Right now I've been working on two fronts; one at work (of course), and the second is on my wedding.  Seriously, who knew there was just so much to be done!?  Right now I'm working on the "Save The Date" cards.  I've finished most of the artwork, now just finalizing the wording before we get it sent off to the printers.  When I'm all done and everything is sent off, I'll upload a step by step of everything we've done...I think you'll be pretty impressed.

I talked about Dondi to some friends of mine.  Talking about how it can be a strange thing, to miss someone even though you never met them.  One of them actually reminded me of a saying that was in the Walking Dead game...something that being a writer, Boss would have agreed with and liked:

Let me just be blunt; it can feel like beating your head up against a brick wall at times...a brick wall that's been set on fire and largely made out of rabid cats.  Should this deter you from still trying?  No.  But you should be aware of what I like to call "Catch-22 hell."  Most large companies want you to already have video game making experience BEFORE they hire you.  However, the ONLY WAY you're going to get that experience is if they do hire you.

I hit that wall after graduating from two colleges.  Living in Southern California, there were tons of video game companies all around.  Some offered internships, but most wanted kids still in college so it went towards college credits.  I was too "green" to be hired out of the gate seeing I had zero game making experience (something that thankfully a lot of colleges give now).  So my only option was to start in QA ("Quality Assurance," AKA - Game Tester).  Make no mistake, QA is the bottom step on the ladder, but it does give you that foot in the door.  Depending on the company you start with, it can also lead to promotions within that company.  I personally started at Activision.  Which I came to find out later, game testing for a publisher is very different from testing for a developer.  So I would highly recommend trying to find a game testing job at a developer.  There are various reasons, but one is that the artistic job you're probably looking for, isn't going to be found at a publisher.

After you have that foot in the door, get ready to work your arse off!  Making video games can be no joke when it comes to work hours.  Before Telltale, I worked on projects where I was working 16-18 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, for months on end.  While that level of craziness is not typically the norm, it can happen.  So like the Lion King, "be prepared."

To say I'm a fan of Stargate SG-1 is to notice all the box sets of the series I have in my possession.  I love the story, I love the premise, I love the actors.  So yes, I'm a fan.  After that trailer I was ready to love this game...iOS only or not, I was ready to be a part of SG-1 and kick some ass!  After playing for an hour though, I was left feeling disappointed.

BTW, I say "opinion" rather than "review" as being a fellow developer, I don't think it's my place to past review level judgment.  I'm in the industry, I'm also a fan, so clearly I don't have a detached unbiased opinion.  Heck, my job is to craft cinematic stories, so I will openly admit I might be a little too critical.

Xbox 360:  Out today!

Steam:  April 26th  

 Playstation:  April 30th  

Life's a game and it's meant to be played,
~Ryann

I really used to like Ben 10.  I liked the premise as the show led itself to seeing new aliens, how a kid would handle given that much power, etc.  Seeing the past two Ben 10 shows (Ben 10, and Ben 10: Alien Force) were alright, I thought the next show would get better.  Frankly, it's horrible.  Now I know these shows are designed for kids, so I understand they're not going to go all "Inception" when it comes to the writing.  But the show's writing got dumbed down and really sloppy.  And if I know one thing about kids, they're not dumb.  

There are so many times I thought it stupid/odd/weird when Ben didn't do "this" or "that."  Or why a villain didn't try "this," or didn't just try to kill a character right there (after all, they're evil and the show has shown characters getting killed off in the past).  The last thing you ever want is a viewer to go, "Wait, what?  That doesn't make any sense."  But the BIGGEST problem is Ben 10 himself.

In short?  He hasn't grown up.  Sure, he may not talk all the time like he used to when he was a kid.  But with age comes experience, right?  Most of the time, his choices come from the writers just wanting to move the story along, not from a place of character development.  This makes Ben Tennyson feel more like a blank slate to be used as the story dictates (rather than the events unfolding around the characters and then dealing with the situation).

