Any body around here work at Gas Powered Games? If so what's it like? what's it like living in that part of washington?? Is it great? Does it Suck? Im very interested for reasons you can probably guess.
I believe that they are located in Bothell, WA, which is just outside of Seattle by about 10 miles or so. It's a nice area, but not that urban, so there isn't a ton of stuff to do. Very pretty, and a bit more affordable than Seattle though. You could live in Seattle, and commute out there, but it will sometimes be nasty traffic. But if you like walking to dozens of pubs, Seattle is where you will want to be, commute be damned.
Last time I talked to OCN he said he was in love with the place. Of course, he worked at Zombie before that, so... I interviewed there once, like six years ago- really cool place, nice people, true passion for games, cozy joint. Aren't they in Kirkland still?
Seriously, dont live in seattle and commute across the bridge to the eastside. Seriously bad idea unless you like 2hour one-way commutes.
I live in Renton just off exit4 on I-405 and the commute is still kinda poopy, but no where near as bad as I-520 or I-90 and the bridges.
Weatherwise, today its very nice out. It doesnt rain that much as some would lead you to believe.
We are in Redmond now, literally next door to Nintendo and DigiPen in the Redmond Woods business complex.
As for areas to live, I'd recommend Renton, Bellevue, Redmond, Factoria or perhaps Everett/Bothell areas to be reasonably close to work and still have a nice place to hang your hat.
if you need anything else, email me or james (fatassassin)
Washington is awesome if your not into sunny weather and beaches . The scenery in Northern Washington is unbeatable unless your in Alaska . If you like things to do like Ocean Fishing, Whale watching, Skiing ,Live Music,Hiking in the forest,camping,liberal culture and more along those lines i'd say you like it . Also when they say cold it's not cold it never gets below zero here it's like maybe 30-50 in the winter and it rains alll the time ...300 days a year is the average but it does'nt rain all day. I don't know much about gas powerd games but I have seen interviews with the developers there on gamespot and they seem pretty cool and of course it would be fun to work on a game like Dungeon Siege I think ..anyways good luck with everything !
One bad thing though and it's the biggest downside for me . The traffic here is horrible !! Though no as bad as LA or other massive cities . One good thing about Washington is that people are generally very slow drivers . Come to think of it that's a nice change from the insane drivers in California.
Cali drivers are insanely fast, but at least they know what they are doing. Here in Seattle, people merge on to the freeway, and once they are on it, they stop, turn around, and look to make sure that the coast is clear. Oh god, how I've wanted a car-mounted Spy Hunter style rocket launcher...
Wouldnt be so bad if I didnt have to drive on the eastside. The roads just were never meant for the volume of vechiles that populate the roads everyday.
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Cali drivers are insanely fast, but at least they know what they are doing.
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Couldn't disagree more sorry! I've seen the worst driving ever in this state. Way too fast, way too close to each other at speed, no concept of which lane is meant to be for what, and I absolutely guarantee you that when it rains, there will be a pile up on the 101 every single morning without fail.
aside from LA Houstons traffic is the worst,i dirve 60 miles to work on a 2 lane toll road, speed limit is 65, at 85 mph you have people on your ass about 5 feet away and pissed off your only going 85
i had a lady one cut me off to be 5 feet behind a flameable 18 wheeler
its so bad it takes to hands to count all the burned car stains to and from the work
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Here in Seattle, people merge on to the freeway, and once they are on it, they stop, turn around, and look to make sure that the coast is clear
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My experience as an Oregonian dealing with Washington drivers is that they think it's called the "fast lane" because it is the shortest distance between two points.
I use to think that all the bad drivers in Oregon were from California, but after driving there extensively a couple years back I realized that is not the case. I think Californians are probably the best drivers in the states (as a sweeping generalization). Granted, I did not deal with the LA freeway during a rain storm at all, but I felt that people were actually more courteous drivers (HUGE surprise) and actually knew how to properly MERGE on to the freeway.
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Cali drivers are insanely fast, but at least they know what they are doing. Here in Seattle, people merge on to the freeway, and once they are on it, they stop, turn around, and look to make sure that the coast is clear.
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Yep, you can predict that CA drivers with do the most idiotic thing. With WA drivers it's always a guessing game as to which one is going to take you out.
As far as the original question goes the weather here isn't too bad if you can tolerate the rain. I moved up here from San Diego to attend Digipen and I've managed to survive so far.
I'm a little late here, but to get this discussion back to GPG, it's the best place I've worked so far, and I've worked at a few places. There's not a lot of political BS to deal with, everybody's easy going about work hours and time off as long as you're getting your work done.
And right now there's a big push to really become a top tier developer, while keeping much of the small developer mentality they started with. So, there's been a lot of work to smooth out our pipeline issues and develop tools to make life easier. That, along with starting discussions about our next big project, which could be anything at this point, makes it an exciting place to be right now.
