/rss/blogcast/ Insomniac Games Blogcasts Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:14:17 +0000 en-us /blogcast/blog/insomniac_insider/1521684 /blogcast/blog/insomniac_insider/1521684 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000 Hey everyone, thanks to the great response to the blog last week. We’re sorry if you believed that teasing our upcoming projects meant that a Gametrailers TV reveal was imminent. Though hopefully you enjoyed the announcement of SOCOM 4 from Zipper Interactive, all of us here love the SOCOM games and are pumped to check out the latest one.   Speaking of which, there has been a lot of great games coming out lately. From Mass Effect 2 to Heavy Rain to MLB: The Show ’10 to No More Heroes 2 to this week’s Final Fantasy XIII and next week’s God of War III, it’s been an incredible beginning of the year for gamers. We can’t wait to bring you the inside scoop about our upcoming games – it’s funny to see you all talking about “our two games in development.” Haven’t we always had two games in development during the PS3 era? That’s not news!   The Podcast   Speaking of bringing you the inside scoop, one of the most frequent questions we’ve been receiving is “when is the Full Moon Show” coming back? The answer is soon, but we also don’t want to come back so soon that we won’t have anything to talk about it. The community team here has spent the downtime brainstorming some new directions to take the show, which we think you’ll all enjoy when we come back.   While the current format of the show has been a lot of fun for me to host and edit, we’re really inspired by some of the other great podcasts out there and how the format is evolving. In addition, we want to bring you some video shows that not only show you events, but perhaps show you rare footage from the studio and WIP elements of our projects, both upcoming and released.   Lastly, we'd love to have some sort of live Q&A type shows. But we’re still trying to figure out if we can do it as feasibly as we’d like. Regardless, we are working up a calendar now, and we hope that the show will be back by this summer, but that will largely depend on when exactly we will be discussing our future projects.   Conventions ahoy!   Otherwise, there is much planning going on – we are looking forward to being in San Francisco for the Game Developer’s Conference next week. Angela wrote a great blog about how to approach GDC from a recruiting perspective, and you can swing by our booth in the career pavilion if you’re looking for a job (we’re one of the best small companies to work in the country, so STOP by).   For those heading the Summits/Tutorials, Jim Van Verth will be a leading/part of the Physics for Programmers tutorial on Wednesday from 10-6. If you have a conference pass, don’t miss Ryan’s panel on Community 2.0 (Room 309, South Hall, Thursday 1:30-2:30) which will feature some great panelists like Brian Jarrard from Bungie Studios, Dan Hsu from bitmob.com, Christian Arca from Toy Studio, and Nathan Fouts, former Insomniac and founder of Mommy’s Best Games. If you find yourself up early on Saturday morning (9:00am-10:00am, North Hall, Room 125) – head to Engine Director Mike Acton’s presentation “Three Big Lies: Typical Design Failures in Game Programming,” or head to designer Jennifer Canada’s “Paint-by-Gender: How to Add Pink Gameplay to your ‘Blue’ Title (and Still Keep All the Boys Happy)”.   That said we realize a lot of you may not be going to GDC – and it’s likely a lot more of you will be at the Penny-Arcade Expo in Boston at the end of March. While we won’t have a HUGE presence there, I will be in attendance and participating in a panel on Saturday afternoon (5:30pm, Naga Theatre) – about game developer podcasts. Other folks on the panel include Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, EA.com’s Jeff Green, as well as Ken Levine and Shawn Elliott from Irrational Games. Should be a lot of fun, and for those of you who find me at the show (I’ll try to tweet what I’m up to: www.twitter.com/JamesStevenson), there will even be some swag involved (anything I can clean up from my desk!).   That’s all for now, lots going on here, but hopefully we will see many of you at GDC or PAX East. In the mean time, to keep up with all the latest and greatest thoughts and musings from us here in Burbank, check out our twitter feed and/or become a fan on Facebook   If you have questions, we’ll try to answer in the comments section and/or on the forums!     /blogcast/blog/insomniac_insider/1520892 /blogcast/blog/insomniac_insider/1520892 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000 Hey folks, James Stevenson, Senior Community Manager here. Over the last couple of months, the burning question amongst all of our fans out there has been, “what’s going on?” As far as I can remember, this is the longest stretch of time without Insomniac having announced a future project, leaving many of you wondering what exactly we’re up to in the walls of our Burbank and Durham studios…   …Unfortunately, this blog will not necessarily address your questions. If you’re hoping that I will announce a future title here, you will be disappointed. That will not prevent me from telling you that we are busy working here on some really cool stuff that we can’t wait to show you.   