{"id":2499,"date":"2010-01-02T00:47:29","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T16:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2010-01-02T23:22:57","modified_gmt":"2010-01-02T15:22:57","slug":"2009-wrap-up-with-pictures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/2010\/01\/02\/2009-wrap-up-with-pictures\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 wrap-up (with pictures!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year was a pretty interesting year for me – and I didn’t really realise how substantial it was until I looked back on it…<\/p>\n

I quit my job<\/strong><\/p>\n

I resigned as Vice President (Australia) at Interzone Entertainment<\/a> way back in March. I’m glad that I left, because I can’t imagine who I would be if I had stayed – simply because I would have had a very different year in 2009.<\/p>\n

I started a non-profit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minh and I started Let’s Make Games<\/a> in order to support the local game development community. The organisation ran six social events<\/a>, conducted a local industry survey, produced a report<\/a> based on the survey, and setup a website with a blog<\/a> and links to local game developers.<\/p>\n

Here’s a picture showing how the blog header image and background changed over the year (going from “get something up” to “make it look professional”):<\/p>\n

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Thanks to Simon<\/a> for the original logo – it’s held up very well! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I became an exhibiting artist (once more!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I exhibited various artworks (photography, mixed media, digital prints) at two exhibitions: Snapshot<\/a> and Summer<\/a>. I always have plenty of ideas and motivation, but I probably wouldn’t have exhibited yet if Simon wasn’t so proactive in organising these events. Thanks Simon!<\/p>\n

Here I am in front of my “Rangers” piece from the Snapshot exhibition. This piece consisted of photos of my friends mounted inside ranger masks that I bought at a 100 yen store in Tokyo. I tried to match the expressions and personalities with the appropriate crazy names on the masks’ packaging (I was “Narcissistic Blue” and Simon was “Reliable Red”):<\/p>\n

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My other major piece for Snapshot was a wall of photos taken during my trip to Japan in 2008. The purpose of this work was to present an immediate concentrated impression of my visual experience of Japan. I was rather taken by all the different distinctive patterns in Japan – hence the prominent use of tightly cropped images:<\/p>\n

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For the Summer exhibition<\/a> (currently running – go check it out!<\/em>), I decided to go with something completely different. I guess that you could call them abstract graphic design. I wanted to know how far I could push one basic shape and a simple pattern, and I’m very happy with the results:<\/p>\n

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I’ve got a bunch of idea for exhibitions next year… I wonder if they will work out…<\/p>\n

I got married and went on an awesome honeymoon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heidi and I were married<\/a> in a traditional ceremony in Thailand and we honeymooned in Korea: in Seoul and Jeju<\/a> (also known as “Honeymoon Island”).<\/p>\n

We didn’t have many photos of the morning ceremony, but here’s a still image from a video taken by Heidi’s brother, Tony – the monks are winding the string that will be used to bind us at the Lustral ceremony later in the day:<\/p>\n

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I’ve already posted a few of these, but here’s a photo from after the wedding banquet. I’m giving Heidi a high-five while our friends jump in the air (these aspects combine to form an awesome photo!):<\/p>\n

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Following are images of just two of our discoveries in Korea. The first shows me enjoying a traditional dry sauna (aw yeah):<\/p>\n

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And the second shows Heidi in front of some super-cool miniature arcade machines (they were so cute!):<\/p>\n

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I kept a very small notebook and drew a sketch once or twice a day during the trip. When we returned I mounted the sketches in a frame… I’ll have to post a photo of it sometime.<\/p>\n

I got rid of a lot of stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moving around a lot helped provide a catalyst for this, but an underlying desire for minimalist elegance and an uncluttered life was the real driving force. (That and pragmatic consideration of how often I am going to actually use things).<\/p>\n

Here’s a photo of some of my games collection near its peak:<\/p>\n

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Probably not considered a “huge” collection, but it was big enough to feel like a burden (especially when considering all the hardware not pictured). They’re great games… but I don’t really play many games any more… and I hardly replay games.<\/p>\n

I had a few disappointments<\/strong><\/p>\n

I intended to release a second Let’s Make Games report (for the period April 2009 to September 2009), but it turned out to be a lot more work than I expected (maybe I was being naive, but part of it was also the standard that I wanted to achieve). So I decided to roll it into a general 2009 report, which I’ll post a survey for this month.<\/p>\n

I’ve undertaken a fair amount of independent game development, but it appears that I don’t have much to show for my efforts – aside from discarded or discontinued prototypes and a list of failed collaborations. I don’t feel a great amount of pressure to just get something out – I’d rather iterate on something until I feel that it’s ready for public release. That said, I feel that 2010 will be much more productive in terms of releases.<\/p>\n

I learnt a few lessons<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s very difficult to find the right people to work with (particularly when embarking on a risky venture with upfront costs and no cash-flow). You need to find others who are as passionate and willing (and able) to commit the required time and resources. Starting my own sustainable business is going to take a lot<\/em> of time, effort, good fortune (in finding the right people), and plain hard work in making it all come together.<\/p>\n

I’m looking forward to 2010!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall, 2009 marked a lot of transitions in my life: getting married; becoming closer to my family; working for myself rather than for someone else; giving up management for more artistic and technical work. I’ve got a better idea as to who I want to be and what I want to be doing – and I’m looking forward to getting a little closer to it in 2010. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year was a pretty interesting year for me – and I didn’t really realise how substantial it was until I looked back on it… I quit my job I resigned as Vice President (Australia) at Interzone Entertainment way back in March. I’m glad that I left, because I can’t imagine who I would be … Continue reading “2009 wrap-up (with pictures!)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paLsRH-Ej","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2588,"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions\/2588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nick.onetwenty.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}