Kicking off the game design related articles on xii games is a very good friend of mine, Zach Sam Zaiss. Zach and I became close friends back in college when we bonded over a shared love of math and chocolate. We even roomed together for three years. He’s one of the smartest people I know and even though we now live half a world apart, we still stay in close contact.
Zach has a BS in Computer Science, Math, and Psychology and is currently finishing his Masters (he’s not quite a doctor yet…) in Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon. Which basically means that when he goes to work at his shiny new Microsoft job in a few weeks, he’ll get to yell things like: “No! The ‘OK’ button goes in the lower left corner! LEFT!” and “I said pastel! PASTEL!” at the code monkeys. He writes about HCI and other things on his personal blog. You can check also check out his online portfolio.
Zach is also partially responsible for my living in Japan. He got me hooked on sushi. After he introduced me I slipped deeper and deeper into addiction. One day, after a major unagi binge, I blacked out, and when I woke up, I was in the land of the rising sun.
Dr. Zaiss joins xii games as a contributor and will be relating to us his thoughts on game design over the next few weeks in a series of essays. Thanks Zach. So, without further ado:
I’m so jealous. I haven’t really had time to play any real games since I lived with you guys. Now I just work and mow the lawn. I feel like such an adult.
The other day, my wife brought our Playstation 2 into the Catholic school where she teaches so she could play a DVD. All the kids were very impressed and peppered her with questions about the games she played. And of course, she had to say things like “No, you shouldn’t play Grand Theft Auto – it’s very very bad” etc.
You better not get too esoteric with this thing or us old people won’t even know what you’re talking about. You whippersnapper.
April 27th, 2006 at 22:36The secret is paying someone else to mow your lawn so you can get in some quality Kingdom Hearts time.
April 28th, 2006 at 8:36Well, there’s definitely Kingdom Hearts time, but whether it’s quality? How far have you gotten in that game, V? I’m addicted, yet I don’t think it’s highly quality. Maybe it’s just me.
Anyway, thanks for the warm welcome. I’m not really sure how much I was your reason for going to Japan, but eating sushi was always really fun. You should make a trip across the Pacific later this year and eat some Seattle sushi with me. Cuz, y’know, I’m sure it’s better than where you are.
April 30th, 2006 at 7:09