Influence U – Gamasutra

I’m a video gamer but I was late to the game – pun intended.  I must have been in my twenties when I got into video gaming and it happened in the strangest of all places: my Father’s house.   You see my dad was a notoriously difficult guy to shop for.

He had money, was advanced in his career and had simple tastes. You couldn’t wow him with something fancy.  So occasionally he would get stuff he didn’t use much or were ‘hail mary’ gifts.  Dad did like guns and I’m assuming that’s why the Playstation made it into his house… He liked to shoot things on TV as much as he liked to shoot them in real life.  On one of my visits down he had hooked up the playstation to keep me entertained and there was a stunning fighter jet game he had.  I knew I had to go get that.

My personality is one of extremes.   I wound up getting every game system and then some more, and then I read about games online, and then I started reading about making games.  That lead me to www.Gamasutra.com    The community at Gamasutra is populated with independent game developers.. Developers who develop even though they deal with hardship after hardship after hardship.   Many fail, some succeed, some succeed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

The pie in the sky success dreaming is nice, but the reality of the community, the discussion of overcoming hardships.. of eking out a living.  That’s what motivates me.  Writing a book, or creating an album, or making a video game are all the same thing.. it’s creation and trying to live by the fruits of your creative labor.  I read every article by these independent developers and I think.. If they can do it, then I can too.

Influence U discusses the things that inspire us to say “I can make that” or “I need to do that”.    These are the things that influences me, and hopefully they will empower you dear reader to seek out the things that Influence U.