Thursday, October 24, 2013
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Another day during this visit to Seattle!
Today my travel comrade Christian and I set out to visit a Game development company or two. Arenanet and Valve Corporation were our targets.
After a reasonable morning's start at 8ish we went to the "City" which is a Target store with the name "City" and I got some more socks because I failed to pack enough, as well as some water for the day's trip. Christian got himself some Starbucks in the City's attached cafe. We departed to Pioneer Square Transportation Station or something like that (actually Transit Center) and hopped on a bus to the Bellevue area of Washington.
On the bus ride to Bellevue I sat next to a young gent whom I found out worked for Microsoft. He said he could tell me when to get off of the bus at the prime location for us to begin the next part of our trip of finding our targets. It turns out the bus took us closer to Valve rather than Arenanet which was our original destination, so we changed our primary destination to Valve upon learning this. I chatted with the guy about Seattle and his sleek new Microsoft phone and we ended up passing the best spot to depart from the bus... We got the next best spot, so no big deal. The gent and our party split ways and we began searching for Valve.
Despite our expectations which were vague to begin with, we saw no clear signs signifying we were close to Valve Corporation's headquarters. The map and GPS functions on my phone said we were at the location, but no sign anywhere said the same. We finally decided to go into the building marked on the map and go to the 5th floor because Google Maps said Valve was at #500 in the designated building.
To our surprise and elation, the doors opened up to a sleek dark gray wall with a bright orange Valve sign painted on the wall between two other elevator doors...Looking back at the picture I took, I am pretty wrong. There was a Bold 5 on the wall with an orange line below it extending to the right. At the end of the orange line there was an orange 5. Below the orange 5, there was a black 4, and above the orange 5 was 6-9 in ascending order. Below the Orange line was a small "Valve" painted in black in its signature stylization.
Looking left we could see magazines organized on the wall about Valve and their games with well lit, shining Game awards of various shapes and sizes on the opposite wall.
To the right, on a glass wall, A big ol' metal sign with "Valve" cut out of it with little symbols of various games cut out of the metal as well. A waiting room was before this wall with bright red chairs- one with a stuffed Cthulu on it, surrounding a nice wooden coffee table with some Valve related material and updated game magazines.
To the left of this lounge area was a setup for two women sitting behind some very sizable monitors. Among the first words said included my mention of my status of a tourist.
scheduled a tour with Valve at 3:30pm
took a bus to the arenanet area
went to arenanet about a block away
took a pic in the lobby and kicked out because there was a development meeting ocurring and they had a glass wall
got on a bus to go back to the Valve area.
Sat next to a girl with a big ol' portfolio case. talked a bit
realized we were going way south instead of north. went to Renton
Went back up to Bellevue
had some chipotle. very slow service. Didn't have lemonade </3 got coke instead
walked to Bellevue Art Museum (BAM) got this cubebot or something
walked back to Valve had the tour with 3 other people
a guy and a girl happened to be going back to our hotel as well. Took bus with them back to the Seattle area and walked to the hotel. Parted ways after the elevator ride. Tried to find them after to invite them to sushi, but couldnt find them
started Tumblr-ing
looked into the LA Gamespace Kickstarter.. It succeeded with 3 days left!
started writing this stuff up as part of my log of things done today. Should be
Today my travel comrade Christian and I set out to visit a Game development company or two. Arenanet and Valve Corporation were our targets.
After a reasonable morning's start at 8ish we went to the "City" which is a Target store with the name "City" and I got some more socks because I failed to pack enough, as well as some water for the day's trip. Christian got himself some Starbucks in the City's attached cafe. We departed to Pioneer Square Transportation Station or something like that (actually Transit Center) and hopped on a bus to the Bellevue area of Washington.
On the bus ride to Bellevue I sat next to a young gent whom I found out worked for Microsoft. He said he could tell me when to get off of the bus at the prime location for us to begin the next part of our trip of finding our targets. It turns out the bus took us closer to Valve rather than Arenanet which was our original destination, so we changed our primary destination to Valve upon learning this. I chatted with the guy about Seattle and his sleek new Microsoft phone and we ended up passing the best spot to depart from the bus... We got the next best spot, so no big deal. The gent and our party split ways and we began searching for Valve.
Despite our expectations which were vague to begin with, we saw no clear signs signifying we were close to Valve Corporation's headquarters. The map and GPS functions on my phone said we were at the location, but no sign anywhere said the same. We finally decided to go into the building marked on the map and go to the 5th floor because Google Maps said Valve was at #500 in the designated building.
To our surprise and elation, the doors opened up to a sleek dark gray wall with a bright orange Valve sign painted on the wall between two other elevator doors...Looking back at the picture I took, I am pretty wrong. There was a Bold 5 on the wall with an orange line below it extending to the right. At the end of the orange line there was an orange 5. Below the orange 5, there was a black 4, and above the orange 5 was 6-9 in ascending order. Below the Orange line was a small "Valve" painted in black in its signature stylization.
Looking left we could see magazines organized on the wall about Valve and their games with well lit, shining Game awards of various shapes and sizes on the opposite wall.
To the right, on a glass wall, A big ol' metal sign with "Valve" cut out of it with little symbols of various games cut out of the metal as well. A waiting room was before this wall with bright red chairs- one with a stuffed Cthulu on it, surrounding a nice wooden coffee table with some Valve related material and updated game magazines.
To the left of this lounge area was a setup for two women sitting behind some very sizable monitors. Among the first words said included my mention of my status of a tourist.
scheduled a tour with Valve at 3:30pm
took a bus to the arenanet area
went to arenanet about a block away
took a pic in the lobby and kicked out because there was a development meeting ocurring and they had a glass wall
got on a bus to go back to the Valve area.
