New Wolf Diary -- November 22nd

Sorry I'm posting this a few days late. My girls had an extra long weekend due to teacher conferences so we've been running around having fun. The new Madison Children's Museum is fantastic, by the way. I highly recommend the human-sized mousewheel.

Regarding the Wolf diary, I had forgotten about the efforts we went through to get a writer working on the story and dialogue with us. To be honest, I'm not even sure who eventually received writing credit on the game. When I was on the project, at least, it was Marianne Krawczyk. She had a very agreeable demeanor and seemed willing to work in the shifting sands of Wolfenstein's foundation. She didn't even complain when I picked her up from her hotel in a Honda Civic with no muffler. What a trooper. Read on.

A Note to Commercial Airline Flight Crews

If a passenger were to watch you quickly and distractedly amble around your aircraft (thankfully, not one I was boarding) as you perform the most disinterested preflight check in the history of powered flight, it might just have a negative impact on his view of you, your carrier, and possibly the industry as a whole. Admittedly, I may be off base in my observations. Maybe the officer in question was doing a great job of inspecting his aircraft. I barely know the difference between a pitot tube and a lavatory (and let's be clear, failure to distinguish between the two could result in a painful and embarassing scenario) so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Also, the flight crew of United 5872 from O'hare yesterday performed one of the best landings in heavy winds of all time. Thank you, gentlemen.

New Wolf Diary -- November 21

In which The Schedule comes under attack by the nefarious forces of CantWeHaveMoreDesignTime.
Unanesthetized dental surgery is also mentioned, but in no significant detail. Read on!

Yay, my new book arrived

I'm now reading Implementing Lean Software Development. The Poppendiecks are huge names in the Lean/Agile world so I thought I should check out some of their material. I'm already fascinated with their brief history of the Industrial Revolution. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wolf Diary 11/20/06

Latest Wolf Diary is here. It's funny to look back and see that four years ago I was already becoming known for saying "no". 

Heh.

What? Another diary?

Yeah, I know...another diary? We may have uncovered why I was transitioned out of programming and into production -- I spent all of my time writing documents anyway instead of programming.

This was purportedly the 15th of who knows how many entries I wrote while developing SOF. Boy, I hope I find some of the others. Enjoy.

My First Layoff

Well, technically my second, but last time I had to walk someone out the door, not the other way around.

Something I didn't realize about layoffs -- and I don't know if this is just an Activision thing or if it's a federal stipulation -- is that the day you're let go you don't stop being an employee. Today is actually the beginning of our 60 days notice that our employment is being terminated. What that means to you, the consumer, is that I and all of my soon-to-be-ex-coworkers are still Activision employees and thus bound by the company's code of conduct. And, to be honest, while there are always going to be some really unfortunate effects from events such as this, I have to say that the whole affair is being handled with a lot more grace on Raven/Activision's part than many people have encountered at other companies. I've learned a lot about such things just in the past 24 hours and it's been somewhat eye-opening.

One of the things that I've always found unfortunate about layoffs and restructurings and realigning a workforce to better reflect a studio's upcoming slate is that you never seem to hear anything from the people who are let go. Which is a shame because layoffs tend to brand some very capable people with a frequently undeserved scarlet letter without giving them a chance to be heard. I hope that doesn't happen here.

Special message to my fellow laid-off Ravenites:

I've worked closely with almost all of you and I have a pretty good feel for what most of you are capable of. I know what you've accomplished on your various projects. I've also seen a few resumes come in over the years and I may be able to lend some insight into what prospective game industry employers would like to see when you start interviewing.

If I can be of any assistance to you, even if it's just to encourage you, contact me through comments on this post or through LinkedIn.

Most of you know that in my role as producer all I've really wanted to do -- what has given me the greatest satisfaction -- is to help you by removing the obstacles between you and success. If I can still do that for you in any way, let me know.

New Wolf Diary Entry!

November 17th is up. Wow, I had forgotten about the Deal or No Deal game. It actually turned out a lot better than I had feared.

Reminder to all Ravenites...keep watching this blog. Propriety demands that I not divulge what you're waiting for, but the wait is almost over. And I'm hoping I can help some of you if you need it.

Double Post!

Two announcements today.

1) In celebration of being with Raven for 4,290 days I thought I'd post an extra entry in my Wolfenstein diary this week. Behold -- November 16th!

2) Details forthcoming, but...Ravenites, watch this blog following impending events.

Steve Raffel retired today

Steve's the quiet, more reserved half of the pair of brothers that started Raven Software. They were indies before indies were cool. Bought an Amiga, hired some college students, maxed out their credit cards, and started a company that's still in game development 20 years later (and kept me employed for 11 years). I can't imagine what kind of drive and self-confidence you need to take a step like that. Well, whatever it takes, Steve's got it.

So here's to you, Steve. You've left a heckuva legacy. Enjoy your new horizons. Enjoy your family.

Enjoy your retirement.