I have this thing for starting projects & then abandoning them half-way through the design or writing process. In short, I have a problem with getting stuff done.
Now, that doesn’t mean I can’t get anything done at all. Quite the opposite. I just can’t seem to stay on course during longer projects, with distant deadlines. I need instant gratification. And that’s why Game Chef was the ideal therapy for me.
The tight deadline helped me focus. Even the word limit, which I started cursing on Friday before the deadline, turned out to be a good thing – forced me to cut out the non-essential bits and use simpler language (I ended up with 2.999 words).
Publishing the finished PDF of Lies of Passage on-line was quite possibly the second best game-related experience in my life (second to a brilliant game of Love in the Time of Seið with Ina Graj).
And now it seems I’m one of the finalists. Wow. Did you see this coming? I didn’t. Well, maybe I had a little bit of hope.
Anyway, I do believe I’m now cured of my game design procrastination & endless tinkering syndrome (or at least making good progress towards full recovery).
Over the next few weeks I’m going to publish a series of posts about the ideas behind Lies of Passage, as well as work on the next game, which you should be able to read about in this space within a month or so, as it gets fleshed out.
In the meantime read Lies of Passage (if you haven’t already), tell me what you think and keep your fingers crossed for the finals.