Bonesnap

The hardware technology landscape is always changing so video game designers have to constantly try to stay up. The constant effort to make better games with better hardware is a never ending race. Since it takes one to two years to completely finish a game… that game could already be obsolete before it ever hits the shelves.

In general management we all know that if we can reuse what we already have that it can speed up our timelines. However, the issue with the gaming industry is the ever changing improvements on hardware. So once one project is finished and a new one started, everyone starts from ground zero again to learn what’s new in the industry.

How to get around this?

Years ago the software company EPIC  released  ‘Unreal’. It was truly amazing first person shooter that used an engine that Epic named “Unreal”. Years go by and EPIC developed and refined this engine into what it’s currently referred to now: “Unreal 3”.

EPIC did realized the dilemma with the state of video games and development and went several steps further to help cut down on development time. They created a set of tools that would help developers create unique video games that ran on the Unreal  engine. They would then sell these tools and engine  to other software companies. This eliminated the issue of other companies having to design from scratch.

As of present,  we have games like Borderlands, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament III all created with the Unreal 3 engine .

It is truly remarkable.

The Unreal 3 engine and tool kit has been around for a while. If you could afford the large sum of money that was required for licensing you could create your own game.

However, several months ago EPIC decided to release the Unreal 3 engine to the public – for free. There is some licenses verbiage if you do create and sell stuff using this engine.  Non the less, it’s free. So you and I can play around with it. EPIC bundled the engine and tools in a package called the UDK (Unreal Development Kit).

UDK

You can download it and install it from www.UDK.com

For years I’ve always wanted to create my own games. Recently, I’ve gotten heavy into Machinima. The UDK addresses both of those issues.

So, I decided to use my blog to document my adventures with the  UDK.

There are 100s of YouTube videos already in existence that cover a wide range of functions in the UDK. Plus, on the UDK website there is articles, forums, and a ton of other help files that are available. I’m not going to rehash any of that. At least, I’ll try not too. J

The tool is easy to install and really doesn’t have an issue running on what I call a moderate build machine (little extra memory, decent graphic card, etc). It runs on my laptop ok but I have an issue viewing my graphics from time to time.

EPIC did a good job providing a lot of documentation online. In my opinion the online repository is poorly designed. It took me forever to find any beginners documentation. Maybe it’s just me.

This part is getting way to long so I’ll cut it off here and start a new topic. However, there is one piece of parting advice I’d like to give. These tools we not created for just 1 person to design himself a game. It was created and used by teams of people. So, keep that in mind when tackling the UDK.

Years ago when I first got married the wife and I lived in a small trailer in McAlester, Oklahoma. Our house was located on 15 acres that joined land to my in-laws. The in-laws had fenced off 10 acres and ran a few head of cattle on it.

One summer an older gentleman from California bought the land adjacent to my in-laws. He was a single older man who worked and retired in California. He owned two houses in an upper scale California suburb. He sold both of his homes in CA and moved to Oklahoma.

He had more money than he knew what to do with from the sale of his houses. He made the brilliant decision of using that extra money to purchase several buffalos and pasturing them next to my in-laws land.

Once his buffalos came in heat they would tear down my in-laws fences to get to their bull. In the process they would constantly gore my in-laws cows. We would run them out and repair the fence. This happened on a daily basis. Until finally my in-laws got sick of the situation and got the law involved.

The ‘buffalo man’ constantly said that my in-laws needed to control their bull and then his females wouldn’t come across which was quite humorous. After law enforcement officials warned him a couple of times he decided to sell the buffalos.

He had no purpose in life so he decided to work for the humane society. However, we didn’t have one out there. So, he created his own. He would take care of all stray animals, yet he did not pen them up. The buffalo man’s house faced a major highway and on a weekly basis we would see several dead dogs in the road from being hit by passing cars.

We all tried to talk to him but he had his mind set on how he was going to do things.

A few weeks by and we didn’t see him or his dogs out side. I guess if I was a good neighbor I would have went to check on him. However, I never did.  Well, one of other neighbors was a mechanic and the buffalo man had dropped his car off to him for repairs.

Several weeks went by and the buffalo man never picked up his car from  George (the mechanic). George went up to his house to check on him. Seems the buffalo man took all 30 or so dogs in the house at bed time like he always did. However, the buffalo man died that night in his sleep. At least that’s what the papers published.

For almost two weeks, 30 or so dogs were locked in a house with no food. When the police and paramedics arrived, the dogs had gnawed off his hands, feet, face, and other parts of his body. In turn, they had to be put down.

Long live the buffalo man.

Years ago when I first started consulting I had to fly back and forth from Dallas to New York. At the end of the week in New York, I returned to the airport to learn my return flight had been canceled. American Airlines was good to me, they booked me another flight on Delta that left in about an hour later than my original flight.

When the time came, I boarded a small regional jet with maybe 25 people on it. We took off, reached cruising altitude, and the stewardess started delivering drinks. In my travels when a plane is near empty everyone seems to be friendlier and more chatty.  Everyone was talking and drinking sodas when something bad happened.

The plane went thought some type of air pocket. We dropped about 1000 feet in less than a second. Two things occur when this happens: 1. Every thing that isn’t tied, taped, buckled, glued down goes straight to the ceiling. This included all liquids, bodies, luggage, etc. 2. When the plane levels out, everything that is on the ceiling will crash into the floor.

My soda went all over my chest and face and so did the lady who was setting directly in front of me. All the passengers were buckled in thank god. However, the stewardess was not. She flew straight up and slammed into the ceiling of the plane. Everyone looked on in horror as the plane leveled out and she slammed back into the floor.

Everyone was afraid to move since we had no clue what just happened. The stewardess was in the floor next to me and another passenger. We helped her up out of the  floor and she took a seat across from us.  At first she seemed ok and was just a little bit shaken.

However, as a plane settled and the pilot came on the radio she broke down. She started crying and shaking uncontrollably. The passengers did their best to calm her and pilot came and talked to her. Later the pilot came on the air to announce that every will remain buckled and seated the rest of the flight and that included the stewardess.

We landed with out any more issues and de-boarded the plane. At that point I decided not to fly delta any more. It wasn’t because of the accident, or the lady getting hurt, or even spilling stuff on my shirt. Shit happens. However, There was not one Delta rep to show up at our gate to check on us or the stewardess.

Seems I forgot to put together a post for this week so if this one seems thrown together then forgive me.

In my profession flying from job site to job site was a weekly habit. It was so ‘habitual’ that a lot of the experiences I had during flying I didn’t consider them anything to write home about. Yet, like all other road warriors I do have a few situations that stand out.

Years ago I bored a flight heading from Chicago to Indianapolis. In those days every flight was always overbooked. Being a consultant, I was bound by my company’s code of conduct which meant I had to fly in coach. Coach back then was always cramped compared to the seat of aircraft today. In present time the seats have been made a little wider and spaced just  little further apart.  

I’m crammed in the middle seat between to large men when I seen this guy heading down the aisle. He’s hunched over as he made his way to an open seat a few rows in front of me.

This man was 7 foot 7 inch NBA player Manute Bol. It was a sight to see the tallest man in the NBA try to sit in a coach seat where my 6 foot frame had issues. His knees came up past the tray table, his head nearly touched the over head compartments.

Seems that he got bumped from first class and now had to sit with us. He didn’t argue or complain or make a scene, he just took his seat.

However, a few minutes later a attendant came back and took him to an open spot in First Class. I didn’t see him again until baggage claim. In the sea of hundreds of people waiting for baggage it’s pretty  easy to spot a 7 foot 7 inch person.