Psychochild's Blog

A quick update about Storybricks. You can play the current Alpha version of Storybricks. We have a contest going on. And, our Kickstarter project is still going.

And I'll make an impassioned plea for your support.
(more...)

I'm going to claim that I'm fashionably late to the Newbie Blogger Initiative. To be fair, I've been busy. So, I'm going to cheat a bit, ignore the rules, and jump right into offering advice. :)

So, what does make your blog special?
(more...)

Sometimes it astounds me to think about my development history. Most of my career I've just worked to make or maintain what I feel are cool games. Part of the reason I still blog even though most people have moved on to other forms of social media is that previous blog entries remind me a lot of where I've come from, what I've learned, and what I've considered important over the years. It's a bit like keeping a diary and using it to reminisce, without the fear of a sibling finding it to use as blackmail. (Although I guess prospective employers could try to hold something I've posted against me in the future.) But, usually when I post on a topic I like to do a quick search to see if I've posted about the topic and see how my perspectives might have changed over time.

So, I hope you understand this next line is said without intending to be cliché and without intending to be hyperbole: it has felt as if my career has build up to this singular point in time. We're taking Storybricks to Kickstarter.

Okay, hopefully that alone excites you, but read on for a bit more information and why you really need to support us.
(more...)

I feel like I should write a standard excuse for my sporadic blogging. Something I can cut and paste whenever I finally do sit down to write something. Doing actual creative and innovative work tends to tame my ranty side. The Storybricks project has been demanding a lot of attention.

But, I haven't forgotten you, brave people who still have this blog in your RSS reader, or who haven't removed me from Twitter yet, or those of you who notice when I post on Google+. Let me expound a bit about why Storybricks is a toolset and not a game (even if I mess up and use the wrong term sometimes).
(more...)

Well, good news and bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way first: I'm stepping back from my responsibilities on Storybricks. Frankly the work was too creative and rewarding. As I get older, I realize that I really just want to have a cubicle somewhere and try to do as little work as possible. Preferably a job where I can be a raging asshole after making a lot of money being acquired by a company that is totally not evil and doesn't attract assholes.

Anyway, the good news is that I've landed a new gig at Bioware. Spoiler alert: it has to deal with Mass Effect 3!
(more...)

Like a lot of other people, I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect. The difference is that I've been playing the first game in the series, rather than the third and most recent installment. Yeah, I'm a bit behind the times.

But, there's enough interesting stuff to post about even if I'm two games behind.
(more...)

As I wrote before, I went back to EverQuest 2 with the intention of trying out the new Dungeon Maker system. I figured I might expand upon some of my thoughts particularly as I look at what I am doing in my current work. How does EQ2's Dungeon Maker get the creative juices flowing?
(more...)

I'm heading to GDC next week. Want to catch up or chat about Storybricks? Drop me a line.
(more...)

First, the great news: The CRPG addict is back! That's a great blog and if you like RPGs you absolutely should go read it to understand the history of the computer RPG genre. He plays the old games you don't have time to play in full.

But, I wanted to touch on an issue he touches on in his post: the value of games to a productive adult in today's society.
(more...)

I recently attended a conference on social and mobile games (yeah, I know) and they talked a bit about cloning of games. Again. A few high-profile examples of cloning have brought this back into the spotlight. So, let's take a look at the business realities of cloning and how it affect small game companies.
(more...)