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mtmckinley

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Career Blog Part 1

Intro

 I recently read a blog by a designer who worked at Bioware for 10 years. He left that studio and wrote a blog post detailing his time through each of those years he worked there. I found it very interesting and, while I can't claim to be equally as interesting, I thought I might write some posts about my career to accomplish a couple of goals:

1) Just to remember. I haven't really thought about those times much and it'll be nice to have a written "diary" of those times to remind me in the future.

2) In the hopes that others may find my story half as interesting as I found the story I read.

I don't know how frequent I'll be updating my posts, but I'm hoping at least once a week, but maybe I'll get on a tare and it'll be every other day or something. I dunno. I hope you guys find them interesting!

Year -0

I suppose I should start at the beginning and detail my experiences even getting started in the game industry. I know lots of people out there are students and enthusiasts who are still looking to get their foot in the door, so to speak.

I knew I wanted to be an artist at an early age. I remember writing and drawing my own comics and giving them to my friends in grade school. I had a dozen or so different comic book super heroes and another dozen villains I would circulate. Some of my favorites had names like Bullet Clip, Infinite, The Protectorate, and Blaster.

I remember a conversation with my dad when he asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up and I enthusiastically informed him that I would be pursuing a career in comic books as an illustrator! He warned me that that would be pretty difficult, but he was encouraging about it.

Then it happened. When I was 12 or 13 years old, Jurassic Park came out and I, like many others my age, was completely blown away! My mind was completely blown by the sheer amazement of what I was seeing on the screen and the unbelievable realism that these computer graphics were bringing to the table.

Afterward, with my limited means (no computer or internet), I searched for every scrap of info I could on how those dinosaurs came to be! I resolved then and there that I would switch my focus from comic book illustrations to computer graphics!

I knew what I wanted to be, but had no idea how to do it.
7 Comments

7 Comments

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mtmckinley

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Edited By mtmckinley

Thought I'd bump this post and update you guys to let you know I'm up to part 24 in my blog series. Just in case anyone was interested. I've detailed my experiences working in the game industry up to about 2009. :) Almost caught up to the present!

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mtmckinley

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Edited By mtmckinley

Thanks!

Here it is:

http://blog.brentknowles.com/2009/08/25/bioware-brent-year-1-1999/

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Dylabaloo

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Edited By Dylabaloo

Love reading these, what is the bioware blog you mentioned?

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mtmckinley

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Edited By mtmckinley

Parts 4 and 5 now up!

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mtmckinley

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Edited By mtmckinley

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I was very lucky to have such encouraging parents. Especially in my dad who didn't really "get" the whole art thing.

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Edited By AOR

That's very awesome, man. I've been thinking of starting up a blog on here while the site I'm building gets finalized. Hell, I've been coming here for a looong time and just recently started posting on the forums.

What you say about your dad resonated with me a lot. I told my dad I wanted to make films and he told me basically the same thing: That it would be hard but that he would be encouraging throughout the ups and downs that would eventually come my way. We should be thankful that we have been given the opportunity to pursue our dreams no matter how far-fetched they may seem. I wish you good luck in all of your endeavors and hope to read updates!  

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mtmckinley

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Edited By mtmckinley

Intro

 I recently read a blog by a designer who worked at Bioware for 10 years. He left that studio and wrote a blog post detailing his time through each of those years he worked there. I found it very interesting and, while I can't claim to be equally as interesting, I thought I might write some posts about my career to accomplish a couple of goals:

1) Just to remember. I haven't really thought about those times much and it'll be nice to have a written "diary" of those times to remind me in the future.

2) In the hopes that others may find my story half as interesting as I found the story I read.

I don't know how frequent I'll be updating my posts, but I'm hoping at least once a week, but maybe I'll get on a tare and it'll be every other day or something. I dunno. I hope you guys find them interesting!

Year -0

I suppose I should start at the beginning and detail my experiences even getting started in the game industry. I know lots of people out there are students and enthusiasts who are still looking to get their foot in the door, so to speak.

I knew I wanted to be an artist at an early age. I remember writing and drawing my own comics and giving them to my friends in grade school. I had a dozen or so different comic book super heroes and another dozen villains I would circulate. Some of my favorites had names like Bullet Clip, Infinite, The Protectorate, and Blaster.

I remember a conversation with my dad when he asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up and I enthusiastically informed him that I would be pursuing a career in comic books as an illustrator! He warned me that that would be pretty difficult, but he was encouraging about it.

Then it happened. When I was 12 or 13 years old, Jurassic Park came out and I, like many others my age, was completely blown away! My mind was completely blown by the sheer amazement of what I was seeing on the screen and the unbelievable realism that these computer graphics were bringing to the table.

Afterward, with my limited means (no computer or internet), I searched for every scrap of info I could on how those dinosaurs came to be! I resolved then and there that I would switch my focus from comic book illustrations to computer graphics!

I knew what I wanted to be, but had no idea how to do it.