The Nicnac Podcast

Dear fellow game developers and journalists,

My name is Nicolas Jackson and I am a game designer that has been studying the craft in my personal and undergraduate educational time for the past five years. For the majority of this time, I have devoted myself to completing my undergraduate education on-site in Phoenix, Arizona at the University of Advancing Technology.

Since I am in my last semester (to be completed Dec. 19th 2007) and am not required to be on site, I have decided to relocate to a game industry hub (Seattle or San Francisco) as soon as possible. This relocation is to take place no later than January 1st, 2008, though I am likely to relocate earlier provided an employment commitment.

Should any of you have employment opportunities or know of colleagues with opportunities that might allow me to move sooner, please let me know.

I have benefited greatly from the educational opportunities afforded to me by long standing relationship with colleagues such as yourselves. And, I can only imagine how much more I would be able to benefit from relationships like these while living in one of the industries central hubs. 

I am happy to travel to any central industry area as required. This week, for example, I will be traveling to the Bay Area.   

I specialize in game system design and balance, along with audio engineering and non-liner content creation. I am most interested in simulation development, however, I would enjoy contributing to most any game project that revolves around a complex system.                           

Thanks for your time and consideration. I look forward to many meetings in the cozy coffee shops that seem to pop up around industry hubs. Please find a copy of my resume and sample system design work attached to this message.

Sincerely,

Nicolas Jackson

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During this show I mention a lot of the potential battles that I face in my personal life including: apathetic law enforcement agencies, landlords and educational institutions. I talk about ways to evaluate the quality of service you are getting from such organizations and some ways to determine if a laps in quality is worth fighting for. I also talk about the consumers and proprietors duties relative to customer service and quality. In the process I mention a few games and ideas relative to the game and entertainment industry.

As always, if you have questions or comments you can email me via the address [email protected]. You can also instant message me with the id tag nicnacjak via most of the clients out there. I now have a Skype account with the same id. And don’t forget about my main website www.nicolasjackson.com.

In other news, I have started the process of applying for jobs within the game and multimedia industries. I am more then willing to relocate, so long as a firm employment contract has been signed. If you are a Game or Multimedia Industry employer and have an opportunity you think might work well for me please use the above contact information. If you are an industry employee and you know of an employer that might have something for me please use the same info to give me a heads up.

In still other news, technical difficulties have prevented me from posting this last weeks episode of The Let’s Talk Trains Show.* Apologies for the inconvenience, should the difficulties get resolved the files will be posted as per usual.  

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Thanks, Nicolas

*Episodes of The Let’s Talk Trains Show are only rebroadcast via this podcast temporarily as a “beta test? of the shows success rate when distributed via downloadable MP3 and RSS podcast formats. These episodes are posted based upon an agreement with the copyright holder, SanDiegoRail, who is solely responsible for the shows content. The NicolasJakson.com Podcast and NicolasJackson.com Website is not responsible for the view or opinions expressed on The Let’s Talk Train Show.

With the exception of direct notations, The NicolasJackon.com Podcast, Radio Show and website and all content therein was developed and produced by Nicolas Jackson. Copyright 2000-2007. All Rights Reserved.

Well folks, I took the Highway to Hell and now I am in Arizona, my new home. Things are going really well considering. But, if you think that means I have nothing to podcast about you would be proven wrong by the attached fourteen minutes and thirty four seconds worth of audio content. In this episode I talk about transitioning to the desert and Arizona, balancing the many demands of life (or trying to anyway), standing up for student rights in a privet school, corporate America and its desire to be way to obsessed with the bottom line as opposed to product quality, and my desire to establish my self in a career and find myself a good home. I was able to edit this thing for five hours and listen to it all the way though five times over so it must be good. Hope you enjoy enjoy it. If you have comments, questions or suggestions please email me [email protected]. I am also available at the nicnacjak address via MSN, Yahoo and AIM. There will be a unique edition of the Let's Talk Trains Show this week streamed live from 10am-12pm PDT this Saturday (1700-1900z). Check out www.letstalktrains.us for more info. And, look for the archived show to be available via the letstalktrains.us website and this podcast feed by late Saturday/early Sunday Peace and Love, Nicolas

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Hey folks this should be my last prerecoded podcast before I leave for AZ. This podcast is a lot like my early work. I spend most of my time talking about the personal hell I face in leaving the close proximity of San Francisco and moving back to Phoenix, which tends to be a lot more hostel to my soul. Of course, I make a major point of seeing the positives in this change. My life is in Phoenix for better or worse (though assuming better). So the best course of action is to embrace it as my new home and try to make the best of the experience. I also talk a bit about the challenges of podcasting, the album of songs that I am slowly putting together and my creative and personal dreams. For those of you with a sharp ear you will notice that I am trying something new in this show. I do apologize for the bad edits. I did the best I could.

Songs  Featured:

Here I Go Again by Whitesnake                         

Dani California by The Red Hot Chile Peppers                         

Superman by Lazlo Bane (A Close match to the long Scrubs into edit)                         

Imagine By John Lennon "You may say I am a dreamer but I am not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world can live as one" -John Lennon Imagine 1971 As always you may send me feedback via the email address [email protected] See everyone on Saturday for The Let's Talk Train Show 5pm-7pm GMT

Thanks, Nicolas

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This show ended up being much more personal then expected. Given that the highest rated shows on the podcast have been personal shows like this, though, I suppose that's a good thing.

