So there haven't been many updates on here in a while. Kinda typical of most blogs on the internet.

I'm in the process of rethinking my website as I would like it to become more of a portfolio site rather than a personal one. Hopefully I'll find some time at some point to improve it.

I've already rejigged a few things, but more changes are needed!

/Michael

Hey everyone,

Just realised that I haven't posted anything on here in a while (has it really been 3 months???) and thought I'd post a small update as to what I've been up to.

After spending a while job hunting, I finally got a really cool job in the technology department at Realtime Worlds, a game development company based in Dundee (East Scotland for those that don't know :] ). The technology department is in charge of developing the in-house tools used by the rest of the company to produce games. Realtime Worlds released their first game (Crackdown) at the beginning of the year and it has become a great success. They are currently working on an MMO called APB which is to be released sometime next year.

I moved up here just over a week ago after a very long drive up from London. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do it again at some point to get the rest of my stuff out of storage (I couldn't fit everything in one car load :p ). Fun! I'm currently staying in the company's flats while I'm looking for somewhere more permanent to stay, but haven't really had much luck so far.

Anyways, I've just finished my first week of work and the stuff I've been doing seems to be all right. So far I've been fixing a few small bugs to try and get a hang of how their code works (which there is loads of), and have just started to work on my first slightly larger project. The team seems really cool and is made up of 14 other people from all parts of the world.

Hope all is well with everyone,

Michael

Just thought I'd let you know that I've just put a downloadable version of the Angler Fish demo on the project's page. I have been working hard trying to optimise it these last few days and have managed to get a 40% increase in the framerate so far. While profiling the engine I've noticed that the SwapBuffers command seems to be taking about 25% of the processing time but have no clue as to why this is....anyone have any ideas? Currently the engine seems to be CPU bound and if I could "fix" that issue (if it actually is one) I reckon I'd see a nice and healthy increase in the framerate. In any case I'll keep on trying to squeeze a few extra frames per second out of the engine :D

On another note, I've just started to work on a 3D remake of Tetris with a bunch of nice little shader effects to make it a bit more flashy. I'll put some preliminary screenshots up on the site in the next few days, but cause I've just started it don't expect the whole thing just yet. Still got loads of work to do...

Anyways, have fun with the demo,

Michael

Its been a bit of a while since I last wrote something here and a lot has happened since then. I unfortunately left Morzine at the end of April, however it wasn't all bad as the weather was really warm and all the snow had pretty much melted...the last few days of snowboarding were almost like water skiing or wake boarding. Which actually reminds me that I actually did go over water once! They set up a water slide thing in Les Croset on the last day that they were open and we just happened to come across it. After a lot of comtemplation about getting wet and having to board home soaked, I decided to give it a shot. As you guessed it, I didn't manage to completely clear it on my first attempt and got absolutely drenched! Seeing as my fear of getting wet was over I went about and did it another two times clearing it both times. The first two times were filmed and can be seen at the links below:

First (failed) attempt
Second attempt

After Morzine I came home to Germany, were I've been since doing all sorts of things. I have had a fair amount of time to work on my engine and have created a small graphics demo which can be found here: Angler Fish.
Pretty neat huh? I'm really pleased with the outcome actually and its nice to be able to see the results of the work I put into it.

I have made a lot of updates to the content in the last few days, and after having used the site for a bit I have noticed a fair few things that I would like to change to make it easier to use. I've kinda realised that I have made it into one of those generic blog sites that I dreaded making it into at first, so am definetely going to need to change that. Some of the other changes include creating... more

Wow, how quick the season has been going by...have less than two weeks to go and am dreading my return to the "real" world. So what have been up to these last few monthes? Well pretty much the same as usual, snowboarding although I've been picking up a fair few injuries recently (left hip, knee and right foot) and have managed to dent the edge of my board in the mean time. I was out for about a week due to my hip (tried a front flip off the side of the piste and landed fully on it) and although haven't fully recovered am still hitting the slopes...gotta make the most of whats left of the season. As for how my ridings going, well its still about the same as before. Am planning on mainly hitting the park these last few days as still need to get my seasons goal in (a 540).

Have stuck a few more pictures/galleries up although I still have a load more which need to go up its a start. I've also got a few videos kicking about, but am still trying to figure out where I'm going to put them. Will keep you guys updated about it though.

Have a good one,

Michael

Right, its been over a month since I've posted something on here so thought it was about time I let people know what I've been up to recently.

I got to Morzine on the 5^th of January and have been having a wicked time since. The snow conditions haven't been too great up until now because it has just been much much too warm (on occasions it got to around 14C...although I'm not sure how reliable some of the thermometers around the village are...). It has however been snowing here for the last 4-5 days and there has been a good 30 cm of snow at the top. So I hear that is. Unfortunately I've become ill and haven't been able to take advantage of the nice snowy conditions. Hopefully I will be heading out tomorrow as am feeling quite a bit better than I did a few days ago.

I don't feel like I have improved all too much yet since I've been out here, although I have tried some absolutely massive kickers...unfortunately I don't have any pics of me doing them yet. I have managed to nail both frontside and backside 360's though which I am quite pleased with, and my switch riding is a lot better than it was when I started. My ultimate goal for the season is to be able to do a 540 or possibly even a 720 (don't know how realistic that one is though :]) with an array of different grabs thrown in there.

Well hope everything is cool with everyone else, will be sticking up some pics in a little bit as have some wicked ones of the O'neil Pro Freestyle Quarter Pipe event (some of the guys were getting 8 meters out of the damn thing!!!!)

Take it easy,

Michael

So I have finally decided that I should go about building a website for myself. It seems like everyone has a website or at least a blog these days, but I didn't really want to create a simple generic website/blog for myself. There were a number of different reasons as to why I set about creating this website. Firstly I wanted somewhere were I could let people know what I've been up to, especially seeing as I am away from England for about 4 months doing a season in Morzine. Yes I know this is kinda like a blog, but don't worry I'm not planning on posting some boring old crap every single day, I'm only going to make the occasional updates. Secondly I wanted my site to be a place where I could share some of the photos I have taken with both friends and family. Finally, I am also hoping that the site will help me get a job as I am planning on putting some of my projects I have worked on here as well as have an online copy of my CV.

One of the original aims I had while developing the site was to keep it simple and professional. I wanted to make it easy for people visiting the site to find exactly what they wanted without getting confused. Also I wanted to avoid overcluttering the layout with stuff that isn't really useful. All in all I think I have managed to do this fairly well.

The site has taken me approximately 3 months to get where it currently is. This was mainly because I only ever got time to work on it in my spare time after work and on the weekends (if not otherwise engaged), and also because I decided to write all of the functionality myself. There is still a lot of things I want to do with the site, but I feel that it currently is in a suitable state to grace the web with its presence.

Well I hope you enjoy the site and if you have any feedback or other comments with regards to the site, let me know.

Michael