Boo Hoo

I'm no longer employed by the business I helped found. I'd suspected it would happen for a year. I'd had about two months notice. The job wasn't a bad experience. Just this part is sad.

There were problems. Nobody publishes games from third-party groups, or at least not unless they're a wholesale transplant from a larger company. Adding to the troubles: game executives are strange, unresponsive and lazy. We never had a chance.

Friday was my last day. Thankfully there was no farewell ceremony or going away party. These guys aren't that sort. Think Commander Data, or Egon from Ghostbusters. Asocial and hyper-competent.

I start my new job Tuesday. I'm at the point where getting one isn't difficult, thankfully. It'll be fun.

My former company is still lurching along; two guys are there until August. I called today and said: "Look, there are still things that need doing. I'm willing to work them into my schedule. I'm reasonably certain I wasn't let go because you guys didn't like my work."

"Oh no!" the designer said, "No, we just can't pay you! I'm so glad you called!" They'd had no idea what they would do for the remaining art. Despair had set in.

So I'm a sap, and I'll be doing a little work for free, but in the long run I'll feel better about it.

You know how when someone quits a place, they sometimes leave a company-wide email? "Sorry things didn't work out, I look forward to the great things you guys will do, I'll miss all the swell pals I leave behind." All that. I didn't do that. When I left, I spent a few minutes making an image.

It's one of my paintings from early in 2006, when the company was new and hopeful. But I put a Nostalgic What Might Have Been whammy on it. Apparently the guys saw it and misted up. This is the only time I've made art that affected people emotionally. It was only two people who had been there through it with me, but there you go.

I don't think there's anything left. The game won't make it to customers. There isn't any point to helping them, not a bottom-line point, anyway. This is sentiment only. That's okay.

Cloverfield

I liked this movie; chances are you've seen the Statue of Liberty trailer and are familiar with the premise.

An irate monster comes to Manhattan, picks a fight with the military and damages property. No explanation is given for the visitor during the film; the monster simply is.

But there's considerably more to the story; it's told through the viral marketing campaign. It turns out that this is a monster movie in the traditional sense; it's got a moral. A Japanese mining rig drills too deep. The monster pops out of a trench in the Atlantic, trashes the mining rig and heads East. Environmental misdeeds have doomed mankind.

Cloverfieldclues.com will get you the rest of it. They have video of the mining rig's collapse, as well as a translated Manga sent to Japanese audiences. There are MySpace pages for the principle characters. You also have Youtube clips of people who simply don't appear in the film as characters, but are vaguely related to the story. Blair Witch is a strong influence.

Again, I liked the movie. The effects are good, the monster is obnoxious and enjoys its work. Human cast members are less interesting, all model-perfect and under thirty. There's a tedious Dawson's Creek feel to their story, and whenever they get too heavy something interestingly horrible happens. If you ever wanted to see, for example, The O.C. get ravaged by a go-getter from the deep then we have a winner.

Star Wars

Just a link:

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=82448&in_page_id=2&expand=true

So awesome.