I Make Video Games

For me, it all started back in 1985 with the Commodore Vic-20.  I'd while away the hours typing in games from the magazines and storing them on magnetic tape.

Fast-forward to 1995 and the Amiga.  Me and some buddies launched Super Skidmarks to outstanding critical acclaim.

I love the process of making video games.  It's a series of puzzles.  Solving each puzzle unlocks even more puzzles.  As you get deeper and deeper, the puzzles get more and more intricate, and it becomes harder and harder to distinguish the best solution amongst all the correct solutions.  Always the fascination remains.

I love making games for gamers. I love passing the gamepad over to a gamer - passing the gamepad over to you - to see how you'll react.  There's this one moment that I really love in game development.  It's that moment when I try to probe you for feedback on my game, but you're so engrossed in the gameplay, you're physically unable to stop playing long enough to engage in meaningful conversation.

In 2005, I launched Black&White 2 with Lionhead Studios on the PC.  The game was a technical masterpiece and wildly ambitious.

Over the last few years, I've worked on many, many, many, many unreleased projects.  Those are the projects during which you grow the most.

I've been incredibly fortunate to work with, and learn from, so many amazingly talented people.  From programmers and artists, from QA and production.  Gifted musicians and mocap performers.  Everyone.  Thank you so much!  It's from you I learned everything.

Most recently I've been fortunate enough to work on the Mass Effect franchise with BioWare and on the Rainbow 6 franchise with Ubisoft.

Also the surprise hit at this year's E3, Watch Dogs.

 

But when I sit back and reflect, it feels like I've been working on increasingly smaller and smaller pieces (with ever increasing detail) of increasingly larger and larger games.  I'm always truly excited to be a part of a AAA blockbuster... but I miss that visceral connection with the gamer that comes with smaller teams and shorter development cycles.

It's taken me a while to realize, but the thing I love the most about video games, the reason I got into all of this in the first place, is when your delicate, fragile little game, (or big game!) that you've put so much effort into, finally makes it out to the gamers - to you.   Well... that's why I Make Video Games.

And while I never stopped making mini-games (and playful spaces) along the way, almost all of them I've been prevented from finishing because of contractual obligations.

That's why, as of today, I've returned to Indie Game Development.  To make video games in their entirety.  To make every little piece, from top to bottom, everything custom crafted with gamers in mind.  To make the best games for gamers.

To make video games, for you.