State of the Game Address

Its a good time to sit back and discuss the state of all my game developments and talk briefly about the games I am playing. To be honest, I am completely amazed at how stunning this year is turning out to be, and it is only February. There is so much going on, it is hard to know where to begin. Compared to last year, in which I can not remember one gaming achievement, other than dinging several characters to 80th level in EQ2, 2009 was a very boring and uneventful year. This year however, and with eager anticipation, I realize I still have ten more months to go.

Early in this year, starting in just the first days of January I became quite depressed. I am unsure exactly what brought it about, but a number of factors were leading up to it, including the feeling of being trapped at my job and just being so devoid of any creativity. I also think I had reached the end of playing EQ2, which although is a fun game, the game became just a ridiculous grind. Somewhere down in the pit of my stomach and perhaps the dark recess of my brain something must have snapped. I had to do something or I was going to go nuts. So began the year of enlightenment.

PODCASTING

I started out with producing three podcasts. Two of the podcasts are available here on this site, or alternatively at http://www.virginworlds.com. These two shows were co-hosted by Karen from Journey’s with Jaye:

http://www.journeyswithjaye.com

and of course were a ton of fun to make. I ask you to take a look at the EQual Perspectives tab at the top of the page and listen to one of the shows. I am also working on a Travels with Troy, which is partially done and I need to return to recording and editing to finish that one. It is my hopes that I will produce 1 podcast a month. Alternating between Travels with Troy and EQual Perspectives, I hope to build up my following again to the levels of 2007 and 2008 when I had hundreds of listeners — I will take what I get though and be proud of any numbers of listeners.

GAMES

I have been also working on a number of board and RPGs this year which is unprecedented for me. In years past I have worked on some basic ideas, but never to this level. I am amazed how the words and the pages are forming for on all fronts of the game.

Last month I re-kindled my relationship with a Japanese translator that I have not had contact with for more than twenty years. This was the spark that fueled the blaze of creativity, I think. From there we agreed to rejuvenate Phantasm Adventures for the 4th time. I also started work on Bloodbath II, which is almost ready for the first beta testing (you will see it here first) and as always, it will be free for anyone wanting to download it. Along the way, I created a board/RPG hybrid called Monster Fandango which is going through its 3rd edition — with each new revision, becoming tighter and more fun. All of these games will take me the rest of the year to finish, if not push into 2011. I am so excited about all these games, most of all Phantasm Adventures which I have still a ton of work to do on.

I am also so pleased to announce that I have made contact with an old book publisher from the 1980s and he was gracious enough to send me a check for back royalties. Very kind of the company and was so great to receive it in the mail.

WRITING

This is one front where I need to be re-invigorated.  I have not written prose in more than a year, and I miss the story telling.  I am hoping that returning to gaming a bit more will help me focus on telling new stories.  Two years ago I finished my first novel, called  Amish Johnson and the Pegasus Chamber  but I have not had time to find a publisher — or to be more exact, no publisher has wanted to read the book.  I have not tried to send it out in the last six months, and that needs to change.  I am contemplating putting the book on this site, perhaps saving the last two chapters.  If someone reads it, and wanted to read how it ends, then they can write me and I would send them the final two chapters. I am also thinking of putting it up on one of the many sites — but I wanted to see what people think.

Computer Games

On the entertainment front, I recently purchased the next expansion of Everquest II: Sentinel’s Fate./ I was really looking forward to this expansion, but what I see so far is very unimpressive. I hope 4 months from now, when the next State of the Game Address comes out, I will have a different opinion. For what I have seen so far, the mobs are the same models and their statistics are highly overconned — easy to kill but having no experience. I see far too many people just getting 90 in days. The treasure is luke warm, and the community as a whole sound so jaded. I wanted to enjoy this expansion so much, but it seems truly boring and unoriginal. And of course with any new release, the zone are highly buggy and the lag seems unbearable. I am now playing only 1 character, rather than by dual box, because I cannot put up with constant death of my second box because it falls off a cliff because of lag follow.