Sat next to a girl with a big ol' portfolio case. talked a bit
realized we were going way south instead of north. went to Renton
Went back up to Bellevue
had some chipotle. very slow service. Didn't have lemonade </3 got coke instead
walked to Bellevue Art Museum (BAM) got this cubebot or something
walked back to Valve had the tour with 3 other people
a guy and a girl happened to be going back to our hotel as well. Took bus with them back to the Seattle area and walked to the hotel. Parted ways after the elevator ride. Tried to find them after to invite them to sushi, but couldnt find them
started Tumblr-ing
looked into the LA Gamespace Kickstarter.. It succeeded with 3 days left!
started writing this stuff up as part of my log of things done today. Should be
So now today is Thursday
Yesterday Chris and I got back from Seattle with no hassle whatsoever. P nice.
Started the day with packing our stuff.
Left our leftover tickets and coupons at the desk for future tourists. Didnt make it to the Zoo and weren't that interested in taking the harbor tour.
Went down to Pike Place to get some Piroshki Piroshki... I got a Beef and Onion one with a flaky Croissant-like shell, and Chris got the Salmon one that he chose not to get on the first trip. Neither of us regretted it.
Got to see a better portion of the original Starbucks store because there was only ~4 other customers there. Got some Macaroons from Le Paniere(sp) I got Hazelnut, Chocolate, and Vanilla one. Vanilla was the best~ Chocolate was more fudgey than I expected, but it was nice. Hazelnut was w/e
Went to another starbucks and hung out for a bit while chris started fitting the macaroons into the lil bento he bought the other night
went to the transit station after that
got on the train, talked to some girl who lived in Seattle and was visiting her family down in SoCal. Made the trip go by quickly.
Got to check our bags for free AND board the plane early due to a pretty crowded flight. Chris and I got to have a row of 3 seats with the middle seat empty!
Sid picked us up from the Sacramento airport promptly and we went home. I opened the slew of stuff I ordered during Black Friday that arrived while I was in Seattle.
Kinect, ps3 controller, some games, ps3 controller keypad... new 360
Gave chris his order of GW2. Sid took chris home while i went to the bathroom
Played a bit of Planetside 2 and LoL. The league games were terrible. The UI and Items have changed, which is whatever, but I was getting bopped way too often.
Started reading this article today: http://www.boingboing.net/features/morerock.html
Yesterday Chris and I got back from Seattle with no hassle whatsoever. P nice.
Started the day with packing our stuff.
Left our leftover tickets and coupons at the desk for future tourists. Didnt make it to the Zoo and weren't that interested in taking the harbor tour.
Went down to Pike Place to get some Piroshki Piroshki... I got a Beef and Onion one with a flaky Croissant-like shell, and Chris got the Salmon one that he chose not to get on the first trip. Neither of us regretted it.
Got to see a better portion of the original Starbucks store because there was only ~4 other customers there. Got some Macaroons from Le Paniere(sp) I got Hazelnut, Chocolate, and Vanilla one. Vanilla was the best~ Chocolate was more fudgey than I expected, but it was nice. Hazelnut was w/e
Went to another starbucks and hung out for a bit while chris started fitting the macaroons into the lil bento he bought the other night
went to the transit station after that
got on the train, talked to some girl who lived in Seattle and was visiting her family down in SoCal. Made the trip go by quickly.
Got to check our bags for free AND board the plane early due to a pretty crowded flight. Chris and I got to have a row of 3 seats with the middle seat empty!
Sid picked us up from the Sacramento airport promptly and we went home. I opened the slew of stuff I ordered during Black Friday that arrived while I was in Seattle.
Kinect, ps3 controller, some games, ps3 controller keypad... new 360
Gave chris his order of GW2. Sid took chris home while i went to the bathroom
Played a bit of Planetside 2 and LoL. The league games were terrible. The UI and Items have changed, which is whatever, but I was getting bopped way too often.
Started reading this article today: http://www.boingboing.net/features/morerock.html
Sunday, June 19, 2011
A Bug SRPG idea.
Bug Fights. not really my thing. The battles seem a lil inhumane to me - especially when the one i'm rooting for loses.
Pokemon was based on a guy's former love of collecting bugs. So I started thinking about a game that would be more about bugs. Medabots is close, but I didnt want to copy that. At first The idea was to base a game on robotic bugs which is kinna different, but as i kept thinking about the battles playing out, I kept imagining real bugs doing fantastical things. So an SRPG using bugs with powers. Disgaea with bugs? FFTA with bugs? I haven't started thinking about turn order or various other mechanics; I just started thinking about the basic types of bugs that could be incorporated and the plot. This is a game I don't think will ever be made, so I don't mind posting about it.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Need a Light?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Bejeweled Battle Ideas!
here are some ideas i thought about on the walk home from a friend's house
I've been trying to get more ideas for the longest! and they finally came to me while walking home. Feels good man
I've been trying to get more ideas for the longest! and they finally came to me while walking home. Feels good man
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Another idea another old game.
I was thinking about how I wanted to hang out with my brother some more and get to know him a little better. Sure we lived in the same home for 18ish years, but during our middle school and high school years he was out doing band things and i was out with my friends. So we didn't really get a lot of time together for those years. At least that's how I see it now, maybe it wasn't like that at all. Either way, a handful of thoughts later, I thought it'd be nice to play catch and just talk. Maybe this isn't how the idea came about at all. But I want this game to exist:
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