Note the cool Mass Effect 2 N7 shirts I and a few others are sporting – just a shame it looks like such a sausage party…

Above is the poster I drew up for the event using the IGDA template, (click for the hi-res), exclusively featuring the first actual screenshot of the game released to the public. If you’re in Montreal on the 20th why not drop by and make a night of it – details in the poster.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Housed within the downtown EA Montreal studio, a slowly growing team of highly talented animators and I are creating animations and cinematic cutscenes for the sequel to our 2007 project. This is a new kind of game development where we are working remotely while connected directly to the Edmonton servers and are in daily contact with the team there. This is all made possible with the help of the fantastic folks at EA Montreal with whom we share a studio space, and a dedicated support team on the Edmonton side.

Additionally, over half of the Montreal outfit is made up of other former Mass Effect team members having worked in the Edmonton head studio before – helping to ensure that rather than just a random selection of folks under the BioWare banner, we are maintaining BioWare’s culture as well as the same high standards to which we are held. This percentage is only set to increase as more and more make the transition from the main studio to this new team.

Now to the important part – we are currently looking for one final exceptional animator to join the team, as well as environment artists and level designers. If you believe you are up to the challenge of helping create one of the most focussed and ambitious RPG sequels of all time and are looking for a new and interesting take on game development, please visit the BioWare website at careers@bioware.com.

New Look

The first and most obvious change is visual. This was inspired by the upcoming Apple iPhone, and the entire site has been formatted to work with the dimensions of the screen based on the initial movies and specs found on this site. Whether the thing takes off or not, I’m sure you’ll agree that everything is much more legible and easier to naviagte now.

New Database

The entire site has been migrated over to a wordpress-powered blog, with the main reason of the database functionality allowing for much easier cataloging. Previously, gameanim.com was created by hand in Dreamweaver, with all links and media updated by hand – which began to be such a pain in the ass that updates were difficult when I was busy elsewhere.

Coming Out

The second major change, (and one from which there is no turning back, based on the consistent hits from whois.com every month), is as you may have just noticed, I’m no longer writing in the third-person. This was always an admittedly cowardly approach to writing by hiding behind a pseudonym, which was mostly serving to provide a critical commentary on industry and animation free from any attachment to employers’ public image, (though the footer below still stands). The reason for this change of heart is twofold. Firstly, to change the emphasis of this site away from humorously poking fun at amateurs via “Bad Walkcycles”, and secondly: see below…

Change of Scenery

I’ve had several overhauls in my life recently, moving away from my previous job as Lead Animator on BioWare’s Mass Effect in Edmonton, Alberta, and moved to the opposite side of Canada to live with my girlfriend, Marie-Jo, in Montreal. We had been doing the long-distance relationship thing for almost a year while awaiting the finishing of the Mass Effect project, and as soon as the animation was in a state fit to leave, I did.

Aside from freeing me up to write about more personal thoughts and events in my life from here-on in, I’m hoping that sharing what work I actually have done should give the game animation-related opinions expressed on these pages a little more weight. Please check the About section for the full rundown on who I am and what I do.