Digital Dave

Networking Tip #1

Rub elbows with every single individual around you, even if you think you’re “safe,” because you’re not.

Presumably you are already working with an outstanding company that is fully funded with a solid foundation being built for future growth.  You are high on life and are sailing with the high winds toward a glorious world of gold and product.  You are enjoying your job… until it is taken away.

Let me guess… You were:

Too  busy working away at your current job.

Too introverted to go buzz around events.

Too lazy to care about something like relationships.

It takes time to build relationships and you should be doing that every chance you get regardless of the excuses that surround you. Life is difficult and it isn’t going to get easier.  Your job is not a right, it’s a privilege. Take care of yourself to avoid that one day where it’s pulled from you and you are standing naked and alone.

Networking Tip #2

Put on your game face because people are people and you are what matters.

You need to take care of yourself.  This is a tough world to live in if you have any hopes in moving around.

Stand up for what you have done and wear it as a merit badge.  You earned it through time and devotion.  Don’t focus on WHO are you are talking to, but rather focus on WHAT you are talking about and your conversation will feel much more worthwhile.  Let the WHO come out later.

Networking Tip #3

Exchange Business Cards!!!

Great! You met somebody!

Wait… You didn’t exchange business cards?  Why?

You only spoke to them for a minute or so?

OMFGWTFOMGZ!@#*@#!!! /facepalm

The point is that once the ice is broken you are now a soft contact.  You’ve ingrained a picture of your face into another person’s mind.  Our mind doesn’t need a lot of time to build that memory – especially if you find somebody with a super brain.  You may forget faces easy but the other person may not.

You exchanged names and shared a piece of information that you can build off of later.  Exchange cards and immediately write a note on the back of the card about that conversation.  In time, touch base with that information to simply say hi or spark a conversation from the data you collected.

Networking Tip #4

Don’t just flab your mouth, but act genuinely interested in the other person.

Networking is a two way street.  You need to learn something about the other person.  You can’t learn anything if you’re talking about things you already know for 99% of the meeting.

Ask the other person questions about themself.

How was that project you worked on?

Are you enjoying the conference? What sessions did you go to? Oh really? Tell me about that!

How are you liking the job?

If you completely own the conversation you will likely turn the individual away really fast.  I say likely because you may be talking to a tech guy that would love nothing more than you owning the conversation.  Help them help you by not letting the conversation fall into that trap.

And for the love of god, smile, nod, and act like you enjoy the conversation.  Most people, aside from walls, are not a fan of talking to walls.  Sure, you’re tired. Go home and get some sleep.

Networking Tip #5

Reach out via LinkedIn and Twitter

You really never know who is watching you these days.  You also never know who might interest you in a conversation.  Use these tools and be aware of the people that are out there.  Follow people with similar interests because they may follow you back and will pick up on signs you lay on the ground.

Put an effort into keeping your LinkedIn profile updated with juicy information (bullet points of specific things you’ve accomplished).

Write reviews for other people (they may be inclined to write something about you).

Well, it’s that time of the year. GDC is fast approaching and I’m in need of a new identity – an identity in the form of a business card.

I ended up going through 4 iterations before I found a design that I really liked.

What are the essentials?

• Your Name
• E-Mail
• Phone
• Web Address
• Something Memorable
• Use both sides!

Unless you own a business and need people to visit your primary location, I would leave off your physical address. Waste of space and distraction. Most of the time your contact isn’t just going to show up at your door. You can give them this information later when it’s warranted.

So how about the ‘flow?’  Well, that is tough to pin down. It boils down to experimentation. You’ve probably seen dozens of card designs out there (Google some if not). Use those as a base.

The card I used in 2008

People thought it was cool, but today I find it pretty boring and not memorable. The basis was that you’ll find me without a Dr. Pepper in hand, and I wanted to note that I was a programmer.

Ouch...

Idea 1

Going completely opposite from 2008, I wanted to introduce color but I found it distracting.  It also concerned me what a printer would do with this.

The texture on this is intense. Very dark.

Idea 2

I decided to try something on the lighter side.  I also wanted to incorporate a subtle piece of my iGotIt Games logo.  I had a hard time with what to do on the front side of this card, and the gradient was concerning.

(back of card) I wasn't confident about using gradient.

Idea 3

I further simplified the design by trying out a ‘reflection’ idea with solid colors.  Here, the person would see the back of the card from the front, with the goal of persuading the holder to flip the card around for more information.

In the end, it felt too cheap.

Idea 4

Here, I built off of my previous attempts to form the final card.  I included the reflection, solid colors, and the iGotIt Games logo.  On the back I plan to put a promo code for Spin & Shoot or Project Void.

