I've been working tirelessly on trying to get my prototype completed this year and, unfortunately, I don't think it's going to happen. So I've decided to ease off a bit so that I don't go completely bonkers during the holidays.
This weekend was Blizzcon, which I always buy virtual tickets for. For those who don't know, Blizzcon is an convention that Blizzard Entertainment tends to organize every October/November or so. Virtual tickets allow people who don't attend to watch lifestreams of the show. It was a great event and I wish, one day, that I could attend in person. It made me realize just how little I've been gaming recently. Oh, Diablo... how I missed you.
I don't know if any of you play Blizzard games but, to me, Blizzard were always the best video game developers and each year (during Blizzcon) they keep reminding me of why they're the best. I was somewhat hesitant to buy a virtual ticket this year, though, for a few reasons:
- The first one was that a lot of their content was streamed for free; drastically lowering the value of a $40 purchase.
- The second reason is that I don't really follow as many Blizzard products as I used to. I stopped playing World of Warcraft years ago. Starcraft is fun but I really don't play enough of it to really dig deep into related news. Unless they had something new to showcase for Diablo 3 (which was unlikely given the amount of attention/panels the franchise gets at Blizzcon), I was already aware of what's going on.
Diablo had two panels this year (now that I think about it, I think it's always been the case at every Blizzcon) and one was just a recap of all of the updates that happened during the game's life cycle.
- The third reason why I was hesitant to buy a virtual ticket was because of Blizzard's art style. Seems like an odd thing to say but I REALLY, really love Blizzard's art; especially the painterly/cartoon look. That style, and how they approach art in general, has influenced me as an artist since the Warcraft II days. When I do textures for my 3D models or when I doodle pictures, my style is heavily influenced by Blizzard's style.
So what's the problem? Well, despite my love for that kind of look, I don't want my game to have that style. I was afraid that, if I watched Blizzcon and saw all the wonderful art that they were making, that I would start to hate what I was doing. Ever worked hard on something only to throw it away after looking at someone else's work? Yeah, that's a terrible feeling.
Fortunately, I still like the direction that my game is going and that's a huge relief. I like to think that it has, at least, passed one of the stages/moods where I was at my most critical.
Anyways, I miss gaming. Well, it's not like I haven't been playing video games; I just don't do it as much as I would like. Mondays and Wednesdays... what kind of gaming life do I have if those are the only evenings I have to play games? So yeah, I need to fix that. The first step I took was spend most of my weekend playing Diablo 3 while watching Blizzcon. That felt good.
Tamriel's calling me, though, so I'm shopping once more for yet another hard drive (still haven't replaced the one that almost died, can you believe it?) and I'll be recording some more game sessions. I didn't mean to just stop playing.