Part 1

00:00-15:16

During the first half of the show I talk about how to get in touch with me during live shows. The toll phone number is (646)-716-7136 and my im id is [email protected]. I have not locked down a formal schedule for The NicolasJackson.com Radio Show as of yet, however, I will attempt to make listeners aware of when I schedule live shows.

After the formal introduction stuff I move on to the main topic of the day. I start out by explaining that LTT is on hiatus this week in honer of “Deceleration of Independence Day?. What I failed to mention was that LTT will be live next Saturday from 10am-12pm PDT (6pm-8pm GMT) for the 5th anniversary show. I also note that I called from a listeners place of residence in Phoenix, Arizona last week. The fun of meeting a caller/listener last week was not lost on me. However the energy required to get to Phoenix left me a little worn out and thus deserving of the hiatus (if I do say so myself).

I then move on to explain why I was in Phoenix and the challenges involved in realizing that my “life? is 870 mi or 1400.12 k– about 13 hours 39 mins away. I relate this to the fact that I am currently in transition and refer back to the last time I was in transition (see my podcast episode Growing Up with Transitions. ) Despite everything being what it is, I make sure to acknowledge that life isn't all bad while in transition. And, even when my reaction to a transition has been less than desired, it has still resulted in positive things like my association with The Let's Talk Train Show, my interest in Internet broadcasting and my interest in game development and journalism.

Break: Just seek forward I currently do not have the ability to edit this audio 15:17-15:34

Part 2 15:35-30:11

I start off the second half of the show referring back to my love of broadcasting (even terrestrial thanks to Jim Howell and KZFR), game development and game journalism. I also share my philosophy on experience: it maybe painful but its the only way to learn. I then move on to explaining how Whitesnake's Here I Go Again represents where I am in life right now. I also refer to the journey that I've gone through over the past few months that can be represented by Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and as I've come out on the positive side of the transition Whitesnake's Here I Go Again.

I go on to acknowledge that this show has been more personal in nature than my more recent podcasts. However, this type of show seems to be much more consistent with what my core audience enjoys so I will continue to produce episodes of this nature so long as I get positive feedback about them. I also bring up the concept of privatization and keeping my public life separate on some level from my privet one.

I end the show by talking about the field of Internet broadcasting and my desire to bring other netcasters onto the show to ban together and talk about the nature of the medium. I also make a point of reminding people that small shows like NicolasJackson.com Radio, The NicolasJackson.com Podcast and The Let's Talk Train Show (to a lesser extent) are not run for profit. They are run because putting the shows together is enjoyable and as entertainers we take pleasure in entertaining others. If

I must be in the mood for setting records because I have yet another podcast for you. During this show I start of by taking care of some house cleaning. I then move on to a much touted topic Sim Game Design. I talk about the systemic and the mimetic sims and what can be done to improve these sims based on basic game design theory (game world, player motivation and context) and how these lessons can be applied to game design as a whole. For my next prerecorded podcast I pan on doing a detailed review of FSX! In the meantime, you may send me comments or questions by emailing me [email protected]. And don't forget that this weeks episode of Let's Talk Trains is available on this feed. Just scroll down an entry or three. Until next time, Nicolas P.S. Does anyone know of free MP3 encoding software? Sound Forge is whining about letting me encode in mp3 for free. Silly Sony.

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In my continuing effort to gain more experience in broadcasting, I have started a live streaming radio show called NicolasJackson.com Radio at  BlogTalkRadio.com. The show page, which is still being put together is located at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nicolasjackson. This show is to be an extension of my podcast and website with two important differences. A: The show is live and unedited. So what is said during recording is what ends up in the final file. B: This show will be designed around the idea that people will interact during the live show. This may come to include prescheduled guests and any one who wants to call the toll number (646) 716-7136 during the live show. I still plan on releasing regular podcasts as often as I can. As of right now, NicolasJackson.com Radio is still in its infancy and is in need of a regular broadcast time and show format. I would also like to see if I can get a co-host and a fairly established rotation of guests to join me. No matter what the future may hold for NicolasJckson.com, my podcast or NicolasJackson.com Radio you can always expect to find updates and information right here at www.nicolasjackson.com As always, you are welcome to email me with comments and suggestions. [email protected] P.S. If you are looking for this weeks LTT Show please scroll down a few entries.

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Ok folks as promised here is the lastest Podcast. It took four hours to put together so you really can't fault me for takeing an 8 month break. In it I explain what I've been up to and try to get the LTT audience to give me an idea of what they think of the podcasting medioum. If you have comments for me you can send them to [email protected] This weeks editon of the Let's Talk Train Show is posted in two seperate entires below. So if you are looking for that just scroll on down. Thanks, Nicolas

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In this episode I explore the concept of transitions and the resulting growth that occurs by making lots of analogies to storytelling, real life, game development and radio. Hope you enjoy it and feel free to email me with comments questions or suggestions. -Nicolas

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Ok this show is a long one for me 19:47 to be exact. It starts out talking about an unplanned trip to Mexico and makes stops at being a college student is hard, making fun of friends and defending home part of country, let me in the darn industry, I hate systems and god people are stupidville. I still don't quite understand what it all means. But I'll just publish it and call it good. At least it talks a bit about games...

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