Archive → March, 2010
I’ll be in… THE TRIANGLE.
It’s totally true! Next week, I’ll be at the Triangle Game Conference in Raleigh, NC! (April 7-8) I’m hoping to meet with studio folk to see what’s shakin’. It should be lots of fun!
Therefore, I’ve been looking up tips on networking and conferencing. I don’t know many folks in North Carolina yet, but I hope to change that soon. I’ve been listening to an interesting podcast on approaching groups at Manager Tools. I’m still pretty awkward at conferences, but I hope this will better my odds of being less shy/more sure of myself.
I’ll be late for the first day, but I’ll be there both days! If you plan on attending, feel free to send me an e-mail so we can meet up!
A Previous Life
I just remembered a very, very awesome trip I had a few years ago in the ancient, mystical, tech-savvy country of Japan.
If you’re curious about my adventures, you can still read about them! It’s strange for me to read this old travel log now, as there are so many things that would have been less surprising if my first trip had been done when I was older.
Enjoy!
http://jen-in-japan.blogspot.com/
New Beginnings!
I’ve got lots of new things cooking on the backburner, but not much I can share… yet! I’m hoping to have something new (either virtual or physical) completed soon.
However, I know the need for immediate satisfaction is among us! Therefore, I’m taking a risk. I have created a Forumspring account. Yes, you can now ask me any question you want anonymously. I’m a little scared about what may come up, but I’ll do my best to make sure the most interesting questions are answered first.
Let’s give it a go!
Mentors and Teachers
As you may have noticed, I’m a sometimes-frequent poster on Trizle.com, a neat site for business folk of all kinds to share tips and get inspired by Trizle’s weekly posts on being awesome with your work.
Recently, I’ve been posting (umm, maybe a little like petitioning) for a new feature through Trizle’s site: Mentoring.
Maybe part of me misses the professor/student relationship I had as an undergrad. Maybe another part of me is, well, still a bit young to being a full-time freelance machine. I can’t think of a better way to get advice that fits what I’m doing other than through another freelancer who knows the ropes.
I’ve been blessed in that my Dad is a freelance maverick of his own in the I.T. world, but the work he and I do are worlds apart. He’s SQL server-ing people in the face while I’m designing audio for games. He commutes to work while I telecommute… you get the idea.
That said, I’m really working to connect locally this year. Although I’m still pretty fresh to the area, I hope to stretch my contacts out a bit further. I know a lot of cool people in Polk County, too, so I feel like I’m off to a basic start.
I’m also thinking about ways in which I can teach and share game design. Perhaps I’ll finally be able to develop a curriculum that I’m proud to teach. For now, I’m gathering bits and pieces together in the hope that I can actually be a professor someday.
RSS 4 life!
On the side, you’ll see some sweet RSS feeds that cull the best from my daily RSS checks. I love to cruise different sites for the latest information. It keeps me aware of the [bleeding] edge.
If you click the RSS logo, you can get my best finds in each category delivered straight to your aggregator. It’s my way of sharing what I think is worthwhile – an opinion that, well, machines can’t offer on their own… just yet.
Speaking of which, there’s a terrible habit of mine to update the Interaction Faction/Game feed with a LOT of posts at once. I set aside time, and then… process about 200 feeds at once, mentally, because there’s so much I want to glean. This is a strange personal habit, I suppose, because I want to “absorb” the game industry info the most… therefore… I procrastinate? I suppose? I’m not sure where that line of thinking comes from, but it’s a habit I’ve cultivated. Don’t worry – it doesn’t change the content or rate at which you get feeds.
Does anyone else have a strange habit like this?
So many blogs!
Here’s the trouble: I have three other blogs that are currently in disarray!
- Interaction Faction: for my video-game design related rambling, although there really isn’t much to say there. Also, I don’t think I’m a fan of the tone that I established. It doesn’t sound like me anymore.
- Silence Theory (offline): A blog about my thoughts on silence in different contexts.
- the TECH of Jen Grier (offline): My place for soldering projects, etc., and where my work from my Physical Computing class at ITP lived.
