I really need to blog more!

2 posts in the last year is not good!! And I guess the amount of modelling work that I've done has reflected that....i.e. pretty much nothing. Everything has seemed to transfer to the youtube channel, and that is a big focus when I have free time outside work.

Speaking of which, with the summer holidays over, things should be settling down now and hopefully getting into a regular pattern. It's had it's ups and downs, but what job doesn't? But at least I can say that majority of the time I do enjoy it and have a laugh. Hopefully things will settle into a rhythm and I can get myself into more of a routine with work, making videos and socializing.

I guess I should talk about the channel now. It's growing at a relatively steady rate and views are starting to reflect the kind of videos I put up now. Anything other than F1 or Project Cars barely grabs peoples interests which is a shame considering I play less F1 and P. Cars than most other games at the moment, and I try to upload the more entertaining parts of those games. Hopefully though, people will eventually watch them and gain some interest. F1 seems to be taking a drop at the moment which is understandable seeing as the game has been out almost a full year now, and we're getting close to the release of F1 2013. I've got a number of things lined up for the release and the couple of months that follow which will hopefully boost the interest in the channel and also the game itself.

Project Cars seems to be the game that a lot of people are interested in on my channel at the moment. Views seem to go up quicker after initial upload, and seem to climb higher too further down the line. It's nice to see, and I want to bring more project cars gameplay, I just kind of struggle to find time at the moment as I spend most of my time either working or playing/ socializing with mates. But it's not going to stop me from uploading any of the good footage I get from it.

As for the channel as a whole, like I said, it's growing at a steady rate with views going up, sub counts, likes and shares going up too. It's great to see new people coming in on a regular basis, with also the subscribers who have been around from the beginning still commenting on the videos and enjoying them. I've made a few mistakes on the channel during the last 9 months that I've been doing it more seriously, and I am learning and trying to iron out those to improve the channel and viewer experience as a whole. Of course though, the channel wouldn't be going without you guys watching, like, commenting and sharing the videos I put up, so a massive thanks to you all. I can only go so far as to advertising my channel with the websites and forums I use, but with others sharing the videos on other sites and forums that they themselves use, the channel catches a wider audience. You guys deserve the credit for the support people have shown over the 9 months!

Eurogamer is coming at the end of the month, and Im there for 2 days (Thurs 26th and Fri 27th). Hopefully will get to meet some of the subs from the channel, play some awesome games and have a laugh talking with the devs at the event. Like the previous 2 years, it should be a good one and hopefully something can come of the event. I think thats when the next post will probably come, but if something big happens between now and then, I will more than likely blog about it. Other than that, I think thats it!

Yorkie

F1 2012 Mods

For now on, I shall be using a number of mods on my F1 2012 game. For organisation reasons, I've decided to list all the mods that I am using here, with the mods name, the creators name and a link to where the mod can be found. All credit goes to the creators of the mod, as I do not own or claim to have made any of the mods listed below:

2013 Car Skins:
Red Bull- Red Bull RB9 [DHD], Creator- Pebz
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/pebz-red-bull-rb9-dhd.64892/

Mclaren- Mclaren 2013 Barcelona/ Pre Season Paint. HD Pack, Creators- Supla007 and ML2166
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/mclaren-2013-barcelona-pre-season-paint-hd-pack-supla007-ml2166.65690/#post-1384445

Ferrari- 2xHD Ferrari F138 tester, Creator- ML2166
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/2xhd-ferrari-f138-tester-ml2166.63953/

Lotus- Lotus E21 2xHD Team Pack, Creators- ML2166 and Supla
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/lotus-e21-2xhd-team-pack-ml2166-supla.66150/#post-1390458

Mercedes- Mercedes Quadruple Team DHD Pack, Creators- Supla007, Pebz and ML2166   http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/mercedes-quadruple-team-dhd-pack-supla007-pebz-ml2166.66005/#post-1388552

Force India- Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM05 HD, Creator- Warok
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/sahara-force-india-f1-team-vjm05-hd.56766/

Sauber- Sauber C32 2xHD, Creator- Supla007
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/sauber-c32-2xhd.64123/

Williams- Williams FW35 Renault, Creator- Warok
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/williams-fw35-renault.64402/#post-1364952

Toro Rosso- Toro Rosso STR 8 [DHD], Creator- Pebz
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/pebz-toro-rosso-str-8-dhd.65948/

Caterham- Caterham CT03 [DHD], Creator- Pebz
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/pebz-caterham-ct03-dhd.66267/

Marussia- Marussia MR02 Cosworth, Creator- Warok
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/marussia-mr02-cosworth.67196/

HRT- Fantasy Lamborghini 2.0 (Replaces HRT), Creator- Franske
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/fantasy-lamborghini.67202/#post-1417481


Tyre Skins:
Fusion Tyres- F1 2012 Fusion Tyres HD, Creator- Zeno Dyk
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/rddev-f12012-fusion-tyres-hd.58559/

2013 Orange Hard Tyre- F1 2013 Hard Orange Tyre HD, Creator- Zeno Dyk
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/rd-zeno-f1-2013-hard-orange-tyre-hd.63526/

Note: The hard orange tyre mod will only work if the fusion tyres mod is already installed.


