A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. My deepest apologies for the scarcity of new posts. I would like to tell you all what has occurred over the last two months, so I am going to do a two or three part series, because that is just how much has happened. Part one will be a general overview of what has occurred since graduation. Part two will discuss my thoughts and feelings on the city that I now inhabit, while part three will discuss the details of my current job situation.

Part One: So This is the Real World?

Let us begin by going back to the end of May. As I posted a few months ago, I graduated on May 20^th. It was both an exciting and stressful day, but I do not need to go into that. After graduation, I spent a week tying up a few odds and ends in Boston. I then returned to Vermont for approximately a week. This would be the last time I spent a significant amount of time in my hometown for quite some time. It was an excellent and relaxing week, as well as sad, as I knew I would miss my family greatly. I then returned to Boston where I spent a few days packing, getting my first professional back massage (very relaxing), and saying goodbye to all of my Boston friends. Then, on June 6^th I packed up my belongings and my cat Xena and boarded a plane to San Francisco.

Upon arrival in San Francisco (which was at midnight I might add) I was immediately overcome with excitement, and anxiety. This was the first time I had traveled alone to a destination where I knew no one. Dan and Ryan would of course be joining me in a week, but until then it was just me, and Xena. The first week was spent cleaning the apartment, buying a few odds and ends, sleeping on an uncomfortable air mattress, and getting to know the neighborhood. I called my parents nearly every day, and spent at least an hour a day talking to Dan. I mooched wireless internet off of my neighbors who were silly enough to have an open and unsecured network. All in all it was one of loneliest weeks I have ever experienced. Once Dan and Ryan arrived (at midnight the following Tuesday) things started to liven up a bit. The apartment didn’t feel so empty. We began to fill it up with food, furniture and noise. After nearly a week and a half sleeping on air mattresses, our shipped belongings finally arrived (never use Bekin’s Moviing Service). The place was finally beginning to feel like home.

Of course during this entire time I was working for Octane. As Dan began his new job, Ryan and I decided to find new jobs ourselves. I had begun the process while in Boston, but when no leads came I decided to take the job Octane had offered me. It was my intention to remain with the company for at least 6 months, until the end of the year, but I became increasingly dissatisfied with the position. While the people were still wonderful to work with, I found myself lonely. If you remember correctly, the position was a telecommuting one, the main office being located in India. Most of my days were spent alone, in front of a computer, cellular phones in my hands. I craved social interaction, an office environment. It was at this time I received an email from a company I had begun discussions with back in April. The company, based in Silicon Valley, had been looking for a producer. I of course sent in my resume, despite only having 4 months experience in the industry. After a series of phone interviews in April they had told me to email them when I arrived in California. I had emailed them within a week of arriving, but had heard nothing back for nearly a week. Then, with the fates smiling down on me, I opened my email one morning and there a response was. They wanted me to come in the following week for an interview.

Less than week after that email, I was sitting in a Toyota Celica driving to Santa Clara. Not only was that my first time driving down the beautiful I-280, but it was my first in-car interview. I must say that it was a very relaxed environment. To an outsider it may have seemed like nothing more than a casual conversation. After over two hours of interviewing with 6 different people, and meeting the GM team, I was on my way back to San Francisco (via the Caltrain) mulling over the days events. I felt as though the interview had gone fairly well, but at the same time I had doubts in the back of my mind. Did I come off as twitchy? Did I have too little game development industry experience? Was I too young? These thoughts continued for the next couple of days. They continued until I received an email from the CEO asking me to join the company as the head of the GM department.

Though I immediately wanted to accept the job, my boyfriend and roommate both urged me to mull it over for a day. I spent the next day weighing the pros and cons of each job. Longer hours and longer commute in the new job versus loneliness and too few hours in the current job. After endless discussions with all of those important to me (including friends and family on the east coast), I decided, excitedly, to accept the new job.

I have now been there for 3 weeks and it has been fantastic. The people are intelligent, hard working, personable and inspiring. The business model of the company is new, but holds a great deal of potential. We just moved into a new 5,000 square foot office where I now have my own desk, complete with the obligatory family pictures, a good luck troll and Playdoh. Though the three to four hour a day commute can be killer, life is grand and I love where I am at in life.

So here ends part one. There is so much more to tell, but alas the train ride home has come to an end and I must eat and get a few hours rest before another long day. I will try to post part two within a week or so. As always, thank you for reading, and come again!

US-Based Mobile Game Tester/QA Manager

Are you someone who has a real passion for mobile games? Are you critical in your very nature and like to find fault with things? Does the prospect of working with the world’s largest mobile game publishers get your blood flowing? Then we want you!

We’re looking for top-notch game testers with initiative and a can-do attitude. You will be working with state-of-the-art mobile games to deliver portability across all of the world’s leading mobile handsets. You will leverage your tremendous attention to detail and desire to deliver a flawless product. Your role will require you to work closely with project managers and to have strong people skills, the ability to communicate concisely, and highly developed quality assurance skills. You must be a quick leaner who is able to rapidly tackle new challenges and arrive at solutions very efficiently.

