I didn't do this last year. I don't know why. I probably wasn't in a reflective mood last year. This year, I've been in a very reflective mood, as you can probably tell from many of my blog posts over the year. I reflected on a lot of things: open standards and web identity, DLC, the possibility of being an indie game developer, and the state of computer science education. Until August, I was even able to post about twice a month, which is pretty good for me.
Besides blogging, what did I do in 2009?
- Me and several other Tools SIG members launched of the Toolsmiths blog, which is going very well, though we have dropped off a bit. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up again in the New Year.
- I participated in the Global Game Jam, which was a blast, and I'm sure will be a blast again this year. I've made plans already to make this a rockin Jam, and get everyone as coordinated as possible right out of the starting gate. We'll see how that goes.
- Darren and I also created AngelXNA, which I've been using and enjoying, and hopefully improving for this year's Global Game Jam. (More on that in another blog post).
- I learned to love distributed version control, a trend that I'm sure will continue.
So what didn't I do in 2009 that I really wanted to get done? The main one is that I didn't finish a game. I've got three currently on my plate, two of which are mostly coded one of which is still in prototype, but nothing finished. This is really frustrating for me for a few reasons. First, the longer I wait to release, the harder it will be to stand out, especially on services like XBLIG. Second, like most people, I entered the game industry to create games, but I've yet to see an actual design of my own make it to a finished, polished state, only ever to a useable prototype. I know this is true for many people, but considering my background I should be able to finish a game. I am going to try very hard to correct this this year.
What do I think is coming in the New Year and new decade? Hopefully you'll see my first game. For more serious predictions, I think you could do worse than listening to Joe Ludwig.
I think that we'll also see more trends towards user created content and personalization, to the point where I think you will actually, eventually, see a game come out on a console that will allow user created mods. The groundwork for this is already being laid out by the Rock Band Network, although it's still a long way from there to a console mod community.
Here's to a new year, new adventures, and hopefully some new games!
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