What we will tell you is that after the launch of A Crack in Time, there was some well-deserved time off for folks. We began to ramp up on other projects, and are currently underway on more than one game right now (which will be no surprise to anyone who knows how our production pipeline works). We’ve been trying to evolve our production pipeline to give us more time for iteration, as well as better efficiencies along the way.   My favorite part about the past few months though has been the initiative our NC Studio and project managers in Burbank have taken to keep everyone updated on what’s going on each week with the titles. We hope to eventually be able to share some of these tidbits (when things are farther along), but it’s pretty awesome to see a bunch of e-mails on Friday detailing new progress, with art, screens and video to show off what’s going on. It’s been really exciting to see our future projects take form.   Another big effort around here is to get everyone’s hands on the game a bit more often. We’ve been running weekly playtests to get companywide feedback on our titles. Things are shaping up really well, and it’s pretty incredible to think of where we were in December versus where the games are now.   (The front door to Insomniac North Carolina)   North Carolina   In December, Director of Brand Development Ryan Schneider and I flew out to Durham, North Carolina to visit Insomniac’s not-so-brand-new-anymore-but-still-has-new-studio-smell office. Despite the fact that we got lost on the empty floor that the elevator deposited us onto, we did eventually find Chad, Shaun, Dave, Greg and the gang who are hard at work on their own game.   (The Dean Dome)   One of the fun parts of that trip was heading out to the Michigan State vs. North Carolina basketball game. As big college sports fans, it was pretty awesome to see a game at the Dean Dome. Ryan and I got there way early, and geeked out over all the history and team photos. The interesting part of the night came when we tried to find a cab back to our hotel. We ended up walking a couple miles along a highway in the dark and cold, while it was raining, before finally getting to a gas station and calling a cab. Folks who follow me on Twitter may remember my plea to call the police if I didn’t tweet within half an hour, as a really sketchy van pulled up with a couple big guys driving it. Fortunately, we made it back to our hotel in one piece and managed to convince the front desk to hook us up with some of the warm chocolate chip cookies.   (some of the great Southern cooking - Shrimp and Grits!)   All in all, it was a great trip to visit the studio, which is smaller right now than Insomniac Burbank’s smallest wing. Their conference room seats six comfortably, so company meetings are powwows around a nearby T.V. We’re looking forward to showing you more of their studio when we get to the point that we can reveal the game they are working on.   What's Next?   That’s all for today – I’ve got a second blog coming up soon about the future of the Insomniac Full Moon Show – as well as where you can run into us in the month of March at various conventions (GDC and PAX East!). So stay tuned for that – and be sure to comment below, in the forums, or on Twitter!       /blogcast/blog/bakers_dozen/1520423 /blogcast/blog/bakers_dozen/1520423 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000 Well…the first posting went well! Got positive responses, so I see this as a smashing success!! I’m really excited to be writing this next blog posting – and I feel more in the groove, I kind of get why people write blogs. So we’ll see how this one goes!   Topic #2, Blog #2… GDC 2010 (insert “Ride of the Valkyries” music here).   GDC 2010 is literally just around the corner – and while I somehow feel like it snuck up on me this year, I am excited and looking forward to it. I think GDC is a great time for everyone to get together under one BIG roof (Thanks Moscone Center!!) to meet, discuss, share stories and exchange ideas. It’s also a great time to catch up with all the industry people who you only really get to see once a year or so, when said GDC happens. I’m sure it is a totally different experience to attend the conference and seminars as it is to be “working” the show. That said- I think there are a couple of hints or tips I want to share – to maybe shed some light on, and help navigate the Career section of the show.   1) It’s loud… it’s really loud, (and it might be even louder this year with everyone on one floor!) Sometimes I can hardly hear my own voice – let alone the person who is right in front of me. So if I ask you to repeat yourself –I promise - I did not faze out on you- I just cannot hear a thing going on in there.   2) For Insomniac Games – we are going to ask you to apply directly to our website. This is not a personal thing – it’s a green thing. We could/would be shipping home crate after crate of paper and plastics… and risk losing all that vital info in the mail - so we ask you to submit on-line. Go GREEN! (This will also save you from lugging around a huge backpack of paperwork too!)   3) There are lots of people. LOTS. I would love to spend all the time I can with everyone who comes up to the booth – but it’s just not possible. Both Julie (our HR rep in the NC office) and I would love to gab for days – but there are just TONS of people… Come on by, we are there to see you, we WANT chat with you – but know that this is not the time for an in depth interview- we’ll call you after the show for that!   4) A pet-peeve of mine that happens every year, one person will come up to the booth and ask “So... Insomniac Games… what do you do?” Now if you are reading this blog- you are well informed! But just feel my pain on that one for a moment. I will be honest … I usually claim something crazy, and then say the truth. “We make mind controlled peripherals that can only be used at night hence the name … but we are really known for Ratchet and Clank, Spyro and Resistance”… it might be wrong – but it is funny. So check out who is going to be there – and if you don’t recognize the name – look them up - the internet is pretty handy for that. Every exhibitor is listed on the GDC website.   