“Stay a while, and listen!”
– Deckard Cain, Diablo II
Growing up I was huge into video games, comic books, tabletop war games, Dungeons & Dragons, and every other nerd thing imaginable. I played Pirates of the Spanish Main, Marvel HeroClix
Recently I’ve gotten back into gaming. Last week I sold two $90 articles and decided to take the day off. Since it was Monday afternoon in Iowa there wasn’t much to do. I ended up downloading Faster Than Light and played it until the wee hours of the morning.
Being a fan of strategy games, and having grown up wanting to make video games, gave me an idea. This month I’m going to learn about game design and I’ll try making a pen and paper strategy game. I’m going to have to study how games actually work, how to balance them, and how to set their rules. To help me out I picked up a couple textbooks and manuals. I’ve been reading through them relentlessly.
Aside from just working on a video game, I’ve also decided to go out more. Over the past two months it’s been well below zero and I haven’t felt like hitting up any bars or clubs. Things are starting to turn around now, and I’ve decided that it’s high time I start going out again.
I’m pretty excited for this challenge and am looking forward to learning more about how games actually work and how I can make my own.