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In this writeup, I wanted to discuss Twisted Metal 3, again. This time around, I really wanted to focus on everything, from the physics, core designs, story, and even the sounds.  The reasoning for this sudden interest is the fact that the original TM3 programmer has joined our TMA discord, and it feels almost rude to give a blanket statement that “This game is shit”, because it genuinely isn’t a bad game by 1998 PS1 standards. I’m almost 25 years old, and this game was something I played relentlessly as…

Better to Burnout Than Fade Away: A Burnout Retrospective This Holiday season I decided to finally finish the repairs on my original Playstation 2, and dabbled in revisiting Burnout 3. I was immediately drawn back in by the excellent gameplay, which then led me on a path to pick up the sequel I missed, Burnout Revenge. After playing Burnout, Burnout 3, Burnout Revenge, and Burnout Paradise, I decided it would be an appropriate opportunity to use my skills as a designer to really give this franchise an analytical look.  Partially…

Some odd months ago I wrote a very heated post called “A Generation In Crisis”, in which I basically angrily argued the facets of a broken American society in 2019. I specifically said, “I just need a break, or I need this entire system to break faster, so our generation can fix it properly. “ And eerily enough, less than 6 months later, we get a pandemic that will cause shockwaves of economic ruin throughout the globe, and hundreds of thousands of deaths. The American system is crumbling, and every…

These past few months I’ve started grad school for software engineering, while continuing to work full-time at the University of Scranton. Even though I may be forced to work full-time at this maintenance job to pay off my student debt, I have not lost sight of my career goals, and the creative force inside of me continues to push me forward. I’ve recently gotten a hold of Keyshot 9 through nefarious methods, and have been practicing rendering some wicked vehicles utilizing HDRI and backplates. My main inspiration has been some…

EDIT: PLEASE READ MY NEWER VERSION OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE. THANK YOU. Let me open up this post by saying Twisted Metal 3 is not a beloved title to many Twisted Metal fans. I am personally one of those people, but this game has a long history with me. I haven’t touched it in a few years, and after watching a few Youtubers cover it, I wanted to take another look at it. Twisted Metal Small Brawl was the first Twisted Metal game I ever played, all the way back in…

This write up is going to be part review, part wish-list, and part design philosophy. I recently picked up Need For Speed Heat after following an automotive designer for quite some time, Kyza Saleem. I loved his style of heavily modified consumer vehicles, and his homage to the neon soaked styles of the 80s. When he revealed to be working on the game, and I’d be able to tangibly drive around some of his personal design work, I was interested. Then, I dug a bit deeper, and I found out…

I’ve been very doom and gloom as of late, but I think it’s very important to recognize all of the great things going on.  Within the past year, my automotive Instagram has gotten 3 sponsors, a small clothing line, and followed by some major automotive celebrities. All while continuing to do what I have been doing for years, with a little more consistency.  That is really neat, right? Well I wanted to write this post as a collection of my thoughts on the matter, how I did it, and how…

I wanted to write this, not as an angry rant, but just as a dump of statistical data I compiled myself. It is to answer any repetitive questions I keep getting asked, and put my exhaustive efforts in perspective.  I graduated in June of 2018 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Game Design & Production.  Before you try to lecture me on my major choice, let me just hit you with statistical facts.  The game industry had a total revenue of 43.8 BILLION dollars in 2018. Several game companies are…

My friend recently said, I’m going to be one of those “rags to riches” stories you always hear about.  It kind of felt bitter sweat, because at times it feels like my friends believe in me more than I do recently. My own mom is beginning to break down from the cost of bills and relentless expenses.  I haven’t written in a while, because I started working at a shithole job full-time to pay my private student loans. As much as I’d like to rant about wanting to eat a…

If you have ever seen the iconic episode of the Simpsons where Homer gets the opportunity to professionally create his “perfect” car, you’d humorously remember it having a handful of ridiculous features and an inharmonious ugly design. In marketing and design, from my few years of professional experience, you find that getting a good product means narrowing down your designs or your message to appeal to your targeted audience. The problem I’ve painfully observed in the past decade, so much so that I decided to write this in depth blog,…