Responsibilities:

* Participate in QA efforts based on deep knowledge of games and devices from the US and Europe
* Assist India-based developers and testers to overcome technical challenges
* Keep up to date with latest QA processes and best practices
* Analyze and improve team strengths and weaknesses
* Analyze and improve our development processes to eliminate the need for unnecessary QA time
* Assist with improvement of game porting and development processes

Qualifications:

* You must be a gamer!
* Extremely thorough focus on world-class quality
* Excellent personal organization and communication skills
* Excellent problem solver
* Good personal organization and communication skills
* Highly customer-oriented
* Excellent analytical & logical skills
* Ability to handle stress or high work pressure
* Ability to manage change quickly
* Need to be flexible to embrace changes
* Proactive and innovative
* Strong team player & a quick decision maker
* Clear & crisp in both written / verbal communications

Previous experience is not necessary, but is a plus!

Compensation commensurate to experience.

Meet all the requirements? Email your current resume along with a cover letter to katelyn@octanetech.com

In a bit of non-game industry news, because I know many (including myself) who are excited for the month of July, Harry Potter mania is nearly upon us. With less than 2 weeks until the release of the 5th movie, and less than a month until the release of the 7th, and final, book, people all over the world are gearing up for what is to be shear pandemonium. And yes, you don’t even need to ask, I will be a part of that pandemonium. I will wait in line for hours to see the first showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have pre-ordered my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And yes, when it arrives, I will shut myself in my room, refuse to talk to anyone, and read all 700+ pages in one sitting. And then the next day, I will read it again, followed by a 3rd time a few days later. It’s a ritual. This July is sure to be one of the best months of my life, and no, I am not over exaggerating. From July 11th, when the movie debuts, until I set the book down after completing it for the first (but surely not the last) time, I will be like a little kid in a toy shop, candy shop and theme park (all in one). I can NOT wait!

Here is an interesting article from Time that discusses the process of publishing a Harry Potter book. Its short, but a fun read, especially if you love anything Harry Potter.

Now the only question that remains, is, will he live or will he die? Less than a month until we find out.

(Yes I realize how corny this post was, but I don’t care because gosh darn it, I am excited).

My apologies for my complete lack of entries over the last couple months.  As I said in an earlier entry, things have been crazy between final exams (and papers), graduation and moving out to San Francisco.  I am slowly getting settled here in good ‘ole SF, but it would be nice if the moving company would hurry their butts up and get out here.  I don’t want to get into it, but it has not been fun.  I will never use this particular moving company (or any moving company again).  I have now been sleeping on an air mattress for over 2 weeks.  I have also been living out of a suitcase, wearing the same bunch of clothes over and over.  Enough is enough.  First they told us Tuesday, then they told us Thursday (tomorrow) and now they have informed us they *MAY* be here on Friday.  Ugh.  Anyways, enough of that.  That is not related to games or gaming (except perhaps I could make and educational game that teaches moving companies how to make their customers happy, all based on my boyfriend and I’s experience).

In the realm of game related news, last night Daniel and I went to the San Francisco Game Development Meetup, as facilitated through the website www.meetup.com.  It was a great time.  I would estimate that approximately 25 people showed up.  It was extremely relaxed and low key, my kind of get together.  It was at the food court at the Metreon.  It wasn’t the best for a venue, as they kicked us out around 10, but it worked for the most part.  We met some really interesting and potentially helpful people, including a young gentleman who works as a producer for Activision, another older gentleman who is working on an independent iPhone project, and a couple of recent graduates from the Academy of Art University (a pretty big thing in San Francisco).  I didn’t get to talk to as many as I would have liked, as I got completely absorbed in a conversation with the guy from Activision.  I must admit, I enjoyed this setting and group of people much more than Postmortem (Boston IGDA chapter).  Postmortem always left me feeling frazzled, overwhelmed and stressed out.  At the end of the meeting all I wanted to do was go home and sleep.  The people also seemed much less friendlier in Boston.  It almost felt as though if you weren’t big yet, you were nothing.  Here at the SFGD Meetup, everyone was so laid back and friendly.  I felt much more compelled to walk up to people and introduce myself.  I also think the location was better than Postmortem.  Postmortem was always held at extremely loud and overcrowded bars.  The food court wasn’t ideal (as I said), but it was better than trying to talking to someone over horrible karaoke singing.  So overall, a very good experience.  I look forward to the next meeting (hopefully next month).

Anyways, a few articles of interest, all of which pertain to Electronic Arts (because EA Games and Maxis is my favorite company):

1) EA has decided to release some its top titles simultaneously on Mac and PC.  You can read a brief article HERE. Note that EA’s most popular franchise, the Sims, is released for Macs, but only after it has already been released for PC.  The titles that will be released this summer include Command & Conquer 3, Need For Speed Carbon, Battlefield 2142 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Other titles that will simultaneously debut on Mac, PC and consoles include Madden NFL ‘08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘08.

