hmxheather’s Profile

It's been a long time since I've written a new blog post, woah. I don't have a ton to say, but I wanted something more recent on the top of the list. I am currently producing Rock Band DLC and acting producer for the Audio Dept. We (the Audio Dept.) have moved back to our old space 'cause we got too big and a GIANT LASER provides us our internets. GDC was awesome. I got to meet Steve, the writer on Saint's Row and a bunch of awesome people from Double Fine, very cool. Also, I purchased a hoodie with mittens for pockets in the Mission District. It's sweet and nothing falls out of my pockets.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

As you may have noticed I have been absent from blog writing
class the past few weeks. This is because I changed jobs, went on vacation, and
had a Monday holiday, in that order. You are now reading the blog of Harmonix's
newest Associate Producer and Writer. As an associate producer I'll be working with
Helen on downloadable content, making sure you get your fix of new songs on a
regular basis. As a writer I'll be providing content for RockBand.com, making
some of our press releases sound less business and more Harmonix, and of course
providing game content. Although I will miss the library (it's being taken over
by the very capable and awesome Shari and Jyllian) I am super excited to be
moving onto new things.



The Friday before last, Oct. 5, we had a few visitors in the
office. Jonathan Coulton came in to play Rock Band along with Paul & Storm. Jonathan
spent some time at our PAX booth where Sean, DanT, and Matt Kelly got to hang
out with him, see his show, and fill me with jealousy. (Thanks for texting me
that picture Dan!) So I was pretty happy when Matt invited him to come visit
our offices when he was in town.



Meeting Paul and Storm was also completely awesome but for
different reasons. It didn't occur to me until halfway through their set at
Johnny D's that night that they were Paul and Storm from DaVinci's Notebook who
I've seen live three times (don't ask how that little detail escaped me). They
were absolutely hilarious and even though I broke my toe that morning I didn't
mind standing for the entire show. I think I laughed so hard during both sets
that my toe decided to give me a break.



Of course while he was in the office we asked Jonathan about
his song for Orange Box, but he couldn't tell us what it was since the game
hadn't been released yet. Thankfully I got to see the credits this weekend.
Awesome!



Before they left we gave all the guys Rock Band shirts and
of course lots of soda. Paul wore his shirt for part of the show and Jonathan
gave us a shout out, which felt amazing. It's weird and nice to be in a position
where people whose stuff you like also like the stuff that you work on. Thanks
for coming in guys!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Pick up the new issue of Wired, there's an article all about
us in it! It's a great article I only have one objection:









"Harmonix has maintained its rock-and-roll attitude as its
staff has grown from 20 to 140 in the past eight years. Its office was so
crowded that the company just moved to another building in the middle of the
beta crunch on its game. (The hardest part of the move was ensuring that no
one's vintage concert posters were damaged in transit.)"


Actually, the hardest part of the move was making sure
everyone got the right desk & chair back! :D

Friday, September 14, 2007

This past week I finished the last of the Rock Shop names
and descriptions (excluding instruments, that's Helen domain - she knows waaay
more about instruments than I do), which leaves bug fixes for this week. I get
all sorts of bugs, mostly grammar ones as I am notorious for forgetting commas.
Some of my best bugs revolve around misinterpretations of slang terms. I have
to give major props to EA QA though, as they have found a lot of tiny things
I've needed to fix.





I finished them after emptying out and cleaning a
friend's old apartment. I didn't intend to come back to work on Friday after I
left, around 6. Instead I planned on coming in early on Saturday before it was
time to move her stuff into her new place.* The problem was I couldn't focus on
anything but that last section of descriptions I needed to write so I had to go
back to work. I totally forgot that I had promised some other friends the use
of my car for some of their moving needs. So after finishing the descriptions I
left work again, this time at 11 and went to help them.



The next day I helped the first friend move into her
place and then helped her roommate move in as well. The best part of this was
the required trip to Target where I purchased some Moon Sand for my desk at
work. Moon Sand is neither from the moon, nor actually sand. Sean took some and
mixed it with soap (despite the instructions telling him not to!), which made
some odd paste. Then he added water which completely washed the sand away.
Leading us to believe that Moon Sand is likely formed of some sort of odd
chemicals that we shouldn't put in our mouths.



Today I am the only person in my general vicinity at
work. It's pretty quiet. Also my camera battery is dead and I'm not sure where
my charger is, which explains the lack of picture this week (last week I was
alternately too lazy and too busy to post one). Also I am cold. And hungry...
Ok not really but I was on a roll with the complaints. :D Have a good week
people!





*In Boston Labor Day weekend is like National Moving
Weekend. Everyone is coming back to school or changing apartments. I think half
of Harmonix moved this weekend. In any case a lot of times you have to be out on
the 31st and can't get in until the first. Luckily she didn't have a lot of
stuff so we loaded up another friend's van and left it over night.

Monday, September 3, 2007

My blog will be short today because I am crunching to get
the Rock Shop writing done this week. So here it is:





OMG I am sooooooo jealous of DanT, Sean, Matt, and John. Wil
Wheaton, the Minibosses, JONATHAN COULTON, the Behemoth guys!!! But they had a
great time and people really enjoyed playing the game so even though I am
totally jealous I am still super happy for them. Go read about it in their
blogs and check out the fantastic pictures of PAX that DanT has to offer. Ok
that's it back to work.

Monday, August 27, 2007