It’s time to get back to blogging.

It’s funny.  I created this blog to give me a space to go over ideas and talk about current projects.  The problem is – I’m a workaholic.  I’d much rather jump on here and work on the game than write a blog post about working on the game.

Then there’s the “Day Job.”  Once school starts back, I start neglecting my posting schedule.  After missing a couple of weeks, I’ll guilt myself into writing one more post, then drop things entirely.  It’s a pretty terrible way to run a blog, right?

Here we go again, right?

Yes, here we go again.  I’m back, here to blog.  This time is different, though.  I’m still an antisocial workaholic who hates talking about his own accomplishments…or sharing ideas before they’re finalized.

So how is this different, then?

I quit my job.

I can hardly believe it myself.  After 23 years in education, my last day as a teacher is just a few weeks away (I’m a specialist, so I gave a 6 week notice).  I’m working on a blog post detailing all of the reasons I quit and my plans for the future – stay tuned.  Once I’m done at the school, I’ll have much more time to work on my games AND this blog!

Wait – what are you going to do now?

I’m a full time Game Dev (read: unemployed)!  It’s honestly the scariest / most exciting time of my life.  I’ll need someone to vent to – lucky you!  My plan is to blog along the way as I build our little game studio into something that (hopefully) puts food on the table.  I’ll post about this change soon.

OK – Now tell us about the blog.

I’ve done a little reorganizing.  You’ll notice that there are fewer categories, less overlap, and that the blog is overall cleaner than it used to be.  A few highlights:

Older Posts

Older posts have been moved into their own category called Old Blogs (original, eh?)  In this category, you’ll find a lot of the older blogs that just didn’t fit into the new structure.  When I first began this journey, I really didn’t know what type of blog I wanted to write.  Honestly, I will still blog about all sorts of GameDev related things, but I hope to focus more of my content into sections – that way, you can explore and read what interests you.

Devlogs

This is where I’ll be spending the bulk of my time from now on.  Barn Brawl is almost ready to be shown to the world.  I’ll be blogging regularly on the game’s capabilities, sharing refinements, current workings, and even offering sneak peeks of characters, content, gameplay, and more.

My goal is to develop a following for the game.  I love the concept of involving players in a game’s development.  As our community grows, I hope to spend more time interacting, discussing, and listening to fans and critics.  How can we make the game better?  What do you like / dislike?  I’m hoping to establish a dialogue with all of you!

So you’ll blog for 2 weeks and leave again.

I will have a little bit of downtime at the beginning of November – the reason I quit my job is because my wife and I are leaving Seattle.  That one also deserves another blog of its own.  Long story short, this isn’t our home – we belong in the South, so we’re heading back there.  We’re sad to leave the friends we’ve made out here, but happy to return to the land of freedom, sweet tea, and decent BBQ.

Aside from “moving time,” I hope to be regularly blogging.  I can’t promise I’ll always have tons of big news for my DevLogs, but I’m hoping that my blogs generate some conversation and get more of you involved in this next exciting chapter for Emerald Beast Game Studios.