Fatherhood and Nostalgic Gaming

Well, let's get this show started shall we?

I am an Electronic Artist by training, a programmer by trade, a loving husband and new father.

I enjoy creating/building things. I tend to answer my wife's requests for things to add to her amazing, ever expanding, garden with solutions that she usually sees as too complex at first. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it as well as I can. We've arrived at a good system: she comes to me with a problem or idea, then I mercilessly tear it apart in front of her like child's first birthday cake. (sorry my dear) We do this till I am able to sketch out two or three ideas we've fleshed out together for her to make the final decision on.

I am a fan of the Theory of Game Design and Development, specifically within the realm of video games. I spent hours pouring over theorycraft sites trying to min/max my Enhancement Shaman in the Burning Crusade and Frozen Throne expansions of World Of Warcraft to be ready for raid nights in Karazhan and the Icecrown Citadel. Hundreds of hours playing with different builds in Borderlands and Borderlands 2 trying to find the specs and gear sets that offer some new idea that makes a boss, region, or character more fun to play that were different from what people were writing about on the forums.

Today, I don’t play as much as I used to. I tend to only be able to afford shorter play sessions as I have traded in solo and online play time for story time and playing with my son. Not a bad deal I have to say. However, I do miss the depth of the games I used to play, and I hope that I will be able to share some of this with my son one day. The min/maxing of a character and team coordination that was practiced to defeat raid bosses that required the coordination of everyone involved. However the games that offer this kind of interaction don’t seem to work well in shorter, sub hour long, play sessions.

I am one of those guys with lots of game and application ideas that usually doesn't manifest further than words on paper. However, I am looking to change that with a series I am planning to write here on Steem.it.