I’m guessing that it would be smart to roll all of these blogs into this one, but to use different categories to make RSS easier. Enjoy my life? Take the following link for life posts only to your favorite RSS aggregator and enjoy! Here are the links to do so:
Don’t worry – I’ll be sure to put these in the side bar for you!
Reflections on Theses Past
In a few months, I will celebrate the first anniversary of graduating from NYU with a Masters in Music Technology. It will also be my thesis’ first birthday.
I recently read over both my undergraduate AND graduate theses. Yes, both. I did them a day or so apart, and took notes during the entire process.
The writings appear to be worlds apart. My undergraduate work is stuffy; it doesn’t sound like me writing, perhaps more like a professor or two being channeled as I pushed that project out the door. My graduate thesis – although under greater technical restraints – reads as more relaxed, conversational dive into a niche audio programming/designing topic. I’m glad to have a “professional” outlet for my thoughts (this blog!), and to see that my writing style doesn’t pass away with my last thesis.
Anyway, back to the recent thesis, which has raised a few questions about how to proceed in my non-freelance, non-otherpeoplework life:
- Working with Flash, Java, and Javascript concurrently isn’t wise. It worked in most browsers for the most part, but it’s begging to break if I’m not babysitting it every time a new major browser is released or something changes with one of the three languages.
- Flash or Unity? I’m still torn on which to develop side projects in seriously. I’m always working in Flash, but after developing two simple games in the medium, I’m not sure that it’s the way to go anymore.
- JMSL and JSyn have my hands tied. Moving solely to Flash or Unity makes using either library quite difficult, if not impossible. Therefore… should I consider translating the aspects I like into a new audio library? Unlike these existing libraries, I could gear it towards the specific needs of a reactive or interactive soundtrack.
- If I make a new library, I will also need MIDI supported tools to quickly import composition ideas. This, to me, is a must for getting what I want working/out the door in a reasonable amount of time. I’ll be making these tools myself, though, on top of whichever methods I develop.
I suppose these are the big questions I need to pan out for the near future. I’m feeling better about taking a break from my thesis/kicking myself about the millions of things I didn’t solve with it. It’s easy to get lost with so many different kinds of technology coming about every day. Dare I say it… there may be too many imagined possibilities, freezing the average sound designer in an icycle of indecision.
Quick Life Tip!
Did you know that filling up a humidifier (or, as I like to refer to it, VAPORIZER!) with hot water and a very gratuitous pinch of salt (more like a tablespoon… or two) can really get the steam happening faster? Like, almost instantaneous?
Where I am, the water seems to be too hard, and the air is brittle. The cold is wreaking havoc on my skin, so the humidifier seems to be the best option. Oh, and I’m impatient. I was worried that the drastic increase in salt would be bad for my little friend, but he seems to be running better than ever. This solution seems to address everything on all counts!
Revisiting/Learning
I suppose there comes a time when every Master’s degree-wielding warrior wants to take their thesis and burn it to a crisp. I think I may be beyond that point, though, so a revisit may be in order.
My thesis was an audio engine that used Flash, Javascript, and Java all at once… on one page! Essentially, there was a very smart Java library that I wanted to use, but I wasn’t savvy enough to port it into Flash. On the one side, it was better for Flash – no slow-downs due to processing my crazy sound layering/grouping/composition demands, but on the other… well, let’s say that testing wasn’t pleasant. It eventually worked, but it’s not ideal to have multiple conduits between your game and the sound that sound be occurring at about the same time.
In other words, I felt like my thesis was scrappable not long after I completed it. In the future, I don’t know if I want to gear an audio engine like the one I am envisioning towards Flash or, well… Unity.
Yes, Unity. I’m trying to pick that language up in my “spare” time. There’s a possibility that a certain artist I know will create gorgeous 3D objects if I make a game that is ready to receive it. I know this is possible in Flash, but I’m already seeing full-screen 3D browser games in Unity that have me floored. Gorgeous rendering… in a browser. I almost can’t handle it.
In a totally different area of my brain, I also completed an undergraduate thesis in Greek music theory a few years ago. I think it’s worth looking over that for some usefulness, too.
A new blog? Oh my!
Wordpress AND Indexhibit? I must be going crazy!
I’ll also see if I can pull some of the old blogs into this one for easy reference.
Best,
Jen
