Sunday, March 28

Like a Man Possessed...

I laughed when I read that Zappa was (seemingly arbitrarily) from Australia. I always really liked Zappa but I think that's more to do with the fact that his play was always unpredictable (even to you) and he didn't seem overpowered or have a degenerate fireball. This gets me thinking; if I am going to go play people's favourite games with them, I'm about to get my ass kicked for a month! By the way I'm talking about Guilty Gear XX.

I woke up at 7am this morning even though it's a Sunday and I was up late last night painting. I'm doing a Witch Elf for a guild member (Warhammer Online) and a tribute to Yoshitaka Amano who is freaking unbelievable. Did I mention I'm working on a completely new folio? I'm going to have it done for Comic Con so I can try to get a job in America. The segment of my Documentary about the Industry will be from the perspective of someone who plays games, has worked as a junior, has a lot of respect for the pro's and is trying to get into the big leagues in the US. A good combination of hope, ambition, anxiety and the bitter realities.

Anyway the point is I don't seem to be sleeping too well at all. There's only three months to prepare! But this is how I know I'm doing something significant; I can't stop thinking about it.

One of the focuses of this Documentary is to meet the true gamers who make up the virtual community. One of the coolest things about PAX is seeing gamers pour out of the woodwork to reveal a community that has for so long had a clear identity without ever really meeting physically. I want to meet those people, the people who feel like they are part of something the way I do even though I rarely play games outside of my own house. Hence the idea of making house-visits.

Having said that I have been teasing myself with fantasies about interviewing some high-profile gamers too in the hopes of a) meeting them and b) getting some content with that attention-grabbing celebrity factor. Of course when I say celebrity I mean Mike and Jerry from Penny arcade or the Frag Dolls. You know, gamer celebrities. The other advantage of this is I have a pretty good idea what to ask these people as they make their personalities public. So who do I think would have something to say worth putting in a documentary? Hmm...

Penny Arcade (not just Mike & Jerry)
Scott Ramsoomair (VG Cats, webcomic)
Glen Schofield (Deadspace Executive Producer, I love everything about the story of this game's development and I love the game)
The Frag Dolls (I like the way they champion female gamers as well as female professionals)
Hex from Good Game (This may take a little explanation, Good Game is the only games show in Australia and it gets good ratings. There was recent controversy when one of the male hosts was fired in favour of female host 'Hex'. The channel it's on deny this but they haven't given any decent reason and this is the story the guy they fired is going with and considering he was the best part of the show I'm inclined to believe him)
Junglist formerly of Good Game (the guy, still writing for Kotaku.AU)
Jade Raymond, manager of the new Ubisoft Toronto and Producer of Assassin's Creed (I'd like to settle down in Canada, good folk)
David Jaffe (God of War designer, really interesting guy, funny when drunk)
Blizzard's Sons of the Storm (although I have to point out the Mark Gibbons aka Red Knuckle is my childhood hero and the reason I am anything of an artist)
Red 5 Studios (I have it on good authority they are working on an MMO, a big one)

That's just some ideas off the top of my head. I'll email everyone I can think of who fits into my touring plans. Hopefully I'll attract enough attention that some may be interested in volunteering? Who knows. If it was me, I'd do it!

I grabbed the image up top from www.fightersgeneration.com/ which as it turns out is 'the largest and most comprehensive fighting game resource on the net' and a great place to reference high-res official art from fighting games for all you fellow artists.

No comments: