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Plan for Eric Elwell

Plan for Eric Elwell
Name:Eric Elwell
Date Posted:Sep 21, 2005
Rating:Not Rated
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Blog post
Groovy.


Well, let's cut to the chase, eh? After a long summer as a counsellor at Bliss Summit Bible Camp, I cracked out PSP, browsed through my bookmarked listings at GamaSutra, and started the jobsearch again. It's surprising just how much work it is... just to find work. I've been scouring through my previous projects and reassessing my portfolio site ( www.TheTextureGuy.com ) looking for better material to show and better ways to show it. Though, I can't say that I've quite reached that goal.

Behold the power of file backups! I say this, as I am now left with a reformatted system with only a few of the project builds that contained my most recent work. I do have images of these projects, but as was mentioned to me by Danny Ngan, (a very respected friend of mine); ingame video clips are much more impressive. The projects that I am still waiting to record ingame clips are:
The Submarine Pack:




and the yet unfinished Determinance:



Unfortunately, without some of these latest projects; I'm left with a list of studios to apply to, and substandard material to show them. Aha! I may have something interesting to show yet! One project that I was able to recover was the horse pack: www.thetextureguy.com/screenies/tstHorse3.wmv

^ This clip ^ shows my work as the texture artist. (It was a load of fun syncing the clips with the animation running ;) ) As a matter of fact, if you're interested in the pack, the video only covers the major textures, there are more.

An ingame clip:

www.TheTextureGuy.com/screenies/horsebhigh.wmv

Needless to say, I'm very excited about the future of this pack!

As much fun as it's been to make reels of some of my previous work, build my portfolio a bit, practice with speed paintings, and read up on art theories and techniques; I'm really feeling the pinch now. To top it off, I may be spending the next few months at GarageGames. Complete with both a blessing and a curse: I will be able to learn a great deal and gain very valuable experience, yet I'll have to do a lot more waiting around for that paying job I've been looking for. Regardless, I think this will definitely be a worthwhile endeavor for me, as I do not feel entirely qualified to work as an employee in a studio. Hopefully, my time at the Garage will teach me the things I need to know for this industry, should I choose to take that path.


Well, this just about wraps up my first blog. I wanted to open it up to anyone who is interested: as I mentioned in a post on the IGC Forums earlier this month, I would definitely be interested in contract work while I am in this time of limbo.


I hope everyone enjoyed the read! Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Recent Blog Posts
List:01/08/07 - Game Lighting for whiners.
04/20/06 - Making of Mighty Fist (part 2)
04/20/06 - Making of Mighty Fist (part 1)
03/06/06 - Give the people what they want
09/21/05 - Plan for Eric Elwell

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Joseph Euan   (Sep 21, 2005 at 03:27 GMT)
wow, the horse pack looks amazing!

Good luck with the studios.

Robert Buckley   (Sep 21, 2005 at 03:43 GMT)
ohhh...horsie pack looks very nice...i know this would make an excelent addition to my project...its a feature I would love to be able to implement.

Do you know if movement (i.e. aiming while on the horse) and the ability to shoot from it is possible?

This si definatly something I would love to pick up sometime. Nice work!

Prairie Games   (Sep 21, 2005 at 09:46 GMT)
I have been interested in this Horse Pack for a couple years now. Do you have any sort of ETA on it?

Eric Elwell   (Sep 21, 2005 at 15:54 GMT)
Thanks for the responses!

Robert: I'm not sure, but I'm really not the guy to ask. The horse pack is Robert Brower's project, and he is the programmer for it. I do know that the horse and the character both have head rotation animations when the camera pans from side to side. To my knowledge, the player's head pans while the horse is still, and the horse's head pans while in motion. That's a good question, and definitely something that should be addressed. I'll email Rob at some point and see what he had in mind.

Josh: No ETA yet, the project still has a to-do list of fixes before it gets published. The time frames really depends on Robert's schedule. He's very busy with his full time job now, and it's been hard to find time to finish these tweaks. Hopefully, the list will be address soon, and we won't have to wait much longer. :)

Hopefully that answers your questions. I'm really excited as the rest of you to see this out the door in the near future, but in the mean time we'll have to patient.

Anthony Fullmer   (Sep 21, 2005 at 18:03 GMT)
I enjoyed browsing through your portfolio site, it was a lot of fun to see all of the work you have done. As others in the community have intimated, the horse pack is of great interest to me, since I was just approached yesterday to doing a TBS game with an emphasis on agriculture. I look forward to seeing it come out!

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