JimmyWoo.net

On July 6, Ubisoft Entertainment, a world-leading publisher and developer in the lucrative videogames industry announced the establishment of a new development studio right here in my hometown of Toronto.  Presented at the Isabel Bader Theatre, which is interestingly right beside the residential dorm I stayed in during University (whoa!), this new studio will begin operations later this year and will produce more than 800 direct jobs over the course of the next 10 years.  Modeled after the Ubisoft Montreal studio, the Toronto studio will collaborate with Ubisoft Montreal on several AAA game projects.  Both studios will be overseen by current Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat.

In 1986, the five Guillemot brothers established Ubisoft Entertainment, headquartered in Paris, France.  It is now currently headed by President Yves Guillemot and operates internationally in over 28 countries worldwide, including China (Shanghai), Romania, and Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City).  Since its inception, Ubisoft has grown from small independent developer to one of the largest and most influential 3^rd party publisher and developer to date. 

When I was first introduced to Ubisoft, it was with their Rayman platforming game on the Nintendo 64.  Whenever I thought of Rayman I thought of Ubisoft, and vice versa.  Since then, I have seen Ubisoft grow as a game company with new franchises like Rainbow Six and other Tom Clancy games, as well as the Prince of Persia series and their recent flagship franchise Assassin’s Creed, further establishing their position as a key player in shaping the industry.

Some of my favourite games come from Ubisoft, such as Prince of Persia, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and the Assassin’s Creed series.  It has been a long-time dream of mine to work for Ubisoft in Montreal where most of my favourite games were developed, which is why the announcement of a Toronto studio is very exciting news!  I am a huge fan of not just their games, but I also strongly believe in their game design philosophy, their dedication to creating entertaining experiences, their sincere interest in listening to gamers and taking their feedback to make improvements and their new convergence strategy between the movie and gaming businesses. 

As a game developer, Ubisoft is a company that I personally share many of the same perspectives, philosophies and values.  Ubisoft has a diverse and multi-cultural workforce, a great open-floor work environment that fosters teamwork and communication, and an open-minded approach where every employee is treated as an equal contributor of ideas and creativity towards a game’s design.  Ubisoft also recognizes the importance of innovation and providing refreshing and diverse experiences for the gamer, as well as providing their employees with a great sense of a work / life balance.  It would be a great honor to be able to work with Ubisoft in creating great entertainment in a rapidly growing industry.  Ubisoft Toronto, give me a few years and we’ll talk!

I was just reading an article on IGN and it is quite interesting.  You may or may not have heard about this type of idea, though if you follow up on what Steam does, you are probably familiar with it.  This article talks about how game developers extract explicit details on how you play your games: 

http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/100/1000380p1.html

Personally, I think it’s a great opportunity for developers to get very detailed feedback on their games, more explicit than is otherwise attainable, and one that is much quicker to obtain.  However, I also think that it is uncomfortable knowing that privacy is invaded (not unlike spyware).  Seeing how the industry is becoming more and more business-oriented than art-oriented, I wouldn’t be surprised if this “Networked” system becomes a standard business practice.  Any thoughts on the matter?

In the upcoming weeks, I will discuss my impressions and evaluation of becoming an upstart independent iPhone developer and the greatness as well as the issues that come with it.  First, an introduction to the topic.

Ever since Apple released the very first iPhone back in June 2007, there has been a tremendous amount of excitement and enthusiasm in what is currently one of the hottest consumer electronic of this decade.  Now on the verge of the new iPhone 3G S, available June 19, the iPhone is clearly much more than simply a popular smart phone or consumer toy. 

The iPhone is really a platform, not all that different from the type of platforms we all know as Windows or Mac OS X, which is home to a vast library of applications and software.  In fact, the iPhone utilizes a scaled-down version of Apple’s OS X.  It’s clearly apparent that developing applications (including games) for the iPhone is not just a fad.  It is paving the way to opportunities and growth in what designers call convergence and interconnectivity.

iPhone 3G S, image courtesy of www.apple.com

The iPhone SDK is available (get the SDK here) to independent developers for a mere one-time fee of $99.  The iPhone’s native programming language is the same as with OS X, namely Objective-C ( 2.0, as of 2007).  Objective-C isn’t new - it has been around since the early 1980s, being based off of the SmallTalk-80 language, and is layered on top of the C language (extensions were added) to allow for an object-oriented approach.

To develop iPhone and iPod Touch apps, you will need to work with a development framework called Cocoa Touch, as well as development tools like Xcode.  The iPhone SDK comes with an iPhone emulator, so you do not necessarily need an iPhone to test your software (the SDK 3.0 requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or later).

As a proud iPhone 3G owner for the past 6 months, I am currently learning (self-teaching) Objective-C and the iPhone SDK.  As mentioned in previous posts, I would like to release apps on the iPhone, which includes but is not limited to games.  If you are interested in iPhone development, or would like to discuss about future collaborations, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  I am currently using the following books:

Programming in Objective-C 2.0, by Stephen Kochan.  (2009)

Beginning iPhone 3 development: Exploring the iPhone SDK, by Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche.  (2009)

People have told me that a dream career is one where you get to do your hobby as your career.  So what if some of my favourite hobbies involve videogames?  Does that mean I should pursue my passion for gaming as a career?  Or is it merely a hobby?  Where does a person draw the line between favourite hobby and dream career?

From my understanding of myself, I am enthusiastic about computer graphics, storytelling in movies, visual art and design, listening and playing music, and of course playing videogames.  After many years of enjoying each separately and individually, I’ve come to realize that all these exciting elements can be found in a single career path.

With a strong background in software engineering, the broad range of career choices makes choosing a career path both exciting and daunting.  This certainly means I have the capacity to do videogame programming and development.  In addition, my understanding of the industry and the games produced provide me with a good sense of videogame design.   Now, the question is this:  will someone who has a passion for playing games and has relevant software development skills enjoy making videogames as much as playing them?

It’s a question I’ve been pondering on throughout university.  Knowing many friends who are passionate about playing and making games definitely provides great moral support in believing that this career path is not just a solo experience or a path that is highly-exclusive.  Videogames are very complex software and to attain high quality and entertaining games, just as with any software, requires a team of talented and skilled people to make that magic happen.  This is why teamwork experience and skills are so crucial in the industry.

With that in mind, this leads us to the essence of this discussion.   As a recent university graduate, it is time to open up and to reach out.  It is time to achieve something grand and ambitious and to combine all the different elements that I enjoy into a career.  It is time to launch an exciting new path, live the dream, and make it a reality.   Challenges will be faced but it will be faced with positive energy, a can-do attitude, integrity and confidence through extensive hands-on experience.  Independent game developers, I salute you.

I’m planning to make various projects in XNA game studios, UnrealEd, and hopefully projects with the iPhone SDK, which I need to look into further.  Along with potentially other projects or digital artwork, I would like to host these items under a development umbrella, Surreality Studios (coming soon, but the name might change).  The site will start off focusing on Xbox360 community games.  I’m also hoping to find some extra help to allow for larger scale projects, though for now it will be a solo endeavour.

Can one man really do great design, art, sound, programming and testing?  I’m going to find out soon enough.