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Going Black
The house echoes now. Practically everything is in boxes. Most of the furniture is gone. And our footsteps and voices bounce back to us from naked walls. The computer will be the last thing unplugged and packed, first thing tomorrow morning. And when it is, I’ll be going black for a while. See you on the other side!
Posted by darrellh at Sunday ~ June 06, 2008 | No Comments
Category: Personal
Panic as Necessary
Here’s my schedule for this week and next: Sunday: Drive 13 hours or so cross-country to Denver. Well, almost to Denver. About 2:00 AM the wife and I give up and find a hotel. Monday: Go the rest of the way to Denver, look at apartments. Discover, to our groaning chagrin, that the large, reasonably-priced apartment we had in mind was rented over the weekend. In fact, most of the places we’d planned on visiting don’t have openings until the middle of July or later. Finally find a place on the bus line: two bathrooms inside, a pool outside; the girls will be pleased. Tuesday: Visit SOE, have some lunch with the guys there, then wander up to Boulder to poke around. It’s a beautiful area, with houses for sale well outside our price range. (The first one we look at is going for two million dollars; the second is only half that, but we decide to stop looking.) Wednesday: Drive back. Thursday: Finish packing. Panic as necessary. Friday (today): Finish packing. Panic as necessary. Oh yeah, try to wrap up that contract gig. Saturday: Finish packing. Panic as necessary. Sunday: Finish packing. Panic as necessary. Monday: Load the truck. Tuesday: Drive to Denver (or close enough). Wednesday: Unload the truck. Thursday: Realize we forgot something vital in Minnesota and make a bunch of panicked phone calls. Friday: The girls arrive, and our family is whole once more.
Posted by darrellh at Friday ~ June 06, 2008 | 2 Comments
Category: Personal
Your Hernia Has a Name
You know you’re a game design geek when you have three heavy boxes labeled “Game Prototyping Materials.” Who else would move game boards, glass beads, cardboard chits, and hundreds of cards from a dozen dead CCGs cross-country?
Posted by darrellh at Friday ~ June 06, 2008 | No Comments
Category: Game Design, Personal
Going on Hiatus
Can a person go on hiatus? Or is that strictly for an on-going program (like a TV show)? I’d look it up, but don’t have the time. The point is, I’m going to be pretty inaccessible for the next few weeks. I started to say that I was going on vacation, but since this “vacation” entails packing everything I own, cleaning everything I don’t, and driving thousands of miles, the term doesn’t quite seem accurate. While on hiatus, I will try to read my e-mails, but can’t promise that I’ll reply to them until the hiatus is over. Heck, I can’t promise to reply even then, since once I hit Colorado I expect to be swamped with unpacking, getting set up, and finding my vocational bearings. We’ll see. Please be patient.
Posted by darrellh at Friday ~ June 06, 2008 | No Comments
Category: Personal
Staggering from the paint fumes
And here we go… I’ve been lying low for the past few weeks, partially because I’ve been swamped to never-before seen levels, and partially because I was waiting to make the following announcement: I’m moving to Denver. I’m going to be helping develop online games for SOE. And yes, I’m pretty thrilled. But there’s the packing. And the painting. And the endless hoop-jumping necessary to sell a house. So don’t expect a lot of updates here in the next few weeks. I’ll be checking e-mail, but otherwise probably keeping my head down. Wish me luck!
Posted by darrellh at Thursday ~ June 06, 2008 | 1 Comment
Category: Blatant Self-Promotion, Game Design
Pedals
I was winded. My back was starting to ache. And I was wondering how much longer I could keep running up and down the block, pushing my daughter on her new bike and keeping her from falling over. “You have to pedal,” I reminded her. I suspected my groaning frame was providing most of the thrust, and her feet were just sitting on the pedals, going round for the ride. “I am pedaling.” “Good, good.” I didn’t have the breath for much more encouragement. And she was pedaling. The bike was moving faster now; I had to run faster too. I thought back to when I was my daughter’s age, sitting on my first bike, and how my father had run behind me, one hand on my back and the other on the bicycle seat. Was he winded, I wondered. Did he pause at the end of block, huffing and wheezing, before turning the bike around? If so, I didn’t remember. What I did remember were the important moments: crashing into a tree, the terror when I realized he was no longer holding the bike, the exultation when I realized he wasn’t holding the bike and I was riding it on my own. A glance at my watch gave me a shot of guilty relief: Supper time. Thank God. “It’s time to go in,” I said. “We’ll practice some more tomorrow.” “Yeah, I need a break,” said my daughter. “I’m tired from all that pedaling.”
Posted by darrellh at Tuesday ~ May 05, 2008 | No Comments
Building your city? Let Skirmisher help!
Our friends at Skirmisher Publishing have released Volume 4: Professional Places, of their City Builder series of PDF books. These roleplaying books are systemless, but cover all your typical fantasy / medieval / Renaissance bases, with in-depth details and enough plot points to jump-start any number of sword-and-something adventures. Again, I didn’t actually work on them, but since I’m the company’s PDF Publications Manager, I figure I should should help get the word out.
Posted by darrellh at Thursday ~ May 05, 2008 | No Comments
Category: Skirmisher
Shortest GTS Ever
This was the first time I’ve attended the GAMA Trade Show in five years, the first time that I’ve gone on my own dime, and the first time attending that I haven’t stuck around for the whole thing. Since it was on my own dime, it was most cost-effective to just show up for the two days the exhibit hall was open, flying in the night before and flying out the night after. Quick and dirty, you could call it “drive-by networking,” and you’d be right. While other reports on the GTS have declared it “sort of a success, I guess,” my experience puts it squarely in the “success” category - at least for me. I brought a half-dozen games to pitch, ran them all past a number of different publishers, and there was interest all around. I have solid leads on some, and possibilities for others, so it’s all good. I also had the pleasure of not only catching up with the friends I only see at these shows, but met up with some I haven’t seen for years, as well as a handful of new folks who I hope to add to that list of friends. Not bad for a day and a half.
Posted by darrellh at Monday ~ April 04, 2008 | 1 Comment
Category: Game Design, Personal
RIP Jericho
Okay, Jericho might not quite be dead, but its time at CBS is over, and no amount of nuts mailed to the executive offices is going to change that. I was a little dubious about the show at first, and to be fair, it did take a couple episodes before it found its stride. But really, when your premise is “Life and survival in a small Kansas town after a nuclear attack,” you’re assured a certain amount of awesomeness. It’s inherent and undeniable. (Don’t try to to deny it; you’re just embarrassing yourself.) Anyway. I’ll spare you the reviews (I promised), but if you enjoy high-stakes action drama, enough plot threads to weave a soap opera, and a healthy dollop of mystery (who sent us up the bomb?), you owe it to yourself to check out the episodes online.
Posted by darrellh at Wednesday ~ March 03, 2008 | No Comments
Category: Recommendations, Uncategorized
IGDA meeting - April 3
The next meeting of the Twin Cities IGDA is scheduled for April 3. The topic is a recap of the Indie MMO Game Developers Conference, which is being held here in Minneapolis this month. I really wanted to attend the conference myself, but just couldn’t justify the entry fee. Not to myself. And especially not to my accountant… who is also my wife. So this recap is the next best thing: All the highlights, without the technical details that would just go over my head anyway.
Posted by darrellh at Tuesday ~ March 03, 2008 | No Comments
Category: Personal
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