Every once in a while you see something that takes you completely out of your day to day routine and reminds you that this world is a wide and wonderful place.
Spider Robinson is one of my all time favorite authors, and he has been entertaining me and teaching me about love and laughter most of my life. I finished the Callahan series (again) tonight, and was touched by the plight of Doc Webster, who passed on with a brain tumor in the final story. I finally noticed in the back of the book contact information for the American Brain Tumor Association:
http://www.abta.org/
I got on the 'Net and found his website and found that his wife had passed on, in peace, almost a year ago and was able to piece together a little of what his world has been like since then. He is a brave man with a wonderful family. I'm lucky that I haven't had to deal with the death of someone close to me yet, but this world is richly textured, and people deal with pain and loss and anger and joy and triumph every single day around the world.
If you haven't seen his work, you can check it out in traditional and audio form here:
http://www.spiderrobinson.com/works.html
To all of you who are dealing with and have dealt with loss, I wish you the best, and while I know nothing can ever replace those you've loved, there are still more out there who have loved you, love you now, and will bring you joy in the future.
*HUG*
--Sam
Friday, March 11, 2011
SDL Job Opportunity!
Software Engineer - Focus: SDL
We're looking for a talented developer who would be interested in developing and maintaining SDL.
Skills:
- Passionate about helping people make games
- Able and motivated to learn quickly
- Organized
- Good at communicating, both with developers and with customers
- Comfortable with game development concepts
- Comfortable with software design and implementation concepts
- Comfortable using and developing for multiple platforms
- Fluent in C, with a familiarity with some other languages
We're bringing the next generation of the widely acclaimed Simple DirectMedia Layer to game developers everywhere, and we need talented and motivated engineers to hone the library to a fine polish, improving stability, performance, and usability. The position is initially for contracting work, with the possibility of moving to a full time position.
Interested candidates should send a resume and cover letter to jobs@galaxygameworks.com
Monday, March 7, 2011
GDC 2011
GDC was really great this year. It was interesting watching the interplay between different companies and people, and the ebb and flow throughout the show. I got some great feedback on the business plan, got to pal around the show with an old friend of mine from high school, and learned a lot about presentation. (note to self: Comic Sans is a terrible font for professional presentation) :)
Aside from the great contacts and fun meeting people, the highlights of the show for me were the exciting things happening on the Indie scene. Unity had a great booth overflowing with people the whole time, GameSpy announced their Indie technology program, and it seems like every major technology developer has free or extremely inexpensive licensing for independent developers.
Of course each year I really enjoy the Independent Games Festival finalists. The booth was packed the whole show, so I didn't get to try everything, but there were a few that really stood out in my mind:
Solace - http://solacegame.com
Solace is a blend between top down arcade shooter action and the creative experience of emotion and sound. I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's definitely worth checking out.
Helsing's Fire - http://www.ratloop.com/?games/helsings_fire
Helsing's Fire has a unique art style and interesting gameplay. I haven't played all the way through it, but it uses the tried and true method of introducing new elements as the game progresses, so the gameplay is constantly evolving.
Oh, before I forget... I met the developers of Angry Birds! Wooo! :)
I have lots of followup e-mails to send, so I'm heading out, but until next time... Cheers! :)
Aside from the great contacts and fun meeting people, the highlights of the show for me were the exciting things happening on the Indie scene. Unity had a great booth overflowing with people the whole time, GameSpy announced their Indie technology program, and it seems like every major technology developer has free or extremely inexpensive licensing for independent developers.
Of course each year I really enjoy the Independent Games Festival finalists. The booth was packed the whole show, so I didn't get to try everything, but there were a few that really stood out in my mind:
Solace - http://solacegame.com
Solace is a blend between top down arcade shooter action and the creative experience of emotion and sound. I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's definitely worth checking out.
Helsing's Fire - http://www.ratloop.com/?games/helsings_fire
Helsing's Fire has a unique art style and interesting gameplay. I haven't played all the way through it, but it uses the tried and true method of introducing new elements as the game progresses, so the gameplay is constantly evolving.
Oh, before I forget... I met the developers of Angry Birds! Wooo! :)
I have lots of followup e-mails to send, so I'm heading out, but until next time... Cheers! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)