5) Enjoy yourself! Have fun – talk with every booth, get as much info as you can, absorb everything. We are there for three days! There is plenty of time to take it all in. We work in an amazing industry, and we are really lucky that we get to get together like this!     Until next time…       /blogcast/blog/bakers_dozen/1517983 /blogcast/blog/bakers_dozen/1517983 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000 It’s a new year, and a new decade so in honor of that, we are starting something new here as well. HOORAY! Welcome to the inaugural edition of a new blog here on the Insomniac Games website, called “Baker’s Dozen”! First – let me introduce myself- I’m Angela Baker – the HR Generalist/Recruiter/cat-herder here in the Burbank office, and I will be the primary voice/sanity check for this space. A little bit about me- I’ve been with Insomniac for 3+ years now, and before that I was at G4TV, a major publisher, and major talent agency.   I have always worked in HR, and have seen some CRAZY things happen- some in a good way- getting caught up in a Royal Family members security detail (good) and some not so great- seeing friends (and myself) go through layoffs. The idea behind this blog is to share what info I and the whole team here have on subjects like:   • What to include on a resume • What to put on a reel (or to have a totally awesome reel) • What’s the difference between an internship and a co-op • Interview attire • Why “sexybeast@gmail “ is not really a great email address when looking for a job • Why or why not attend game conferences • Why companies send out tests • Are game colleges hooey • Why 6% of our company got engaged over the weekend • What hiring managers are looking for, etc…   There is tons of stuff to cover – and we are going to try and cover all of it. Some of it will be serious info, some not so serious, and other bits will be downright useless (but only in a funny “makes me say huh?” way). I hope you find the info helpful, insightful or at least mildly entertaining.   I have to be honest- I’ve never done anything like this – I usually shy away from having anything written and then sent out into the blogosphere – but I think there is a lot of good and bad info out there, and it’s important to be part of the dialogue. So here we go!   Before I forget – if you have any questions, feedback, or just want to comment on whatever nonsense you think I’m sharing – your space is here. You can also shoot an email to bakersdozen@insomniacgames.com and I’ll hit you back with a response- but be kind – I did admit to being new to all this.   The first topic I’ll tackle here is a basic one – and an easy one. It’s about email addresses and outgoing voice mail messages when looking for a job. My two cents on the whole situation is this: You want to get hired. You want to appear as capable and hardworking as possible. Having an email address that is “golddigger@yahoo” or “iseenakedpeople@aol” is not really what you want to project. Ditto for voicemail messages. Screaming into the phone and saying “YO YO YO playa …whatz up?” is not really what I want to hear either when calling you about coming in for an interview or to ask for references. I suggest (and I did do research on this – so thanks to the other recruiters I talked with!) that for the purposes of job hunting – you select an email address that is yourname@hotmail or firstinitiallastname@aol, etc… just something simple, to the point, and easy to identify. Use it just for job hunting. Again – ditto for the voicemail- “Hi, you’ve reached John, please leave a message and I’ll get back to you”… much easier to digest and listen to.   Then once you have the job, be my guest to have whatever you want for an email address and voicemail message– the crazier the better…   More to come in the following months- and looking forward to the conversations to come!     about/news/upcoming/1517049 about/news/upcoming/1517049 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000 This is the press release from Starlight Foundation that shares what went down:   INSOMNIAC GAMES DEDICATES A STARLIGHT FUN CENTER TO PROVIDENCE SAINT JOSEPH MEDICAL CENTER   BURBANK, Calif. (January 29, 2010) Joy and laughter were brought to Providence Saint Joseph’s littlest patients this week, thanks to a generous partnership of Insomniac Games and Starlight Children’s Foundation. Insomniac Games sponsored and placed a Starlight “Fun Center” in the hospital’s Emergency Department, featuring a Nintendo Wii™, DVD player and a Sharp AQUOS™ LCD TV.   Ted Price, Founder and CEO of Insomniac Games, Barry Wolfman, Chief Executive of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Brian Thorne, Executive Director of the Providence Saint Joseph Foundation, and Donna DeDario, Director of Corporate Partnerships and Communications of Starlight, as well as a number of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff members gathered in an emergency room care room to cut the ribbon on the mobile entertainment unit—put to work just seconds after by the anxious hands of young patient, Alyssa, 12, of Sun Valley.   