It's hard to believe that 2021 is already over and done with. Little did I know that when the global pandemic rolled-in in March 2020, it'd still be lingering about in December 2021.
A lot has changed for me over this past year.
Back in January, Vicarious Visions was moved under/merged with/taken over by Blizzard. Previously, they were under Activision, which itself was under the larger entity known as Activision Blizzard King. It all gets confusing. Not only did this transition mean that VV would no longer be able to work on Activision games (Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot, Call of Duty, etc), but it also meant that the entire studio (outside of a small handful of folks) would be entirely devoted to supporting Diablo.
From January to July, I was specifically working on the Tools team on Diablo IV. I won't get into the details here, but I'll just say that that position was less than ideal for me and the direction I wanted my career to take.
In July, I got married! The ceremony was on a beautiful day on top of a mountain in Vermont.
In July, I also left VV/Blizzard. I had been at VV for longer than any other place in my career, and it was hard to make the decision to leave. They allowed me to branch out, try new things, take risks, and grow my skills way more than anywhere else I ever worked. I will forever be thankful to them for that.
On my second-to-last day at VV, the news broke about the widespread gender discrimination at Blizzard, which I was saddened, but unfortunately not surprised, to hear about.
In August, I began working at Tripwire Interactive as their Lead Engine Programmer. My team helped finish up the raytracing update for Maneater that was released on the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in November. We are now hard at work on an unannounced title.
Meanwhile, I've also been working on something big in my free-time. I'm not quite ready to fully unveil it to the world, but know that it combines my love of graphics and my background in tools. I've given myself a deadline of GDC to have something shareable, so look for more information in March 2022.
Hang in there everyone! Everything can, and will, get better.
