An Introduction

Hello,

A sample of my games collection

I am a professional game designer, writer and self-proclaimed games historian.

This blog is a repository to discuss aspects of game design, game collecting, game history, or other various subjects of strategy and antiquity. I invite you to join in and share your ideas in the comments sections.

My interest in game design started early. In 5th grade I designed a version of Dungeons & Dragons before learning how to play the real thing. In high school, my friends and I hacked games on the Atari 800XL, Apple ][, and Commodore 64 computers. We made mods and unearthed sections of games developers never meant for players to reach, discussing our findings on the school yard or in primitive e-mail systems on BBSs. Meanwhile, I continued to play D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Talisman, Car Wars, and many other "analog" games.

The 8-bit era made way for the 16-bit era and I saw home video game systems fade away to make room for the newest technological wonders. I picked up many less successful or more unusual systems at great prices: Bally Astrocade, Magnavox Odyssey and Odyssey2, Vectrex, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Atari Lynx, and more. I took courses in Japanese and imported many Super Famicom titles while working at a massive mail order game store.

Finally, I got a job as a game designer and my long-lived ludophilia paid off. I have a library of different games for inspiration: ideas for making FPSs from old RPGs, improved board games with card game mechanics, and even added zombies to Mall Madness.

Next post will be about my latest project. Stay tuned!