Terminally Trivial

If you aren't reading this from an RSS feed (and really, you should stop by the site and say hello), you'll notice I gave the blog a bit of a makeover.  I wanted to accomplish a two things by moving to a new theme:

1) I wanted something a bit more "content-focused." Although my last theme served me well, I starting feeling like it was a bit cluttered.  I went with a simpler, plainer theme just to bring the content front-and-center.

2) I wanted to have a theme where it didn't matter if everyone else uses the same one. Creating a unique theme from scratch or from a base theme is not very high on my list of priorities at the moment, so I still need to use an off-the-shelf theme.  I've seen my previous theme used at several sites, but it often used a different color scheme or had different subject matter.  When I stumbled on to another game developer who used the same theme (along with the same color!), I decided I eventually needed to change the theme.  With a simpler theme like this one, it's less obvious that there are many blogs out there using the same theme.

So there you have it.  I hope it makes the site easier to read.

One other note:  I have temporarily taken down the link to my projects.  I'm in the middle of revising that section.  I'd like to talk a bit more about the ones I've posted as well introduce some new ones since the last time I updated that part of the site.

I've turned off new user registrations for now.  The only registrations I'm getting are from spammers.

You can still comment without registering and if you really want to register, send me an e-mail and set you up with an account.

And so it begins… again… once more…

I'm going to resume blogging, but this restart is different.  Those who expect me to continue ranting, raving, and riffing on popular culture again are in for a surprise.  As fun as that was, there's plenty of snarky pop culture blogging to go around these days.  Now it's time to focus on one area of popular culture… my favorite area, video games.

But this isn't going to be a fan blog about video games.  I can't count the hours I've spent playing them, but I do know that figure is much bigger than the amount of time I've spent thinking about them.   It's time to change that.  I’m now reading more than ever about game design and taking more responsibility designing games thanks to an opportunity with my current employer.

The new purpose of this blog is to continue improving my skills at game design.  I'll be talking about the issues I run into with my projects, taking a look at the decisions other game designers are making, and both formulating and sharing some of my theories on the topic.

I also want this blog to feature interaction and conversation with you all, the readers.  Yes, all seven of you.  It doesn't matter how you are involved with video games.  If you are a designer or involved in any part of the game development process, then your feedback is obviously germane to what I'm writing about.  On the other hand, if you are simply someone who plays and enjoy video games, your feedback is important, too.  Video games are nothing without people to play them.

As part of this emphasis, I encourage everyone to leave plenty of comments.  I'll make an effort to respond to what you all have to say.  I also encourage you all to e-mail me with any ideas or topics you would like me to talk about.

Oh, and I'm going to start Twittering, Facebooking, LinkedIning, and generally Web 2.0ing in fashion more extreme than Mountain Dew.  Why?  Because I like the "-ing" suffix.  And everyone and their mother seems to be doing it. And I secretly like these websites… sort of.  Anyways…

The name of this blog, Terminally Trivial, is partially a reference to pop culture being a pretty trivial topic in the grand scheme of things.  I'm going to keep the name even with the topic shift.  Why?  Because video gaming is traditionally seen as a medium of expression that isn't taken seriously… but you know what?  Anything with the power to entertain, inspire, and enlighten can't be just dismissed outright.  So let's have some serious talk about video games, shall we?