Excel, You Complete Me

Work

Yesterday, after lamenting the "sunsetting" of Warhammer Online, I worked on getting the costs for one of the systems in the game balanced properly. Sometimes a system does not get implemented exactly how you'd envisioned it and it requires a little bit of hustle to get it working once it is fixed.

The task involved loading up a bunch of data into Excel, figuring out how much these entries should cost over time, plugging those numbers into the spreadsheet, and then entering those values into the game. Would you be surprised to learn that this process is much of system design in general?

Today has been spending even more time trying to help people find answers to question, reviewing code, and killing every creature in the game over and over and over and... well, I'm doing it in code. You didn't think I'd sit there and do it by hand when I can get the computer to do my bidding, did you?

Home

So, yeah. I went home and slept. Then I woke up and came back to work. So there is that. Same thing tonight. :)

Goodbye Warhammer Online

A little bit more than six years ago, I left my apartment in Virginia Beach and drove up to Fairfax to hang out with one of my best friends and go to a job interview. The interview was with Destin Bales, Mark Davis, Bruce Maclean, and many other people at Mythic Entertainment. The game was Warhammer Online. At the time, I had just split up with my first wife and had little direction. Most of my goals were intertwined with my ex-wife's goals. I knew I liked games and had been involved with gaming in some form for most of my life. I had little game design experience and had only volunteered as a game operator for Mythic on a game called Spellbinder. I was in school, working on a Computer Science degree in order to get the know-how I needed to make games. It was the perfect time for a life change.

Needless to say, Mythic took a chance on me, and I moved across the state to find my way again. I jumped in feet first. Jess Daniels taught me how to script using Talk Index, and then they shuffled me off to Matthias Dohmen's team, (with Thomas Lipschultz and Andrew Hoffman) informally dubbed "Team Throbsac" (it's a spider name). I began to build friendships that have lasted. We built up much of the content in Warhammer Online, my hands have touched more parts of that game than I can remember.

As the game approached launch, I ended up doing content systems support with my friend Anas Alkhatib. Basically, this is systems design and a little bit of technical design for systems associated with progression and to assist the more "creatively focused" content developers with technical challenges. In other words, it was a problem-solving shop. I took over some of the progression systems (like handing out experience points and figuring out how much contribution should be given out by public quests). I continued to do this and other systems design work after the game launched and onward.

So much had changed in my life since moving out to Fairfax and it seemed to me that I had, with Mythic's help, put myself on a course that was my own. The game industry is always unstable, like a sea in a storm. After launch, EA merged Mythic into BioWare. Soon after that, I was asked if I would like to interview with some other good friends for some job openings in Austin working on Star Wars: The Old Republic. It seemed like a good opportunity and needless to say - like any good geek - I freaking love Star Wars. BWA made an offer and my new fiancee and I left for Austin.

Working at Mythic on Warhammer Online changed me. I learned so much about game development - both the right and wrong ways to accomplish something. I met so many new friends who have now scattered to the four winds so thoroughly that I feel as though I know someone no matter where I go. I was a broken, emotional wreck when I went to interview at Mythic. I left there sublimely confident, moving to Austin - where I knew practically no one - filled with excitement, and with a new fiancee! Everything changed for me.

And today they are shutting down Warhammer Online. I had long since stopped playing it, as I am sure many of you have too. It makes me sad to see it go, but so many of the people that have worked on it have gone on to bigger and better things. Many of my friends from Mythic are right here at Carbine working with me on WildStar. Many of them are in Austin working on SWTOR. They are everywhere, and they are all family to me. We might mourn the loss of the thing that brought us together, but that project will definitely be a part of me forever.

Goodbye Warhammer! I love you!

Making Time

The older I get and the more responsibilities I take on, the less time I have for my own pursuits. I imagine everyone goes through this in one form or another. Maybe that's why so many of my peers opt out of having children. I love my kids and wouldn't trade them for more time to dig into Unity3D or spend time travelling, but it doesn't make me want more programming time or cultural experiences less. The constant stress of trying to balance my work, home, and personal pursuits is difficult to handle sometimes.

Home

I tried to give Alison a "night off" last night, but it did not go very well for her. Alison made bread and I cooked dinner (just fish and veggies, nothing amazing), got Fletcher in bed, and cuddled with Maris. She started to prototype a craft project, but then fell asleep with Maris. I took pictures.

I tried to do a little bit more work on Project S. However, by the time that everything settled down, it was too late and I was too sleepy to concentrate on what I was doing. I went to bed pretty much as soon as she did.

Work

Today I am working on adding some more log events in C++ for WildStar. It isn't easy because in order to add the events, you have to figure out how the system you are observing works. Some systems are very simple, others are very complex. For example, systems that deal with inventory or other things where some unscrupulous players will attempt to cheat us are going to be very complex, with checking and cross checking. Systems that only deal with a server side event or where we are just trying to detect, say, when someone joins a world are very simple. Anyway, I'm working with the mail system today, so you can probably imagine the crash course I am going through right now (no pun intended).

Also, I need to update some pricing in the game and also do some balancing of the loot that creatures drop in the game.

Project S

I started this project last week. Project S is a game that is more or less already designed, and something I've wanted to do for a very long time. It is moving right along with the game model. The interface side of the game is non-existent, though it is an excellent candidate for me to bring into Unity3D in order to learn the basics of that engine.

Project G

Project G is still in the initial design stages. I need to do a lot more research in the coming months before the design can be roughed in, since this project is focusing on accuracy and detail. I'm working on it when I can, but focusing on Project S because I'm much more likely to finish it in a reasonable time frame.