Sense of confidence

With these weeknotes I publically track and archive whatever it is I spend my time on.

Last week was all about my financial administration. I’d cut some corners when I reported my previous quarterly revenue taxes, so this time I had to dig a little deeper and get everything sorted out. Now 2015 is not quite closed yet, but I’m almost there. I designed a new invoice for the new year to celebrate, with the crashing starship in its header, obviously.

The boring stuff was offset with entertainment, as I went to see The Hateful Eight in the special 70mm cut in Eye. I enjoyed it, especially the sense of Tarantino directing not just the movie, but the entire show, starting with a way too long ‘overture’ (just a static graphic set to a bombastic score) and an intermission of exactly 12 minutes at exactly the right time. It feels like an author at the height of his power, knowing he can control the whole thing. You can take a negative view on this, of course, and it’s certainly arrogant, but for me it did help to get into a movie that takes its sweet time telling a solid story. It really was an experience in the end.

I felt similar about The Witness, the first large-scale game I played in months, and the first in years I played for my personal enjoyment and inspiration only (although I downloaded it with a free, unsolicited code from a PR agency, so I still didn’t have a ‘normal’ experience). Like the 70mm presentation of The Hateful Eight, Jonathan Blow’s puzzle game emits a sense of confidence. You’re forced to take your time, settling into a mood and energy completely different from most games, solving flat logic puzzles on a lush 3D island.

In contrast with Tarantino’s eighth film though, I’m not convinced it’ll pay off in the end. Yes, I appreciate the puzzles’ growing complexity, and their variation. It totally feels like the designer ‘fully exploring the possibilities of an interactive system’, as Blow’s discussed previously. Yet I’m still solving sliding puzzles all the time. And while I enjoy exploring the island, I don’t like the (rare) writing. Perhaps there’s more to it; I’m not giving up yet.

What else? I…

• Went to Two Tribes twice to work on RIVE, and on Toki Tori 2+ for PS4 marketing, including metadata for the PlayStation Store. That someone has to enter and upload all game information, banners and screenshots for each version of the store is one of those things one never really stops to think about. Until it’s on one’s To-Do list.
• Visited Daniël Ernst, the man behind The Shoebox Diorama, in The Hague. It’s always fun to exchange ideas with Daniël, and to test the latest VR stuff he has laying around.
• Had three cappuccinos with writer Matthijs Dierckx, who just announced he’s quitting Control Magazine, in Amsterdam. It was nice to hear about his plans for the future, and to share some of my own.
• Had coffee and apple pie with filmmaker Bram Ruiter in Amersfoort, and put his input to good use working on my plan for VPRO. Which is not done yet, although I think I’m getting there.
• Posted about last weekend’s worldwide 48-hour game development marathon on the Dutch Games Association platform: Where the Global Game Jam came from (and what it’s about). And visited the GGJ site in Hilversum on Sunday, to judge the games made there. Our of nearly 30 I played 16, of which I liked Nice to Mate You the most. The ‘ritual’ theme probably lead to lots of mating ritual games around the world, but this must be one of the best.

Average step count per day: 7.829
Average staircase count per day: 16
Average sleep per night: 6:26
Average weight: 88,1 kg