So… it’s been a while. I’ve been busy moving to Ottawa, Canada.

My past posts hinted that I was living in Michigan, USA for the past few years. I’ll always have a soft spot for Michigan, but wanted my career to move forward. So I moved to Ottawa, Canada, and will be going back to school for a PhD, hopefully with a thesis that’s more relevant to the work I’m interested in (computer graphics and animation, multimedia, software tools, etc.).

Ottawa is a fairly large city, with more than I thought it’d have. But it isn’t Michigan. There are some local meetups and small game studios, but it’s about a fraction of the size, not even much bigger than what my home town of Windsor had at its peak. Michigan really has no idea how large their network of indie developers is, and how valuable that is by comparison. That’s not to say Ottawa is devoid of opportunity: there seems to be a new festival or event every week (including a certain world-class animation festival I’m a fan of), and I’m sure there will be chances for local makers to show their work in a casual setting. Also, I’m closer now to Montreal than ever before (just a 2 hour drive or train ride away), which is practically the world’s capital on game development, if “vous parlez en Francais.”

In the back of my mind, I’m hoping that the new change of pace will get me back in the zone of creating things, whether it’s games, comics, or other stuff. I recall the same logic applied for when I entered a Master’s degree program. At the time, it seemed like “the stupidest thing I’d ever done,” to postpone a career it hopes of being an indie developer. But it worked in the moment: I had a lot of time on my hands, especially during the Summer months, and released two PC games on Steam. To my knowledge, I was the only student from my University to have done that at the time (the closest thing I’ve heard was one or two instances of publishing apps to the iOS store).

(To be honest, it was seemingly impossible to find work at the time in Canada, and again now, so going back to school seemed like the best alternative. The academic field always felt more welcoming and better suited to my long-term goals, and now that I’m a Canadian living in Canada again, I can take new industry opportunities the instant they become available, perhaps a year into my current program.)

I have no idea if this strategy will work this time though. There was a point when my full-time job exhausted me, but I haven’t had that excuse for years. The pandemic allowed me to work from home, a golden opportunity to get hobby work done, but nothing came of it. I’ve been busy moving between countries recently, but for the past month I’ve been free with nothing to do, another chance to focus on work. Again, nothing was done. I’ve tried project ideas with smaller scope, alternating between different projects to keep my attention, but nothing stuck. The only chance I have left is whether spare time on campus in between classes might allow me to work, just to have something to do.

So there might be posts on new games. There might not. There might be interesting posts on research in the field of 2D and 3D animation or game optimization. Or not. This blog might be dormant for a while. Or not.