“What are your thousand hour games?”
I believe it’s extremely beneficial for creators to be fully immersed in the types of content that they make. I personally feel most confident as a designer to work on the same types of games that I play as a hobby. The thousands of hours we spend playing games directly translates into a library of design experience that can be put to good use in our career. We can learn so much from the successes and failures of other games, and the best way to learn this is by experiencing the games firsthand. Being immersed in a game genre allows us to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry and it’s swiftly evolving trends. Would you rather hire an artist who only paints when he has a commission, or the artist who paints non-stop in his free time?
So where do I spend my time?
MMORPG
For me MMO’s started with EverQuest in 1999. I was instantly immersed in it’s massive dangerous world with extreme consequences and the friendly social community that Everquest fostered. I was hooked, and played every MMO to hit the shelves during the genres heyday - Asheron’s Call, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and many more. I played WoW for over 10 years, and raided through nearly every expansion during that time. During the WotLK expansion I raided with ‘vodka’ and helped them achieve top 10 world firsts in Naxx 40. During Cataclysm I was raid leader of my own guild and led us through all of the expansion’s 10 man raid content.
Action RPG
Action RPG’s are one of my most played genres. Diablo, Path of Exile, TitanQuest, Torchlight, and an endless list of other Diablo-like games. The Skinner box loot grind of ARPGs is a deeply satisfying and enjoyable addiction. I’ve spent a lot of time with ARPG mods as well, such as the Diablo 2 mod ‘Median XL’ and various TitanQuest mods. In 2007 I created a TitanQuest mod called ‘xMax’ , which greatly increased monster density as a homage to Diablo 2’s /players8 command. My xMax mod received over 65,000 downloads.
Multiplayer FPS
Multiplayer FPS games have always been a gaming staple for me. Unreal Tournament 2003, Rainbow 6, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Planetside all rank among my most played. I’m very lucky and grateful to have worked on Call of Duty and been a part of that community for a number of years.
Traditional Roguelike
One of my favorite genres has always been the traditional roguelike. I believe the core gameplay mechanics in traditional roguelikes are truly classic and have influenced the entire video game industry. Diablo 1 was heavily inspired by and influenced by traditional roguelikes. My favorites in the genre include Moria, Angband, Hengband, and Entroband.