About living in WA, I relocated to North Bend from Los Angeles, and it's been a really easy adjustment. Mainly because it's just so freakin' beautiful up here. People do drive slower in general than what I'm used to, which can frustrating at times. But for me, since I head into work coming from the east on the 90, the freeway traffic is pretty light so I can usually get around the slow pokes.
There was another thread here about someone looking to move to the Seattle area, and about where the good places to live were. Shouldn't be too hard to find.
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...We are in Redmond now, literally next door to Nintendo and DigiPen in the Redmond Woods business complex.
As for areas to live, I'd recommend Renton, Bellevue, Redmond, Factoria or perhaps Everett/Bothell areas to be reasonably close to work...
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I actually moved out here strait outta highschool from Jersey to go to college at Digipen a few years ago... I had to to actually live right around nintendo and digipen because I didn't have a car... but with all those damn microsoft buildings around rent is insanely high... I moved down past tacoma and now I'm living it Kirkland... much better rent cost and the area is really nice... near the water... really nice during the summer.
About living in seattle and commuting north... I personally wouldn't do that, not with the condition the bridges are in. I don't know how long they'll wait, but they're gonna end out shutting one down to work on it... leaving even more stress and traffic on the other bridge... commuting will be hell when that happens. Pshhh, that's if the the bridge can handle double the traffic its already getting.
side note - didn't know so many polycounters live in the seattle area... you know there's sketcgroup meeting in seattle every week that conceptart members formed about a year ago... if you guys want more info I'll point you in the right direction. And if you're curious I try and make it there every couple weeks now and Eli_Heuer is there practically every week... Poop's even been there once.
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side note - didn't know so many polycounters live in the seattle area... you know there's sketcgroup meeting in seattle every week that conceptart members formed about a year ago.
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Ouhh! Ouhh! Me! Me! Live Figure Drawing? Everytime I find a place that has figure sessions, they end up shutting down.
For the washington group, we gather at Vita's coffee shop located on Capitol Hill. The group meets up every week, and we alternate the meetings to be help on fri one week and sat the next. For more info go to the Washington thread in the link above.
oXYnary - as for life drawing there's actually a great place that usually has amazing models (can actually hold poses! and interesting ones to boot). Sessions are held saturday and sunday mornings in the basement of the Art Not Terminal Gallery located on Westlake Ave. I haven't been there in a couple months but I imagine they're still up and running.
More info (including times and addy) can be found here:
Interesting reads. Personally I live in Kirkland and Commute to Seattle via 520 to my job. At around 7:30-9 it's actually not that horrible, usually make it in about 30 minutes. I can't imagine why going the opposite direction is worse, I don't notice the people getting too jammed going the opposite way. Rush hour in the evening certainly feels worse, leaving Seattle, getting on I-5, immediately getting onto 520, then exiting by either driving through Houghton area or getting on 405 northbound, generally takes 45 minutes to an hour ish? Not too horrifying imho, plus the scenery of the drive is really nice.
When it comes to the King County area, I love it, it has everything you could want and has plenty of nice nature areas, went hiking the other week, was only a short hop skip off of the I90 bridge to get to a nice trail that was barely busy in the middle of a sunny Saturday. I've looked around the area at apartments, and they don't tend to be too pricey at all (unless you're going for the super luxury ones, they got some pimpin pads in downtown kirkland). Usually a nice one bed one bath goes for ~$600, I'm moving into a 2bed 2bath with a friend, we've shopped around and they tend to go for around $800 monthly...
BTW thanks a bunch skrubbles! I'll have to kick my ass into attending one of these weeks...
Replies
I'd also be interested to know this stuff
edit: hah, mop and poop posted as I was typing mine.
Its only cold and rainy for some of the seasons. At least it isn't hot or humid.
if you must know!
Seriously, dont live in seattle and commute across the bridge to the eastside. Seriously bad idea unless you like 2hour one-way commutes.
I live in Renton just off exit4 on I-405 and the commute is still kinda poopy, but no where near as bad as I-520 or I-90 and the bridges.
Weatherwise, today its very nice out. It doesnt rain that much as some would lead you to believe.
We are in Redmond now, literally next door to Nintendo and DigiPen in the Redmond Woods business complex.
As for areas to live, I'd recommend Renton, Bellevue, Redmond, Factoria or perhaps Everett/Bothell areas to be reasonably close to work and still have a nice place to hang your hat.
if you need anything else, email me or james (fatassassin)
jpritchard[at]gaspowered[dot]com
jhaywood[at]gaspowered[dot]com
(btw, whats OCN's real name?)
-R
That and the stupidity factor of the drivers.
(and as a bicyclist, SHARE THE ROAD YOU A$$)
Cali drivers are insanely fast, but at least they know what they are doing.