As a person who had to deal with violence from the age of 7, got a job at age 14, who had to take care of my little sister and my Mom, I had to grow up pretty fast.  I lost some of my childhood because of the situations life threw at me and my family.  The writers should come from this angle.  A kid given a powerful weapon, fighting all the time, told to save people, is going to grow up pretty fast.  

In the end, I guess I had high hopes for this next show, that it would show a more grown-up version of Ben.  Almost like the Ultimate Spider-Man comics...a kid having to balance between being a kid physically, yet more of an adult internally.

Even though I worked with all the characters, I mainly focused on everything Claptrap/Borderlands related.  As a gamer, it was one of the most exciting moments in my career to work on a character I find freaking hilarious!  Claptrap is one of the reasons I love playing Borderlands, his dialog always keeps me laughing.  I'm also really excited because I got a credit in this game I've been wanting since I was 13 years old..."Concept Artist."  I'll show some of the work I did and talk more about this later, after the game has been released.  

Life's a game and it's meant to be played,
~Ryann

I just finished Batman Beyond (god how I used to love that show).  Looking at it now, yeah, the animation/design might be just a tad bit dated, and the music can be a bit corny at times with the guitar riffs, but it still holds up as I REALLY do love this show!  I love the relationship between Terry and Bruce, as Terry comes off as if it was Dick Grayson donning the Batman suit (a lot more talkative than Bruce was).  When/if they make another Batman movie, I would love it if they would base it off of this Batman story line.

Oddly enough, this all started with the thought about the internet footprint we all leave behind now.  My generation is unique in the sense that we kinda grew up without the internet, but yet, we did.  And heading into getting married, thinking about when I'll have kids someday, led me to think about my internet footprint.  Which then led me to wonder if my Dad ever left an internet footprint.  He died in 2009, wasn't big into e-mail, never had a facebook page or anything...so I decided to do a search for Gordon Lynn Weller.

For the readers/artists/gamers that have never played "Day of the Tentacle," "Grim Fandango," "The Dig," or "Full Throttle"...drop what you are doing, find an online emulator or something, and go play em'.  Yes, the graphics are a bit dated ('though one could argue I've seen the exact graphics on iOS games that do well).  Yes, it is an old style of "Point and Click Adventure" games. Yes, they do hold a place of nostalgia for me, so I may be a bit biased.  But you know what still holds up to this day?  The story telling.  The animations, the camera shots, there's still some great stuff to be had from these games.

I say all of this because sadly, Disney will be closing the doors to this once great studio.  A company that started in 1982, Lucas Arts has been the beginning of many games, and the inspiration to many video game companies.  Joining Telltale Games was a dream come true of mine, seeing they're geared towards those games of my childhood.  The two CEO's; Dan Conners and Kevin Bruner, worked at Lucas Arts before starting Telltale Games.  Tim Schafer helped make some of the titles I listed above, and went on to make one of my favorite games ever; Psychonauts.  Heck, you'd be hard pressed to find a developer that wasn't inspired by Lucas Arts at one time or another.

People can argue when was the last time Lucas Arts put out a great game, but that isn't the focus of this journal.  It's sad when a piece of history closes its doors, it's sad when 150+ people lose their jobs, it's like a million voices cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced.

PC / Mac SHiFT Code:

K3WJT-BFBRW-S5RTT-TBBB3-9XWZ5

Xbox 360 SHiFT Code:

KBWTB-T6XSC-JJHBF-WXBJJ-WRWKF

PlayStation 3 SHiFT Code:

C3KTB-F6ZKB-KC5WJ-ZTKJ3-XC569

Life's a game and it's meant to be played,
~Ryann

*takes a deep calming breath* That established and said, this was my first time going to the GDC.  I only had an expo floor badge for the day, so I couldn't get into any of the panels (which I hear is the heart and soul of the conference).  After walking around for a couple of hours, I can see why the panels are considered the main point of GDC.  

