate my progress as I go.

10 Hours Played - I realized that finishing more games wasn't realistic for me, so my goal this year is to experience as many of the games in my catalog as I can.  So, I've decided to put 10 hours into each game I play and then move on to try something else.  My hope is that I can achieve this for 25+ games, but really care most about putting in time each week and experiencing all I can.  There will be a handful of games that I play much more than this too :)

10 Pounds Lost - This is actually going to be a difficult one for me because even though I work out nearly every day, my weight is staying pretty consistent.  I'm building muscle and getting leaner, but I really want to get about 10 lbs lower than I am right now and then keep that going forward.  This is going to mean eating better, which sucks...but this isn't supposed to be easy right?

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I'm looking forward to 2015 and want to get back to the things that I've neglected a bit this past year...consistent blogging being a major one.  I'll do a post soon about my Resolutions for the coming year, but first:

Update on 2014 New Year's Resolutions

$1 Increase Savings - I completed this goal completely!  I also have used the money for my Star Wars Half Marathon at Disneyland next month and will be staying an extra week to visit friends, so hit me up if you want to get together!

Try 365 new beers - Complete success and I'll have a post coming up soon about this in detail.

Watch Old Movies - Success, I didn't get to some that I wanted to but I met the goal that I set out to achieve.

Finish More Games - Fail, but I have a better plan for me in 2015...more on that coming soon.

Read more Game Design Articles and Learn Unity - Biggest area for improvement here :/ I'm focused on improving my skills this year and hope to hit these way harder.

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I don't normally do much in the way of resolutions...but I hope for 2014 to be a big year and I have lots of things in mind to help make that happen!  I have a set of things I'm doing along with Lisa as well as another set that I'll be working toward on my own.  As a bonus...I plan to blog regularly about the progress of these throughout the year!

Joint Resolutions:

1. Run 1400 Miles Together - Lisa and I plan to run 1400 miles to celebrate 2014...700 each.  We have a couple of half marathons planned already so we should be well on our way to it just from our required training.  I'll be using my Garmin software to track my progress: http://connect.garmin.com/profile/siawnhy
2. Weight Loss Goal - We each have a target weight we want to get to that pushes us to eat better an exercise consistently to get there and keep the weight off.
3. 30 Day Plank Challenge - I found a plan that builds up from a 20 second plank to a full FIVE minute plank by the end of 30 days!  It sounds overwhelming, but having gone through the Couch to 5k plan...I'm optimistic.
4. $1 Savings Increase Plan - It's a simple plan really...you start by putting $1 into savings the first week of the year and then increase that amount $1 each week.  The final week of the year, you put in $52 and have around $1400 saved!  Now we just have to decide what we are going to do with the money.  Suggestions?!
5. Plan 4 Creative Dates - We have decided to each plan 4 Creative Dates this year.  I'd imagine some will require traveling to a bigger city, or trying something new.  I have a few ideas in mind, but am always open to hearing suggestions. :)

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Most Game Developers will agree that the Used Games market is significantly impacting the revenue we receive.   I think what most consumers don't realize is that every time they buy a used game, there is ZERO money making it back to the Game Developers.  All of those profits are going directly to the re-seller and making it more and more difficult for us to continue making higher quality products.

The Question is, what can we do about it?

Game Developers have recently been trying to figure out ways to address this on our own over the last few years and have come up with some ideas that I'm actually beginning to like!  Supporting the game with DLC is always a good idea since it not only encourages the buyer to keep the game longer, but that content is also tied to their account when purchased.  Great Idea as long as your DLC is compelling and a good enough value to bring in plenty of consumers.  It seems to be working since this article says DLC generated over one billion dollars as of May last year.

One of the newer ideas cropping up is including a unique code in the box that gives you access to certain parts of the game...like Co-op or multi-player.  Buyers who do not purchase new, will have the opportunity to pay around $10 to get access to that part of the game just like everyone else.  Some consumers complain about this method because the precedent has always been that it's included in the price and should come with it.  It did for the person who actually bought it first...so was saving that $5 at Gamestop worth it for you?

