Saved Game Progress

Hello everyone! Last week, lots of things happened in my work and personal life. This made me look back at how I was doing a year ago. 2014 started with me leaving my job.  Well, I left it in December and it wasn't an official job since there was no contract involved. That was the last time I worked as an architect, not the last time I think or see things as one. I fear that may be impossible to avoid, but it has proved to be very valuable. I worked as that for one month more or less, starting mid November. And I regretted every bit of it. For, many times it felt like they did not care about me. I got burned about it really fast, and my behaviour wasn't the best. I did not manage the situation well. In the end I had a talk with my boss and expressed how I felt. I also told him that I wanted to quit architecture to pursue a career in game development. He did not take that seriously but wished me luck as he said goodbye to me. A year later, I've finished the maste...

Hello everyone. I've been really busy these days. There was a lot to catch up to and whole lot more to start from scratch. I hope I can share more info on the upcoming projects sooner than later. Meanwhile, I've been drawing again. Continuing the sketch daily challenges and also a few other drawing I just felt like doing. This is just the line work but I really want to take some time to complete these two. Here's the first, Ryu the whishmaker. And Chloe, the pirate. Hope you like it, and I promise I'll take the time to write more this weekend :) Take care everyone! J.

If there's one thing that bothers me more than any other when people ask me what do i do in my job, that is "the look" and what comes after that. This phenomenon happens every time I speak with people that are not that interested in videogames, even less in its creation (sometimes I think that any kind of creative process).  So why do I write about this now? Well, yesterday I got to go to a meeting in my town.  I live in a small village where everybody knows their neighbours. I don't hang around there anymore, so every time I do, they politely ask what I've been up to.  This is what happens: I tell them I finished my architecture degree and my master in 3D. Then I mention I'm working in a videogame studio in Barcelona and "the look" appears in their faces.  It's a blend of condescension, confusion, desperate search for some news that he got to read related to that and general lack of interest in the topic . Following this look...

While working on any kind of creative project, there's one thing that affects the outcome in significant ways. Motivation. Feeling passion for what you're doing is key to deliver a good product. That's why working on something without being thrilled about it is the perfect indicator that there's something wrong with you, the project or both. I've felt this many times, both in architecture and in videogame development. And getting rid of it is a big challenge. I tried working on it without caring. And the results were not good. I also tried to force myself into being motivated. Same results. The thing is, you can't help yourself with this one. You need help from others. Someone has to convince you about the project, the team or your own ability and work in the project. And the other need to do this real quick. Because if there's just one member of the team feeling down, this can spread like wildfire among the rest of the developers. Doubt grows exp...

This 2015 I'm trying to draw a sketch everyday. Since sometimes it's hard to come up with a theme, the folks at Sketch Daily start daily themed sketching discussions on twitter. I've drawn my first entry with the theme being Kumiho, a mysterious 1000 years old fox that could transform into beautiful lady and human livers and hearts. For this type of sketches I will try to keep it quick. In this case it was big brushes with transparency to find a pose and basic proportions. Basic clean up with line and the flat colour layer with the background. What do you think about it?

Happy 2015 everyone! For the first post of the new year I wanted to write about all the places I checked for inspiration, learning techniques and other videogame related stuff. I'll try to keep it just about videos with one BIG and must-have-bookmarked exception, so let's get going. The very first thing I want to talk about is the Autodesk Youtube learning channels . These are super helpful and they update them frequently enough so that you can check out the newest tips and tricks or the new features of their software. This is very useful for anyone that wants to be 3D modeller, texturer, rigger or animator.   I would specially recommend the 3D Studio Max Learning channel and the Maya Learning Channel . Since these are, probably, the ones you're going to use in the industry. And also, if you're a student you can get a 3 year student license for them (and all the other Autodesk Software) for free. There is other software, like Blender (this one is free!) or ...

Phew! Made it. For the last post of 2014 I wanted to share something that moves me. Something so simple but hard to find in the right amount these days. But first take a look at the TEDx video above. What I'm trying to explain has to do a lot with what Ms Mel Robin says. ... Done? Perfect, let's start this. And this time I'm going straight to the point: Decide what you want, and do it NOW. Lately I've been talking with friends about what happened this year and I realised that people don't have many ambitions. They don't have a clear goal that they want to pursue. They don't want to explore, reach their goals and discover new ones they want to achieve. For example, when I was studying architecture, I got to talk to one of the best professors in the faculty. And he told me that most of the people studying at that moment did not have any idea what they wanted out of life. Nor how to achieve it. They just "get something" to work on , eventu...

Hi again everyone! It's almost 2015 and I wanted to write, at least, another post here. For this one I've been thinking a lot but in the end I decided to go with one of the few phrases that I always remember. The first one was "Straight line, Joan". My philosophy teacher told me that one. And from what I understood it meant no distractions and clear objectives. But this isn't the quote I wanted to talk about. This is: "You still need to find your team" This came up during a conversation with one of the professors of the Master I took. One with a lot of experience, knowledge and passion for video games, Specially for SEGA. I'm still thinking about a lot of things that we talked that day, but this was almost eye opening. He was right. He was so right.  Up until now I worked alone or with other architects and fellow students. But, what I learnt during the master is that in video games everyone speaks a different language and that everyo...

Could I even start in another way? This is the very first step when you want to start developing games. Well, at least for the programmers I know.  Let me introduce myself (even if I already did in the about me page), my name is Joan Centellas Jiménez and this is what I wrote in my twitter bio in 2014: "26. Architect. Level&Game Designer. 3D Artist. Videogaming since I was 3. Discworld reader. I love listening to jazz and rock. I also like hats." This is fastest way to describe myself. Now let me tell you the detailed way. I'm Joan and I've always loved videogames. In fact I started to use glasses because of them. I've grown up playing with my cousin's NES, my friend's Amiga and my first handheld: the Game. And of course my first home console, the Megadrive/Genesis. I've kept playing videogames up until now that I'm making them. There was a time when I decided to study architecture because I though there was some things in common with...