Post 1978

I just upgraded the blog to WordPress 2.5. It was not difficult, although not quite as straightforward as installing WordPress in the first place, which really could not be any easier. Considering that I’ve skipped versions 2.0.7 - 2.4, the changes are pretty large, but mostly evident in the completely overhauled look and feel of the admin dashboard. Then there’s image galleries, easily editable permalinks, a visual editor that shouldn’t suck anymore and whatnot. It’s also faster and leaner. It’s all good.

WordPress is really one of the best things in technology I’ve ever come across, I can’t recommend it enough. If you ever need to put words on the internet, you won’t go wrong with it.

Everything seems to work, but I’ll poke around for a bit longer before subjecting my primary blog to the same treatment.

Update: Hmph. I seem to have lost my collection of randomized taglines. I’ll have to see if the backup holds the information in an easily retrievable form. It’s weird how much I miss them, even though for some reason they take ages to load onto the page.

A surprisingly funky, natural way to view images online, PicLens is a free add-on for Firefox and a bunch of other web browsers. I thought it would be very systems-heavy, but it works just fine on my basic laptop at work.

Essentially, it gathers the images on a site from a separate “media” RSS feed and shows them as a 3D image wall, in full-screen. The catch? The site needs to support PicLens. Crucially, they already have Facebook, Google image search, Picasa and Flickr (and others) working. As a taster, they have an add-on-independent Lite version available as well (check it out here). Cool stuff.

www.piclens.com

Spring is here. The Russian forest fires cast a weird, dreamy light despite the warm sunlight. We got just about one week of snow this year.

I have landed a job at a Finnish game studio. I will be working as an assistant producer from June. This is my dream come true and I know it’s going to work out, despite leaving behind a secure, comfortable job and a promising career.

Looking back at my life until now, it’s weird how I’ve built up the skillset for the career I always wanted, yet didn’t really know anything about up to a couple of years ago. Many people do not even know what a producer does.

I’m a game designer at heart, having drafted and planned games forever. Since I learned how to write, I’ve been making game designs. When I first thought about becoming a professional in the videogame industry, there just weren’t any open positions if you didn’t know how to code or make art. I know some code and I dabble in art, but I’m not a professional by any means. Over the years the industry has bloomed in Finland, opening up positions more than there is talent available for.

Some years ago I realized I might become a producer, but it took until now for an opportunity to present itself. I am seizing it and urge anyone with a vision of what they want to do in their life to always keep the target in their sights, no matter what direction your life and career takes you. If you want it - and let people know that you do - there are always opportunities. I’m not saying this has been a straight line towards a job in the game industry, far from it, but I’ve never let it slip from my mind and I’ve talked about it openly, always keeping myself up to date with the industry.

I can’t wait to see a game with my name on it on the store shelves!