Data Logger:
F1 2012 DataLogger, Creator- Kenken
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/f1-2012-datalogger.59647/


This list will constantly be updated as more and more mods get added to my game. The helmet that I use is my own work. I created it myself for personal use and it is not available for download.

Huge Update

It's been so long since I last posted that I'm surprised I haven't forgotten about this blog. So, last post was back in Aug/ Sept 2012. It's now the end of Feb 2013, time to catch up I think...

Eurogamer:
So I haven't mentioned this since my last post; it was alright! Yeh, only alright. I didn't think it was as good as the previous year (2011) for a number of reasons. The main one being the lack of studios and job opportunities. In 2011, there were a fair number of different companies there, all advertising various vacancies to apply for, with only a few university and courses around them, the ratio from studios to uni's was probably around 65%-35%. This year (or last however), there were 3 studios. 2 of them the same as last year, and one new one. The rest were all universities and also online courses, of which there was quite a few. I guess the current economic climate has a big play in this, which is unfortunate but still, it didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of the show.

Another reason was the games on show. Personally for me, the games weren't as good as again, the previous year, but there was a nice strong showing from the indie devs with some good titles that I had quite fun playing. Some very nice unique concepts that were very cool and intuitive, but many of the main AAA titles didn't have much appeal to me.

The highlight of the show must have been a competition on F1 2012. The new release for F1, having only been out a couple of weeks prior to the show. I did already have a copy of the game and also a wheel, and have given it a go prior to the show. Turned up at the Codemasters stand to see what it was about and managed to find out from one of the community managers that it was a 10 man TT tourney around Silverstone. Basically 2 laps to set a fastest legit time (coming off the track pretty much negates the lap) and the fastest gets a copy of F1 2012 and also a Thrustmaster wheel. I think about 9 people showed up in the end, and had a surprise guest of David Croft from Sky Sports F1 there to commentate the contestants laps. I was third from last; the first 2 didn't set valid laps, the 3rd set a time of 1.42, the 4th guy didn't set a valid lap, 5th did a 1.40, 6th did a 1.39. I was 7th and managed to pull out a 1.35 on a wheel that had very sensitive settings, so there was a few nervous twitchy moments, but I managed to keep it on the track. The guy after me didn't set a valid time, and the final guy only managed to get a mid 1.39, making me the winner by about 4.5 seconds in the end. As I already have a wheel and a copy of the game, you'll be pleased to know that I've passed on both the winning copy and wheel I won onto a friend.

So overall, a relatively good day, got my laps commentated by David Croft, got a photo with him and his signature, played some cool indie games and had a good laugh and generally a good time with mates.

Job Hunting: 
This is a constant on-going process of searching daily and applying where I can. My applications have broadened a little in an attempt to find something to get me, develop further skills and hopefully aim to get to where I would like to be in the future. Im signed up to multiple sites (LinkedIn, Microsoft jobs, EA jobs, Sony Jobs etc etc), following multiple studios on twitter keeping an eye out, keeping in contact with Eutechnyx for anything that comes up there, and applying directly to studios through their websites. It's quite a tiring process, and pretty frustrating as about only 1 in 5 studios give you a reply as to whether or not your suitable, often weeks if not months after i've applied. The rest don't seem to bother replying at all apart from the usual automated message when you initially put forth your application.

However, in an attempt to increase the likelyhood of getting a job, my CV has been updated, reviewed by a number of people and altered quite drastically after some very useful and important feedback. So to those who helped, I thank them, as the CV looks a hell of a lot better than it previously did. Along with this, a number of small and medium sized projects have been started to keep some what in touch with the dev side of gaming, more of this below.

