January 2012
1 post
6 tags
Learning From The Masters: Level Design In The... →
Great analysis of dungeon design from The Legend of Zelda on the NES.
December 2011
2 posts
6 tags
Fixing my iPad 1 after updating to iOS5
After upgrading my iPad Gen1 to iOS5, I found it be extremely sluggish when typing and apps (especially Safari) were crashing constantly. I originally thought it was it was like when the iPhone 3G got the iOS4 upgrade which basically made it almost unusable and frustrating sluggish.
However, after a quick search, I found a thread in the Apple forums where a couple of people have replied with a...
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November 2011
1 post
4 tags
Awesome Amendment in Early Day Motion for Modern... →
Tom Watson sounds awesome!
October 2011
4 posts
7 tags
Automated Testing: Building A Flexible Game Solver →
Interesting article on using an AI script to ‘solve’ complete a game and be used for automated testing. I have been looking into this type of thing myself and researching if it would be possible to write one for the games I am working on at Playfish using something like Sikuli as the player.
However, for it to be useful as an automated tester, it would need to be able to pick up on...
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EA proposes Harry Potter dev closure →
This is a really big shame. There are a lot of good people and is where I learned my craft when I started out in the industry. Hope everyone comes out of this okay.
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September 2011
5 posts
6 tags
Getting back into the Game
As some of you know, I recently changed jobs from WMS Gaming to Playfish UK and as I wrote about my reasons for leaving the games industry, I thought it be interesting to write about why and how I came back.
So what happened?
Due to documents that I have signed, I can’t give any specifics but I can say I was made redundant and it wasn’t because I sucked at my job. You should be able...
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User Interface Design For Programmers →
It’s an old article but a pretty good one with analysis on GUIs from applications that we are all familiar with. Well worth a read if you ever had to implement a GUI menu or are intending to.
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My new Portfolio →
Finally got round to updating my online portfolio again. My last upgrade didn’t quite hit the mark for me. A step in the right direction but it still didn’t feel presentable or something I was proud of showing.
After looking at some student’s portfolios and some inspiration from the the Update Conference site, I set myself a challenge on making a single page site and here is the...
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360 degree view of Space Shuttle Discovery cockpit →
That’s a hell lot of buttons!
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Update Conference 2011 gets the thumbs up!
On Monday, I attended the Update Conference 2011 in the Brighton Dome Theatre and it was a fantastic experience it was! Great venue and a good mix of talks and entrainment with live music acts (including the host himself singing on stage to open the event and a Kinect hack sample mixer). The majority of the talks were very design driven, focusing on the user experience and interface from web and...
August 2011
8 posts
4 tags
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Your Nurofen Plus pills may accidentally be... →
The affected packs of Nurofen Plus all contain 32 tablets and carry the following batch numbers, expiry dates and product licence numbers:
13JJ, 03/2014, 00327/0082;
57JJ, 05/2014, 00063/0376;
49JJ, 05/2014, 00063/0376.
Each batch contains between 4,000 and about 7,500 packs, amounting to about half a million tablets. However not all packs are affected.
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13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by... →
From the article:
“To see why they branch this way he built a small solar array using the Fibonacci formula, stepping cells at specific intervals and heights. He then compared the energy output with identical cells set in a row. Aidan reports the results: “The Fibonacci tree design performed better than the flat-panel model. The tree design made 20% more electricity and collected 2 1/2...
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makeagame asked: I'm trying to learn game programming and someone suggested me I should be using a game engine but I have no idea whether I should go into 2D or 3D?? Could you help??
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Indie co-working space and Tech City UK
As I was at the Develop Conference (Indie Day track) the other work and there was a general case of independent developers being really independent and missing the ability to talk shop with peers and bouncing ideas off one another.
Therefore, I was recently looking at setting up a co-working office space primarily aimed at Indies and creatives and started to do research in the co-working spaces...
July 2011
9 posts
4 tags
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WTF? Unpaid crunch deserves no sympathy - Pachter
I came across the article earlier today regarding Pachter saying that unpaid overtime should be the norm and besides the fact he is an analyst and not a software developer, he is missing the point.
Dr. Mike Reddy comments on the article and raises the fact that research has shown money isn’t much of an incentive for people to do more work. Dan Pink’s Science of Motivation at a TED...
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WatchA presentation by Jonathan Blow on ‘How to program independent games’ at a UC Berkeley’s Computer Science Undergraduate Association.
Quite a interesting talk where the main message is not to over complicate the process and focus on getting the product done rather then getting everything perfect.
Well worth a watch.
Anonymous asked: What is it like to work on games like Harry Potter which are considered to be lesser in quality and more a focus on getting it out the door in time for the movies. Is it still enjoyable?
Anonymous asked: Hi, I noticed you replied to my post, and I read your 'why you left the gaming industry' and found it very interesting. To answer some of your questions, I dont have any inside Industry experience, I have an award winning 3D animator friend who has worked in the industry, that is about as close to it I have got. I also have been working on some board games aver the last few years. But I...
