Going Away Get-together for Carlo

Mike took Jer out last night to a dinner to meet a bunch of the folks from Reflections, who were all getting together to send off one of the own, Carlo. Carlo has taken a job with a game development studio in Copenhagen, Denmark. Carlo was one of the first people that befriended Mike when we first moved here, so it's a bit sad to see him go. Here's the gang:

The group, which is very international. Countries represented are: Italy,
Brazil, Poland, Germany, Egypt, Hungary, Spain,  and America (woot!).
That's Jer at the far right.

Carlo.

Mike's Trip to Cologne, Germany

Mike here. So I was asked to do a talk about the art direction for Driver San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Germany. Because I was at a conference, I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures, but I did take a few...

Euros and pounds.

Five hour layover in Amsterdam. See the guy in the background? He's from
Russia, but currently living in Alberta, Canada. We had about a two-hour
conversation about politics, traveling, and family. He could potentially be
a best friend, except his plane left two hours before mine. He's on his way
to Barcelona on holiday.

Flying into Cologne. 

A lucky guess. We ended up just by chance at this great restaurant
and bar right across from the conference. I'm with two co-workers, Joe
(from London) and Danes (from Hungary). This is us at 7pm. We
didn't leave until 2am. 

The English call 'em bangers and mash. In Germany it's simply
pan-fried sausages with garlic mashed potatoes and crispy carmelized
onions.  It needed a name like awesome on awesomeness. 

This was chicken, pork, and steak medallions on a bed of creamy buttered
cabbage. I don't like cabbage, but I'll eat that cabbage all day long. The
potatoes were just freakin' awesome.

Totally random. While walking toward Cologne's city centre, we walked right up
to a Driver Challenger. (The car from the game.) A classic example of the right
hand not knowing what the left was doing. A press tour of the car all over
Europe--handing Tshirts out of the trunk--and us just happening to be in
Cologne at the same time. The car owners didn't believe we worked on the game.

Me trying to look cool.

I don't know what to say about this.

Danes was our guide through Cologne.
He's just that kind of guy.

Joe is very happy about his sausage... :)

Praise for Driver: San Francisco

Okay, so the reason we are here in the first place is The Job. Since we arrived in England, Mike has been working hard on the latest release in the Driver franchise, "Driver: San Francisco."

Here's a sneak peek of the game:



While there is still much game testing, bug fixing, production, marketing, and distribution to come before the game will be on the shelves, Mike's role as Art Director is pretty much done.

Early reviews are starting to come in. And the reviews have all been great!

Last week in L.A., Driver San Francisco had a booth at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo, one of the biggest and most important industry tradeshows). The game won some awards and was nominated for others, including:

• Winner, Best of E3: Best Racing Game by Machinima.com
• Winner, Best Racing Game by Digital Trends (Yahoo!)
• Nominee, Best of E3: Best Racing Game by XPlay (G4) 
• Nominee, Best of E3: Best Racing Game by Shortlist.com 
• Nominee, Best Multiplayer by Digital Trends (Yahoo!)

And here's some Driver buzz. This video features YouTube star Freddie Wong, who said Driver San Francisco was his game of the show:




And here are two interviews with Martin Edmonson, the Creative Director at Reflections:

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Driver: San Francisco

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Driver: San Francisco

And check out these excerpts from industry reviews that have come out since E3.

“Of all the things I wasn't expecting at this year's E3, Driver: San Francisco's multiplayer turning out to be the "have you tried that yet?" game is definitely in the top three. The genius "shift" system brings a whole new dimension to driving games and delivers the "still in the race" feel whether you're a veteran of the genre or dabble in it from time to time.” - Alexander Sliwinski, Joystiq

“I played several rounds and each became more intense than the last, as the other players learned the tricks and tested strategies.” - Alexander Sliwinski, Joystiq

