[kowskianimation]

My name is Nicole and I currently attend Fullsail University in Orlando, Florida and will graduate in approximately 4 months with my B.S. in computer animation.

I am posting here in search for a MUD or even a company who wishes to get its feet off the ground. I am more or less looking for a paid position, but am more than willing to volunteer for a extended period of time to the right game or company.

I have always had a passion for games and at the age fourteen began working on text-based Muds. Since then I have worked on well over ten text MMORPGS and eventually was a paid Game Designer for a game called ElfDust. Overall, I have had almost ten years of 'GameMaster' experience, ranging in various skills. Building, customer service, coding (C++, html, and custom), player interactions, administration, and game development is just skimming the surface.

I am just now beginning to construct my demo reel, which will be completed upon graduation, and can also provide some writing and environment renders upon request as well as my resume.

Email: kowskianimation@yahoo.com

Thank you so much for your time.
Nicole

[Ide]

hey Nicole, if you haven't heard of Sparkplay's in dev game Earth Eternal, you might want to drop them a line; they're not hiring at the moment apparently, but a little volunteer effort on your part might be a good foot in the door for you.

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by Ide hey Nicole, if you haven't heard of Sparkplay's in dev game Earth Eternal, you might want to drop them a line; they're not hiring at the moment apparently, but a little volunteer effort on your part might be a good foot in the door for you.

Weeeellll....I'm afraid that we don't accept volunteers at Sparkplay currently. We're on a tight, intense production schedule for Earth Eternal and found that interns/volunteers are a net loss for us in terms of productivity at the moment. Hopefully this will change at some point, but that won't be before we release I don't think.

Good luck on your search, OP!
--matt

[kowskianimation]

Heyas,

Heh, yeah I already applied but they said they where not interested in volunteer's at the moment.
But thank you so much for the suggestion!

[Newworlds]

Originally Posted by the_logos Weeeellll....I'm afraid that we don't accept volunteers at Sparkplay currently. We're on a tight, intense production schedule for Earth Eternal and found that interns/volunteers are a net loss for us in terms of productivity at the moment. Hopefully this will change at some point, but that won't be before we release I don't think. Good luck on your search, OP! --matt

Sheesh Matt, you must be paying your crew a damn fine wage to pass up someone with this kind of experience. It's not like she is some newbie Mudder looking to scratch a few rooms together.

Tell you what Kowski,

Come on over to NW and after you get hooked on the game, you might change your directional major!

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by Newworlds Sheesh Matt, you must be paying your crew a damn fine wage to pass up someone with this kind of experience. It's not like she is some newbie Mudder looking to scratch a few rooms together.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. We pay our crew (currently 22 full-timers) more or less industry-standard wages for full-time, on-site work in the Bay Area which means anywhere from slightly under $50k to into the six figures depending on the position, level of experience, etc.

--matt
Edit: That's the Sparkplay crew. Iron Realms and Sparkplay are completely separate companies and are run completely differently.

[Newworlds]

It was just a friendly jab Matt in defense of the originator's post. Not really about what you pay your staff, more about how their qualifications looked good.

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by Newworlds It was just a friendly jab Matt in defense of the originator's post. Not really about what you pay your staff, more about how their qualifications looked good.

Sparkplay's staff rocks.

--matt

[kowskianimation]

Currently in my last weeks here at Full Sail University and I'm completing my Final Demo Reel. Here is what I have currently. Anyone who has CG experience, I would love some advice since my final reel revised is due in a week. Those with no CG experience I would love your critiques as well! Thanks!

Nicole

Reel located here: Final Reel on Vimeo

[Ide]

Looks good Nicole!

If you have time I would look again at the proportion of the column width to the arch width in shots 5 and 7. At 1:18 the relation of the arch and the capital of the column on the left shows the disproportion the most I think. You can also see that the columns are a little out of proportion at 1:02.

It's hard to tell how much resolution I'm losing by watching this on vimeo, but shots 2-4 look a little too washed out and blurred. Especially on shot 2 where you have that cool goddess carving, I want to see it better defined, maybe by reflecting a little light from below?

Good luck with your review!

[prof1515]

There's a glaring jump at 0:46 (+00:00:44:00) where the image just skips a bit between frames.

[kowskianimation]

Yeah. Something odd happened with the displacement map. Thank you guys for the suggestions I will for sure fix what you all suggested.

[Newworlds]

Absolutely beautiful work Nicole! Very impressive, thank you for sharing.

[kowskianimation]

Finally completed my reel!

Final Reel Revised! on Vimeo


Thank you for all the advice and compliments.
Now off to find a job!

[Delerak]

Originally Posted by kowskianimation Finally completed my reel! Final Reel Revised! on Vimeo Thank you for all the advice and compliments. Now off to find a job!

It looks awesome. You should look into Blizzard, they are always hiring for people but you may have to relocate to Cali or another one of their places where they do their cut scenes. Still, I could see you doing something with one of their games for sure.

[Delerak]

Here, it looks like they are hiring an environment artist for Diablo 3.

Blizzard Entertainment - Employment Opportunities

Like I said, take a look at this link:
Blizzard Entertainment - Employment Opportunities

They have tons of jobs available in cinematics and stuff.

[kowskianimation]

Thank you heh, I did look at Blizzard but they hardly ever hire recent graduates. I would rather start at a smaller company anyways. Kinda like sparkplay. -coughmattcough-

[Delerak]

Originally Posted by kowskianimation Thank you heh, I did look at Blizzard but they hardly ever hire recent graduates. I would rather start at a smaller company anyways. Kinda like sparkplay. -coughmattcough-

I would still put my application in. Don't sell yourself short in life, ever. Just my opinion though.

[kowskianimation]

Heh, oh yeah I'm going to apply for sure! You never know
Thanks again! <3

[Delerak]

Check this one out as well. Eidos tends to always have something in the works.
EidosInteractive.com

Another one, LucasArts might work for you:
https://jobs.lucasfilm.com/welcome.html

Square-Enix definitely worth putting in the app for:
Careers | SQUARE ENIX


I also find this article that would probably help you.
Ask The Headhunter: Computer Graphics & Animation

[Jazuela]

LucasArts might not be a bad idea at all. My dorm-mates all moved to California after graduating college and ended up doing film editing for Stephen Spielberg's productions. It was pretty awesome to see their name on the credits list for a couple of his movies. One of them was even nominated for an Oscar for certain technical work.

[kowskianimation]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and e-mails. I have hopped on the Frogdice train, and am so ecstatic to have met Milawe and her team.

Check out their games!


Journey Beyond the Threshold!

Main Page - Wikimalia