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Lead Programmer's defense of Team Bondi →
This is an open letter defending the work and decisions made during the development of Team Bondi’s latest title, LA Noire.
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L.A. Noire: The Team Bondi Emails - Article →
More ex-employees from Team Bondi pitch in with copies of internal emails that support information from the original article.
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Why Did L.A. Noire Take Seven Years to Make? →
This article pretty sums up the reasons why I left the games industry not too long ago to see what other similar industries are like. It sounded like Team Bondi went into Death March early in the project and rather then try to fix the problem, management perpetuated it and made it worse.
All fingers seem to point at Brendan McNamara’s mismanagement.
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Split/Second dev Black Rock to close →
After making ~100 people redundant in January, Disney have made the decision to close down the whole studio.
I had an interview there back in 2006 when I graduated from University of Hull and they seemed to be a great bunch of talented developers.
Good luck to all those affected.
June 2011
7 posts
4 tags
Should I change my password →
With so many data thefts and released account details occurring over the last few months, I came across this website that checks you email address against a database containing released accounts by groups such as Lulzsec.
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WatchCaptain America Trailer.
Didn’t think much of the Captain America movie when I saw the teaser trailers early this year but this one really makes me want to see it. The action looks good and the characters and story sound like they stay true to the Captain America from the comics. As long as they don’t overdo the romance like they did in Thor, they should be golden with this one.
...
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One year later with an iPad
I brought an 32GB iPad 1 about a year ago with without having any clear purpose for it. At the time, I owned an iPhone 3G so it already seemed odd to own two iOS devices (I now have an Orange San Francisco Android) and on top of that, I also owned a Macbook making a total of three portable devices with overlap. During the initial period, it really did feel like owning and maintaining a second...
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Anonymous asked: Just wanted to say thanks for answering my question on the 11th, it's very helpful to have first hand info from an industry insider.
Anonymous asked: I found your blog on your experiences of breaking into the games industry very interesting, and I was wondering if you would be able to offer some insight into a suspicion I have about the industry.
At the moment I am dabbling in different career choices and trying to decide on weather I should start working towards a career as a computer games designer, with the aspiration that one...
At the moment I am dabbling in different career choices and trying to decide on weather I should start working towards a career as a computer games designer, with the aspiration that one...
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May 2011
4 posts
2 tags
Just finished my online showcase refresh!
You can find it at www.stevenyau.co.uk! My old one was getting outdated as I made that in 2006 when I graduated from my MSc.
For the refresh, I used the Weightshift Personal Page and a CSS3 Generator and I think it turned out pretty well :).
Not sure about some of the images and photos though so I might change them at some point.
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Anonymous asked: Would a degree in computer science be useful in jobs to do with the military or secret service in your opinion?
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Looking for a new business card
Currently looking at getting some new business cards made for personal use as my old one (bottom left in the photo) is starting to look dated and a little too ‘studently’ (which is no surprise as I made it not long after my MSc).
The issue I am having is the quality of the card itself rather then the design. Last thing I want is to use poor quality paper when leaving something to...
April 2011
7 posts
2 tags
Type code at movie speeds! →
Something that was posted on a forum and it’s great! It’s a browser application that ‘types’ code from a preset selection of snippets as you mash the keyboard.. Oh how I wish I can type code that fast :P
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Book Review: ReWork: Change the Way You Work...
Rework is by 37signals who are the developers of collaboration software Basecamp and is about how they approach their work and run their company.
I came across the book are looking at ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) and reading ‘Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It’ and was looking for more resources on alternative working conditions.
Despite being 288 pages long, I managed to...
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Anonymous asked: I need to build up a game reel, do you know of any teams building games for free with this purpose in mind. I can model pretty much anything in 3Dmax and Zbrush combined. My Problem no programming skills and O motivation without a set brief.
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What have I been up to?
I have been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks as my Lead at work was off for a week and that meant I was in charge for that duration (and since we were a team of two, it meant that I wasn’t in charge of anyone).
During that time, I also managed to accumulate a large number of books given to me from various different sources. Enough to keep me busy for a very long time :). Currently...
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WatchThis is a presentation by David Braben from Frontier in Learning Without Frontiers 2011 on his thoughts regarding ICT being taught in the classroom and how games can be used to encourage children to engage in the subject.
More interesting is his showcasing of the £15 computer, the Raspberry Pi which comes with everything needed to program it on the computer itself much like how the Commandore 64...
Anonymous asked: How difficult is it to become a full time game tester for a company and can you make a comfortable living not rich but average
March 2011
10 posts
4 tags
'Free' to play games? Not this one
The other day, I was browsing the App Store on my iPad as I was waiting for something else to download and came across Contract Killer which was a sniper simulator and was free.
Downloaded it and started playing the game for a bit, graphics were decent, controls had a few flaws, gameplay was a bit repetitive but it wasn’t a bad time waster considering that the game was free.
A few missions...
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Super Mario Bros 3 Level Design Lessons →
An interesting link highlighting some nice level design features in Super Mario Bros 3.