Happy Ninth Birthday Polycount!
founder
It's that time again; the birthday of the green and black. It seems like I was just doing this a few weeks ago. On April 1st, 1998 we opened our doors to the public as the Q2pmp. We served up the best and worst of Quake2 models with a few other sites in the community like The Bodyshop. We graduated to Quake 3 Arena models and we upgraded the site to the official green and black and the name change that you are familiar with now. Over time the community has grown away from the singular focus and is now its own living breathing community. I'm stunned at this. We're nine years old today. Nine. What were you doing nine years ago? So much has changed, so much has stayed the same. I was sitting in the dark fussing with html getting ready for the official opening nine years ago. But I was in Indiana and working as an architect. Now I'm a senior artist for Sony and working on my fourth MMO living in Texas. But I'm still sitting here fussing with html again. What about you? What's the same and what's different from 9 years ago?
Replies
Here's the big black & green!
9 years ago I was just entering highschool (grade 9) and hadn't thought much about game art back then - that came at about grade 11. phew
Wow, 9 years ago........I was in middle school just getting into the Pokemon craze and at the time I didn't even know people made video games(I thought they just appeared in the stores from nowhere, just like movies). At the time I wanted to be a Marine Biologist.
Nine years ago I was just learning to drive, a year from graduating HS, programming in my spare time, and still unsure as to what I really wanted to do (just knew it had to be with games).
Nine years and a few colleges later (eek), I'm working hard, months away from graduation, and looking ahead to my career in game art. I'm just happy to be nearly done with school. Being a professional student by choice has been...very expensive! :]
Nine years ago... my memory doesn't go back that far. I was probably sitting around doing nothing important. Playing starcraft maybe? Watching discovery channel specials on special effects and wondering how in the hell people did that crazy 3d shit?
lesse, 9 years ago.. 1998? Playing starcraft, made a 3d model of samus out of primitives.. got introduced to lightwave and made this just before it turned to 1999. lol
(nice to see I haven't gotten better in 9 years eh?) :P
I can't recall anything about 98 other than I was in grade 11 at the time and that I made a really basic animation for a school project using 3d studio (dos edition) that year
Big thanks to R13, bearkub, Vito, gauss and everyone who's participated to keep this community alive and kicking.
nine years? really?
how come i didn't know this place exis.... oh wait, i was a 5 year old evil mastermind wit no interest at arts at that time.
seriously though, this community has helped me more wit 2.5 pimps and 1 compo entry than the 3 others im a part of who taught me 'nothing' with over 8 WIPs.
i lub u polycount!
Now, my hyper state has settled
Must be 7 years now I've been polycounted, really doesn't feel that long at all.
At 21 I was a long haired semi goth just getting into game modification with Quake 2 skins, losing interest in my computer science degree.
I was an internet grammar Nazi back them too, seething with bitterness and rage about the online murder of the English language.
I seriously would not have my job in the game industry now if it weren't for this forum, much less a huge group of great friends, many of whom I've had the good fortune to meet in person on occasion.
Nine years ago... I was halfways through high school, and a year into working on the Barracuda (ten years on that sucker now) still thinking "it'll be done this summer!"
A *BIG* thank you to R13, Vito, kub, etc etc etc... all our mods and those of you who've kept this site up and running over the years!
Nine years , cool.
Nine years ago ...
My life has changed.
But it was with UT 2004 that I've started to be interesting about 3D and I've found POLYCOUNT.
Since that time the modelling is my hobby by nights after my work when my wife and my son are sleeping.
happy birthday polycount!
Congrats for keeping the site up this long, and thanks. Without I'd probably still be ignoring Cgtalk critiques.
More than what I was up to 9 years ago (nothing or particular note), I wonder where the industry would be today if it weren't for these 9 years of hard work. I doubt that theres a studio today that hasn't got at least one Polycount trained artist on its art team.
Congratulations guys. You'd better start preparing now for the big one next year.
9 years ago I was 11, I played a great deal of Marathon being as I only had a mac powerpc at the time.
9 years ago I had just moved to Dallas (18yrs old). I was talking with Juan (martinez) about coming up to visit the Art Institute.
I wouldn't discover polycount for another year.
Then it would be almost another half year before we did our first, real contribution:
Probably around that time that i created my first levels for duke nukem 3d and a bunch of stupid mods for it.
9 years ago I was 16. I had been playing Quake since it's release playing the ORIGINAL QW Teamfortress, and by this time I was in QW Teamfortress clan EQ (EarthQuakers - first clan in the world, ever.) Several EQ members eventually went on to form SplashDamage who would end up making RTCW:ET, including my clanleader/friend Locki who is the MD. He's been a huge inspiration for me for many many years.
9 years later and £8000 poorer, I'm fully trained in Maya for game development, and hopefully one day I'll get to join some old friends again and work on the game I loved for so many years.... the reason I'm a gamer : QUAKE
9 years... Wow.. I was 18 and just starting college, in my first or second semester when I first visited (also playing Pokemon). I was 'undeclared' in my major at the time, and it would be another 2 years before saying 'art' was my major. Then another 4 years before graduating with a BA in art. Two years later I am back in school getting my Master's degree (and STILL playing Pokemon!) and hoping in another two years I'll be in the industry in some capacity.
Thanks everyone for helping me improve as an artist, we definitely have an awesome community!
Happy B-day! Here is to 9 more!
9 years ago... I didn't have any real intention to get into the games industry though it was when I had my first experience in a 3D package (Macromedia Extreme 3D Pro 2).
Used to make Duke 3D maps though and websites and used to be an IT nerd fixing computers at my high school as a junior technician... NERD!
-caseyjones
I was 22 when Q2PMP started up, and was posting here almost from the very beginning. The first thing I came here for were Jeff Garstecki's Waste and Fuel models, and Dan Bickell's incredible transforming Valkyries for Quake2. Oh man, and I learned ton from Brian Collins's models, I tore all of his .md2's apart to learn how to build things. I was still about two years away from finishing my first degre, and still under the assumption that I would work in the game industry for a living - I think I spent more time in 1998 doing game art than school work
My antique PMP hawtness from 1998!
I miss you. *sniff
Thanxabunch!!
-SK =^oo^=
You remember the first e3 we met? I walked up to you and said "you probably hate me, but I'm Epsilon". I remember having my WIP protoss model slammed by you in the forums so I thought you hated me. Didn't occur to me that it was because I was slamming poor Tanner Owen for his protoss submission.
I remember the dinner we had at e3 with hunter and Kub, and they brought me that cheese steak thingie with no meat. I still have pictures from that night.
From the good old days of q2pmp to the big green machine. oh my god, It's been so long and we're all still here. Congrats R, I'm glad it's still around.
9 years ago.. hmm.. i think i was making stupid but fun hl-dm maps *g*
Wow 9 years ago, I was 14, I think that's when I got my copy of Unreal and started building crappy levels with Vanilla Ice's pictures textured on the walls to gain lols from my friends.
Shortly after I saw some awesome meshes and skins on polycount and realized people were being for serious about game modding.
And now I'm about to start my first job in the industry, and I really owe it all to Polycount and the people that are part of it.
Green and Black forever!