Behold, 2009!

It's been a while since I've posted here, I actually have a lot of things I'd like to put up. I had a deeper dissection of Monster Hunter in the works, along with this post about where I'd like to go and where I see things going.

Goals and Aspirations for 2009

1. Improve my creative discipline. What do I mean by this? The ability to be creative on demand and really focus. I had so much on my mental plate when I first got to Japan that my ability to focus took a downturn. I need to get that back, especially with my co-workers making threats about "the nasty overtime is coming." Yes, I've got a lot of work to do with no consideration to schedule every time a new task is added. I will hone in on efficiency and discipline over staying 12 hours a day.
   
2. Train in a production skill. A pure game designer is necessary to spec things out, but that's hardly a task that goes through the entire production cycle. A few production oriented skills would be basic Flash/C#/Game Maker to prototype my own ideas, 3D modeling to do my own area layouts that the environment artists can build upon, 2D artwork for icons and interface building. I've been doing a bit of pixel work here and there. I need to do a lot more simplifying if I want to be able to animate stuff quickly. 
3. Get better with my tablet. I started drawing storyboards with it at work since it cuts down on the need to translate. This is important since both Japanese only and English only speakers review my work at times.
   
4. Maintain my health. Eat 3 regular meals. I've got some bacteria I use to make yogurt. Eat that every morning, get a good lunch and even if I am stuck at the office late, get dinner. I don't see how some of my co-workers can manage to stay til 10 and not bother with dinner. Then again, most of them are in their early 20s. Young and think they're invincible.
   

1. Rush to the Nintendo DS. I mean this in every way possible; low cost to develop, low cost to the consumer. A lot of Japanese developers have been heavily targeting the portable console market, and I'd expect that to happen with the rest of the world. I think the Nintendo DS is a fabulous market. There are a lot of consoles out there and in the hands of people who enjoy games of all ages. Brain Training pushed the DS into the hands of people who wouldn't normally play games, though the DS did it before the Wii.
   
2. The PSP will become somewhat of a nerd's machine in the US as far as gaming goes, as the Japanese will continue to develop for it but PSP game development lags in the US. Ready at Dawn studios(developer of God of War for PSP) returning all their PSP Dev Kits to Sony isn't too terribly encouraging. A bulk of PSP games are likely to be shovelware or localizations of Japanese games.
3. The DS becomes less of a gaming console. I think Nintendo made a big mistake by trying to keep the DS a games only console but then try and target the non-gaming community. The DS has fantastic potential to replace the Palm Pilot in ways. It's pretty tough, the touch screen almost begs for a calendar, organizer and other such "pedestrian" features making the DS the one piece of hardware any person needs in their purse or satchel. The DSi is clearly move in this direction.
   
4. Japan buys their way into the West. A number of high quality western developers are in really dire straights. Though most highly conservative JP companies wouldn't consider it, Western market minded companies like D3, Square, Konami and Capcom will be on the look out for a good buy. Free Radical seems like a strong candidate.