I had a day very much related to the video game industry. In the first bit of news, I worked my very first day or should I say evening of OT for EA. It was my first bit of OT for EA since March of 2002. Yay! Just like old times.
In all seriousness though, it was a slightly casual evening of OT. Actually, there were quite a few people there. Since we’re a bit early in the project, there were no set meals. The production coordinator told us to go get our own food, keep the receipt, and then get reimbursed. The area around our building is pretty sparse when it comes to covenient food at night. I’m ashamed to admit this but I went and got McD’s for dinner. To be fair, it was right across the street and the guy behind me brought his McD’s in first. I was powerless to resist the aroma of fresh fries. When I got to the counter, our technical director was just leaving with his McD’s. Hey, if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.
It might be strange to say but I’m glad I stayed tonight. I got some much needed work done and I went home to the kids with a satisfied feeling. I’ll probably have a different feeling after three straight weeks of OT but that’s yet to come.
In other news, the second game I worked on as a software engineer was submitted to Sony for certification. Sonic Rivals will be in the hands of Sony testers for approximately one week. They’ll be looking to see that the game meets Sony’s high standards. In reality, that means they’ll be looking for outright crashes and legal issues. If all goes well, the game will be off to manufacturing in about one week and on store shelves sometime in November. When it gets released, it will be my very first game as a developer.
And finally, a professor from the University of Lincoln in the UK has asked me if he could use a grad project of mine in his course on gaming AI. Of course, I said yes. How many assignments get looked at again after the prof marks it? I figure this way, my effort goes a little further. Plus, it will give the students inspiration. If a dude like me can get hired at EA, so can they!