Winner

In the end you want your business card to be memorable.  Leave a simple quote, or a icon that identifies you.  See Darius Kazemi for more business card/networking advice. I just noticed he wrote a few new posts regarding business cards!

In the end, keep it simple and Memorable!

See you at the Game Developers Conference!

I attended the conference in 2008, which was an absolute blast, but I had to skip out on the 2009 trip due to some chaotic life changes (moving to L.A., searching for a job, relocating to the north bay to begin a job — all within a month or so).  Well, no excuses now!  I live right next door so I can drive to the conference.

Of course not all is perfect.  I had to skimp and forfeit the All Access pass to go with the summit pass. You can find me in the independent (tues) and the iphone (weds) summit, and doing a whole lotta roaming on thurs/friday. It’s too bad I couldn’t get into a couple of sessions at least… Oh well.

Some Notes…

• From the World of Goo Minds
  • Make your game instantly rewarding
  • Do not accept anything less than 60% for digital distribution royalties
  • Keep your IP
  • Learn to talk incredibly fast while making crazy ass jokes that make your audience laugh their asses off instead of writing down notes for your lecture… Er. Yeah. =X
• N+ Post
  • Make a WELL DEVELOPED PROTOTYPE in an easy language to find if your game will be fun
  • Self Fund: Load or Grants
    • Best Royalty (obviously)
    • Fewest Financial Risk
    • Retains IP
  • Tackle Biggest Problems First
  • Outsource Early – People HATE getting stuff in the last minute
  • Build tools in C#. Fast and robust (I agree)
  • Render fonts to bitmaps if you’re supporting Asian languages
• Indie Reality Check
  • Hussle
  • MTV and Newsweek want to hear about your personal success stories. Be Personal if you want to get attention. Who gives a rabbits flying monkey’s ass if you coded a sweet game. Every game is sweet. But if you did it without a right arm and you have a learning disability, now that’s a story. ;p
  • You should have
    • Business Card, Website, and a Blog so people can get to know you better

View Tuesday’s Pictures

MyPicks:

Taken from the World of Goo lecture. Those guys kick so much ass, and are incredibly inspirational. Go Indie!

Trying to be “Social”

So I’m trying to piece together a schedule for the game developers conference and I can’t say it’s fun at all.  There are so many things to do, and so many of those things occur at the same time.   I’m also trying to make the best of it by not sticking purely to just one, specific, track.  Not to mention, many of the programming events are pretty high level.  But I am going to attend something in Game Design, Production, Management, and Visual Arts.

Summit

• Independent Games

Some of the lectures I’m thinking about:

Game Design

• Storytelling in BIOSHOCK: Empowering Players to Care about Your Stupid Story
• Rules of engagement: Blizzard’s Approach to Multiplayer Game Design
• Structure VS. Style

Programming

• SQL Considered Harmful: Databases for MMORPGs 
• The Art and Science of Lighting
• Beyond Printf: Debugging Graphics Through Tools [conflict a]
  
• Chills and Thrills: Undefined Behavior in C++
• Artificial Intelligence in Computer Games (Day 3)

Visual Arts

• The Art and Technology Behind Bioshock’s Special Effects

Business and Management

• Entrepreneurship: From Zero to Pandemic
  

Production

• Production: Basics and Beyond [conflict a]

Anyway. I’m still trying to iron some things out.

As far as my new project goes.  I’ve decided to code this project in C++ utilizing SDL and OpenGL for the graphics.  So, that pretty much means that I’m rewriting things and getting up to speed with how OpenGL works on the graphics level.  SDL is managed by the software side of the house, while OpenGL is managed on the hardware side.  This means that you’ve definitely got to understand some theory behind what you are doing and I’ll need to get up to speed quick on it.

So. What is the project.

I really want to write about it, but I’ll save it when I get some progress going. ;|

Granted it’s old (7 Months), but I just came across this. Portal bots, in all their glory. Check it out for your daily dose of laughter.

So IGDA sent out their little newsletter this morning and in it was information about the IGDA Party. I’ve been reading about it from other sites, but I wasn’t sure if they distributed invites for it or not. Nope, they don’t. In fact, you don’t even need to be going to the GDC to attend. You just need to be a member and over the age of 21.

An edit, due to a bit of lackadaisical rushing for a morning blog post… Thanks Andrew.

I also wanted to mention that Jill Duffy and the crew at gamecareerguide.com posted a good article for the n00bs that are heading into the GDC. You can view it here.

