Your friends die. You die. The planet dies. You don’t exactly ‘win the game’ at the end of Halo: Reach’s single-player campaign.
Watching the latest Star Wars film, Rogue One, I was struck by the similarity of its finale to that of Reach1. In Rogue One (spoilers, by the way), the heroes’ self-sacrifice allows Princess Leia to escape with the plans for the Death Star – the film ends almost immediately before A New Hope begins. In Reach, the heroes’ self-sacrifice allows the Pillar of Autumn to escape, with Cortana and the Master Chief aboard, and therefore find the first Halo ring. The last lines of Reach’s script are the first of Halo: Combat Evolved:
Captain Keyes: Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them?
Cortana: I think we both know the answer to that.
Stories which deploy this conceit have to be prequels – at least, I can’t think of any examples which aren’t – because the only way you can get away with such a bleak ending is if the audience knows how it all works out okay in the end.
I was recently in San Francisco for five-ish days to attend Game Developer’s Conference. It was my first time in an American city – previous trips to the US have taken me only to skiing resorts. We spent most of our time in and around the conference, and only really had time for a bit of proper sightseeing on Saturday.
It’s a nice place, but very different to what I’m used to. In Scotland we barely have any tall buildings, so when I’m surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers I felt a little bit like I was going to fall into the sky, which is the most country-bumpkin thing about myself I’ve ever admitted (on this blog).
Game Developers Conference is an annual gathering of people involved in the game industry from all over the world. It takes place in and around the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, California. I’ve always wanted to go, but it’s expensive to get out there and get accommodation and very expensive for the kind of pass that gets you into lots of interesting talks and events, which is one of the main reasons to go.
Very luckily, and to my great surprise, this year I got to go for free (for reasons I’ll explain). I was in San Francisco from Tuesday 28th February until Sunday 5th March and have spent most of my free time since I got back recovering. Here are some words about my trip.
The theme was ‘Waves’. I teamed up with Dziek Dyes Bolt, Callum Fowlie (two members of last year’s team) and Natalie Clayton to make ‘Si the Wave, Be the Wave’, a competitive local multiplayer game in which two players, each controlling a crowd of characters, must race to complete Mexican waves. You can check it out and download it on the Global Game Jam website (Windows only). The final version is a bit broken. If you’re feeling brave, the predictably turgid source code is available on GitHub.
The jam went a bit differently for me this time around. Unlike last year we actually had our mechanic working before the end of Saturday, rather than on Sunday morning, so we had time to rethink our idea and iterate upon it. However, we didn’t quite have enough work for everyone to do, and we had the usual difficulties one has when one tries to make a 2D game in Unity. I’m not quite as pleased with our game this time around – I think last year’s concept was very strong in comparison – but I still had a valuable experience trying new things and getting to write messy code, something that is quite refreshing after 5 months of programming as a day job.
The atmosphere at Abertay was fantastic once again, with the organisers (some of the lecturers from Arts, Media and Games) successfully creating a positive, healthy atmosphere. There’s always a lot of talk about staying up for the whole length of the jam and eating lots of junk food (the keynote video this time around even encouraged it) and I think it’s important to reject that attitude. It doesn’t lead to better games or developers. They also put emphasis on the process and not the product, which is how it should be.
2016 was a pretty positive year for me, even though the world at large seemed determined to produce bad news. Here’s some of the big things that happened in my life this year.
I finished university
I may have graduated in November, but I was done with my time at Abertay after handing in my final project at the end of June. This was about two months after everyone else had handed in theirs. Final year is pretty hard at the best of times, and recovering from a bereavement certainly doesn’t help. At a few points I was ready to give up, but fortunately the staff at Abertay understood and allowed me to delay the final deadline so that I could focus on other stuff, like the maths exam. It simply would not have worked out any other way – I was pushing myself to the breaking point trying to do everything at once.
I made it, and I’m glad I did. The graduation ceremony, while being nothing more than a ceremony, turned out to be a nice way to bookend my time at Abertay. I’m very grateful to my teachers and the other staff, such as the university counsellors, who helped me get there.
I got a job
During my final push to complete university I continued applying to jobs as I had been throughout the year. This was quite depressing, with most applications ignored completely by overburdened hiring departments, but when all of your friends are going through the same process there’s an air of solidarity that helps to keep you going.
Eventually I applied for a junior programming role at Rockstar North, not expecting much, but found myself being offered a job less than a month later. I have not stopped feeling surprised.
I started in August and my first few months have been great. I am very lucky.
I moved back to Edinburgh
It has been very sad to leave Dundee behind. At points I’ve felt very homesick for it. I don’t expect the feeling to go away, but I’m feeling more settled in Edinburgh now that I’ve moved into a flat on the other side of town.
Living at my mum’s for three months was alright – she and I get along pretty well – but I’m glad to have ‘escaped’. There was something uncomfortable about going to work along the same route I used to take to school, or sleeping in the same bed seven year-old me used to sleep in. Now I have my own place in a different part of town and I have something like the feeling of independence I had while I was in Dundee.
My friends were awesome
And I am certain they will continue to be awesome!
It sounds a bit sappy, but it’s true. They have picked me up and put me back on my feet when I’ve been down and brought me many laughs and smiles. They all deserve the very best for 2017.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of my friends. If not, maybe you will be one day. Either way: you rock, and I wish you a happy new year!