The hospital had given the girl’s mother her release papers to go home, however, the sight of the Fun Center being rolled down the hallway persuaded her to stay behind for a bit.   Alyssa’s mother shared her own excitement from the sidelines. The Fun Center would prove to be a perfect addition to the emergency department, she said. She shared her daughter’s strategy in packing a number of items to keep her entertained and distracted during what they expected would be a long and daunting hospital visit.   After scrolling through a number of the Fun Centers’ videogames, Alyssa decided she wanted to bowl.   Hospital staff was impressed with the ease with which the Fun Center could roll right up to the side of young patients’ beds or anywhere in a hospital setting. The entertainment units are perfect for hospitalized children in numerous situations: anticipating surgery, during long outpatient clinic treatments, waiting in the emergency room, or fighting loneliness after visiting hours.   More than 100 individuals pass through Providence Saint Joseph’s Emergency Room each day, 35-40 of them children. The Fun Center will now be a welcomed distraction for those kids when other visitors aren’t around, uniquely countering the isolation and fear often experienced by young patients in hospitals.   It took Alyssa two rolls to knock down the ten pins on her first frame, earning her a spare. Her face erupted into a determined smile, and her release papers stayed tucked inside her mother’s purse. There was no time for distractions. There was a game to play.   About Insomniac Games Insomniac Games is an independent videogames developer that has released award-winning hits exclusively for PlayStation consoles for 15-plus years. The studio has created world-famous game franchises such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, resulting in more than 32 million games sold globally. Insomniac is also known for its collaborative workplace culture, having earned 11 local, regional and national “best places to work” honors since 2004. In January 2009, Insomniac opened a Durham, N.C. studio, which is working on an unannounced project. Additional information can be found on both Insomniac studio locations at http://www.insomniacgames.com .   About Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, founded in 1943, is a comprehensive not-for-profit health care organization, sponsored by the Sisters of Providence. Composed of 448 licensed beds, the Burbank medical center is the largest hospital in the San Fernando Valley, with more than 650 physicians, and 2,000 employees and volunteers on staff. Providence Saint Joseph is known for its state-of-the-art technology and the high quality compassionate care provided by its physicians, nurses and ancillary staff. The Medical Center also offers services through its Cancer Center, Heart Center, Acute Rehabilitation Services, Women’s Services and Emergency Department.   About Starlight Children’s Foundation When a child or teenager has a serious medical condition, everyone in the family is affected. For 25 years, Starlight Children’s Foundation has been dedicated to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Starlight’s programs have been proven to distract children from their pain, help them better understand and manage their illnesses, and connect families facing similar challenges so that no one feels alone. Through a network of chapters and offices, Starlight provides ongoing support to children, parents and siblings in all U.S. states and Canadian provinces with an array of outpatient, hospital-based and Web offerings. Programs are also delivered internationally through affiliates in Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. To learn more visit www.starlight.org.       /blogcast/blog/insomniac_insider/1515235 /blogcast/blog/insomniac_insider/1515235 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000 We're going to start a recruiting-driven blog soon, led by our amazing HR team.  Watch this space in the future.         /blogcast/blog/ratchet_clank/1514358 /blogcast/blog/ratchet_clank/1514358 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000 Some of our fans have a lot of free time on their hands. And that is AWESOME.   Exhibit A: this amazing stainless steel, laser-engraved Lombax Scrabble set crafted by Insomniac forum member and font creator Paul Grzelak.     Grzelak went above and beyond the call of rational fandom and sent us one of his newly minted board games. And get this—there are only 25 of these sets in existence. Which leads me to answer the obvious question: No, they aren’t for sale (sorry, folks). As if it could be any more drool-worthy, Lombax Scrabble is the definition of “Limited Edition.”   For a detailed breakdown of the creation of this unique collectible you can check out Grzelak’s blog here.     BACKGROUND CHECK!   Grzelak first landed on our radar shortly after the release of Tools of Destruction in 2007. With the help of fellow forum member Midnightheist, he was able to decode the Lombax text outside of the Lava Refineries on Rykan V and set out on creating a true font file using the ancient alien symbols. Grzelak explains, “I am more a geek / engineer by nature. The mere fact that I wanted a Lombax font … was enough to get me to research font creation and start playing around with it.”   