95% Chimp

Every game I have ever worked on has had crunch or overruns or both. So here I thought I'd document why. This isn't a philosophical piece or a dig at producers. This is just a list of the reasons that actually caused crunch or overrun. I've had 17 good years out of the games industry and I hope to have many many more. Planning is critical, but it isn't a silver bullet. Here, in no particular order, are the reasons: 1. Breaking down the task ahead is tough. No matter how thoroughly you try, and no matter how much you sit in front of Project thinking, you will ALWAYS mis-estimate the job ahead. Main reason for me personally is that I'm normally asked to project tasks for a deliverable I've not done before, from a codebase I'm not fully knowledgeable about. 2. It's hard to visualise the current state of the project. Even with encyclopaedic knowledge of the code (which is impossible these days) there are hidden corners of technical debt and malfunctions

After a couple of hours with F1 it's pretty much business as normal. After some very positive reviews I expected the new F1 to be better than previous ones, and it is. I also expected it to fall short in plenty of areas, and it does. I bought the PS3 version so I could use it with my G25, so different versions may have minor differences from this. First off, graphically it's a reasonably pretty game, but not as pretty as those preview videos make out. There's TONS of aliasing and the frame rate drops very often. It feels not quite finished. Physics are moderate, but with decent force feedback. I enjoy GRID and DIRT 2 more, which tells me half the problem is the F1 formula itself. You see, and read this bit twice... F1 cars are pretty crap to drive. Yes they are fast, but that doesn't mean they are fun. And fun is what I'm after. GT5 feels better, as does pretty much every 'proper' PC sim. Yet again the track feels like glass due to there being no proper

After much faffing and trial and error i've finally got my iRacing exploits in to iMovie. Now its working I thought I would share the solution with you all. First off, you need to buy Fraps to actually create the video file. Fraps video files cannot be read by OSX so first you need to use 'Any Video Converter' on Windows to convert the Fraps file into XVid. once you have your xvid file you need to reboot into OSX. In osx you need to download the 'Perian' quicktime codec. Once xvid is working on osx open the video file with Quicktime and choose to export the file. I export the file and 720HD since that is the resolution I capture at. Once quicktime has converted the file you can import it into iMovie. The journey through these codecs seems to boost the brightness of the video a bit, so get iMovie to reduce the brightness by 25%. Now you shoud have a good starting point for your iRacing video masterpiece. If yiu need more details or have any questions please put a

I never thought I would have as much fun as I've been having with the Star Mazda at Phoenix. Tonights race was with the middle split, so the strength of field was much higher than last nights race. After the usual spins and cautions in the first half of the race I settled into a nice groove with a bunch of guys who were real polite and considerate racers. It was a pleasure to have real close racing with them. Going into turn 1 at Phoenix less than two tenths behind the guy in front, top gear and without lifting at 145mph is a real adrenaline rush. I started at the back of the pack in 17th, but ended up finshing 7th under a 69th lap caution. Absolutely fantastic race and really makes me want to spend more time in the Late Model and get my oval license up past D. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My second time out in the Star Mazda at Phoenix has been a stark contrast to the first catastrophe. Not qualifying I started 12/18 and planned on just finishing this time. 70 laps and 4 cautions later I came in 4th, less that 6 seconds behind the winner. It was a bit of a war of attrition since only 5 cars actually finished, but I was very pleased with the result. Didn't pit or pick up an incident point either. With a bit less wing and some spring tweaks I reckon I could have won. Maybe next time eh... 8) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Location: Elleray Park Rd,Wallasey,United Kingdom

Went in for my first fast oval race at Phoenix last night in the Star Mazda. Did an hour of practice beforehand and had my setup sorted. Race time comes around and after the pace lap some plonker goes in hard on turn 1, slams into the wall and takes 3 others out, me included. Not a great way to start a 70 lap race... Didn't even got 1 lap done. Bugger 8) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This is a test - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone