Neglected but not forgotten

I've been very slack about this blog which is a bad start. Getting a puppy didn't make it any easier but that has been an interesting experience watching and seeing how he learns first hand. AT 16 weeks he's really becoming a dog.

Yeah he's still super cute, just a LOT bigger. I was away for a week at the Game Developer's Conference and came back to find that he was quite noticeable larger. In the one month between Vet visits he grew from 8kg to 11.6kg (which is nearly 8 pounds heavier. Also intriguing to watch his personality develop. I had dogs as a kid but when you're that young you really don't notice as much - probably because you're going through the same thing. I know some friends that are parents that have expressed the same joy in watching their kids grow - I get it now and it's really cool.

This weekend is Brisbane Supanova which I'll be at and giving a few talks (event guide)- I'll be doing a talk about what's coming up at Krome hosted by Matt and Yug from Australian Gamer - I love talking with those two so that talk should be a lot of fun. And I'll also be running a panel with some Krome concepts artists where we'll be talking about work and also answer question about getting into the industry.

So come along and visit the Krome Studios stand - I'll be there most of the time so come and say "hi" or whatever. We're right next to the pizza (gee how did that happen?):)

The little things

I have been meaning to post something wise here but I have to admit I've been distracted by the imminent arrival of a new puppy. Well I picked him up a few days ago and we've been playing ever since. I've named him Skiffy and he's an 8 weeks old chocolate merle Border Collie.

It's fun to watch him explore the house and find the bits that where he's the most comfortable. For example he's taken to sleeping under the table here by the computer or he's go out and sleep on the tiles when he gets hot. I'm also having fun trying to come up with new games to keep him stimulated - he's really surprised me in that he understands the concept of uncovering things. I forgot how smart Border Collies are.

So far he's been pretty good and no more of a mess than your average puppy.

New year and a new home

Since its the the start of a new year I figured it was time for a bit of a change in my life - blog wise.

Previously I've kept a Live journal mostly to display may drawings and designs but all to often to whine about my life like so many others. After a bunch of years of whining about the same stuff I realize that that won't change unless I make it happen and my god that really is boring to read.

So what I'd like to do with this new forum is to keep posting the art but maybe concentrate a little more about expressing my views and thoughts about the games industry, game design and just things in general.

So for the uninitiated I'll give you a little background on myself. My secret identity is Steve Stamatiadis, billionaire playboy (of please...mild-mannered is so freaking dull) Creative Director and co-founder of Krome Studios. We're now in out tenth year of making games and growing larger like a little Aussie Katamari of game development. I say that becuase we were lucky enough to form two more studios outside of our Brisbane office when we formed a Studio in Adelaide of Ex-Ratbag members when they got shut down and later when we picked up Melbourne House. I'm pleased to say that both studios have worked out really well and its an honest pleasure to be able to work with them.

Gameography wise you've probably never heard of me but might have heard of or played some of the games I was involved in.

The old shareware Halloween Harry/Alien Carnage where I did a lot of game design and all the art andanimation.

Flight of the Amazon Queen which I did all the art for an co designed.

Zombie Wars - a sequel to Halloween Harry but this time running on Windows 95 and the first game I had htat got published in Japan - which was very cool at the time for me.

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger Series - I co-designed and co-created the games, designed the chracters and art directed the series. It was Krome's first BIG seller and one of the biggest selling Australian games. TY 2 was also my debut as a voice actor giving life to the character of Gooboo Steve.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii, PS2, PSP versions) - I'm listed as the director on this one A) because I did a lot of different things on the project form design to artdirecton to character creation and I thought it would look stupid having my name everywhere.
B) If you can tell me there's anything cooler than having your name come up as "Directed by" on a Star Wars game when John Williams end credit theme start's playing and I'll just call you a douche.

TFU has sold amazingly well (not surprisingly) and will probably easily outsell the entire TY series. Oh and they made toys and stuff from some of our versions designs with possibly more to come.

That's just the stuff you may have heard about there's a lot of other titles out there that aren't as worth mentioning. Hey I've been doing this for over 15 years now - people don't realize it's hard enough just to get a game finished having somethinhg that's better than good is a minor miracle.

So that's me and my day job for now. I think next itme I'll talk a little about what I do fun fun, a little project I like to call Blade Kitten