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[crankyoldman]

So, presentation.



Alright, so today was the Big Major Presentation of Doom.

And I can say without any arrogance that I honestly kicked ass.

So the purpose of this giant presentation was for me to convince our sister company to not overcharge us for their work. That while we need their programming/animating expertise, we do a fuck ton of work on the back end. Namely, we have to convince the National Science Foundation that our game is actually educational, but not just that, it is innovative and educational. Something new that the game environment provides that traditional teaching methods cannot.

We've been worried for a while because our sister company is... very profit driven. They want as much money as possible and as little work to do. Not that they're devious about it, they're quite obvious. They're also fucking good at what they do, so they're a good partner to have. No complaints there, we just needed... we needed to define who WE are in this partnership. This involved some boring business (but important) stuff and

So Boss #2 started out the meeting with the usual legal mumbo jumbo. Boss #1 had to go take care of their kids (as my bosses are married, if you haven't caught that before) so she wasn't there. I listened, but generally just smiled and nodded.

And then it was my turn.

I basically outlined what I did all summer. And then the discussion happened. And then there were some tough questions which I for once wasn't too nervous to answer. In fact, I stopped being nervous as soon as I started speaking.

(funny incident: when I hooked up my computer to the projector, I had only my background showing. My background is the hires!Tifa image, pretty much.

Guys in Room: Nice background.
Me: I know.
Guys in Room (that obviously had not played FF): Who is that?
Me: The hottest woman that doesn't exist.
)

You don't realize just how immersed in something you are until you have to explain it. Suffice to say, any doubts on how we were using our chunk of the grant money were dispelled. I mean, I was on a roll. The CEO of our sister company (yes, CEO, THIS IS WHY I WAS FREAKING OUT EARLIER) is a super cool guy, but I know he can be harsh. Super harsh.

He only wants one more thing from us (basically a VERY cut and dry "golden path" outline so we don't, as he said, "break the brains of my developers because they get too overexcited about this") and we're ready to look at testing.

Testing!

Granted, we will not have The Game to test, merely the module I came up with (plot, situation, NPCs... now I see why they gave me a raise, I've done a TON this summer). Boss #1 is in charge of the post-test stuff there.

Anyway. I feel much better now. In fact, I'm so psyched. I mean, progress. By the end of the week we'll have an answer on precisely what they can program. Hell, we might even have a short video sequence thing for Phase I. It could happen!

And they bought me lunch. XD And I have another job offer.

God, I need to finish school so I can get back to this for realz. I love the workforce. Why is the "real world" so much awesomer than school?


Also, does anyone around here know how to program in the Unreal engine? Or something like it? And needs a job? Or maybe knows someone that does? I get to help find lackeys interns so drop me a line at: viniel@gmail.com.

I can't guarantee you'll get a job, but they figured I know more people than they do.

~Cendri