We were forging new gameplay ground, causing a lot of growing pains. The control of the main character is the single most important thing in a CAG. I did all the programming, but Mark helped whip me along. For example saying, “he doesn’t stop fast enough,” or “he needs to be able to jump for a frame or two AFTER he’s run off a cliff or it will be frustrating.” Criticism is essential, and as a programmer who wrote dozens of world class control schemes in the years between 1994 and 2004, I rewrote every one at least five or six times. Iteration is king.
While all this art design was going on, I, and then in January 1995, Dave, struggled to build an engine and tool pipeline that would make it possible to render these grandiose cartoon worlds we had envisioned on paper. Since during fall of 1994 Jason was also the only artist, he frantically generated all the source material and banged on my head to make sure it would look incredible.
So what was it that Sega and Nintendo had in 1994, but Sony didn’t?
An existing competing mascot character. Sega had Sonic and Nintendo had Mario, but Sony product slate was blank.
So we set about creating a mascot on the theory that maybe, just maybe, we might be able to slide into that opening. I’m still surprised it worked.
In the summer of 1994 Naughty Dog, Inc. was still a two-man company, myself and my longtime partner Jason Rubin. Over the preceding eight years, we had published six games as a lean and mean duo, but the time had come to expand. In…
During my mom’s birthday weekend we seized on the opportunity of a fridge filled with pizza ingredients to whip up a number of Gavin-style breakfasts. First I made my Spanish eggs (SEE HERE). The next day my brother cooked up one of…
For the second half of my mother’s birthday weekend we hosted a small pizza party. I’ve already detailed the entire process involved in the making of my Ultimate Pizza (CLICK HERE for the index page). This party was merely a refinement…
Restaurant: Fraiche Location: 9411 Culver Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232. 310-839-6800 Date: January 29, 2011 Cuisine: Cal French Italian Rating: Interesting, Tasty, and surprisingly reasonable. My office was in Culver City in 2007 and 2008 and somehow I never tried…
The transition from season 5 into season 6 is the best of the entire series. After the season 5 finale, with its tear jerking “The Gift,” we slam right in with the two hour “Bargaining,” and it’s more or less continuation “After Life.” I’ve never managed to not watch all three of these together because until the end of the third hour things are so unsettled you just have to keep going.
Restaurant: La Cachette Bistro [1, 2] Location: 1733 Ocean AveSanta Monica, CA 90401(310) 434-9509 Date: January 15, 2011 & December 7, 2011 Cuisine: (Cal) French Rating: Great food, good value for what you get. Movie night, and off to La Cachette Bistro…
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise is fine, set in a dystopian 2150 where teens are branded at 16 as”legal for sex.” Nina is almost 16, and is dealing with not only the stress of this oncoming rite of passage, but boys, the death of her mother, and a bigger conspiracy. But it just fell flat.
Restaurant: Pearl Dragon Location: 15229 West Sunset Boulevard Westside CA 90272. (310) 459-9790 Date: Jan 16, 2011 Cuisine: Pan Asian / Sushi Summary: Great “new style” sushi. Pearl Dragon is one of the few dinner restaurants in Pacific Palisades, and the only…
Restaurant: Matsuhisa [1, 2] Location: 129 N La Cienega Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 659-9639 Date: January 23, 2011 Cuisine: Japanese Fusion Rating: As good as it’s always been! ANY CHARACTER HERE When I first ate at Matsuhisa 15 years ago it was…
This 60 page short story is so up my alley. A story of time travel, set in medieval Baghdad, what could be better? If it were written in a lyrical style reminiscent of the Arabian nights! This is a gold and gem encrusted little dagger of a story.
Restaurant: Fig Location: 101 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, Ca 90401. 310-319-3111 Date: January 14, 2011 Cuisine: Farmer’s Market American Rating: Solid! It’s fairly impressive that the Santa Monica Fairmont invested in getting a REAL chef (Ray Garcia) and turned their…
Restaurant: Bistro LQ [1, 2] Location: 8009 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048. (323) 951-1088 Date: January 20, 2011 Cuisine: Modern French Rating: Legendary. Trufflumpagus is still squatting inside my skull. Back in December my Foodie Club friends and I had heard about this crazy “19…
This book is rather brilliant, but isn’t for everybody. It’s racy, written in a breezy first-person past with a kind of stream-of-consciousness lightweight quality that made me have to look to make sure it wasn’t present tense. The prose is very very good — fitting the material perfectly.
Restaurant: Gjelina [1, 2, 3] Location: 1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, CA 90291. (310) 250-1429 Date: Jan 11, 2011 Cuisine: New Californian Rating: Perfect lunch! _ My brother and I love Gjelina’s for lunch. Nowhere else in LA is the casual New American done…
Season 5 and 6 pretty much tie for the best of the seven! Pretty incredible how this show just keeps on getting better and better until the final season. With this season everything slips into a serious groove, but what’s really surprising is the depth of emotion pulled out of the viewers. Nearly gone are the episodic “one off” episodes (discussed in my Lost vs The Love Boat post), instead the story just rolls from one episode to the next with only a few exceptions.
Restaurant: Brentwood Location: 148 S Barrington Ave Los Angeles CA 90049. 310-476-3511 Date: Jan 9, 2011 Cuisine: American Brentwood is a local bar/restaurant perfect for the Sunday night with-the-kid dinner. It’s pretty straight up American, very tasty, but a…