Youtube:
Probably the biggest thing that I have started, is my own Youtube Channel. I started this back in October I believe, and the channel is slowly growing. It is a gaming channel, mainly F1 2012 at the moment, with the intention of expanding into other games I enjoy when I get the hardware to do so as at the moment, my current system isn't ideal for both playing and recording at the same time. Currently as it stands, I have 71 subscribers with 5,000 video views and 32 uploaded videos. The channel is growing with subs and views going up on a daily basis. The videos are also monetised so I am getting paid for the views (if they're not running AdBlocker), but due to the relatively low view count it's only really pennies that im receiving at the moment. Hopefully, the channel will continue to grow and get to a point where I can get some decent money from it.

At the moment, I'g uploading 2 videos a week, one on Monday and the other on a Friday. The Monday being an In Depth Guide to the tracks in the game, a series im currently running, and the Friday a more casual sort of fun video; something along the lines of a multiplayer race, or compilation video of overtakes, or crashes. If you want, feel free to check out the channel and subscribe here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Yorkie065?feature=mhee

Also if your running AdBlocker, please disable it for youtube! It makes those fair few hours capturing and editing the videos worth it :)

F1 2012 Helmet Skin:
As part of the Youtube channel and also for my own enjoyment, I've textured my own custom helmet to go in the game. The helmet is based off the Box Patriot motorbike helmet that I actually own and use for karting, with some Red Bull sponsor logos to make it suitable for the Red Bull ingame, as thanks to a Racing League that I was in, it's the main car that I drive.

Here are some screens of the helmet in Photoshop, and also in-game:

I hope to do a couple more helmets in the future for the game, as it was quite fun texturing and creating the helmet design.

Garage Scene:
Something that I've started in the last month or so, an F1 style garage with pit lane to house the Pagani Zonda that I had previously made. I was intending on using the garage as an intro for the videos that go on my Youtube channel also, but I've settled for a different style of intro all together. The modelling is roughly 60% done (the cars are there only as reference and will be removed until I've refined the zonda), with a fair bit of detail that I need to add, but the main layout is there. Preferably, some of the detail I plan to try and get through texturing and normal maps, but I know some will look a lot better being modelled (e.g. lights in the top of the garage).

Here are some WIP screenshots:

Final:
So, thats the main story of what i've been doing since my last post. I've done a bit of seasonal work at Iceland in my local store to keep some money flowing in, but that will very soon end. Hopefully all this will push me towards finding a job in the industry. Shall hopefully have something to post again soon!

August- September Update

So a blog update has been long over-due. Back in mid August, my contract at Eutechnyx Limited had unfortunately come to an end after a 3 month extension. The time I had spent at Eutechnyx was extremely valuable. Not only did it give me my first lot of industry experience, but I also learnt a lot about the way in which the industry works. It's helped me to choose a path for my career in the industry, mainly staying as a Level Designer and working through the ranks, to eventually become either a Gameplay or Games Designer.

As for the future, I am once again attending the Eurogamer Exbo at Earls Court, London at the end of this month with some close friends of mine. I will primarily be there searching for another job, but also enjoy myself playing the latest games and soaking up the atmosphere.

For this blog itself, I'm aiming to get back into a few modelling things, which one specific project in mind, and of course some Level Design work as well. I do have some screenshots of my work that I did for Eutechnyx, but of course this won't be publicly released. Im hoping that the new skills that I have learnt over the last 6 months will shine through in the next batch of work that I produce, and keep your eyes pealed for a post around the end of the month about Eurogamer.

Working for Eutechnyx

My first post in a long time, and a lot has happened since then!

Since my last post I have become a Junior Level Designer at Eutechnyx Ltd based up in Gateshead, Newcastle. It's only a short temporary contract but the work is fantastic!! Very much enjoying my time and also the work that im doing at the company. A lot of exciting things are going on in the studio, and it's amazing to watch it unfold right infront of your own eyes and be a part of it. Seeing the work your doing on other co-workers screens and working the way it's intended, is massively rewarding!

Im currently half way through my contract, with another 6 weeks (approx) left. Im hoping that another Unreal project will come through for them as it will offer the opportunity for a more permanent contract within the studio. There is a possibility of quite a large time period between me leaving and them getting another game project, so Im keeping my eyes and ears open to other companies.

I am currently planning on getting back on track with my own projects with some more stuff geared towards level design and environmental art within different engines. A lot of my time current time outside of work has been spent adjusting to the full time job life style and generally chilling and trying to enjoy the games I love playing, so I haven't really had much opportunity to do so as of yet.

Keep an eye on this space in the mean time, as I will be trying to post updates.

Matt York

Zonda Cinque

Last 2 renders for the Zonda.

Zonda Cinque

Just done two more Renders of the Zonda from other angles. Expect more on the way shortly.