Week 4 : LinkedIn Response

I was lucky enough to have a new contact on LinkedIn connect me to the Talent Agent at TellTale. She encouraged me to apply directly through the website, as is the plan come Christmas. More importantly classes started up with Computer Vision, Cyber Forensics and the 2nd half of my Graduate Planner Project. Oh and I am making progress on some contract work (writing technical design docs). I don't know how you software engineers do it! All in all it is a good week.

See you in Thirty Seven Weeks
Anthony

Week 3 : LinkedIn Round 2

This week is short and sweet, I did another round on linkedin


I am a huge fan of TellTale Games, 0ver the remaining 39 weeks of my education I intend to show you that I am the perfect candidate to work at TellTale Games.


Please follow my exploits at telltaleinfortyweeks(dot)blogspot(dot)com


- Anthony Rosenbaum


I am up to 5 TellTalers



School resumes next week!



Thirty eight weeks left!

Desoto toy done

Well I wrapped up Sam & Max's Desoto, I did the paint job to match the game's interior as best I could.

 Who would have thought a 50 year old toy kit could look so sharp.

Week 2 : Background

This week I'd like to talk about my background in game development. Originally I was an artist, graduating with a Bachelors in Art History.Tribes 2 introduced me to modding, not long after, the same engine, Torque, was released as tool. Torque provided me a start into the gaming industry by being Indie. At the time I was teaching Graphics Design and learning as much as I could from the Torque community. It didn't take long to realize that the engine needed modification to make the game I envisioned. So the next step was learning programming. I audited some classes at the local University and learned a lot from the community. 

My first project was Dark Horizon's Lore for Max Gaming, it was an IGF finalist in 2005. Simply being nominated was an honor, I felt like this is what I was meant to do. A year later I had joined Plastic Games, it was that year which solidified my passion for games. In the fall of 2006 Plastic Game was approached by Disney's Imagineers to build some interactive attractions. Since then we have had several contract helping make the magic for Disney.

It is ten years later, I consider myself a programmer, though in an indie company we wear many hats. I still do art when needed but my passion is in coding. Over the past few years I have filled in the engineering gaps and will be topping it off my education with a Master in Computer Science. Having studied game development my whole life I believe it is fair to say I love making games. I hope that I can contribute to TellTale's next creation.

Oh yes, an update on the Desoto, well it seems the Kinect will not provide adequate resolution to scan in the Desoto model, looks like some 3d modeling will be in order. In the meantime I have decided to build the toy model with a custom Sam & Max paint job.

The first pass of painting is pretty good.

Hope to see you in thirty nine weeks.

Desoto

So I was writing down ideas for things to do over the next forty weeks and to be honest it wasn't very compelling. So I started drifting and thinking how can I make this something special for me as well. Then my eyes drifted to my RC cars. . . . .  "make TellTale sponsor stickers for cars, no. . .  two cars. . .  Sam and Max. . . .stickers for that . . .no . . . .what did they drive it was an old car.  I wonder if they have a body for Sam & Max Desoto?

Guess what, they don't!

Then I see my kinect and think about my new scanning tools (Brekel), maybe I can find a toy, scan it then use the scan to print a body. Heck I can add Sam and Max to the model. Now this is sounding interesting.

Where to start?!?! Need  the car.

Turns out the Sam and Max car was modeled after a 1960 Chrysler Desoto. The grill is very distinct, oh and by the way in 1960 it lost the convertible options. Looks like I will be tweaking the scan more than I thought.

Do a google for that car, I'll wait. . .  I can guess that aside from some very expensive instances on ebay you will have little luck finding that model and year. Plenty of 1961 Desoto toys but they look different FYI 1961 was the last production year of the Desoto.

Luckily there are a few people who collect antique toys one of which Gasoline Ally Antiques there site is pretty old school (like 1996) but they had the toy and a phone call later I have a model on its way. I think it is still in pieces. There is no way I am going to break a 1960's toy, BUT who needs to I can scan it in and print up copies right!

So this is the Core project, build a Sam & Max Desoto. It will tie all my neat new hobbies together and give me something cool in the long run.

Now I am excited!

Week 1 : 

Attempt Linked-In Connection

I am a huge fan of TellTale Games and love the how you have re envisioned comics as games. Game Developer said you may be working on a Fable game soon. Over the remaining 40 weeks of school I intend to show you that I am the perfect candidate to work at TellTale.

- Anthony Rosenbaum

I have come to a conclusion, in forty weeks, when school is up and I have my Masters in Computer Science I will move to California. That is where the industry is, particularly Marin County home to Robin Williams, Sky Walker Ranch and TellTale Games.

I have spent thirteen years in the Indie market learning how to make games, it is time I joined the professionals. Of all the games I play, it has been TellTale Games' products that have exceeded expectations. They are remaking the industry, they have brought back the classic adventure game and coupled it with great story telling. TellTale has succeeded in melding literature with interactivity, something I predicted eleven  years ago.

Above all these are the guys who brought back Sam & Max. The Sam & Max episodic model proved that triple A games could be sold in small parts, it was a game changer. Now with the success of Walking Dead I foresee great things for TellTale. Over the next forty weeks I will reach out to TellTale and record my efforts here for posterity.

Hopefully in Forty One weeks I will walking into the best job of my life.

Anthony Rosenbaum