Rui Figueira's Blog » Personal

Going freelance again

ruifig — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:13:20 +0000

After all that’s been happening at Realtime Worlds, I’ve decided to give another stab at going freelance for a while.

I’ve been pondering it for a while, but faced with the recent events (APB’s lackluster sales, Realtime Worlds going into administration), I’ve pretty much decided that’s the way to go, at least for a while.

Main reason is that I’m pretty much done with APB. I do love the game, and at this moment I have >200hours, but on a job perspective it doesn’t offer me the satisfaction it used to, like when I was designing and implementing the Music Studio sound system, or designing and implementing the sound prioritization we have on top of Wwise.

Also, I want to gain more experience in other areas (other than Audio).

With the hiring spree that happened here in Dundee after the news about Realtime Worlds, I did had to turn down a few interviews with some interesting Studios, but I feel it was the right thing to do.

I want to step back a little and decide where to go from here, instead of rushing to another job.

Like for example, I did enjoyed working on my lastest hobby project Weston Westie, developed with my friend and CEO at BitRabbit, for the brand new Samsung Wave, which is the first device with the Bada OS.

I did all the coding myself, except for the thin framework BitRabbit provided ( RabbitFactory ) which abstracts all the platform details, and was a nice way to play around with things I normally don’t, like OpenGL ES, basic AI, UI, Gameplay, etc.

Although Weston Westie was launched in July, we’ve done basically no marketing, as we want to polish it for the first update (improve textures, put some eye candy, experiment with a different control method).

At this moment, I have some work lined up with Jenkins Software, whom I’ve worked with in the past.

I get to work from home (like I did before), which is nice bonus.

The job itself is to revise,update and improve RakNet’s documentation.

This particular contract doesn’t actually involve much coding, and some programmers at heart might find it dead boring, but personally I see it as great opportunity to get paid to learn something valuable.

Positive things I see coming out of this:

With the high demand for multiplayer games, knowing RakNet library inside out will surely stand out on my CV. I can always say… “After all I wrote the documentation. ”
I get to practice actual writting, since English is not my native language. I think it’s ok, but there’s always room for improvement.
Working from home does have some benefits. I can work any time I want, as long as the job gets done. That helps when I need to so something within typical business hours.
With the knowledge I’ll get from RakNet, I can write some Raknet code samples, and post them here, generating traffic.

On top of all this, since I’ve decided to go freelance, some funny synchronicities happened recently.

Bitrabbit might have some more freelance coming up my way
Today went to a workshop for videogames startups, and some interesting things happened:
- Lots of good tips on running a business, PR, Marketing, etc
- Some old friend from Realtime Worls is planning a startup, and since we’re both planning on staying in Dundee, some work might come my way.
- One other friend was there, and reminded me to join him and a few other developers for an apparently weekly Wednesday talk (in a local pub), which I knew about, but never actually attended.

gEasy cancelled contract with Publisher

ruifig — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:31:31 +0000

The first day I was supposed to start working for gEasy, they tell me they cancelled the contract with their publisher.

That means I’m available for any other contracts, if anyone reads this.
Meanwhile, I’m working on my own projects, which should get me some income, particularly with BitRabbit .

Also, soon I’ll start posting some game development articles. I already have some topics planned to start with, like:

- Game states
- GUI
- Sound
- Networking (maybe)

Its just some ideas I want to start with. Graphics is out of that list for a while.
I will most probably concentrate on mundane tasks I encountered and learned during the time I worked on Galactic Melee. Those things we don’t think about when we first start a game, but eventually we’ll get to it, like how to manage game states (menu, gameplay, credits, etc), or how to plan the code for a UI screen, which is in fact easy, but for a non-trivial UI screen, you’ll find yourself complicating the code a lot whenever you want to add more functionality.For that, planning with state-diagrams and implementing it with that approach too, made things a lot easier for me.

Anyway, as soon as I start posting those articles, if they are of any interest to you, you can buy me a coffee (read __donation__). You should see a link on the sidebar for that.

New contract

ruifig — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:55:07 +0000

I’ve been working the last 9 months for Jenkins Software in the game Galactic Melee (a massively multiplayer space combat action game), which is now in Beta stage.

Today I’m starting a new full-time contract with gEasy , working in Soldner 2.

Lets see what the future brings.

Meanwhile, I’m still working in my sound engine, in my spare time.

czPlayer Sound System

ruifig — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:05:37 +0000

Finally I resumed work in some of my own projects. I’ve been working on my Sound System (czPlayer), which I intend to license to BitRabbit.

About czPlayer Sound System:
Platforms supported:
- Win32
- Pocket PC
- Symbian
- Palm
Features:
- Sound.. of course.
- MOD and IT support
- More to come.

czPlayer codebase started around 1998, when I created a music disk (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_disk ) with some friends. I’ve done all the code, and two friends of mine the gfx and sfx. We we were still using MS-DOS at that time.
Everything was coded in Watcom C++ compiler which was the best DOS compiler at the time, and the PMODE/W dos extender.

I think we’ve done everything in our summer vacations, in 2-3 months
At that time, czPlayer was called Jupiter Sound System or something like that. It had nice features for a DOS sound library, supporting SB mono to SB 16, Gravis Ultrasound with both hardware and software mixing to overcome some limitations. See (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravis_Ultrasound)

Maybe I’ll post here a video or the music disk itself later.

Anyway, most of the code was refactored by now, and doesn’t look like the old code.

It’s nice to be back to my projects.

