Petition: Add an 8th day to the week.

Zoink!

How are we doing? Where the hell has the time gone. Can you believe it's almost Christmas? Shocking, I know. So yes, my feeble attempt at blogging more is obvious for all to see, but to be fair, I'm a pretty busy man and frankly, I'm having trouble gathering any sort of tangible thoughts together at the moment. I'll just start by giving Bethesda an honourable mention. Despite it's shortcomings, no other game this year has given me the freedom to your very own little adventure in such a manner as Skyrim. I can generally sneak an hour in here and there, and no matter how long or how short my play sessions are,  I always come away with a new story I'm excited to talk about. Yes, it's a single player game, but for me, the most intrinsic feature of this game, is a feature it didn't ship with, the multiplayer. I've spent just as much time just discussing the experiences myself and others have had, as playing it. It has created a community reminiscent to that of a large scale MMO, which is simply an incredible feat. I've no doubt that I'll be playing Skyrim for a long time to come and with the mod tools becoming available soon, I expect we'll see some brilliant additions to it's already masterfully created world. If you haven't already picked up a copy, I implore you to do so. It also happens to be the most accessible entry in the series and a great starting point for newcomers.

So what else have I been up to.. Well my week is literally bursting at the seams. On top of my normal 42 hour work week, I have been doing the evening course in Game Design with Clane College. I've been looking for a crash course in Unity and C# scripting and this fits the bill. I'm currently working on the first of two projects which are due in a few weeks. The guideline is to create a level in Unity, which has a clear and consistent aesthetic. The level geometry should reinforce gameplay and should also be pleasing to the eye. I'll try get some shots together once it's in a presentable state. The second project, is to create a level with functional gameplay mechanics in Stencylworks. Looking forward to starting on that.

Last but not least, I'm also working as a level designer for bitSmith Games, which I'm incredibly excited about. Our first title for the iPad (and eventually PC) is known as 'Ku', an action RPG based on ancient Irish mythology, with a beautifully hand painted Celtic/Steampunk aesthetic. Make sure you check out  www.bitsmithgames.com/ and chuck a like/follow on Facebook/Twitter if you like what you see.

Things are pretty manic at the moment, I'm stretched like a rubber band. I have Sundays free currently, which is usually spent food shopping for the week and spending the evening on project work. As a result, I can't promise more frequent blogging, but I'll be giving this Twitter malarky a go for now with it's 'quick-blog' nature and all, so you can follow me @Sticky_Brain for the time being.

Be good.