“… Ubisoft Reflections could have the surprisingly solid multiplayer experience of the year on its hands. We were pleasantly shocked a year ago by the polish of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's multiplayer and Driver: San Francisco is causing that same type of rubbernecking.” - Alexander Sliwinski, Joystiq

“Driver: San Francisco was one of my biggest surprises of E3.” - Lawrence Soontag, Machinima.com 

“The game looks amazing, sure, but where it really shines is in the gameplay department.” - Lawrence Soontag, Machinima.com 

“Driver: San Francisco is a truly original experience, and one that will challenge the preconceived notions of the genre.” - Lawrence Soontag, Machinima.com 

“When you add an open-world San Francisco setting filled with hundreds of miles of roads and the sort of eccentrics unique to the city--believe us, GameSpot is based there--you have a pretty good idea of what sort of craziness this game has in store. And now that we've seen what you can get up to in multiplayer, it somehow seems even crazier. “ - Shaun McInnis, GameSpot 

“It's a weird system, but it's one that works oddly well in an open-world driving game where sometimes you just really want to be driving a different car.” - Shaun McInnis, GameSpot 

“But in multiplayer, it's just plain-and-simple insanity.” - Shaun McInnis, GameSpot 

“It's a fast and frantic game mode that breeds a sort of paranoia and tension we haven't seen in a lot of racing games. It breeds this partly because there are so many people after one target and partly because that one target has every reason to believe that every car in the city is out to get him or her.” - Shaun McInnis, GameSpot 

“When I went in for some multiplayer, I expected the worst, but once again Driver: San Francisco proves that it can be a blast.” - Greg Miller, IGN 

“Having to run from everyone and avoid possible places people could shift was my favorite part of the game.” - Greg Miller, IGN 

“This racing, crazy turns, and shifting went on for a while, and while I'm sure it sounds simple, it was a blast. I'd play this at home.” - Greg Miller, IGN 

“I played a lot of games during E3 preview week last month, but none had me so entertained as Driver: San Francisco.” - Chris Kohler, Wired 

“I was glued to the multiplayer game that Ubisoft showed off at its E3 Expo booth last week in Los Angeles, a game of car tag that lets you shift between different cars on the fly.” - Chris Kohler, Wired 

“The Shift mechanic will be used throughout Driver. It’s a thoroughly unrealistic but quite fun bit of business.” - Chris Kohler, Wired 

“But that’s what makes Driver: San Francisco such a fresh, unique experience. Once you realize that you’re never stuck in your car and can jump to any other one instantly, the strategies begin to unfold.” - Chris Kohler, Wired 

“What left me feeling good about Driver after my demo was that in this age of bloated, overly complex console games, it embraced pick-up-and-play instant fun. I was already interested in this game for the promise of driving illegally around the city I live in, but the multiplayer demo has me looking forward to it even more.” - Chris Kohler, Wired 

“I'm not even all that crazy about driving games in general. But I really, really, really, really, reaaaaaally want to buy Driver: San Francisco.” - Tony Ponce, Destructoid 

“I lost both rounds I played, but I lost gloriously! This game feels more like the Matrix than the goddamn Matrix games! I'm anxious to get back in the driver's seat and start dicking around with the laws of time and space once again!” - Tony Ponce, Destructoid 

“You might not have machine guns or rocket launchers, but you're never safe, even for a moment.” - Chris DeAngelus, Worthplaying.com 

“If the main game can maintain that amazing intensity, it might be exactly what the franchise needs to stand out among its competitors.” - Chris DeAngelus, Worthplaying.com 

“After the last couple mediocre Driver entries, it's pretty reassuring that we're already enjoying these pre-release demos.” - Andrew Hayward, GamesRadar.com 

“…but what we played this week was fast, fun, and consistently engaging – certainly not something that'll put prospective players in a coma come late August.” - Andrew Hayward, GamesRadar.com

How Did We Get Here?

I sort of blame it on Don Miller. His book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned while Editing My Life was one of those books that can be dangerous. In a good way.

