Getting ready for the big demo.

Last week was the big Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. We sent two of our teammates there to pitch our game to 12 publishers. It sounds like we got a very positive response and now we are preparing to send a playable demo to those publishers for them to evaluate. If publishers like our game they may be willing to provide us with funding to increase the scope of the game as well as assistance with releasing and marketing the game. Right now we are working hard to get the game into an acceptable state to send to publishers. We intend to send out the playable demo on Monday March 13th. From there we will have to wait. Within a month we should have a good idea of whether our game will get picked up by a publisher. I've never worked so hard before in my life, but it feels good working towards a clear goal. It is also very motivating knowing that if we do well, good things will happen directly to us. I think everyone should try working on a small project like this at least once during their career.

Continuing to make video games for a living.

I'm continuing to work on the game as I settle in to my new life in Japan. I still haven't gotten my working visa (don't tell the government) so I'm still on a tourist visa, but that should get taken care of in the next few weeks. My working hours continue to make it difficult to photograph during the weekday. It's also been a while since I worked up the courage to go out and ask people if I can take their portrait. Though that kind of photography is a bit scary at first, the results have been my favorite photos so far. If you haven't seen my street portrait work, you can find it here: https://500px.com/swsteffes.

In general I haven't been taking many photos recently. I've really been enjoying my work and I have a sense that if I put in the time to improve my skills I could go on to do more and more interesting things. It seems to me that most people in the video game industry are doing it because they love it and so are willing to work really hard to make their dream a reality. Because of this, to stand out in programming, or any other aspect of video game creation, you have to be really good at what you do. I often think about how many of these people could take their skills to other industries and make a fortune. But they chose video games because they would rather do what they love for a living than make lots of money doing something they don't care about. I don't think I could have imagined ending up in this position when I was a little kid playing games on my family's Power Mac. Every day I try to be thankful for the many opportunities I had the chance to take that led me to where I am now.

For the modern Buddhist.

I see this rather large sign every day on my way to work. The main text translates to "A life with a Buddhist altar" It's common for Japanese households to have a 仏壇, a household altar. This company is advertising altars with a modern design. In fact the text in the red square reads "Modern 仏壇" Where there's a need, someone is bound to fill it.

My Favorite View

One of the most noticeable landmarks in Amemura is a scale replica of the statue of liberty set atop a 10 story building. Though a meetup I was fortunate to meet a guy from Australia who rents out the top floor of that building. I get to hang out there sometimes. From his balcony you can see the main gathering spot in Amemura where I sometimes go to photograph interesting people. It would be nice if I could move to this area someday. This area is also fairly close to where I work. I really don't care for having a long commute.

Seeing a fat bike again.

Walking around Amemura the other day I came across a well-used fatbike. I remember they were popular the last time I was here 3 years ago. For that reason I bought my own fatbike  when I got back to the US. It was a real pain to use and eventually it got stolen, but even seeing one now, I must admit I think they look pretty cool.

Making Video Games for a Living

It's really happening. I'm getting paid to work on a video game while living in Japan. I must admit it feels good when I tell people what I do for a living and they immediately want to know more. It's definitely the most interesting work I have done so far. The sorts of problems I encounter on a daily basis are much more satisfying to solve than what I encountered working as a web developer. The other day I had to use calculus to solve a programming problem. This would never occur working on a web site.
The work schedule is a bit harsh. I typically leave for work at 9am and get home around 9pm. This won't always be the case. We have a major deadline coming up in the next few weeks and if we can make it, the chances of our game succeeding increase dramatically. I feel motivated like never before to push hard and do a good job. I have a sense that a little bit of struggle now could result in a lot of cool things happening to my career in the future. This certainly isn't the life for everyone. I'm currently making about 1/6th of what I was making in the US, but my daily life is much more enjoyable than it was back then. It kind of feels like I switched my life from easy to hard mode, but it's really thrilling.
I haven't been photographing much recently, but after the big deadline I should have a chance to catch my breath and spend some time on my hobbies.

Stay within the lines.

Recently I was in need of some blank paper for an art project. I decided to walk down to the nearest convenience store as they seem to have everything. I found they had an impressive selection of stationary, but what they didn't have was paper without any lines on it. They had all kinds of lined paper for various casual and official purposes, but not a single piece of free-form blank paper.
I went to another, slightly farther convenience store and found the same thing. I'm sure I'll be able to find blank paper somewhere, but I thought this was humorously symbolic of Japanese culture as a whole. Why would you need to draw outside the lines?

Adjusting to real life in Japan

Hello everyone.
I'm continuing to settle into my new life working in Japan. At the moment working on the game takes about 10 hours out of my day and when I get home I have various freelance projects I need to work on so my free time is rather limited. I'm really enjoying this change of pace though. While I sometimes wish I could take things a bit slower, a friend of mine once told me. "Everyone just wants to be left alone to underachieve in peace" My current situation is forcing me to really push the limits of what I am capable of and I enjoy the feeling. My hope is that I will be able to produce a body of work that I can be proud of. Because I am at work for most daylight hours I don't get many opportunities to photograph on weekdays. Previously I would go out photographing whenever the spirit moved me. Now I will have to schedule specific times to go out photographing. With any luck I will find a good work/life balance and make the most of my time here in this wonderful country.

