Is it nap time yet?

Well nothing much has really changed since my last post about 4 months ago. I have been super insanely busy here at work. As it stands right now, it won't be much before 10 that I will walk out the door. Then again that has been the norm for the past 4 weeks.

In the beginning of October I celebrated my 2 year anniversary with the most amazing person in this world. She rocks my world big time. I am so happy that we are together, let alone have been putting up with each other for 2 years. We took a long weekend and went up to San Simeon to go to Hearst Castle, which was amazing. It was such a relaxing weekend that we both desperately needed.

Other than that, over the past month there has been a lot of pressure on us to get our PVE missions into our game. This push was suppose to last 3 weeks, it is now week 4 since we have been here slaving. And I really do truly mean slaving. My day starts around 9:30 and I don't leave the office till 10:30 - 11:00. Sounds like fun, right?

Hopefully this will make more and more people play our game and hopefully all fall in love with it and give us buckets of money. Speaking of which do you have a bucket of money?

With all of that going on, there is school ontop of that. I am taking a programming class right now that wraps up tomorrow, hopefully I will do good on the final...

Other than that there is nothing too much to report. I did get a new car, and if you want to see pics, they're on my facebook. There are also a lot of pictures from Hearst Castle up there as well.

Hopefully that if you are reading this all is well and that everything is good for each and everyone of you.

Play Freaky Creatures for Free.

Well back to work so I can leave at some point today.

--Matt

That time of year again...

So I sit here at my desk on the eve of that one day that you grow older. I am thinking back to what a wonderful year that I have had and can't wait to start the new one. Well I can't wait to start it as long as I don't need to keep increasing that ever so important number.

It has been awhile since I have posted...I know it has, but I have been busy pretty much every minute since then. The past few weeks have been so enjoyable, yet quite busy.

Lets see. First there was going to see Dirty Dancing the Musical with the girl of my dreams, followed by a family reunion in St. Louis, then two J.R. Richard (the lead singer of Dishwalla and my new pee buddy) concerts and this weekend I am attending a wedding, then finally a trip to Vegas.

Sounds a little busy, huh? Well everything has been enjoyable as I mentioned. I have definitely grown closer with my girlfriend. I am happy and can't wait to see what the future has in store. There have been some really good laughs over the past weeks, but I know that we have gotten that much closer. She really makes me happy and I can't wait to see her beautiful smile again.

So work has been pretty much the same. I have been a little stressed but that is okay. I actually got pretty frustrated the other day (well technically it was night, 10:30 pm is night, right?) and wanted to walk away, but I thought about it and decided that I could use it for my benefit. I actually stepped up into another role to help out, since my frustration guided me and made me think of all possible outcomes. So now with everything else that I am working on I am now officially managing another team. Which has already been great. I say great since I have been getting compliments over what I have already done. Hopefully things will work out...

Other than that I really don't have much to report. The next time you guys hear from me I will be another year older...

--Matt

Blah

Well it is that time for an update. Actually I was going to post something up a few days ago, but wasn't in the creative state to blow everyone's mind with what has been going on.

Even though Freaky Creatures has shipped, it doesn't feel like it. It has been amazing experience, however the late nights are still upon us. I thought it would have backed down a little bit, but that hasn't been the case.

So as you can see that I have been very busy with work, and will continue to be for quite some time. I hope that it lightens up a little, but at this moment in time it doesn't appear to be that way.

So what have I been up to? Really, that is a great question. Lets see if you are a subscribing user of Freaky Creatures and want to take it on the go (on your phone), well then you will be getting a small side project that I finished. I am happy about the outcome, we had an amazing developer and got everything done in record time. Other than that, we are now at Six Flags parks. If you are wanting to go to Six Flags anytime soon, please do and check out everything Freaky Creatures.

I was responsible for getting the texting program up and running, so when you see the signs that say text and win...well that is all me. So enjoy and have some fun.

Other than that there isn't much to report. I am finishing up my current class, so that is exciting.

I still have the most amazingly awesome girlfriend. She is the one person that helps me get through my day. Thinking about her brings a huge smile to my face. I could not be any happier.

Well that is all for now, hopefully everyone is doing good and staying out of trouble.

--Matt

Freaky?

Want to check out Freaky Creatures? Goto this link for a free 30 day trial:
http://freakycreatures.com/Promo/Default.aspx?PROMO=CPM103

Vacation

I knew that today would come. It would be the one day that I have been looking forward to for the past 3 years. It is today of all days that the one game that I have been slaving over has been released. I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be saying this. Everyone that knows me knows how much blood, sweat and tears have been poured into this project.

I wish I could say that things were easy, but they were not even close. We somehow managed to work with what we got and somehow are sitting back enjoying the ride that we just took on. It is something so amazing to be walking around with the pressure of the past few years off your back. The past month has been very tough, but in the end it appears that everything has worked out for the best.

I just need to take a vacation now. The past week I have done some serious hours and can't believe that I was here till 3:00 this morning only to come back into the office at 10.

This rush has always been the one thing that I enjoy most about working on games. It is the point where you can just sit back enjoy the ride, and see how many millions of copies your game will sell. Now it is time for the next project and the next one after that, but they won't be as difficult or as stressful as this one.

You can feel all of the pressure that has been built up by this game especially over the final weeks of the project. Now you can walk around and see everyone joking and having a smile on their face.

Get your freak on!
Buy me, buy me!

Well got to work on stuff for the next project...

--Matt

But that's the name of the game

The past few weeks have been really tough for me. Not only mentally but also physically.

It started when I was asked to go to New York for work and try to get people interested in our game at the Toy Fair. There were some issues with this, first off...it was going to be over the weekend of Valentines day, and second I would have to miss a class.

