Dev Notes: The Look

FOUR WEEKS PRIOR

The woman in the unemployment office lowered my resume and looked at me over her librarian glasses.

"So, you know computers. You should be able to find a job."

"Sorry, no, I'm a designer. Not a programmer."

"A designer?" She swiveled in her chair. Fingers flew across the keyboard, tapping a rhythm punctuated by a solid whack of the Enter key. "There are a few graphic design positions already in the database. What about that?"

I tried to be polite as I let out a mute sigh. "I'm not a good graphic designer. I know that from experience. And I do game design. It's a different discipline."

Turning slowly to face me, she handed back my resume and looked at me as if I was an exotic plant left in a parking lot. Clearly, I would require Special Attention And Care.

YESTERDAY

I woke up feeling refreshed, which is never a good sign. It's usually a sign that the good Lord is ready to test me. And when the dog started howling like foreign invaders had dropped from stealth planes onto our lawn and were fixing bayonets, I knew I was right.

So after spending the weekend cleaning out our garage, cleaning out our fridge, shredding a mountain of old documents, and remembering to get the trash bins to the curb the night before, a car had the decency to punt them fifty feet down the road and empty the contents onto the road.

That wasn't why the dog was howling. It's because our neighbor had come over to let us know what happened. Oh, well. The dog and I will have differences about what's worth a howl now and again. Comes with the territory.

I threw that image in there because I was getting Wordy and I dread losing your attention! Long story short: we cleaned up the mess with the neighbor's help, it was easier than expected, and the sun was shining in Oregon that day.

Still, I had a fully functional demo that looked like crap. This is the week I Try To Make It Look Good, so I wiped the slate clean and gave it a go.

Lo and behold, a few hours and several false starts later, I had The Look I Was Looking For! I'm as stunned as anybody, by the way, especially my former Art Directors. All of them used special tongs to handle my Art Suggestions.

Despite that, I hope you agree it's appealing. Just... please... don't call it graphical design. It's just a production phase I'm going through!

And yes, I painted those fluffy clouds! Arigatou gozaimasu, Kazuo-sama.