Having a font installed on your computer allows use of the language in any type-based program, making it a breeze to translate any text into the Lombax language by simply typing away at a keyboard. Since the text was only originally intended for use as a graphic design element in the game, producing a font was not considered a priority inside the studio. There was one problem that Grzelak ran into however: a few characters (J, X, and Z) do not appear anywhere in Tools of Destruction. What to do….     An active member on the Insomniac forums under the clever alias “pgrzelak”, Grzelak contacted one of the moderators, Insomniac Tools Programmer Paul “Pacman” Haile, who then put him in contact with Grant Hollis, Lead Artist and the original creator of the Lombax language. Grant recalls first getting in touch with Grzelak: “At the time, there was no font. I created the alphabet (A-Z and 0-9) using Adobe Illustrator and the artists had to hand-assemble any text onto the textures which would appear in the game. In exchange for the final three letters, Grzelak offered to send us a copy of the final font that he created.” Grant sent him the original Illustrator files and the rest is history. Grzelak received an in-game credit in A Crack In Time for his contribution, and his font was used throughout development.   So what’s up next for one of Ratchet’s biggest fanboys? Grzelak is vague about his answers: “I am from the East Coast of the US. I am old enough to have been alive before the moon landing, but young enough at the time not to remember it. I am a computer engineer by trade, and I have been working in the I.T. field at a very large company for over 20 years now.” A busy guy, with a lot of responsibilities, Grzelak can amazingly still find time now and then to check in on the forums and like every community member, make an impact on the Ratchet Universe. What more can a game developer ask of its fans?   May I suggest… Zoni Boggle?   By Paul Featherstone         about/news/upcoming/1511829 about/news/upcoming/1511829 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000 Hey everyone,   Want to share with you a really cool web app put together by those crazy super fans over at www.ratchet-galaxy.com (which is now available in English, as well!). For those of you who want to show off your Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time accomplishments, you'll want to check out the brand new signature generator!   Thanks to users Vince4x4 and JaKhris (with a little help from Sqweak) - you can now go make your custom forum signature at Ratchet-Galaxy.com!   www.ratchet-galaxy.com/acit-card.php   It's pretty self-explanatory, but here's a quick how-to with a few screenshots:   1. Enter PSN ID 2. Select a character 3. Select a background 4. Click “Generate my card” 5. Copy and save the direct link, html, or bbcode output for use in forum signatures, myspace, etc! The image updates the stats automatically.     Enjoy! And make sure you keep checking out www.ratchet-galaxy.com!   about/news/upcoming/1511299 about/news/upcoming/1511299 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000 Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time was named to the Associated Press' Top 10 Games of 2009 list.  Which is really cool considering all the other amazing games that came out this year.   A Crack in Time came in 6th on AP's list, just behind our friends in Bellevue, Sucker Punch (InFamous).  We're also very happy to see Naughty Dog continue to receive such well-deserved praise for Uncharted 2.  AP ranked it the best game of 2009 and many here would likely agree.   Here's a link to the AP story: about/news/upcoming/1510518 about/news/upcoming/1510518 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000 Hey everyone,   Wanted to let you know that the 1.20 Title Update for RCF:ACIT has been released to North American servers, and should be spreading worldwide shortly (if it hasn’t already).   The patch notes are below. For those of you who have a messed-up saved game, the last one will help you rectify the situation.   Thanks for your patience while we resolved these matters!    Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Update 1.20 Patch Notes:   * Fixed a bug after finishing the game that wouldn’t allow the player to be able to select between going back in time and starting challenge mode *if* they defeated Vorselon 3 before defeating Azimuth. * Fixed a bug where the player would load into Great Clock 1 after defeating Azimuth and initially selecting “Challenge Mode” and then backing out of the Save Game menu. * Fixed a bug where the player cannot select to go back in time after selecting to restart in challenge mode and then backing out of the save. * Fixed a bug where the player wouldn’t be able to damage Libra or Carina during the boss fights. * Fixed a bug where the player cannot receive the Good Samaritan Trophy. The Smuggler may disappear if players acquire the RYNO V before completing all of his quests, making it impossible to achieve the trophy. Effected players can equip the RYNO V to automatically complete any remaining Smuggler quests, and receive the trophy.   * FOR PLAYERS WHO HAVE A BUGGED CHALLENGE MODE SAVE DUE TO ONE OF THE PREVIOUS CHALLENGE MODE SAVE BUGS ONLY: Load your save game, and press the follow sequence of buttons in-game (will not work on the pause menu): Up + Up + Down + Down + L3 + Square + Circle + Square + Circle + R3. This will reset you to the beginning of challenge mode with all of your current weapons, bolts, XP etc intact so that you can continue the game.