Random title. Anyway, here is something to help with that drowsiness. It will scare you right back into alertness.

Be very afraid. he does the voice of the funktipuss on GTA3 San Andreas’s BounceFM radio station.

Why does he remind me of this thing?

Setting up this blog, aptly named “the blurgh” (copypasta from Thinkgeek), was a milestone. In8600 and I have been putting it off for weeks. We’re both professional procrastinators. The way things usually work out, I babysit him, and he babysits me. I keep him out of trouble, and he keeps me out of trouble. This has a downside- If we are both uninspired to get something done, we tend to keep each other’s lack of inspiration in mind, essentially feeding off of each other’s habit of procrastination.

That aside, we are both relieved to have this blog up, and to have a decent post on it. The goal of the blurgh is to broaden the range of content and widen the audience for the Tricky’s Tutorials Network (TTN- it has a nice ring). To be honest, according to Alexa© the Web Information Company™ (the addition of the trademark and copyright symbols had the full intention of being satirical), our reach is down by 47% from 3 months ago, as of right now.

You might now be wondering why our traffic is down by nearly half. The answer is simple: Needs moar mudkipz. So, what does this mean for us? We’re putting overtime to attract new members by adding new content, new features, and moar mudkipz. Meanwhile, we need help from the community. We need writers for the blurgh, we need donations in order to purchase a new $4000(US) game server that will host 3 Garry’s Mod servers and one CS:S server. $4000 is a lot of money. That’s 20 months of our current ad income. In8600 is paying for a lot of it out of pocket, I’m paying for a lot of it out of pocket, I’m working very hard on various moneymaking schemes, including talking in8600 out of partaking in various illegal pyramid schemes. So, to sumarize, HALP!

Diggin’ the article? Digg it!

Sneak preview of next post: Aberneth spent 5 hours at an antique engine convention acquiring 1.4 gb of video and images for your enjoyment.

Digg this!

This interview with Joel Burgess took place months ago, but has until now been hidden in a back corner. Now, for the first time, you can learn about the life a true gamer and a true nerd, a man “In the Industry”, Bethsoft’s Joel Burgess. This interview explores the subjects of his work, homelife, and even fallout 3, for which he is the lead designer, but mostly Oblivion. At the time, he wouldn’t go into any detail regarding fallout 3.

1.
What kind of hardware does your work computer have? What are the specs?
Pentium 4, 3.4GHz, 2GB RAM, Radeon X850.

2.
Do you still play oblivion?
From time to time, usually on 360 so my wife can easily watch and be part of the experience. My corgi, too. I think he hates high elves.

3.
Do you use any mods?
I usually load up mods selectively - just to check them out - since I’m not playing TESIV habitually right now. I’ve got a small list of mods that I’d like to load up for that time when I eventually expect to dive back into the game with a devoted character, but that mythical playthrough is on the backburner for the forseeable future.

4.
How do you think that the modding community has affected the elder scrolls world (other than creating mods)?
A strong community keeps any game going well beyond when the final content ships, obviously. That’s been a tremendous boon to keeping hungry TES fans fed, and interested in the world. I think it’s also good for us culturally, because it raises your standards for the games we make - which in turn keeps our standards very high for ourselves. Whether challenging and exploring the lore of the Elder Scrolls, or creating mods that have us scratching our heads wondering “How did they manage that?”, the mod community brings a lot to the table. It’s even helped us find a couple of our strongest coders, actually.

5.
What is your favorite type of character to play in oblivion?
I tend to follow the thief archetype, ever since Daggerfall. Supporting schools of magic, relevant combat skills; of course, but when it comes down to it I’m the sort of player that will take and hoarde anything I can find that isn’t bolted down. Likewise, I tend to favor non-violent - or at least non-lethal - solutions to problems whenever possible. I’m not evil - just greedy.

6.
Do you ever make mods?
I’ve dabbled with the editors from many games, but the only mod community I was actively involved in was Unreal Tournament’s. I did some mapping, reviewed mods for a site, and was part of the team behind Titanium Wars. So while I made a house mod or two for Morrowind, as well as numerous maps for other games, I kept those to myself. Now that I’m employed at Bethesda, most of my work ends up in a finished product, or influences some future idea - so I don’t release anything indepenently.

7.
What is your favorite part of Oblivion?
Wandering. The scale of the world still awes me. Sure, if feels smaller than other games - Daggerfall, Arcanum, for instance, but the scale:detail ratio in Oblivion is really strong, and it amazes me that I can still spend time in the base game and find some little wrinkle I never knew was there before - despite hundreds of hours playing the game before and after release.