Well I am so grateful to have such an amazing person that cares for me and understands that I will not be around on the most romantic day of the year. Not only that but there is some other special things that happened...more on that in a bit.

I was excited and very nervous for this great adventure...and believe me it was an adventure. Sometime in between my boss asking me if I could go and the day before I left, I was the person pretty much running the show. I had all of the equipment on it's way, I talked with the people that we were renting equipment from, everything was planned out. There were a couple of people that were local that were trying to help me out as well, but pretty much it was all me. Not like I needed all that extra stress, but anyways it is par for the course.

When I arrived in New York, mind you it was my first time and everything was new, I was expecting of walking around and checking out the lights and people. However this radically changed once I arrived. Upon checking into my hotel I had 3 packages waiting for me. Two were computers that had to be setup for the show, which is another terrific story in itself. Mind you that I left on Friday and the show started on Sunday. Saturday was the setup day, and to make matters even better the company decided that it would be an ideal time to release a new patch for the game. Well that was the highlight of my Saturday. If you ever wonder what causes people to lose it I will tell you. I had to watch a loading bar for 9.5 hours, on 3 different computers. Sounds like fun, right?

I think the show was a success. There were a lot of interesting people that I got to talk to and even more people that were interested in the game. This was the amazing part. Actually there were some things that I was not expecting at all, first was an interview. It was my first interview ever...so I had that going for me.

Oh, and I forgot to mention how wonderful that certain somebody special is. Since I was out of town, she sent me flowers and a couple of stuff animals. Talk about amazing. Even though I was thousands of miles away it felt like she was right there with me.

As the show was wrapping up, and I was slowly regaining composure, I had to leave New York. You might ask yourself what it was like. Well it was crowded and cold. Let's leave it at that. I wasn't able to walk around and look at anything, instead the hours that I wasn't working the floor (sounds kindof dirty, but whatever) I was resting in my room.

After I got back into town it was the rush of school. I had my final the next week. Being how organized I am and how well I plan ahead I had to take a day off from work to work just on school stuff. I started at 9 in the morning and finished right at 6. I am happy to report that it appears that it paid off. I ended up surprising myself on how well I did in the class and happy with the outcome. Though I must say it was the hardest class that I have ever taken.

So with school out of the way what else could happen right? Well guess what? This past weekend I was hoping to relax as much as possible, catch up on some sleep and what not. However I had to work all weekend, 13 hour days. Sounds like fun right? How about especially having only 10 hours of sleep over the weekend, that sounds like fun right?

It has been stressful and there has been a lot of work poured into this project. I hope that it will all payoff in the end. It appears that it is working out nicely and so far I am pretty happy with the results of what I have been working on. How else to I feel? Well tired. Very tired.

How do I make it through my day? Well I have that close someone that I get to talk to and think about. Just thinking about her gets me through. I am so very lucky to have such a wonderful person who is so amazing. I can't tell you how lucky I am...but I am so very happy. Let's put it this way, how cool is it landing and getting off the plane from New York and seeing your name on a sign with the girl of your dreams standing behind it? Really how much better can life get?

Take care, and look for Freaky Creatures on March 24th. I know I will be. Also if you want to check it out...you can find the counter and sign up for our open Beta on www.freakycreaturesbeta.com. Just a note, please look at the headline for day 24...

--Matt

Lay offs, lay offs, lay offs

Do you ever sit back and think about your past and it brings a smile to your eyes about what you have learned in the present? Well that happened to me today. I found out that the one company that I worked for laid off the entire division that I was working in. It was there where I learned so very much and where I got to grow with the company.

It was also when they decided to do some lay offs and shut down the division 3 years ago. I can't believe that the hired and ramped up then just to lay off everyone again. It is an honor to think that I am some where else now and that things are so much better. I think I am growing more quickly now and have some more "hands on" training. I am always worried to hear about lay offs, but this sort of made me smile, though I am sorry to everyone that was apart of that.

Better luck next time, better luck.

--Matt

Hope

Have you ever ran into that feeling that there is just so much work to do that you don't know what to do about it? Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you don't know what do?

Well as we approach our release date on this side, it is becoming a reality. A reality that there is just so much work to be done. I don't know where to begin, though I know that there is an end in sight. There is just so many tasks that keep piling on I just don't know how to ever get through them all. Don't get me wrong, I love being here and I love what I do, but there is a point where enough is enough.

It seems like every day there is something new that gets added to my plate. There isn't anything that gets removed. I guess that is a good thing that people believe in what I can do and what can get finished. I just don't know how to tackle some things.

I have been working with teams from all over the world on this project (Canada, Germany, Poland, UK, Belgium). It feels good to make other contacts and see how different people live their lives. I am honored to work with these people and can't wait to talk to them again or work with them again.

Maybe it is just the endless stress that is making me feel this way, maybe it is what I ate for lunch, but I know that I can make it through. I don't think I have ever worked so hard in my life, but to tell you the truth it feels good. I am glad to have so many people that are close to me and work well together. I am honored by everything that I have. I am blessed to have a girlfriend that cares for me and makes me very happy.

The past 3 years working on this game have been awesome. There have been some really good things to come out of this project. I can't say more positive things, though I just feel like there is a ton of bricks lying on my chest and I don't know how to remove them. As we get closer I am hoping that a majority of these bricks will be removed and that I can start working on my own project. My own very own project. It will be awesome. If you don't believe me wait until October to see.

--Matt

Website Tester

We are currently looking for a website tester here at the office. If anyone is interested please let me know. There is a requirement for some sort of experience for website testing. It's a full time position with full health benefits as well.

--Matt