Thursday, December 17, 2009

Escapist article

My debut as an Escapist columnist was just posted. It amazes me that I'm at a point where I can just send emails to some well-known game developers asking interview questions, and they actually respond. I'm still not sure how this happened.

For students, I'd also recommend reading the editor's note to this issue. It describes a little of the culture of game development, and is a reminder that this is not just an industry of gamers, but of human beings. Sometimes as a rabid game fan it is easy to lose sight of that.

One interesting thing I just realized is that you might or might not be able to ask the same question ("what games do you keep playing obsessively?") of teachers. Yes, many game development teachers are rabid gamers... but I've run into more than a few that have no personal interest in games. But I don't think I've ever met a game designer who didn't love games. It's strange, the differences between the two worlds.

Now, I just have to decide whether The Escapist counts as a peer-reviewed publication for purposes of my CV... probably not.