2) As of today (June 20th) the release of Spore has been pushed back to 2009.  An article speculating why can be read HERE.  At this rate, I bet you a Sims 3 will be released before Spore.  This doesn’t surprise me, but it does disappoint me a little.  Although, now I have over a year to save up the money to upgrade my computer so it will meet the minimum standards.

3) Also in EA news, the next title in the SimCity franchise has been announced, and it sounds interesting.   It is called SimCity Societies.  You can read the press release on EA’s website, HERE.  Now I have never been a fan of the SimCity series (I prefer controlling people rather than cities and all their smog and waste), but this one may suck me in.  In the normal SimCity games you can only control the cities and things such as smog, pollution, taxes, etc.  However, in SimCity societies you will be able to control the culture, “societal behavior” and even environment of you town or city.  As Ron Humble (Vice President and Studio Head of The Sims Division)  states in the press release; “There is such a variety of cities to build from in SimCity Societies – and they’re all such a blast to play. Sometimes I build an aggressive police state where stragglers are dragged off to re-conditioning centers and emerge ready for work. Other times, I build a green community in the tropics, where the citizens grow their own food and have a small environmental footprint. With so many options to choose from, SimCity Societies is the most flexible city building game ever!”  It sounds exciting to me.  It is set to arrive this holiday season.  Hopefully this date will stick.  I am actually excited.

4) Reuters has announced that EA will now be divided into four separate “business units”.  The article can be found HERE.  The four units will be, EA Games, EA Sports, EA Casual Entertainment, and the Sims.  Yes, that’s right, the Sims gets their very own business unit.  This gave me a bit of a chuckle.  My guess is that the Sims “unit” will include, obviously, the Sims, My Sims, SimCity and perhaps Spore.

Well I think that is all for now.  That was probably a bit of EA overload, but they have been in the news pretty heavily for the past few days, so I just had to weigh in on it.  I will try and update more regularly, but I can’t make any promise.  I am now working full time, and still trying to get settled in.  Oh the life of an adult.  Is it time to go back to school yet?

I am well aware that I have not posted in a few weeks.  My apologies for this.  Between finals, graduation and moving out to San Francisco (where I am right now), it has been extremely difficult to find the time to sit down and write a post.  As soon as I get settled (and have all my furniture, and belongings), I will go back to updating regularly…well…semi-regularly.

Quick update though.  I have been hired full time by Octane Technologies.  This is good, because it gives me job security.  It was a tiring and stressful process, but at the very least, I am happy to have the security.

I am officially a card carrying (rather, degree holding) graduate of Boston University.  As of 3:30pm yesterday I am done.  The degree is big, and beautiful, and I want to show it off to the world.  Now I really am all grown up…wow.  Here’s to the beginning of the rest of my life!

This is the first time I have ever seen a game company collapse as hard as Sigil Games did. Actually, I think this is the first time I have seen any game company collapse. Sure there have been many buyouts throughout the years, most peaceful, and a few quiet disintegrations, but this is the first time I have ever seen a game company (and game) with so much promise collapse with such great force. It is really quite sad, and I feel terrible for the employees who, though brilliant, hardworking and amazing, were fired. I would have a great deal of resentment for those in charge, just like this anonymous ex-Sigil employee. To all ex-Sigil employees, good luck in your endeavors, I wish you all the best. Check out Damion’s blog Zen of Design…he says Bioware needs help.  There may be light at the end of the tunnel.

I stumbled across a very interesting article on GameCareerGuide.Com. Its discusses QA as a way to get into the game industry. I would give it a read if I were you. It makes some very good points, including the idea that if you think of QA as a stepping stone, people aren’t going to want to hire you. They want someone who gives the impression they are in QA for the long run. Seriously, give it a read.

EA Games has announced that the Spore, Will Wright’s new mega-creation, will not be released until Q2 2008, at the earliest. I must admit, though I am saddened by the news, I am not at all surprised. This game is quite hefty, and has a lot of little pieces to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t come out until 2009. In all retrospect, its good that it isn’t coming out yet. I can’t afford to upgrade my computer right now. See…every cloud has a silver lining. BBC has the full story, here.

In other news…about a month until relocation to San Francisco. Excellent!

A recent post by Professor Henry Jenkins, of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program, talks about violence in the media (including video games) in light of the Virginia Tech shooting. You really should give it a read. He makes some very good points.

On a personal note, I must say that it frustrates me that some people are so quick to blame the media when some young adult kills dozens of people. As Cher from the movie Clueless says; “Until mankind is peaceful enough not to have violence on the news, there’s no point in taking it out of shows that need it for entertainment value”. It’s a simple statement, but there is some truth to it.