8.
Any ideas about the future of elderscrolls?
Tons.

9.
What other jobs have you had in the past?
I was a level designer at Terminal Reality, where I worked on Bloodrayne 2, Aeon Flux, and briefly on the unreleased Demonik. Before that I worked for an online game startup that ultimately fizzled, and on a location-based educational game for the University of Central Florida that was exhibited at the Orlando Science Center.

10.
Does fallout 3 use a similar editor to tescs?
Yes, we’re using a new version of the CS that is similar to the one for Oblivion. There are a lot of new systems and tools like pathing, scripting, and optimization. We may or may not release mod tools for Fallout 3. We’d like to, but it’s a lot of work to get an editor ready for release and right now we have our full resources focused on making the game.

11.
If I were to wander around the oblivion gameworld, what would I see of your work? (specific areas)
I came onto Oblivion fairly late in the production cycle, but managed to get my fingers into a number of dungeons before we shipped. Some of my favorites are: Vilverin, Lost Boys Cavern, Rockmilk Cave, Ceyatatar, Underpall Cave, and from Shivering Isles: Ebrocca, Xeddefen, and Milchar.

12.
Where is your favorite place in the gameworld?
Self-absorbed as it is, probably the Mehrunes’ Razor content. This DLC was a pet project of me and fellow level designer Jeff Browne, and we put a lot of time and love into it. That dank and evil-soaked pit will always hold a dear place in my heart.

13.
do you put in a lot of overtime to get the bethesda productions done?
Yeah, I put in the hours when they’re needed. Luckily, through good management and planning, there’s not the dreaded death-march-crunch that’s the subject of so many game industry horror stories. I once worked three days straight, sleeping under my desk to get a game done on time. Here I’m producing better work, for better games, and my life’s quality doesn’t suffer.

14.
Did you have anything to do with the startrek games?
No, those games were developed by Mad Doc Software in Texas. Bethesda’s publishing arm was involved in those games, not Bethesda Game Studios.

15.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I enjoy a lot of punk - new and old, and say what you will, but I love ska and jazz. Beyond that, I’m pretty eclectic, and switch genres a lot to keep my mind fresh and focused on my work.

16.
What do you do in your spare time (sports, hobbies, etc)?
Me and several guys from the office have a regular soccer game twice a week after work, and I’m learning to rock climb. The majority of my downtime is spent at home with my wife, dogs, books, games and instruments.

17.
Do you work out of a cube, or do you have an office?
I asked Todd this question on my pre-interview phone call and he said “I’d just have to see it.” He was right - we have cubicles, but they’re built specifically for what we do. They’re best described as permanent 3.5-walled drywall cubes with built-in desks. They’re quite nice, actually, and give just enough privacy without compromising the communal nature of game development. So part cube, part office, actually.

18.
What advice do you have to people that want to get into game design or want to work for bethesda?
If you’re in the mod community - that’s a great start. Hone you skills, because this industry is a meritocracy, and technology and techniques are constantly changing. There’s a lot of advice out there about networking and advertising yourself, which is good advice, and important to follow, but all of that is secondary to your ability to produce original, creative, technically sound work. The second most important thing - and I believe this is often overlooked - is having a good personality. Game development is a contact sport, and if you’re friendly, humble, and easy to get along with, a studio is much more likely to see you fitting in with their team dynamic.

19.
Coke or Pepsi? (abe)
Root Beer.

20.
Do you like morrowind or oblivion better? And why?
For all their similarities, they’re so different. I’d love to run around Vvardenfell’s quirky, bizarre landscapes with the visual quality and gameplay mechanics of Oblivion, but ultimately they’re each their own piece of work. I think that’s important for the Elder Scrolls games, too. They aren’t simply sequels to one another, but a whole new game that builds upon the last. I couldn’t really classify either as the better game.

21.
Do you like any of the Bethesda Star Trek games?
I played an alpha build of Legacy briefly, but I’ve never really been interested in Star Trek, so I haven’t spent any time playing the games.

23.
Can I get an autograph?
Uh, sure.

24.
What is your dreamjob (if you dont already have it)?
I’ve already got it, but that’s not as much fun an answer. So; if I couldn’t do this, I’d love to be a field researcher. I’ve always been fascinated with the explorers you see filming nature documentaries or writing articles for National Geographic, scaling a mountain to visit a long-forgotten culture. I suppose that same spirit is part of why I’ve ended up working for Bethesda, and been fascinated with games like Daggerfall and Morrowind.

25.
How often do people want to interview you?
Interview requests come in from time to time.

26.

What happened to number 22?

Pete Hines stole it.