Personal Update:
Who has two thumbs and just accepted a gig at Harebrained Schemes working on the new BATTLETECH game?!?!?

This guy!

I submitted my resume and portfolio hoping against hope that they would choose me... AND THEY DID! I'm now the new Tools Engineer for the project.

Two days after they said I'd need to wait for a couple of weeks to interview the other candidates, they sent me an offer letter. (I wonder if there's a funny story there) I thought I'd have more time to prepare!!! O.O Now I need to move my family across the country from Tennessee to Washington state in the next week or two. We're scrambling to pack-up all the stuff we plan to keep and giving away the rest to friends and family members. This is a huge life change, but my family is behind me 100%!

Why is it my dream job? Well, being a for-reals game developer has been one of my goals for a while now. I was prepared to do it on my own, but then I heard Harebrained Schemes were hiring a few developers for the new BATTLETECH Kickstarter project. I've been playing BTech and nearly all of it's variations for 30 years now so I'm a big fan of the franchise. Take a look at my collection if you don't believe me: Eck's Battletech Stuff. So for me, this isn't just A game development job. This is THE game development job.

I've been focusing my efforts over the last several years to give myself a chance to become a game developer on my own. I'm happy I did, because without this preparation, I don't think I would have even been considered. And if I wasn't financially secure, I couldn't have accepted the offer in the first place. It's expensive to move across the country!

I'm super stoked!!!

It hasn't been all sunshine and happiness though. Dreams come at a price. I am saying goodbye to some awesome friends I've had since college. They're happy for me landing my dream job, but they're also very sad to see me go. I've already had a few tearful goodbyes and there's probably still a few more of those in the future. I've hosted Game Day every other week for nearly 15 years now... We probably won't sit at the same physical game table again. I'll keep in touch digitally, but it's not the same. Maybe after things settle down, we'll get some virtual tabletop action going.

Development Update:
I spent some time working on content generation tools for quests. I was just shy of finishing that since I was offered the job and since then I've been doing home repairs, packing, and donating stuff. I do still plan to finish the game, but A Voxel Adventure is on hold for the near future. I'm planning on focusing on content generation tools so my wife can develop some quests, monsters, and gear for the game while I work on being a badass code ninja at work.

Tip from your Uncle Eck:
If you're a software developer, you probably have the luxury of being well paid. So put in a little effort to get financially secure. You never know when you might need that extra money.

Apply for your dream job even if you "know" they will say no... Cause they might say YES!