These methods are doing a little bit to help offset the loss in income for Game Developers, but it's really just a band-aid on a large wound. So that's where we are currently, where do we need to go?

I saw a rumor today that the PS Vita is going to have a lower price point for digital editions of their games compared to the retail versions.  I like this idea a lot and the price reduction COULD be significant if you consider the simple cost of production as well as the cut that retailers take.  Sony says just a 10% price reduction(meaning higher profit margins for them), but at least this could reduce the amount of used games out there.

There's another big rumor about the next Xbox console that could really start to shake things up...it won't play used games at all!  Personally I think this would be a fantastic change for our business and even though the consumers would be up in arms about it at first...they will grow to understand why and that it won't kill them.
The system is already there for Microsoft, all they'd have to do is use the DLC and codes model they have to tie a game to your Xbox live account.  Each retail disc would likely need that unique key somewhere in the code so the account would be able to link it properly.  Ideally it would tie a full version to the console it is registered on so family members can play even if the main account isn't signed in, but this is exactly how their model works now anyway.

It does have it's faults that would have to ironed out...like game rental.  I'm a fan of rental companies because they have to buy copies of the game to be able to rent them out and if someone likes the game, there is a chance they would purchase it for themselves.  I could see Microsoft implementing their own rental service which would maybe give them a code that activates the game for X days and they are charged a small amount.  This could work when you borrow the disc from someone or even with digital download of the full version.  It would also send a percentage of the rental to the Developer with each rental...likely improving the overall revenue we would receive from it.

Another issue would be with simply lending the game to a friend, but maybe they could implement something similar to what Amazon is doing with their Kindle Books lending policy.  The license of the game could be transferred for a set time to another Gamer Tag and the original owner won't be able to play during that time.  Seems like it could work.

In the end, I fully believe that we have to do something about these issues or our industry is going to fall apart.  People often don't understand the cost that goes into creating these huge experiences that we put on the shelves for only $60.  They also don't seem to realize how much they are hurting us when they buy a used game and how pirating a copy is just plain stealing.  Maybe something as simple as educating them could help solve the problem...

I know that some will say I'm not considering the retail games stores and the impact something like this would have on them...but remember they were doing fine well before the Used Games market became such a staple of their business.  The truth is, they aren't concerned with how this business is affecting us so why should I care how these changes will affect them?  Every game I buy is NEW from Amazon.com and it arrives at my door on or close to release day, shipped free with no tax.  The proper revenue also gets to the Developer that created it...how could a retail store ever get more convenient than that?

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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

"What is the difference between game development and game design, and what are the common job positions in each?"

Game Development is the act and process of making a video game and it contains many roles that can be filled. Any person on the Development team is part of creating the game in some way, but there are many different areas of expertise within. The bigger the company is, the more specalized each team member can get...on smaller teams you often have to wear many hats.  I'll try to give a brief overview and can elaborate on areas if anyone wants further detail.

Game Designers  A Game Designer generally spends pre-production deciding what kinds of features will work best with the game and creating documents and specs that gives the entire team a clear picture of what everyone needs to work together toward. During production...Game Designers are often building gameplay levels, balancing player and enemy features and working with all the other disciplines to ensure that work created is fitting within the design goals.  The discipline generally breaks into:

• System Designers -  Responsible for the gameplay mechanics like weapons, AI, player abilities, etc.  They generally spend a lot of time in spreadsheets or proprietary tools to balance elements of the game for fun and little frustration.
• Level Designers - Create the gameplay layouts, script the encounters and utilize all the pieces provided by the System Designers to create a cohesive experience for the player.
• Writers - Create the flow of the story and write dialogue for all the vocals in the game.  They usually work with the voice talent to ensure proper line reading.

Audio Design is often considered a subset of Game Design, but their focus is quite a bit different. They have to work closely with the other Designers to figure out not only the audio needed for the gameplay that's expected, but also the mood that has to be achieved. While working on sound effects, voice and music they have a lot of areas to consider and have to be masters at what they do to create an ideal emotional experience that impacts the player.