Mike and I had both heard about the book from different people and then the book was given to us as a thank-you gift by a missionary friend of ours, Stacy, who stayed with us for a few days while she was in our town raising support.

Okay, okay, we'll read the book! 

The premise of the book is simply this: If some Hollywood producer were going to make a movie about your life, would anybody watch it? Would it be a movie set in an inspiring or interesting place? Populated by fascinating characters? Full of inciting incidents that require the main character to dig deep and do something significant, something not self-serving, something that changes him and the people around him for the good?

It was a great book that Mike and I both devoured in a day or two. I've since passed on my own copy and given it as a gift to at least four friends. It's that good.

So reading A Million Miles... was the catalyst. That's why I can only partly blame (credit?) Mr. Miller. For us, we'd been exploring the idea of living abroad for years.

We had talked about taking a job transfer to Montreal with UbiSoft (Mike's company) back in 1998 but since I'd just started grad school and we'd just bought our first house, the timing wasn't right. In early 2007, we were very close to taking a job transfer to UbiSoft's Paris headquarters but changed our minds when we found out we were pregnant with Ollie. 

How many Saturday mornings had Mike and I sat with our cups of coffee on the couch in our living room, daydreaming and trying to plot out possibilities? Starting a business? Living in the mountains? Going back to school? Selling everything and traveling in an RV like friends of ours? We even talked to a friend who runs an orphanage in Botswana about working for her. We felt trapped and stifled by commitments, financial and otherwise. We wanted out. While we loved our house with the fenced-in back yard, plenty of space, and neighborhood pool, it sometimes felt like we were prisoners of a mortgage and slaves to home maintenance. 

And where can you find the money to do the things you really want to do, even feel called to do, when your paycheck is spoken for? And where can you find the time to do those things, when you're overscheduled and living a too-big life?

Some people probably would be able to make small changes over time to live differently, smaller, more intentionally...but for us, it was just time to do it. Whatever IT was. So we started praying. And exploring options. 

Obviously, income was a biggie. Mike loves working for UbiSoft but after more than a decade at the Red Storm studio working on the realistic military genre (I'm out of my element here, so forgive the improper use of video game terminology!), he was looking for a bit of a change. UbiSoft has studios in more than 25 countries, so we started looking at different studios, the games made there, and whether they had openings suitable for Mike's skill set.

We narrowed it down to Newcastle, UK,  Barcelona, Spain, Paris, France, or Malmo, Sweden. We looked at things like city size, language barrier, crime rates, and climate. (Now you're saying, "Climate?! But you ended up in England!" to which I reply, "How's pollen season in North Carolina treating you right about now?" That's mean, I know. But funny.)

About this time, I broke the news to my girlfriends. Mike told his parents and I told mine. That went over like poo in the punchbowl, as they say. I think everyone is, basically, fine with it now though; in fact, through this blog and Skype, maybe they even feel more connected....? I don't know....I can't speak for them.

Fast forward to the last couple months of 2010. Mike traveled to Newcastle three times in November and December to do consulting work on their current project, the latest release in the Driver franchise. And then they offered him a job. Doing what he loves: Art direction. We were like, "Wow. Is this really happening?"

So many details worked out in such a short amount of time. He got his job offer on December 17 and was living here as a bachelor in a hotel room by February 4. The boys and I flew out to join him about 10 days later. 

The house? Rented.

Two cars? Sold.

Mangy felines? Placed with friends for the six-month waiting period for entry into the UK.

Furniture? Sold, donated, or stored in our home's attic.

Our belongings? Three yard sales to get rid of what we weren't bringing.

Everything else? Packed into boxes on February 14 and shipped by boat....we are STILL waiting for these boxes to arrive! Just two more days to go! Yay!

So that's pretty much the story of how we got here. Thanks for reading...

"Good things take time. Great things happen all at once."

- From the movie Rat Race, spoken by Breckin Meyer's character


If you are interested in reading Don Miller's book, you can buy it here (note: I don't make any profits from the sale of the book) or get it from your local library!