Moving blogs

This will be the last post on this blog as I move over to Tumblr in an effort to focus more on industry focused blog and prepare for the opportunity to enter the Indie Games market.

I am only moving a few posts over so this blog will remain in whole here.

See you @ Alix Games.

Skaiti24 completed!

Skaiti24 was a huge success and massives of fun! I only managed to do around 35 laps but thank you to all who donated, it is much appreciated . The donations reached £275.37 which EA will match bringing it to a grand total of: £550.74 not including GiftAid. Not too shabby !

Pictures and more details of the event can be found on the Facebook page.

Sponsor me for Skaiti24 – 24hr skate event for Haiti

On the 10th April, I will be participating in the Skaiti 24 hours event (a Skate Event) organised by Jo Coles to raise funds for Haiti (details and links can be found below). The reason for creating my own donation page is because the company I work for, Electronic Arts, will match the donation total I raise up to £300. (ie. if I raise £150, EA will donate £150, if I raise £400, EA will donate £300) and having my own page makes it easier to keep track .

So dig deep, even a pound will help in the long run! I am aiming to at least max out the limit, many thanks in advance!

Donation page – http://www.justgiving.com/yaustar

Event details:

• Skaiti24 Homepage – http://skaiti.webs.com/
• Skaiti24 JustGiving page – http://www.justgiving.com/Skaiti24
• Skaiti24 T-Shirt – http://skaiti.webs.com/theskaitee.htm

Shelterbox Charity Information:

“ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that specialises in emergency shelter. We instantly respond to disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes, sending boxes of aid which will provide shelter, warmth and dignity to the people affected. One ShelterBox, which provides aid for an extended family of up to 10 people costs £490, including delivery to the people most in need.

To respond to a disaster as quickly possible, we need to have complete flexibility with our funds and equipment and can therefore never accept location or time specific donations. However, we can guarantee that every donation we receive will make a huge difference to people who have lost everything due to disaster.”

New Skates!

I have been tempted to buying a new pair of skates for a while now but couldn’t really find a reason to retire my faithful Roces Romes that have been serving me well for over 10 years now. They have been through all my phrases of skating from wannabe aggressive through to skate hockey and now recreation with interest in slalom (more on that later) and still going strong (despite realising I brought one full size too big all those years ago) on the few occasions that I go out skating with friends. Therefore I had no real reason to upgrade… until recently during my holiday to Australia.

Games Design Courses – Are they worth it?

Disclaimer: Everything here is of my own opinion and do not necessarily represent any other party’s views.

Note: When I refer to game developers, this means I am referring to everyone involved in the development of the game such as programmers, artists, producers, designers, etc.

There has been increasingly more enquires about becoming a games developer in forums related to games careers such as the ones on IGDA and GameCareerGuide. As much as I am happy that more and more people are interested in entering the games industry, the majority of these are asking on how they become a games designer and which games design course should they choose because they naturally see it as the best way to get into the industry. After all, if you want to be a plumber, you do a plumbing course. So if you want to be games designer, you do a games design course, right?

If only it was that simple.