Finished

Well folks that is it. I’m done, finished. For those who haven’t played it here is the final version of my final project Smashout 1.1. The game ended up being amazing and the presentation was amazing the whole crowd got into it cheering and jumping up and down. It was a great time but now school is over, I graduated last friday and to celebrate I went skydiving (most amazing thing I have ever done).

So what am I up to now, well currently I am sitting in a library in Burlington, Ky because my parents do not have the interent, I will be back home for about three weeks since I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled Wednesday. Then it is off to Philidalphia, PA where I will be working as a game programmer at Merit Entertainment (www.meritgames.com) I am extremly excited and feel like this is the perfect place for me to go. It was a long and crazy path to end up with this job I submited my resume to close to 100 companies and interviewed with four and ended up getting offers from three, but I know I picked right.

For those of you still looking for jobs or are students don’t ever give up and start looking early. I would like to thank Rob Coble from Full Sail for setting me up with the Merit interview. Those of you attending or going to attend Full Sail get to be really good friends with this guy he is awesome.

Now to switch back to the game for a moment. There will be a postmortem at some point and time from me on the blog but currently like I said I do not have the internet at home but it will get done.

Thanks for everyone who has supported me to achieving my dream.

Grant

Another Day Another Year

It is my birthday WOOO. So what am I doing on this fine day, well I think I’ll cut my hair and finish making the high score system for our game. Ya templated Linked lists.

Top Films of 2007

Here it is my top films of 2007. I could not get it down to 13 so yea there are 17

No Country for old men

Juno

Ratatouille

Once

This is England

Hot Fuzz

I’m Not There

Bourne Ultimatum

The Lookout

Into The Wild

Death at a Funeral

There Will Be Blood

The Kite Runner

The Great Debaters

American Gangster

Charlie Wilson’s War

Persepolis

Honorable Mention list: Sweeney Todd, Michael Clayton, Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, In The Shadow Of the Moon, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Before the devil knows your dead, The King of Kong, Offside, No End In sight, You Kill Me, 1408, Away From Her, 3:10 to Yuma, Breach, Atonement

Movies I still want to see from 2007: August Rush, The Savages, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Killer of Sheep, Triad Election, Enchanted

2007 Lists

So for all 3 of you out there who actually have read my top albums of 2007 AND are interested in my top Games and Films, I just wanted to let you know that I’m still working on my lists. There are still 2 0r 3 games I want to finish first and about 20 movies but I’m burning through those at a good rate. So don’t hold your breath but they should be up in the next o…2 months :).

Top Music of 2007

Here it is the long awaited list(by me that is). My favorite albums of 2007. This seemed to be a year of British rock, female singers, indie bands who play mostly acoustic, and of course just some more rocking stuff. So here it is the top 13 albums of 2007.

The View- Hats off to the buskers

Feist – The Reminder

Amy Macdonald- This is the life

Artic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Cloud Cult – The meaning of 8

Eisley- Combinations

Bright Eyes – Cassadaga

The Almost – Southern Weather

The Maccabees – Colour It in

Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

The White Stripes – Icky Thump

J-Roddy Walston and the Business- Hail Mega Boys

Following are some of the other albums I have enjoyed this year but just aren’t great enough to be in the top 13.

Aqualung – Memory Man, Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, The Thrills – Teenager, Colour – Between Earth & Sky, Anberlin – Cities, Hot Hot Heat – Happiness, The Killers-Sawdust, Mae- Singularity, Justice- Cross, Dashboard Confessional- The Shade of poison trees, Foo Fighters- Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, DJ Tiesto – Elements of Life, The Brothers Martin- The Brothers Martin

There were a few albums I haven’t gotten yet but they just didn’t make it into the cut. I hope to keep finding great cds from last year.

Blog Writing

So I realize I am getting really bad at this blog writing thing so I’m just writing this to let you know that I am still alive and my plans for this blog and a future website. Currently I am in my last month of Full Sail before the five months of final project so I am extremely busy with school. Also I am getting ready for my first GDC which I am extremely excited about. I will be writing about GDC and my experiences there.

Now for the blog I have a few things that I want to write in the next few months first I am going to do my top lists of 2007 including, Movies, Music and games. But right now I am very behind in the movie and game department so it will take me a few weeks to catch up. Also I will be posting a resume soon and hopefully I will have a website up and running in the next few months. Until the next time.

Grant Shonkwiler