The GG Journey...

ADDED: My Firefox 1.5.0.1 doesn't seem to want to render all this plan (probably because of the length) so you may have to use something else. IE works fine; I'll keep trying Firefox on this end though...



So I've been back a week now and after being soaked with the reality of my real job, I decided it was about time I got some of the images I took during my visit to GG into a blog.

The thing is, this is going to be a bandwidth hog of a blog because I've got a bucket-load of images to put up and way too many little stories to tell. Hell, I had to reduce these images from their 7+ mega-pixel originals and only post-up around half of them so count yourself lucky! :)

Onwards...

Well, after the nightmare of a journey getting from the UK to GG, things soon turned around as I finally met Josh Williams at the airport along with Heidi Tunnell (yes, one of Jeffs daughters). I'm sure that Josh wouldn't mind me saying that they are so suited to each other, peas in a pod and all that and I've been aching to meet them both, especially as Josh and myself have been talking about him meeting Heidi for quite a while, typically during our T2D chats.

Anyway, we met at the airport and I think it was good that they saw me at my worst; sleepy, rough as hell and generally grotty. My image could only get better after that; well marginally. ;)

Josh dropped me off at my hotel and after the "journey from hell", I was kinda' expecting the worst which was a dark-room with a leaking ceiling, the size of a matchbox and a full-scale riot in the adjoining room. The reality was quite different; nice spatious room, warm with an orgy-sized bed (without the orgy) ... sweet.






... and the best bit was that I had a light-dimmer so that I could ensure that my laptop looked extra cool...



After a wonderful nights sleep, Josh picked me up and we went to a bookstore/coffee shop and spent most of the day discussing the next generation tech for TGB and GG in general. Alright, so I obviously can't talk about that but I can say that I'm extremely impressed with the direction GG tech is going (and has gone) and what it's going to achieve in the near future and by god, I want to be part of that! From fairly humble beginnings, this stuff is going to change the world and smash-open new markets for everyone. No bullshit.

The following day I spent the day at the GG offices and met pretty much everyone. This was one of the highlights of my trip. The thing that astounded me was the range of personalities there and how well they seemed to work together. Of course, when I was out of the room they could've been tearing chunks out of each other but for what I saw ... cool folks, great tech, big-time fun. Here's some of the gang...


Adam Larson working on TGB Level-Builder...



Matthew "King Tut" Langley working on TGB Level-Builder...



Justin DuJardin working on TGB Level-Builder...



The GG Art Corner...



Would you buy a car from this man? Hell, I would...



Long trek for breakfast to "The Morning Glory" cafe...



To get some GG inside info, I threatened Pat/Matt with a gun. Matt threw his hands up and Pat just said, "go ahead, right between the eyes punk". There's no scaring Pat...



My gun accidentally went-off. Luckily I missed a startled Matt-L but Adam was none too impressed with his fragged PC ... you're owned sucker.



Justin/Adam have a quick meeting. Justin has a special way of communicating...



Okay, so it's switched off but do you remember this baby or what?????



Not being an artist (or perhaps even if I were), I was impressed with the official art all over the place. GG has some serious art-talent and some of the project art was real fun to look at. I have trouble drawing a circle on a white-board, never mind real art...



One of the most funny guys I've met in a while has to be Justin DuJardin. Almost everytime I was with him, he was cracking jokes and being generally funny. It must be that Texan/Irish combo that does it. With that said, he was occasionally serious as I think this image shows...


Oh my, I got to touch the first ever copy of Edward Maurinas "The Game Programmers Guide to Torque" hot-off-the-press ... oooh. What's cooler than that or at least as cool? Note the "GG Press" logo ... wow...




So during that day I got to visit the start of the TGB Bootcamp and met some of the folks attending that. I also got to meet Stephen Zepp and I played at being a trainer for a little while. Bah, I'm no such thing but Stephen certainly is. After a few "behind the scene" issues with TGB that were finally resolved, the boot-camp was in full swing and it went very well indeed for a product still in its EA phase! It was the first of many to come so I'm keen to see how the boot-camps evolve as TGB does.

That evening was time to go out and have a drink or two. Okay, who am I kidding. I got slaughtered but the good thing was that pretty much everyone else did as well...

Justin, Matt and Jason Swearingen who'd come out of the TGB Boot-camp to discuss his "T2D.net" and basically get pissed-up...



Jay and his better-half... :)



Josh and Heidi...



Matt Enjoying himself (I've gotta' get one of those Limited-Edition Marble Blast Ultra Hats ... oooh)...



Justin and Jason start to get merry...



Okay, so this one takes a little explaining. Now that Justin was starting to get "well oiled", he needed some sponsership for his pastime of drinking bowls of sauce (the actual sauce doesn't matter just as long as it's something that nobody else would want). So Jason puts $10 on the table and Justin accepts the challenge... let's rock... (oh man I can't watch this)...


