Just like my first childhood bike crash and my first real kiss (with my cousins babysitter in a water-ride in some cheap amusement park near Birmingham) I can remember, vividly, the first time I came across Gamespot. Back in 2001 typing GAMES into Yahoo only returned two results. The first was called IGN and looked terrifyingly complex and ugly, the second was called Gamespot and was then what is still is now - among the best designed websites I've ever visited. Years later I became a registered user and delved deep into the revolutionary community tools at my disposal. In 2008 I started my own gaming community from this very spot, and have since met and spent time with friends I'd otherwise never have met.
I started Citizen Game in an effort to win favour with prospective employers, but after 4 years of hard graft I'm no closer to that dream than I was when I left college. I was close, a couple of times. As close as you can come really - but never did get that final phone-call. I'm okay with that, now. Though it took much longer than I expected to come to terms with it. For months I'd replay the final interview in my head, over and over. In the shower, in bed at night and most memorably on my evening run's as a way of motivation. Having your dreams dashed at the finish line is tough. Very tough.
Almost as tough as falling out of love with a project you've devoted four years and endless work hours to. That happened quite recently, and I'm wise enough to stop flogging a dead horse. Maybe the old mare will lurch back into life if someone else is doing the whipping - but my time on the reigns is coming to an end.
So when a programmer buddy of mine asked If I could help him on his next project, I jumped at the oppertunity. And that's where I am. After four years of operating on one side of the gaming fence, I've jumped over to development. So my college programming experience may actually pay dividends and thanks to my varied and scattershot project history - I feel quite at home running production, PR and marketing on my own.
I haven't used my Gamespot blog much in recent years as I didn't think it fair that I use it to publicize my own website, but I plan to use this space throughout development to keep you guys updated and get any feedback you'd be willing to give.
So that's it for now. We're currently working on the fundamentals of our game world so won't have anything of significance to show for a few weeks at least. The development life-cycle is looking between 5-7 months, and though I can't give specifics on what type of game we eventually chose, there are some clues on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
I'm very excited about the coming year. Who know's maybe you'll see me on Today On The Spot before the year is out *swoon* :D
For now though, please feel free follow our Twitter feed @tripledgames and LIKE our Facebook Page.
Oh and if you have any questions, please do to ask.
PS: Happy Valentines Day! :P