Renewing

I upgraded to Blogger in Beta just about as soon as I could. The reason? I suppose that I wanted to make sure I had the newest features. The best of the best. I then proceded to do nothing. I didn't upgrade my layout. I didn't do much of anything. Hell, I barely post at all.

I need to re-organize my main blog roll. Heck, clearing up my reader and bookmarks would be a feat worthy of praise. But I wanted to test the new layout functions. Out comes the old, purposeless blog. Clickety-click.

Wow... nifty!

New look, new features. Went back and added lables to the old posts. Which means I had to read the old posts.

It's amazing how far I feel I've come in a rather short year and a half (or so) since I began this blog.

I got married. I started a much more serious blog. I programmed a game for a competition. I bought a DS Lite. My wife bought a PS2. My brother moved in so he could go to the University College down the street.

It's weird, looking back. I feel so much older and more confident. I read my old posts and I can hear a much younger me talking. It hasn't been all that long, but it has been intense.

So this blog? It gets to be the lab rat. And maybe, if it is good, I'll post some more stuff here.

#1 at Marketing

Seth Godin, an accomplished author and marketer, has this to say about being #1:

If your marketing strategy requires you to hit #1 in order to succeed, you probably need a new marketing strategy.

He's talking about blockbuster movies in this post, but a lot of what he's saying applies directly to game publishers. The dinosaur game publishers are still using this model, and it is slowly killing them and their games. It means bigger teams, larger budgets, longer development time. It also means minimal design risk, and low innovation.

If you want to make games on the cutting edge, or just make games that explore new ground, then you need to get away from the idea that #1 is the place you have to be to succeed. You need to create something worth talking about, and worth playing.

If you want to be an indie developer, you need to see what Seth has to say about marketing. Start reading his blog, you'll see a who new side to marketing.

Death by Chocolate

I'm a geek. This means that the two primary chemicals that power me are Caffeine and Capsaicin. I, like all sane and healthy people, also like chocolate (which contains chemical #1). So the idea that the loves could be combined, and in a humourous type of game for a group of chocolate loving friends, is pure joy.

I give you Chocolate Roulette.

12 chocolate bullets. 11 are filled with sweet, yummy goodness. 1 is filled with red chilli pepper death. Who will bite the bullet, so to speak? No one knows.

I want this. Someone should buy me this. I'll even go first.

Word Flow

For those of you familiar with Eric Burns and Websnark*, I'm going to try something. I'm going to try to prime my own word pump and build up my momentum by simply putting to page something, anything. You see, I have an article for a monthly round table that I want to write. I've had this idea in my head for over a week.

I like to get an idea, and let it simmer. It builds for a few days, collects other ideas around it, and at some point coalesces into a whole. Up until a little while ago, I used to let these ideas slip past. They would flit by as a stream-of-consciousness rant, or inner-monologue. Or I would talk to myself for half an hour and get them out that way. Recently, I've been trying to trap them in type. It's been working Ok.

I wanted to write the piece on the weekend, but (as usual) life was busy and I barely had time to relax, let alone type. The whole idea actually formed, ready to be written, on Monday. If it wasn't for work, and the catch-up that I wound up doing from the overly busy weekend, I would have had it then. I let it slip past.

Now I've lost the damn thing again. It feels over-boiled and dry. I've misplaced the focus. I just can't find it. And the words just don't want to arrange themselves into a nice whole. In fact, my brain has been trying to write this stupid, pointless post instead. So instead of writing something intelligent and worthwhile, I'm writing this down. Hopefully it will clear my head, and prime the pump, and the ideas will be back and flowing tomorrow.

I've got 'till Thursday, and I know I have stuff I want to say. AHHHHH!!!

*As a side note, if you don't read Websnark and you are at all interested in Web Comics or other stuff, you should check it out.

Johari Window

Right... there is this thing called a Johari Window. It uses a grid of adjectives to aloow you, and other people who know you, to descibe and map your personality. So, if you think you know me then go and contribute to my Johari Window.

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