... "Come on, I paid good money for this" ...


... down that baby ...


... a wipe of the mouth ...


... and it's all over, the bet has been won! Not sure I want to get that close to Justin after that. ;)


... and just for good measure; more communication...



Anyway, it's not all Justin (nearly though) as we've got the man himself; Rick Overman turns up for a few jars and now the circle is complete...



And here's Chris Calef who's working on some way cool tech at GG ... hush ...



Okay, I couldn't resist one more "Justin" image with his favourite (and I know he'll hate me for this) saying of "that's all I'm saying". :)



Anyway, enough of the commentary, I think the rest of these images speak for themselves...































So, ignoring most of the next day which was basically taken-up by a stinking hangover coupled with extreme TGB development, I got to see at least a couple of interesting things. The first was that Josh drove me out to a hill-top so I could see Eugene from an elevated position. Man, I needed the fresh-air just to get the alcohol out of my system...



... and the second was the actual $10 bill (yes, you heard me correctly) that Justin "earned" from Jason for drinking the bowl of sauce. See and behold what can be earned by simply drinking sauce. Is there no end to the ways us indies can generate income?




So, later in my trip I was involved in lots of cool discussions with the GG guys but this stuff isn't for pictures but if there's one thing I can say about the trip is that I ate well. GG rolled-out the red-carpet for me (and I didn't feel worthy) but I ate the food nevertheless and it was superb...


... man, I'm starting to feel like part of the family ...



Later that evening, Mark Frohnmayer threw a little party. It was very cool-to-the-extreme to get the chance to step into the houses of some of the people I've admired for such a long time. And let's not forget, Mark is now GGs "el presidente". The thing is, one thing you soon learn is that people like Mark are just ordinary people with extraordinary talents.

A small gathering at Marks place...


We're all smiles here...



So one thing I'd never played before was Attika and to be honest, I wasn't about to start now and get my ass kicked. Besides, it looked complicated as hell, which of course it wasn't, but my hangover was telling me something different.

Another thing you have to understand about Attika is that it isn't a game, it's god-damned-war and you had better take it seriously, *ahem* just like these guys are...


The expanding dominion ... mmwwwaaaarrrrrrrrrr ...




So after a few folks had moved on, I got to speak with Josh and Mark about BLAHBLAH (insert secret stuff here). The great thing about BLAHBLAH is that it's astounding tech and will set the indie-market on fire. Soon I'll get access to BLAHBLAH and hopefully, I'll contribute 20% of my life to it. Here's to you BLAHBLAH and all that you stand for. Okay, I'm sorry but I though it was important to highlight that GG isn't standing still; there's some amazing stuff just around the corner.


Well, it got to the final evening and I got invited to Jeffs house for a meal with friends and family. The thing is, I stayed at Jeffs house at the first IGC in 2002 but I was staying in an adjacent house to Jeffs so I didn't get to go inside his main house. This time I did and Heidi was cooking a meal, something which I was looking forward to.

The image doesn't do the food justice ... totally tasty ...


... around the table you'll notice Kevin Ryan whom I hadn't met before. What a nice guy! The others are Kevins family, Jeff and family, Josh and myself... (now I do feel part of the GG family)...







... and I was in "two minds" whether to show this one which was Josh doing Jeffs daughters homework ... err scrub that ... helping with the homework!




So, that's about all the bandwidth I'm going to steal this time in my blog and I hope it gave you some idea of the totally-way-cool journey I just had out at GG. For anyone in any doubt about the faces behind GG, I hope you understand that they're just an ordinary bunch of people with extraordinary talents. GG is a family. For those GG folks who I didn't get to spend lots of time with, I'm really sorry I didn't have more time. I've just got to say thanks to everyone at GG though for "rolling out the red carpet" during my journey. It was way more than I expected from everyone but you did it nevertheless. To you, more thanks than I can put into words.

The five days I spent there just wasn't enough; by time I got settled, it was time to fly back again. Now, everyday, I miss being there, truely. *sniff*

The good thing is that this isn't the end; TGB has just begun and with the GDC looming and the amazing new TGB level-editor that everyone has worked so hard on, things are getting pretty hot around here.

In the end, the journey wasn't about seeing cool tech or getting drunk, no matter how sweet all that stuff is. It's about one thing and one thing only and instead of me telling you what that is, here's a word from the person who can articulate it so well, our sponser...

In his own words (512Kb Movie)





Okay, so I lied, this wasn't the end of my plan. Remember that I wanted one of the Limited-Edition Marble-Blast-Ultra hats? Well, alongside all the official GG swag I came away with, I got a MBU hat and my wonderful daughter loves it although I refuse to let her sleep in it, that would be sacralidge!




Happy Hunting everyone.

- Melv.