Ch-Ch-Changes

Hannah Lee Stockdale (@HannahClover)
Hello, all!

I don't usually share personal news on this channel, but I think this will be relevant to your interests.

Effective December 31, 2012, I am resigning from my position as Associate Creative Director and Digital Director at Third Degree. I started as an intern in 2004 and I've learned so much about being a creative in the fast-paced ad business, especially serving credit unions. It's been an enriching experience with more talented people than I can count.

During those years, I was "art director by day, game designer by night," without either job interfering with the other. On the contrary, working for an agency gave me the security to pursue a game design hobby, while the hobby's community gave me experience in social media that I could bring back to the agency. There was synergy, as ad people on TV like to say.

Unfortunately, that dual-career lifestyle eventually started wearing on my mind and body. Signs of burnout were evident to all... except to me until recently. If I was going to be the person I really wanted to be in the next nine years, I had to make some big changes.

My wife and I discussed whether we could afford me spending a year trying to make this game design thing actually happen. If I cut down expenses, keep up freelance work, and budget well, we actually could afford to spend a year on me trying to go pro. So that's what I'm doing in 2013.

To my freelance clients, I thank you for your putting up with me as I made this transition over the past month. You'll be seeing faster turnaround from me starting next week.

To fans of my design stuff, you'll be able to see a lot more of my handiwork next year as I take on more freelance jobs in the general geek industry. Look for more RPG layout, logo design, card design, and iconography.

To fans of my game stuff, I hope I can get your support as I refine the numerous ideas I've posted on this blog. The actual business of selling games to publishers, gamers and backers is an adventure all its own. Thanks for coming along with me. You won't be disappointed!

Follow my #DS13 hashtag on Twitter to as I discuss this new experiment further. I'll return you to your regularly scheduled programming next week! Thanks for your time!

-- Daniel

P.S. The portrait above is by Hannah Lee Stockdale. You should hire her a lot.

Comments

  1. Micah BauerDecember 28, 2012 at 8:40 PM

    Congrats on the decision, that's a big step. Wishing you success.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MikeDecember 28, 2012 at 11:05 PM

    Best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
  3. QuentinHudspethJanuary 5, 2013 at 12:03 AM

    Big changes. I wish you the best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. CasJanuary 16, 2013 at 7:58 AM

    Hi Daniel, good luck! Sounds like a nice challange, bit of jealousy here!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Graphic Design and Typography Tips for your Card Game

Image
Chris Farrell of Illuminating Games just wrote a thorough critique of card games setting their body text to be so small that they cannot be read at arm's length, let alone across the table. Here's an excerpt, but the whole thing is worth a read for any would-be card game designers out there. (Myself included.) Break out your copy of the base set of Dominion, and look at the Chapel. This has a text box roughly 3.5cm by 4.5cm. It's got a single line of text. That line of text is 1 (one) millimeter high. 1mm! For me, it's only clearly readable at half an arm's length even in the bright light of day. (...) Compare this to a more sane game like Glory to Rome, where the font size is 2-3 times as large (text is 2mm high, keywords 3mm and usually highlighted). I can generally read Glory to Rome cards across the table, and can certainly see the important keywords. To heap insult upon injury, not only does Glory to Rome have far more legible text than Dominion it also has...
Read more

Low-High Dice Game

Image
A dice game inspired by the stock market (and playing lots of Martian Dice). Roll a bunch of dice and choose which sets to keep. Choose your strategy wisely! Stuff You Need Two-to-Six PLAYERS A PENCIL and PAPER to keep score Thirteen standard six-sided DICE How to Play The shortest player takes the first turn. On your turn, first roll all thirteen dice. Several dice will have matching results. These are called SETS. (A single die result is a set, too.) You must choose a set to keep. For example, your first roll results are 111124445555 . The sets are four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, and four 5 s. After keeping a set of dice, lock them up in a row. This is called the GOOD TRACK. For example,  you could keep the set of four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, or four 5 s . You decide to keep the four 1 s and line them up in your good track. After keeping a set, you may end your turn or re-roll the remaining unlocked dice. When you re-roll, immediately set aside any results tha...
Read more

One Thing to Avoid in Game Design

Image
When game designer Paul Peterson was interviewed for the upcoming Titans Series of games from Calliope Games, there was one segment at 1:55 that really caught my attention (emphasis mine): "A couple years ago I was teaching people how to play Guillotine and I hadn't played in a while. The first thing I did was say, 'The first thing you gonna do when you open your game is you look through this deck and you take this card.' I pulled out the Callous Guards card and threw it over my shoulder. Everybody laughed. I said, ' That's the biggest mistake I ever made as a game designer in my life.'" Oof. Those are strong words. What's the big deal? For context, the game Guillotine is all about collecting the heads of French nobles during the revolution. There is only one guillotine, with a line of nobles waiting for their grim fate. On your turn, you play action cards to change the order of the line, then take the Noble card from the front of the ...
Read more