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Couldn't disagree more sorry! I've seen the worst driving ever in this state. Way too fast, way too close to each other at speed, no concept of which lane is meant to be for what, and I absolutely guarantee you that when it rains, there will be a pile up on the 101 every single morning without fail.
Sorry for the derailment!
i had a lady one cut me off to be 5 feet behind a flameable 18 wheeler
its so bad it takes to hands to count all the burned car stains to and from the work
Here in Seattle, people merge on to the freeway, and once they are on it, they stop, turn around, and look to make sure that the coast is clear
[/ QUOTE ]
My experience as an Oregonian dealing with Washington drivers is that they think it's called the "fast lane" because it is the shortest distance between two points.
I use to think that all the bad drivers in Oregon were from California, but after driving there extensively a couple years back I realized that is not the case. I think Californians are probably the best drivers in the states (as a sweeping generalization). Granted, I did not deal with the LA freeway during a rain storm at all, but I felt that people were actually more courteous drivers (HUGE surprise) and actually knew how to properly MERGE on to the freeway.
Cali drivers are insanely fast, but at least they know what they are doing. Here in Seattle, people merge on to the freeway, and once they are on it, they stop, turn around, and look to make sure that the coast is clear.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yep, you can predict that CA drivers with do the most idiotic thing. With WA drivers it's always a guessing game as to which one is going to take you out.
As far as the original question goes the weather here isn't too bad if you can tolerate the rain. I moved up here from San Diego to attend Digipen and I've managed to survive so far.
And right now there's a big push to really become a top tier developer, while keeping much of the small developer mentality they started with. So, there's been a lot of work to smooth out our pipeline issues and develop tools to make life easier. That, along with starting discussions about our next big project, which could be anything at this point, makes it an exciting place to be right now.
About living in WA, I relocated to North Bend from Los Angeles, and it's been a really easy adjustment. Mainly because it's just so freakin' beautiful up here. People do drive slower in general than what I'm used to, which can frustrating at times. But for me, since I head into work coming from the east on the 90, the freeway traffic is pretty light so I can usually get around the slow pokes.
There was another thread here about someone looking to move to the Seattle area, and about where the good places to live were. Shouldn't be too hard to find.
Good luck man!
...We are in Redmond now, literally next door to Nintendo and DigiPen in the Redmond Woods business complex.
As for areas to live, I'd recommend Renton, Bellevue, Redmond, Factoria or perhaps Everett/Bothell areas to be reasonably close to work...
[/ QUOTE ]
I actually moved out here strait outta highschool from Jersey to go to college at Digipen a few years ago... I had to to actually live right around nintendo and digipen because I didn't have a car... but with all those damn microsoft buildings around rent is insanely high... I moved down past tacoma and now I'm living it Kirkland... much better rent cost and the area is really nice... near the water... really nice during the summer.
About living in seattle and commuting north... I personally wouldn't do that, not with the condition the bridges are in. I don't know how long they'll wait, but they're gonna end out shutting one down to work on it... leaving even more stress and traffic on the other bridge... commuting will be hell when that happens. Pshhh, that's if the the bridge can handle double the traffic its already getting.
side note - didn't know so many polycounters live in the seattle area... you know there's sketcgroup meeting in seattle every week that conceptart members formed about a year ago... if you guys want more info I'll point you in the right direction. And if you're curious I try and make it there every couple weeks now and Eli_Heuer is there practically every week... Poop's even been there once.
side note - didn't know so many polycounters live in the seattle area... you know there's sketcgroup meeting in seattle every week that conceptart members formed about a year ago.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ouhh! Ouhh! Me! Me! Live Figure Drawing? Everytime I find a place that has figure sessions, they end up shutting down.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=55
For the washington group, we gather at Vita's coffee shop located on Capitol Hill. The group meets up every week, and we alternate the meetings to be help on fri one week and sat the next. For more info go to the Washington thread in the link above.
oXYnary - as for life drawing there's actually a great place that usually has amazing models (can actually hold poses! and interesting ones to boot). Sessions are held saturday and sunday mornings in the basement of the Art Not Terminal Gallery located on Westlake Ave. I haven't been there in a couple months but I imagine they're still up and running.
More info (including times and addy) can be found here:
ART Not Terminal
You don't have to sign up for a crazy membership or anything... you just show up and pay Lyle or Aaron $6 anytime before you leave.
When it comes to the King County area, I love it, it has everything you could want and has plenty of nice nature areas, went hiking the other week, was only a short hop skip off of the I90 bridge to get to a nice trail that was barely busy in the middle of a sunny Saturday. I've looked around the area at apartments, and they don't tend to be too pricey at all (unless you're going for the super luxury ones, they got some pimpin pads in downtown kirkland). Usually a nice one bed one bath goes for ~$600, I'm moving into a 2bed 2bath with a friend, we've shopped around and they tend to go for around $800 monthly...
BTW thanks a bunch skrubbles! I'll have to kick my ass into attending one of these weeks...