The Art Team is a very diverse group that focuses on creating compelling visuals while trying to stay within the gameplay parameters set by Design. The best work generally comes when Art and Design are collaborating effectively from the start and have a clear vision together going forward into asset creation.  There are probably a ton of specialties i'm forgetting...but here's the general break down:

• Environment Art & Props - Work closely with Level Designers to create and populate and area that's not only fun but looks great. 
• Characters & Vehicles - Focus on modeling and texturing all of the characters and vehicles for the game.  They have to focus on high quality visuals with strict memory requirements.
• Animation - They create all of the movement sets for the Characters and Vehicles in the game as well as any other objects that require movement in the environment.
• UI - Create the User Interface for the game with all of the HUD elements that the player uses.  Creating something that is visually appealing as well as informational isn't always easy.

The Programming Team is a hugely diverse group of people who are responsible for all the underlying tech that the game is built upon. They provide the engine, rendering, AI functionality, tools for gameplay implementation, complex gameplay encounters, and just about anything else that isn't mentioned above. Programming is a place where you often find people experienced in very particular parts of game programming.

Production is something that varies widely from company to company. At Oddworld we had one producer who was responsible for the schedule of the game creation. At EA, we had many producers who were more in charge of the quality of various areas of the game (missions, outsourcing art, UI, etc) and then added Project Managers who were more responsible for the schedule. I've seen producers take on many hats, but they are always focused on getting the game complete.

Quality Assurance Team or commonly known as QA are the guys who make sure that the rest of the developers did their jobs correctly.  They spend hours upon hours playing the same things over and over making sure that someones recent content or fix didn't break something in the game.  People think it sounds fun to play games all day, but I can assure you...well it is...but it's also a lot of HARD work.  Playing the same 10 minutes of gameplay for 8 hours trying to reproduce a bug that only happens .5% of the time SUCKS.

So the question really is: "How do you handle NDA's when talking to your significant other?"

I will first give you the eternal words of wisdom handed down from father to son for many generations: "Happy wife means happy life." That said, there are some important things to consider. Since each studio potentially has different rules and etiquette regarding such things...first see what having your spouse sign an NDA with the studio will cover. Don't assume it covers talking outside of the office since it could only cover that day's visit inside the studio walls.

If that doesn't cover your needs then I think it really comes down to what the individual is comfortable with. Sure you can try to take the route of being vague when it comes to specifics, but even with that you are likely so slip every now and then. Not to mention, if you generally talk to your spouse about things that bother you then it's much better to do that then take out those frustrations at work in a place where it could damage your career.

Today's question comes from Rob Coble - Career Development Guru for the Full Sail Gaming Degree programs.  He asks:  "How can the students at #FSGD get the best advantage on Twitter for networking?"

I should first say that #FSGD is the hash tag that was created for all Full Sail Game Dev students to communicate easily with each other and share knowledge.  Using hash tags effectively is a great way to ensure you are seeing all the great content on Twitter that you will be interested in.  The IGDA even supports #gamejobs and #gamehires as ways for finding and posting jobs for our industry on twitter.  http://www.igda.org/gamejobshashtag

The obvious way to be successful on Twitter is to FOLLOW ME! Seriously though, developers are surprisingly open with followers and give a lot of great insights to people who ask questions.  Not only that, but just the general conversation between developers is interesting and you can watch it all by just following all of them.  I keep a Twitter list of Game Developers that you might consider following.

Now that we've fully covered listening to others on Twitter...you also really need to be active talking.  Reply to tweets that you find interesting and see if you can start a dialog with someone about it.  Don't be pushy or expect responses, but every now and then you might be surprised by the responses that you get.  Additionally, ReTweet anything that you think your followers will be interested in seeing as well.  This goes a long way to get extra followers with similar interests.

Anyone else have thoughts or further questions?  Post them below, on Twitter or Facebook!

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