Well today was certainly an interesting day. Armor Games went on a company outing to Disneyland since we had Tony (Shift and Indestructotank) and Ido (Portal: The Flash Version) come visit the office all the way from Europe. Only a few minutes after arriving the whole entire place started to shake like crazy. At first I thought it was just a roller coaster or some other ride, but after it started getting stronger I knew it was an earthquake! People were for the most part fairly calm, which was good for there being so many people. After the rumbling stopped we tried calling relatives and friends to find out that the cell phone networks were completely jammed and we couldn’t dial anyone since everyone else was trying to do the same thing. So I managed to get some info from friends via messages that a 5.4 earthquake hit Los Angeles, which is fairly big (biggest in 14 years).Most interesting thing though is that Disneyland completely shut down their rides when it happened, meaning that everyone was without much to do for a couple hours until all the rides could be inspected. Given that Disneyland has 30-40k+ visitors a day, that’s quite a lot of people without attractions to visit! So we just chilled out and luckily things were back and running within a couple hours, but some rides were down for nearly the rest of the day.So a strange day indeed. Luckily it was just a moderate quake and I found my apartment in good order. No one was hurt here but it was definitely odd.

Hey all,I’m gone this week! I’m leaving California and heading for Seattle for the week to take part in something called “Casual Connect,” which is a mix-up of a ton of professionals in the Casual Games industry talking about their experiences and meeting up with other companies and individuals. It’s a cool way to meet people who do game development like I do and love to entertain people on the casual game stage.Casual Connect WebsiteI’ll be keeping everyone up to date on what I am doing via my iPhone and Twitter, so keep your eye on the left side update bar to see what I am up to! Who knows, I might even post a few pictures!And as an added bonus… I’m going to bring my laptop and program at 32,000 feet in the air!And finally, I’m heading to PAX this year. If you are showing up, make sure to find me and say hi! I’ll write a bit more about that when I get there.

I like to update my website with my personal life every once in a while. For this one, I have been living in Irvine for nearly a year. I moved here after the Armor Games office opened. Since then it’s been an amazing year for my career as a Flash developer. Take a look at the list we’ve completed together:Ocean ExplorerScribble StatesDark Cut 2TBAArgent BurstMr WaltersElementsGrid16TwoThreeCompulseLight CutSpectrum GenesisTBA++Elephant RaveHedgehog LaunchSeriously, it’s been an amazing year since I started at Armor Games. Getting a desk and 40 hours a week of work to pursue my game ideas is AMAZING. Could never have been possible without Armor Games, for that I have to say thanks.And since then I have been promoted! No longer a Senior Flash Developer, I have been given the title of Head of Game Development, meaning I am in charge of all game production at Armor Games. Pretty snazzy huh?But now I am moving into an interesting part of my life. For the past few years I have been juggling expenses such as college, my first car, and trying to see my girlfriend 400 miles away. But now that my life has finally settled down, I have the chance to do shoot for some of my own personal dreams. First thing I wanted… to get out of my 520 sq. feet of apartment space.I found a new apartment, the one of my dreams that I’ve always wanted. It’s high up on the top floor, with 920 sq feet (nearly twice as big) and a nice deck to look out over. It also have a spiral staircase leading to a second story loft, which will be the perfect hideout for a computer work area and NES game station.I move in exactly one month from now, so it’ll be busy getting everything into boxes and moving once again. This transition is really more than just shifting space though. I always had these expectations for my life of what would happen and where I would be in 10 years or so… the goals I want to reach for myself and what I want to be doing. Everything seems to be falling into place.I’ll keep you updated on the move.-John

Errrr…. Makena day!In case you didn’t know, Makena is just a chick. He is Roo’s famous bird, and for our fourth annual Roo Day we are celebrating Roo AND Makena.So happy Makena Day!AND, if you are in the United States, Happy Fourth of July!