So, I took an extended break away from the blog and away from, almost, everything else.  I decided to spend some time playing games while I have that luxury during school breaks.  During the semester, I rarely play anything.  This was a good time to relax and fiddle around.

One game that I played, and that I highly recommend is called ‘Peggle.’   It is a really simple game.  Pretty darn good design.  It will have you laughing for the first couple of boards.  The presentation had me rolling.  I showed it to Megan, and she was laughing pretty hard, too.  The game actually reminded me of Plinko from the Price is Right, which is still my favorite game on that show.  The objective of Peggle is to fire your ball into a maze of blue, red, pink, and green pegs.  Once all of the red pegs have been hit, then that level is complete.  Also, any peg that you hit is removed after each turn.  There are really interesting power ups for each stage that adds some flare to the game.  My favorite is the dragon ball. >;oD

But, yeah… Go try the trial.

So, my schedule for this semester is finalized.  I have the hardest time coming up with a legit schedule.  I hate taking simplistic classes for an easy A, and I don’t like classes that will not benefit me in any way. I attend classes with an open mind, and I am willing to learn about anything, which I couldn’t say while I was growing up.  I took education for granted growing up in a family where graduating high school was a rarity in itself.  I’ll write more about this later.

• General Psychology
• Intro to Operation Management
• Enterprise Information Systems (Database Class. PHP, MySQL, MS Access, Web Design)
• Interactive Computer Graphics (OpenGL)
• IS Project

Snowball Fight has been thrown to the side.  I had fun, and the project was something decent to introduce me to network coding, but I just don’t have the time (or desire at this time) to direct toward it.  The game is nearly playable 1 vs. 1.  My hopes is to get that working, and call it good.  I have a semester game project starting, and that will get my full attention…….

If I could decide what, exactly, I want to do. ;|

I must have thought about 50 different things through the break TRYING to come up with a semester project that is A) Not out of reach, and B) Something fun.  I keep running around in circles, thinking that I should just ‘clone’ something that is out there.  Or remix it somehow.  I have one unique idea that would be feasible, but it needs a lot more thought put into it.

I’ve thought about doing a 3D Bomberman that would get me introduced to the world of 3D.  In addition, I also thought about doing a 2D clone type game of Harvest Moon (a favorite of mine).  I also thought about taking a board game, and developing a computer game based off of it –  Khet, Ticket to Ride.  The interesting aspect of porting a board game is that I could code a networked portion of the game.  That is purely for fun.  These games would definitely be better implemented online and distributed through something like Facebook.  That is, if you could avoid getting sued (see: scrabulous)…  I also thought about doing a casual game, like Bejeweled.

GDC is a little more than 4 weeks away! Woofa, time is flying. O_O! *bites nails*

I did find somebody to stay with.  So that should help a lot on the finance side of things.

I’ve selected the business card that I will be distributing, and it’s off to the printing presses now.  I’m getting 250 cards, which will be way more than enough, but I don’t need to risk NOT having any since I’ll be there the entire week. Thanks Darius, and all the other individuals whom gave me feedback on my card designs.

How about the Stock Market? Cup of Recession, anyone?

*equips -The Ak’na Plate of Recession- armor* Hope I can heal myself from this one.  Good luck, if you are in the market.  The market is already down 9%, and it’s only been 17 days… ;|

I couldn’t forget to blog about the wedding.  We have our location booked, and our photographer booked.  We have set the date of July 25th, 2009.  Yes… That’s right… 18 months from now.  We have this ball rolling already.  That does mean that I might be moving to California alone while she gets everything ready.  Oh well, at least I’ll be able to give full attention to my new job.

Booked my flight out to San Francisco today.  After taxes and fees, the darn thing ended up at $200.  Not bad at all, considering the state of the economy these days.

I’ll be heading to SF the 16th.  Get there in the afternoon, snoop around for the rest of the day and continue my snoop on Sunday.  GDC it up M-F, and fly out of San Jose early morning Saturday.   Can’t wait.

Now to find a place to sleep and shower…

Step 5 of 5: Registration Confirmation
You are now registered for Game Developers Conference 2008 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA on February 18-22, 2008.

I’ll be attending the entire conference, experiencing everything it has to offer. I figured, heck, why not? Well, I couldn’t find any excuse not to, so here I come!

For Monday and Tuesday I thought it would be really fun/interesting to attend the Independent Games Summit. Lots of good stuff to experience. The developers of Aquaria will be speaking! *drools* I’m actually using their project for inspiration for a new, unannounced, project that I’ll be starting for an independent study project next semester.

Edit: Note to self… Fix top banner under EGA – 2001 – 2005, when I get home… Looks like I had Iraq on the mind when I put 2003. ;\