I finished in fourth place, the highest result not invited to Wizards of the Coast headquarters for tour and interview. Two weeks later, I'm finally in a place where I can talk a bit about the contest and my feelings regarding it.
As stressful and eventually heartbreaking as the contest was, I'm very glad I took part. It did a lot for both my skills and confidence as a game designer, and certainly got my name out into certain areas of the industry.
In the end, I can't say that I disagree with the outcome. As passionate and knowledgeable as I am about Magic design, I don't have the professional or personal experience to do my dream job justice just yet. I have a ways to go as a person before I'm ready to make a creative passion my career. Some day I will design games for a living, but not today, and maybe not for a while.
In the mean time, I've been taking a break from Magic design and getting into some RPG system theory. I've got a huge post on RPG skills that will probably go up later tonight. I think my goal for the coming year is going to be getting a homebrew system into a shape where I can submit it to some publishers or just publish it myself online.
Finally, the GDS2 was a wonderful experience for just how much support I got from friends, family, and random strangers on the internet. One last time, thanks to you all.
Hey, you gave it a go. Good work. I thought you had a GOLDen chance, myself.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think in some ways fourth place is the most painful, remember that Mark Globus (and Scott) successfully capitalized on a strong showing in GDS1. I'm sorry we're not going to get the chance to meet out in Renton. You did excellent work throughout the competition and should be proud of that. I'd be excited to see your designs in the future.
ReplyDeleteWow. Nice writing, as usual. You will find your right place in the industry. We all look forward to seeing what you will create. Don't give up.
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