Well, I got all the real world stuff done today and I am enjoying a Beck´s while I think about things. Let´s do a little thought experiment.

To start, let us imagine that you have about 10 million dollars in your savings account, and you have a yacht anchored in some Pacific paradise, and you are on that yacht.

My first question is what are you doing? Are you like most people enjoying the sun and the sand and the warmth? Or are you like a game developer trying to figure out how to make a game with sand, sticks, and coconuts? If you are ignoring the pretty girls, the drinks, and the balmy sky to make a game, I personally would think that you have a passion for making games. One of the things that has been hammered home by reading Gamedev.net is that if you wish to succeed in the business, you must have a passion for making games. Not playing them, but making them.

The next thought that comes to mind is the idea of ¨professionalism¨. I think that if you wish to be successful in the business, you must be prepared to be a professional and that is that. I think that is probably easier said than done.

Over the course of years, I have found exactly two games that captured my imagination. The first is a game named ¨Vangers¨ developed by KD Labs, released somewhere around 1998. The game is available on Steam if you have a linux box. If you ever want to get your mind stretched a little bit I would really recommend that you check out the game. I realize that everyone´s taste is different, but if I ever had to pick a game that I thought was absolutely unique, it would be Vangers. The funny thing is that when I first installed the game I thought ¨oh, I got burned again, spent $20.00 for a game I don´t like¨. After I played through the fourth or the fifth time I realized that I had found a pretty good game.

The second game that captured my imagination was ¨Dragon Age:Origins¨. A lot of people thought that the combat was too slow, but that never bothered me; the replay value was so high that I ended up doing the entire game four or five times. And that leads us to the point of this little piece. My wish for you as a game developer, is that you make a game that will capture the imagination of the people who play your game. Me personally, I don´t know how to do that, but I know it can be done.

I have been blessed. I might not be a bright light but I have a circle of friends and family that are very capable, talented and creative; I wish you the same or better. If you decide to do the work to make a game, I hope that it is one which will capture the imagination of your audience. My opinion is that if you try to share the truth in some way that you will be successful. It does not have to be a big truth, any truth will do. But, that is a personal opinion and I don´t really know if that is the right path for you, you will have to decide for yourself.

Well, if you have read this far, thank you. I almost have my compiler set properly, but that darn real world stuff keeps intruding on my time to program. I´m not worried, sooner or later it will all get done.

Wassail.

Edit: Let us also remember courage. In my opinion, it takes great courage to birth something new into the world. I wish you great courage, and the bravery necessary to be successful. Be brave, and succeed.

I know I should probably not be continuing the theme, but everytime I think about people who did succeed in a creative enterprise, they did it for themselves. Am I making any sense? People who made songs made songs that they themselves liked. You know, they did not try to copy success, they made songs that they themselves liked, and then became successful because they were being true to themselves.

I have not got the quote handy, but the idea is to be true to your own self and it follows that you will be true to any other. If you bug me about it I will do the google thing and find the quote, but the idea is to be true to yourself.

Life is not easy, but I think if you are true to yourself then sooner or later you will find some kind of success. I am looking at things from the outside but I remember that old Cat Stevens´ lyric, ¨I am old, but I am happy¨.

Anyway, I don´t want to bore you, I just like thinking about things.

Wassail.

Edit:

Polonius:

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

My first question is what are you doing?

Getting back to Japan and my high-rise penthouse as quickly as possible. I will try to code on my engine or finish chapters on my book along the way, but I will be distracted as my main focus will be to get out of that hell as quickly as possible.

I think that if you wish to be successful in the business, you must be prepared to be a professional and that is that. I think that is probably easier said than done.

“Professionalism” in this industry only means getting your work done with high quality and not being unprofessional (annoying others, watching porn at work, etc.)

Edit: Let us also remember courage. In my opinion, it takes great courage to birth something new into the world. I wish you great courage, and the bravery necessary to be successful. Be brave, and succeed.

Go home Snjarulf, you’re drunk.


L. Spiro

I have a fear of any body of water I can not clearly see the bottom of ( Hydroskourophobia )... so I would not be on a yacht .

¨Go home Snjarulf, you’re drunk.¨

L Spiro.

I am sorry it showed so much, but you are telling the truth. I have 1 bottle of Beck´s left and soon it will be time for sleeping. Let us look on the bright side. You are a professional and I am not.

In my dreams I aspire to be someone like you. You know, professional, powerful, knowledgeable, but I don´t think that is in the books for me this life. That is fine, I have a pretty happy life anyway. I am actually surprised that someone like you would even read the stuff that I write. Anyway, you made the point that it is time for me to stop writing and start listening again. Thank you for that.

I will try to write only if I don´t have some Beck´s, but good luck with that. You can teach me how to approach professionalism if you ever feel like it, and I will listen to what you have to say. In the meantime, how did you know that I was drinking Beck´s tonight? I thought my writing was pretty coherent. Aghh, you have pierced me through the heart.

Thank you for reading my stuff, and I will try to be more professional.

Wassail.

@Code Fox:

I also am afraid of the ocean, and even if I had those kind of resources you would not find me on a boat. That is what I use computers for, to experience things that I would not do in real life. Maybe that is what it is all about?

Wassail.

Man, if you thought I was drunk before, now you have an opportunity to see me in reality. Beck´s is done, and now I have vodka.

You, as people who have the ability to change the world must decide whether you wish to be a part of the solution or part of the problem.

I don´t wish to argue about how education has been dumbed down for the past 50 years. I don´t wish to argue about college graduates who can´t spell, people who can´t make a simple declarative sentence, people who don´t know the difference between ¨their¨, ¨there¨, and ¨they´re¨. The one that I hate the most is people who don´t know the difference between ¨loose¨ and ¨lose¨. The next I hate is people who don´t know the difference between ¨your¨ and ¨you´re¨.

As a game developer, is it your job to educate people? I don´t think so. I am wondering, as you create the next best game, whether you will choose to aim at the lowest common denominator, or whether you will aim at a reasonably intelligent audience. If you want my opinion, I am not sure that there is such a thing anymore.

Does that make me bad to say such a thing? Nope. I am just someone looking from the outside toward the inside. End of rant. If you want to make a successful game, make sure it is a game that you yourself would like to play. My opinion only, but you can probably find worse advice.

It does not matter. If you only wish to make the big bucks, you will make one choice. If you wish to make a game that has lasting appeal, you will make another. In the long run, we are all dead and it does not matter.

Wassail.

Edit: I expect to catch a little hate for this post. People who cannot write the Queen´s english will no doubt call me a grammar Nazi or something similar. The point is that these were things that I learned in grade 4 - 6. If you cannot learn the rules of communication, how can you realistically expect to communicate? I don´t care what kind of a degree you have, if you are unable to learn the rules of English, if you are unable to express yourself at a basic level, if you can´t spell, it does not matter how brilliant you are. Man, you have to walk before you can run, and you must crawl before you are able to walk. I have learned that I cannot take someone seriously who cannot speak or write proper English. I am not talking about people who are doing English as a second language, I am talking specifically about people whose first language is English and cannot be bothered to learn to write properly.

Does it make any difference? Nope. But after the third error in grammar or spelling I think ¨Oh, an idiot¨ and move on.

Wassail.

I have a fear of any body of water I can not clearly see the bottom of ( Hydroskourophobia )... so I would not be on a yacht .

You know, sometimes when Im swinging on the sea, where my feet cant touch the floor anymore, looking at the horizon, on the brown ass water of Tramandaí, I think to myself: "If a shark fin would show up right now, that would be the most terrifying shit ever". Just thinking on that makes me shiver. The feeling of impotence is just too enormous.