Unique Pets in Public

In my free time I like to hang out around Sankaku Koen. It's a meeting place for a lot of Japanese people who don't fit the typical straight edge image of this country. Even there, this guy stood out. He came with a bright red leather bag and produced from it two snakes and a lizard. They were just hanging out taking in the sun until a policeman showed up and started talking to them. I'm not sure what they said, but shortly after then man packed up his reptiles and left. I can't imagine there's a specific law against displaying reptiles in public, but the police appear to be sensitive to anything that could disturb the peace. I'm glad I was able to find this place where people escape the crushing normalcy of daily life even if it's just for a while.

Ice in a cup, or something more?

I've started to see shelves of ice cups like this at many convenience stores. I wasn't sure what they were for a while, but upon closer inspection I figured out that they are for iced coffee. You take the sealed cup of ice and pay for it at the register, the cashier then takes it and fills it up with room-temperature coffee and in a few minutes you've got a cup of iced coffee. In the US I remember being able to mix the iced coffee myself with ice from the soda fountain, but I suppose here they want to control your ice/coffee ratio.

Denny's in Japan

While I was in Tokyo I happened upon a Denny's. I didn't think Denny's of all restaurants would have stores in Japan. It's clearly owned by the same company, but they couldn't be more different. The menu consisted entirely of Japanese style dishes. Only the sign outside had a sort of '50s American vibe. I ordered a spicy Ramen and it came with a side of white rice and kara age. It was very good though it certainly didn't remind me of home. Of course the best part came at the end. Being in Japan, you don't have to leave a tip!

The Old Nintendo Building

I was riding the train in Kyoto recently and in the distance I saw a large white building that reminded me of pictures I had seen of Nintendo headquarters. To confirm I pulled out my phone and searched "Nintendo" in my maps application. Sure enough there was a dot on that building for Nintendo headquarters, but what really got my attention was the second dot that appeared which read "Old Nintendo Building". This dot was near the train station I was going to and since I had some free time I decided to check it out. Tucked away in a very quiet neighborhood was this rather unique building.

This building was Nintendo headquarters from 1933 until they moved to the large white building I saw from the train. It's amazing how much history is but a short train ride away in Kyoto. You could argue that all of the temples and shrines have more historical significance than Nintendo, but it's cool to be able to see origin of the company behind many of my favorite games growing up.

For more info: http://blog.beforemario.com/2015/05/nintendos-birthplace-in-kyoto.html

Working on games again. (for real this time)

Hello everyone. I haven't been updating the blog lately as I adjust to my new life working in Japan. I got a job programming at a small video game company and my first day was today. It looks like it's going to be a lot of work, but it looks like really interesting work and I'm really excited. My team consists of two designers from England and another programmer from the US. I'm not sure yet what all I can say at this point about the project we're working on, but I think it's a cool one. Regular updates should resume as I get me new living/working/commuting arrangements sorted out. Stay tuned!

Uncommon rudeness

I'm currently living in a rather quiet part of Kyoto. I live next to a little shopping arcade mostly frequented by older people. So I was surprised to see this lime green Lamborghini revving it's engine loudly at an intersection. The driver was a young Japanese man. After the car in front of him moved out of the way he floored it down this narrow 1 lane road. People had to rush to get out of the way and I could still hear him accelerating far off in the distance. This is not something you see very often anywhere in Japan.

old man clothing

The neighborhood I'm currently living in has a relatively old population. Most of the shops cater to older people including the clothing stores. I find it interesting that the sort of clothing worn by older menhere is very similar to the sort of clothing old men in America wear. I could easily imagine my grandfather wearing most of the clothing pictured above. Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on why this might be.

Pepsi Strong

I've been seeing Pepsi strong for sale in many convenience stores. Apparently, before it came out there were a series of epic commercials featuring Jude Law relating the drink to a strong demon. [ link] Today I decided to try it. I did a little research, supposedly the main difference between this and regular Pepsi is that Pepsi strong has 5X the gas volume (GV). To contain the gas they had to design a new, reinforced bottle. After all this hype I was expecting this Pepsi to be pretty impressive. I was expecting the bottle to depressurize violently when I opened it. It did not. The taste was also pretty much identical to regular Pepsi, it might have been a little be more fizzy, but not by much.

I should probably make a playlist of all the products I've been disappointed by in Japan. :) There's tons of great food to be found here, but I often gravitate towards things with flashy advertising. I will probably never learn my lesson, they're just so good at making products seem interesting here.

Non-controversial sign

The sign reads "lower back stress began when we started walking on two feet" It's an advertisement for an orthopedic surgeon. It would appear that belief in evolution is not controversial in Japan.

Construction for the Curious

Since I arrived here, the pillars at Shinsaibashi station in Osaka have been under construction. They do a good job keeping the work out of people's way. I was wondering what they could be doing to be under construction for this long. I didn't have to wonder for long. On the side of the scaffolding they provide a description of the work being performed, it's purpose, and how long the work will take.

Questionable Health Claims

A lot of advertising is aimed at Japan's aging population and a lot of it addresses health concerns. Some of these ads make claims I have a hard time believing. This sign reads: "21st century futon, manages your health while you sleep." Could it be that simple?

Mixing east and west for decades

Far before World War II Japan had already begun integrating western-style architectural designs into its buildings. This old factory is an interesting example. The wooden building on the left is somewhat western-inspired, but has a traditional Japanese tiled roof. The dark wood siding with a white border on top is a common architectural motif I've only seen in Japan.



The brick building on the right looks like it could have come directly from my hometown in America, but if you look closely you can the roof, especially the top, is very traditional Japanese.