Happy Holidays!

Merry Xmas, everybody! 2009 marks the first time since I moved to America in 1998 that I won’t be going home to Germany for Xmas and/or New Years. But that’s okay! We were home in August (for my brother’s wedding) and will celebrate Xmas with Victoria’s family in Grass Valley. Hope you’re having a good break, and a great 2010!

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

As the year is coming to a close, I feel that it’s about time that I update my blog with the latest news on what has happened and what the near future holds. A lot has changed in recent months; nothing drastic, but enough to keep me occupied and away from the page.

From now into the new year I’ll post about those developments. New job, family additions, some game design thoughts, upcoming GDC sessions… we have something for everybody!

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably subscribed to the You Got Red On You RSS feed. Thanks for that, I’ll try posting more regularly again in the future.

State of the Union

When I visited home last week, my dad (of all people) scoffed “Your page isn’t about anything but cars these days, is it?” Touché! There hasn’t really been a lot of content lately that didn’t revolve around Infineon Raceway, which is usually cheap content. You may have noticed some recent signs of life, but it’s been a while since I updated regularly. So I think a quick “state of the union” post might be a good idea. What’s up with me and the webpage?

The short answer is that life has been busy in the last few months. I don’t work for Factor 5 anymore, and I am taking some time to figure out what I want to do with my professional career for the next few years. That status puts me in a weird state; on the one hand, I have tons of time to do whatever I want to do, including blog posts. On the other hand, I’m busy figuring out Life, the Universe and Everything, which doesn’t leave much time for the webpage, at all.

But I want to get back into blogging soon. I’ve been thinking about a whole bunch of stuff, much of which would make for good web content. I’m a game designer at heart, and I want to make that topic the focus of this blog again. Hopefully, I’ll arrive at at least one actual posts per week on that subject, on top of a the recurring themes that were running earlier this year. Speaking of which, what’s up with…

• Beyond Belief 2008? Don’t remind me. The short answer is that the level is pretty much done, but hasn’t progressed much from the state that it was in for my beta test back in March. It still needs difficulty settings, a bunch of tweaks based on the testers’ feedback, and a complete VIS pass. Which takes roughly three days on a quad core pentium, a computer I don’t have access to right now. With everything else going on, I don’t see this being released anytime soon. But I do plan on releasing it! This level is getting comfortably close to “cannot finish something” territory, and I have never let that happen… In the meantime, I’ll send the beta version to anybody who would like to play. Just drop me a note!
• The monthly hike series? My knee happened. It’s been broken since I was 15, with recurring periods of bustedness in between. And almost 4 months ago, one of those periods started when I twisted the knee out of its socket while sleeping during the night. I pretty much wasn’t able to walk for 3+ months, let alone hike. So there haven’t been any hike posts. I did my first short hike after all this time just today, though, and as soon as I get back in shape enough Victoria and I will try to pick up the series.
• The Silent Reviews? Well, the page doesn’t look very attractive when it’s the only content appearing for several weeks, for one. And honestly, I was just running out of stuff to “review”. I’ll probably go back to the monthly snapshot posts instead.

I think that’s about it for now. Thanks for visiting, or still having me in your RSS reader! I’ll try to be more interesting again soon. Before I do that, I have at least one more racing post to get out my system, though

Monthly Hike: Point Reyes

When I was in my early teens, I caught a swashbuckling adventure movie about Sir Francis Drake on TV. The movie was probably awful, and the plot most certainly heavily romanticized. But back then, it impressed me enough to start naming my game characters after the legendary English captain/explorer/pirate (depending on who you listen to) – and ever since then, my Ultima avatars have been named “Drake”.

History caught up with me a few years ago when I moved to Marin County. Drake’s Bay at Point Reyes is considered to be the most likely landing spot during Drake’s 1579 world circumnavigation, and many local features (such as the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard) are a constant reminder of this colorful history.

Why am I telling you all this? Because during the past two weekends, Victoria and I visited to Point Reyes National Seashore to do some heavy-duty hiking. Point Reyes is well renowned for its great hiking trails and camping sites, played host to the classic horror movie The Fog (filmed in Inverness), and offers other attractions like the Point Reyes light house and great whale watching. Oh, Point Reyes  is also located smack middle on top of the San Andreas fault – the reason for the breathtaking terrain that makes up this part of California.

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Happy Easter!

Monthly Hike: Sonoma Overlook Trail

For all its beauty and tourist appeal, Sonoma has an embarrasingly small number of public hiking trails (especially when compared to Marin County). Most of the land is privarely owned by vinyards, and the mountains that surround the valley are closed off to hikers. Sonoma Overlook Trail is one of the few trails that isn’t only open to the public, but is well maintained and advertised in various brochures. It’s a relatively short hike up Schocken Hill, close to the town square. The town graveyard is adjacent, and there’s an alternative way that leads through the old cemetery. The hiking is nice, and once you get to the top, you get a good 270 degree view of the town of Sonoma and the San Pablo Bay.

Victoria and I haven’t found much time to go hiking in recent weeks, and the month of February was completely rained out. So even though we’d hiked the Overlook Trail many times before, I decided to use the beautiful weather last Sunday for another visit, trusty iPhone in hand (which means crappy pictures). Here’s a few impressions from the trip.

Spring in Sonoma

Early spring time in Sonoma, always a lovely time. I believe that you can learn a lot about a town by its cemetery – if the graveyard feels like it’s grown with the people, the town is bound to have character. Sonoma’s cemetery is spread around a hillside, with tons of old trees and gravestones that date back into the 1800′s. There’s a couple of hiking trails that connect to the surrounding hills, making the area a fun place to take a Sunday stroll. Keeping company with ghosts has never been easier!

New Budgies

We’re back to four budgies! Please join us in welcoming Max and Lesley to the bird cage:

R.I.P. Aeris

No drama this time, just old age.  This was one of the first birds I got, before I even met Victoria

Down to two budgies for the time being. It’s somewhat quieter in the house right now, but the two remaining birds are big talkers. And we’ve been talking about starting to “staff back up” after the Superbowl.

Blog Fu

My blog fu is weak these days, as Gunnar would say. There’s actually several topics that I want to write about, like Gears of War 2 (which I finished a couple of weeks ago), Resistance 2 and The Reader. I started working on BBelief2008 again and, with a couple of month’s perspective, realized what a monster that level is. I just haven’t found the time and energy to post. Part of the reason is that I changed my work routine. I’m not taking my laptop to the office anymore and strictly use my work computer for…well, work stuff. So there’s no time to scribble down things during a lunch break, for example. It makes for a more concentrated and efficient work experience without distractions, but often results in me not wanting to touch another computer when I get home in the evening. I usually opt for doing something with Victoria (or turning on the PS3 or 360) instead. It certainly demonstrates how little I really need the internet during the day. Checking CNN.com or your personal email once is informative. 20 times per day not so.

I figure I’ll get back to regular posting soon, just need to shake off the lethargy. In the meantime, I’d like to give a few shoutouts:

• To Victoria, who just gained another year of wisdom and beauty.
• To Grant and Virginia, who decided to get married.
• To Gaurav and Summer, who did get married last years and who are now expecting a baby.
• To Kerstin and Olli, who had a baby
• To my brother Guido and his fiancee Sarah, who (almost) set their wedding date for this summer.

Gonna be a busy year! I guess I should get ready… And post about it when things come to pass.