Reminders!

Okay, okay, okay! So I'm slacking! I've had a bunch of ideas for posts in the past few weeks but would write half of the post, then would promptly be overtaken by the "Ooh, shiny!" effect.

Here's a list of the posts.. mostly to 1. remind myself and 2. merhaps motivate me.

"Gather 'round the Camp Fire, Kids!"
"JRPGs and the Jack Of All Trades Syndrome"
"Take My Revolution"
"More Stats than an RPG!

--Todd

Prelude Part 2: A new blog concept

So here's a thought. I've been wondering if I want to reboot this blog with its current goals or start a brand new one with a brand new mission.

The reason? Well, one of the ideas I posted yesterday was a regular feature called something like "How They Would Make Games" or "If They Made Games." The concept behind it is that I want to interview different people -- students, professors, friends, friends of friends, anyone -- of different fields of business and/or study to find out 1. how they view video games, 2. how they would make video games for themselves and who they think play video games, 3. what they'd like to see in games.

The whole concept is based on a conversation I had with my roommates Keera and Ray. I told them that I wanted to take cinematography / film classes to which Keera promptly scolded me for overloading myself -- I'm notorious within my circle of friends for taking on ten too many projects and throwing away any free time I have. She was worried that I was flip flopping on my choice of study because of my numerous interests. I reassured her that I was not going to change my major and that I'm sticking with Game Design/Development and Computer Science. What I said next struck even me as I said it:

"I don't want to learn how to make games the way gamers make them."

I wanted to see how film makers direct their projects -- how they treat their audience, how they portray their visions to them -- and incorporate that into game design. I want to learn how they manage their projects, what goes into actually making their films and incorporate that into game development.

And so that got me thinking. Why stop there? I wanted to take a vast array of courses not traditionally related to Computer Science like Music Theory, Color Theory, Creative Writing, a handful of History courses. All to have a broad vision of what can and must go into a video game.

Fast forward to today. I have a mission: To learn how people want to make games and what games people want to play. Not just gamers and not excluding gamers.

Final thoughts and ideas: This could prove to be an interesting project for the Game Developers Association at UCCS to undertake. Perhaps it's not a project one person can handle easily. Besides, this could be quite the defining factor for the GDA. We could offer something of an "e-zine" or even a physical magazine that compiles all of the interviews, game development journals along with distribution of the games themselves (should we decide to create games based on what the interviews).

One more thought: I have GOT to think of a good name for this new project. Also... I should consider taking journalism. I seem to ramble a lot in these blog posts..!

--Todd Dionson

Prelude Part 1: A rekindled aspiration

It is new found. My drive has returned. I am considering new goals to shoot for with this blog.

All thanks to Julia Child.

.. Or rather, thanks to a movie about a woman who really liked her.

Today, I finally watched Julie and Julia, a movie I'd been meaning to watch ever since seeing previews just about a year ago. It's a story about Julie Powell, a woman discontent with her life who sees it fit to take some aim with her life by maintaining a blog. The challenge she proposed to herself was to cook her way through her idol, Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking -- a behemoth of a book containing 524 recipes -- within the span of 365 days.

Hey, if she can do it, so can I, right? The original intent of this blog was to keep a journal of a Game Design and Development student. That hasn't changed. It's still about games. It's still about the industry. It's still about a college student. I've just decided to add a little more direction.

Details will come soon. For now, some ideas: At least one game developed monthly, plus development journals. A series of interviews and editorials entitled "How They Would Make Games" -- the title's a work in progress. Regular commentary on the video games, game industry, gamer culture. Egad, how about a game review once in a while?

Who knows. Maybe this blog could spawn a movie some day! *Gasp* Or a game!

--Todd

Announcing: An Update

School started over two months ago (egad, time flies...) and I'm just now getting back to my journal here!

I just turned in my second GDD (that's Game Design and Development) game assignment this morning after pulling an all-nighter. Called Fix it with Fire, the game, like my first game (which I will also post about), was designed with the notion that "It's not that Girl Gamers don't like violence -- They don't like pointless violence."

I'll have a video, description and the game theory posted soon. A super-late NDK report and costume report are also incoming as well as a "How College Life is Treating Me" journal and a post about my first game, which I'm actually quite proud of.

Also: My friends and I all started something of a "writing prompt club," so I'll have an overdue piece posted sometime soon as well.

--Todd

Cross Post: Project Log: Dark Link Raver Remix Costume

"So to start me off on regular posts, I'm going to keep a daily log of my current project: My costume for Nan Desu Kan (NDK)!"

[link]

/reboot

*TapTap* Is this still on..?

Overhaul coming Sunday/Monday!

(Having a nifty li'l netbook--with a full-sized keyboard!-- will certainly help my projects!)

--Todd

O..Overload...

So.. Much.. Content..!

E3 Roundup and Thoughts coming once I'm able to think again...