Meredith Gran

Back home with a productive day after quite a few weeks of travel (and a couple more coming up). Aiming for a playable pass at Chapter 3 by the 12th... then there's just 1 chapter to go for this ugly but working iteration.

I'd like to take the time to write about my experience at Adventure Game Fan Fair, but I've hit the ground running and probably won't have much time this week. Before the memory grows stale, a few small tidbits from the festival:

• Perfect Tides was honored with a Narrative Design award, with 5 total nominations.
• I met my hero Roberta Williams and told her what the games meant to me. It felt incredibly special.
• I met many new friends, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. It reminded me of the old SPX days, a version of summer camp for dorky enthusiasts (now with middle-aged problems!). I've hardly been to game-related events, let alone one so specific, and I won't soon forget the warm welcome I received.
• Tacoma is not a fun city. The people are alright.

I want my game to be done so much it hurts. I live in a constant state of distress that the work is not done and people cannot see it. But I'm also addicted to that distress and will crave it again the instant the game is finished, and this for me is eternal life.

Much work this month on an iteration that removes vagueness wherever it has been allowed to fester. It sucks when things turn out to be vague, when they were mentally marked “basically done” but it turns out they need lots of attention. But maybe this is necessary in a development timeline, to occasionally feel that things are going well and will soon be finished, even if they won’t. It feels good to find the vague areas and push through the frustration and fill them out. It feels good that the game is richer than I previously imagined it was.

What’s new in dev land? After a nasty battle I figured out source control. Don’t ask me to explain it.

Can I add “injury” to the log, based on importance? No struggle with git bash compares to getting the shit bashed outta this leg. I’d really just like to complain, but I’m making something of myself and getting X-Rayed too.

To make this post really Cohost-compliant, here’s a CD-R of my bones.