So I've Been Taking Time Off

I haven't been posting here frequently. I know how good that is for my readership numbers... but I still felt the silence somewhat necessary. There is probably a feeling that I must not have had much to say, but that is entirely contrary to reality. In fact, there was a whole lot I wanted to say, but most of it was general life whinery and wanting to chew certain people out. The rest was that there were a lot of issues I wanted to take a wait and see approach to.

Now I'm planning on being back, so let's get down to business.

Latest Stuffins
I just uninstalled all the games on my computer. The truth is, I've been having this overwhelming feeling of ennui towards games lately. I look at my game list and just feel bored with it all. That sucks, and it gets me constantly wasting precious dollars on new, to me, games to relieve the boredom. Worst of all, I still wind up playing games rather than doing any of the things I really should be doing... especially the things that could actually result in my getting paid.

So here is my answer to the universe, I want to make games more than I want to play them, and it's just the temptation that gets to me. Temptation removed.

On My Mind
Dear MMO developers... WTF. I've been having high hopes for ya'll for a while now. Figured just give you some time and you'll really get around to wowing me at some point. Uggh, total failure. It's all more of the same crap. RPG trappings for no other reason than to have RPG trappings. Seriously, it's like making a spacecraft with wings for no other reason than aircraft have wings. You can make all the crap you want, but if you hold onto all the useless bits you'll never actually arrive at great design.


Vis a vis Cuppy vs. Game Designers and MMO Bloggers, what exactly is the point of all this? Okay, so some of the people who don't like Facebook games go a little too far in it, but can we drop the innuendo that people who don't see Facebook games as the second coming of Christ are all myopic dinosaurs begging for their own extinction. Facebook games are just another iteration of web games, and hey I liked web games. In fact one of my all time favorite games that I seldom shut up about, Neveron, was a web game. Still, it's just another iteration of an older concept, this time with a new audience. Some of that audience will stick, some of it won't. People who can't personally respect that audience and their taste in games really shouldn't be making games for them anyways.

Personally, I have some doubts as to the value of Facebook as a medium. Between the different monetization models and the extreme stratification between the winners and everyone else, it's hard for me to believe that a small company can really turn enough of a profit to stay in business. Doesn't mean I'd turn down an offer to work on one in exchange for fair payment though.


Otherwise, not much is really up. I still hate programming with a passion, and am still trying to program a game in XNA. The combination isn't working out very well for me, but I've had 3-4 different programmers up and disappear on me. The whole run around of not knowing whether their still working on my project or not, and my own timidity leading to my not busting down their doors looking for answers, is just too much for me. So I'm giving this a try on my own steam, which I expect to run out soon if it hasn't already.

Desperate Plea
I am really, completely, stupidly broke. I know nobody has ever used the Tip Jar over there, but really.. if you could spare a buck... or fifty cents or you know two bits, anything at freaking all, I wouldn't be above accepting it. In fact, I'll gladly grovel for it. And I know it says it's for Thetagamerz, that was a business I tried setting up a while back... it didn't work out.

If there is something within my skill set that someone would like to pay me to do, by all means throw me a comment or an email (sara.pickell at gmail dot com).