This site was amazing in its infancy, it was the first bulletin board that was well-run, and embraced by a mature audience of talented young animators. I spent quite a lot of time on here, even if I didn't animate a whole lot, I still appreciated taking part in the community. I became an Administrator, and discovered that running a community takes A LOT of work, after 2+ years of administration I retired to only lurk on the forums every now and then. In earnest, nearing the end of my frequent visits on the site I was kind of an asshole back then; I guess everyone who grew up visiting the site eventually felt like they had outgrown it, after all this is a forum that caters to people learning how to animate for the first time. Whatever the case may be I became what is currently called a shitposter before I left the site.
I realize I spent a lot of time on here, I made a lot of friends with very talented people, some of which I still talk to to this day. I'm indebted to ever have experienced this forum in its prime, it's the rare kind of nostalgia that you come back to and it doesn't feel fake and artificial. A lot of the experiences I had on this forum shaped who I am today: The brutal honesty, the sense of humor, and the pursuit to better myself in every facet just to get that 'courtz pls'.
Well flash forward to now, I'm 25 years old, I no longer hold an interest in Pivot Animation obviously, but I've pursued a career in 3D Environment Design for Video Games. To be honest I've kept a little busy the past couple of years and found a team of people to form a company, and build our first full-fledged video game project together full-time. It's been several years and we just now finished our Fundraising campaign and are starting to really see the game take shape, and we're no longer paying out of pocket to pay for software licenses and such.
The name of the project is Dead Matter, and we're currently working on a closed-alpha build of the game for release in the first quarter of 2018.
You can visit our website at the following address:
https://playdeadmatter.com/
Our Kickstarter Campaign launched in mid-July with a goal of $60,000 CAD. As of right now, we've reached more than 5x that amount. We've ended all of our fundraising campaigns and are pursuing full-time development on crowdfunding alone. I wanted to post this once we were finished our fundraising so it wouldn't feel like I was just returning to shill the game to you guys.
This is a huge change of pace from the freelance work I was previously doing on the side, and it honestly just brought me back here because I frankly owe a lot to this fine establishment, even if it is a shell of its former self. If there's anything I feel I should say after all that's happened it's this: find something you legitimately enjoy doing, and work hard at it; you will be surprised how far it will take you.
One last thing, if you guys message me over PM, and I recognize you, I'll send you a key for the game. I owe you guys as much.
Cheers,
Yad