It’s been two weeks…

ruifig — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:24:01 +0000

Two weeks ago I was still in Azores. Was my last night there, and I had a plane to catch the very next morning. Time really is relative, like Albert Einstein used to say. That last day there seemed particularly short.

I miss the friends I’ve made there, but I hope I’ll be back soon.

Here goes the blog of one of the persons I’ve met there in the last summer

http://somdasletras2007.blogspot.com/

Now some pictures with friends

Back to Azores, once again…

ruifig — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 01:34:02 +0000

One month later, here I am, back to Azores Islands. What can I say? I like this land, despite some bad things that happened the last time I was here, but has the saying goes… Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely..

Also, I’ve felt my first earthquake this last Thursday. Quite an experience it is… to wake up at 7am with your bedroom shaking! Was nothing serious tough… just a small one. Work has kept me under pressure, so my daily routine has been basically the same, for some time now! Work by day, and socialize a little at night with friends, which has been great so far. I had to work these last two weekends, but always found the time to hang out with friends a little every day, be it in my home land, or here in Azores. That always helps to relax.

I’ll post some more photos soon. Still.. no games development related posts, yet!

Carnival at Azores!

ruifig — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 18:17:30 +0000

Back from Azores again!

I’ve been in Azores again, for almost one full month. One of great aspects of my new job is that I can work anywhere, anytime. Just grabbed my laptop, got a mobile internet connection, and hit the road, or in this case, the airplane!

Worked during the day, and each night had some fun with friends.

Apart from meeting new people, I had the chance to talk to people I already knew, and get to know them better. Felt just like home, surrounded by friends.

Carnival was particularly funny!

Some nights we would go to the cinema, some nights just hanging around the usual bar with friends, having some drinks and playing snooker! I had a great time.

Last weekend there, was my sister-in-law birthday… and what a blast! Dinner, followed by a few hours in a nice bar I didn’t knew, called “Escape Livre”, which has lots of space, live music, and some snooker tables. Great place. A big kiss to her, for bearing with me during all those days, without ever losing her patience. You’re the best sister-in-law I could ask for!

But because life isn’t only fun and parties, let’s talk about work… which can also be fun!

Almost 2 months working full time as a game programmer, and I’m having a great time. I’m always learning something new.

Sometimes I feel I should take a few hours a day to learn new things in a relaxed way, instead of trying to apply things I’ve just learned to the tasks at hand. I guess it’s part of the business.

Anyway, I’m thinking in dedicating some free time to some of my projects. I guess that’s the best way to learn new things in a relaxed way.

Overall, I’m really happy with the job. I can work anywhere, when I feel productive, and when that happens I can easily work 12-13 hours a day or so. But as a rule, I try to work 8-9 hours a day, and use the rest of the day for myself, to hang out with friends, to relax, to read.

I’m really committing myself to this job, so the best thing I can do to keep my motivation levels high is to avoid constant overworking.

Back to the real world

ruifig — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:25:25 +0000

Back from Azores.

This week, and possibly the next one will be hard. It’s my last week at work before going full-time as a game programmer. The following days won’t be easy. I’ll have to finish things at my current job, and catch up with things for the new one.

I hope to start posting games related material as soon as I go full-time. Let’s see what the future brings.

Nuff said, my quote for the day is…

Victory belongs to the most persevering – Napoleon Bonaparte.

That time of the year, again

ruifig — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 13:52:11 +0000

Once again that time of the year! People rushing and transit seems like hell. Just try and do some shopping! You’ll spend more time in your car and in wait lines than actually shopping.
Personally, I think Christmas has become too much a commercial holiday, with signs “Consume!” all over the place. Don’t get me wrong. I wish I had the money to spend on all the gadgets and stuff I want, but take as an example:

One month before Christmas, and you already see Ads targeting that day;
Credit campaigns to make you spend the money you don’t have. “Buy now and pay it later”. Ever thought about it? If you don’t watch out, and let yourself go in that shopping frenzy, sooner or later it will come back and byte you in the ass;
On TV, Ads all day targeting children.

Rushing to buy all the presents? Wondering if you should buy one for that friend of a friend? Will that special person like the present?
Did you ever stopped to think… “Maybe I should just forget the presents, and focus on what’s really important?“. People! Relationships! Family!
Why giving a present in this particular day, if once again, for one entire year you’ll be too busy to show how much you love them. Chances are a present will be forgotten. Instead, dedicate Christmas day to the ones you love. Offer them your presence, your help, your love and dedication, without expecting anything in return, just for one single day. If you are also special to that person, that kind of action will be much more appreciated than any present, and will be remembered for life.
As years passed by, life has taught me how important family and friends are. It’s ironic how things turned out. Like the old saying:
You never know what you got until it’s gone..
I’ve been 5 years of my life disconnected from family and friends, just to find out the hard way how much I need them in my life. If it weren’t for them, I’m not sure I couldn’t make it trough 2006.

Nuff said!
I’m pretty sure the year of 2006 is the turning point for me. Things are starting to fall in place, on the personal side, job, and financial.
I’ve finally met someone really special, I’ve got the job opportunity I’ve been waiting all my life, and I’m slowly getting out of debt after an hard time due to my divorce back in 2005.
Things really do look promising. I’ve never been so eager to start a new year!
It’s so good to have a sense of direction! To be sure what path you want to follow! To feel you’re not lost, to know where you want to be in the future.

As an added bonus, since I was really nice boy this year (overall), I’ll be in Azores for the New Year’s Eve, next to the person I love.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.