The Expo floor is nothing like PAX or E3.  Geared more towards business than entertainment.  Ever walk in the mall past a cell phone kiosk and you get a barrage of questions because they want to sell you something?  Yeah, it was kinda like that at times.  Sure, there were a few fun things from Riot Games, Havok, and VR - Oculus Rift.  Also some cool indy games such as Kentucky Route Zero (which is totally deserving of your funds when it becomes available).

So hopefully next year I can get a full access badge and give those panels a try.  Past that, I just wanted to share those links with you, as they're totally worth checking out. Oh, one last thing to check out...

Almost a year from when I touched my last save file, I finally "finished" the Mass Effect series.  I played all the DLC and I beat the game, one last time.  It was a somber ending, because it put a final end to a character I have played since 2007.  I have games that I love, games stretching back to my childhood, and games that I would consider myself to be a huge fan of.  I can count on one hand though (and not using all my fingers), franchises that have sucked me in and crafted characters that made me care about them in such a way, that turns this 6'5 developer into your everyday excitable fan (not Justin Beiber level though, that'd be just plain crazy).  The Mass Effect series is one of those few titles.

I have looked up to Bioware for many years.  Combined with my love for Point & Click adventure titles, Bioware's games helped shape the direction I took in the video game industry, and how I came to Telltale Games.  Focusing on stories, cinematics, immersing the player into a world you create; this concept caused me to go to a second college and get a degree in film on top of my art degree.  What's interesting to me is that the Mass Effect series was released while I was a student, to the final release of me being an industry professional.  So when looking back, it can be hard to separate the gamer from the developer at times, normally those opinions can be of two different minds.

In short?  I loved it.  To get it out of the way though, yes, I was one of those that didn't really like the ending.   You can argue game mechanics, story, texture swaps, etc (I did love the indoctrination theory though).  In the end, as a gamer, it just didn't sit well with me.  As a developer though, getting the chance to work on a story driven game myself; giving players choices on what to say/do, I have a much greater understanding and appreciation for what Mac Walters and his team had to go through.  A game the size of the Mass Effect series, all the choices they had to track, it's just mind blowing to think about.  In the end, oddly enough, I chose to base the entire game on the last bit of DLC: "Citadel."  

In a way, this was more of an ending than anything else was (character development wise) in my opinion.  The writing was top notch, the action was awesome, this "episode" made me laugh harder and longer than all three games put together!  It had a Bruce-Willis-Die-Hard type feel about it (especially if you played as a Male Renegade Shepard).  Some of the one liners you get were pure Gold.  They even threw in a Joker narrated moment that I swear could have come from Robot Chicken.  Some of the romance moments still felt muted and not as invested.  I know it means making more cinematics with different skeleton structures, but having Shepard sitting next to his/her love interest without them holding hands while they talk, arm around their shoulder, etc, just felt…distant (but this is something that happens throughout the series and is a tiny gripe).  Overall, this DLC shows why I love the series.  Being able to interact with all the characters separately and together, hearing their opinions of each other in the same room, fighting with everyone, hanging out with Wrex one last time, it was all perfect.

I hope that whatever game Bioware continues to make based off of the Mass Effect franchise, that they take a huge page from the Citadel DLC.  Having the characters interact more, feeling more aware of their surroundings, having light-hearted moments, and fighting as a group (even if you only pick two other people to "take point") are all important moments that this DLC polished.

Life's a game and it's meant to be played,
~Ryann

The birthday cake I made for my fiance's surprise Birthday Party:

Well, I better get back to work  
I hope you all are doing great and I'll talk to you soon!

So our marketing team has been going through the "Game of the Year" awards and "Top Games in 2012," etc.  And it seems The Walking Dead game has won 60+ awards!   Making me nothing short of stunned!  Thank you again to everyone who gave the game a chance, commented, voted....you people made my year!!!

So this year has been a wild ride!  Working on The Walking Dead has been pretty much my 2012.  But wow...looking back...gives me pause.  Working on the scene where Lee jumps the fence, and finds himself in Clementine's back yard, that was my first scene.  From there; the barn, Jolene's camp, the opening to episode 3, and so much more just leaves me a little speechless.  In one year I've done and learned more than I have in my entire career it seems.