|
|
31.12.2008 Hello! I've been rather busy over the past few months, specifically it was down to landing a new job as a senior games designer at a wonderful place called doublesix. I've been really enjoying the role thus far and the people I work with are admirably diligent and suitably cheerful with it. I'm still amazed at how technical the job is though but in a refreshing sense. As the conceptual aspect of game making is very much present but the nitty gritty hands on implementation makes up the bulk of my working day. Having to assimilate new programming and scripting languages on a frequent basis has also been invigorating, not to mention getting my head around the technical pipeline for my work and how that interacts with other disciplines, such as art and coding. I don't want to give the wrong impression however, as I have been a designer before but the approach was far less involved in a technical sense. Actually going into a game's code base and re-scripting whole sections of the game at a time and then having that immediately work in functional form, wasn't something I was expecting (though I think I implicitly hoped for it). I enjoy the learning process though, especially on a technical level, and being able to create something through that is what I've always wanted to do. Plus, I get to work in an office where people actually know what the robots on my desk are actually from (rather than calling them sodding "transformers" all the bloody time).
Upon entering I was greeted with the exclamation of "Sieg Jion!", which I obviously reciprocated (despite being a Feddy through and through). The drinks were named after certain mobile suits, characters and places. So a "Zaku" would be a dark opaque green coloured cocktail, whereas "Trans-Am" was bright pink and transparent. All were pretty potent. Even the food was named after various parts of the Gundam saga, so "Bright Potato" was a wordplay on "fried potato" (as in chips) but also using the name of the White Base's captain, Bright Noa. With various G Gundam episodes playing in the background, I definitely had a what I'd call a "good evening out".
That said I do find visiting Japan a little sad now, as I know I have to go home to intolerance and ignorance eventually. The latter isn't as bad, as I have friends here who aren't anime or game fans but they aren't judgmental about what I do. They just accept that as who I am, which is doubly impressive considering I am also a racial minority here. Generally the Japanese approach is more individually inclined, as they abhor social imbalance and selfishness. So a conscientious self sufficient individual is more desirable, which means pastimes like games and anime aren't as big a deal here as they aren't something that interferes with the social fabric. Admittedly, my work colleagues are fine (as they make games for a living) but on a wider cultural level Britain is a socially oppressive place as the individual is something that has to be socially vindicated, rather than just accepted as being part of a human being. Another year though, here's hoping it will be as interesting as this one was. ***
|
