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[sebaslive]

After watching a slew of GDC talks on writing and game dev I know that there is always something/someone new out there to learn or hear about. Is there any great game writers or develops that you look up to and think that others can see as a great example as paving the way forward? Basically, who do you look up to in the gaming biz?

I read about games and such that inspire but what about the developers that always entertain you? Most common ones like shigeru, jaffe, harvey smith but what about indie devs... any out there that deserves more limelight.

[Evan Balster]

Of the five games that impacted me most deeply as a game writer, I've met the developers of three and I've had contact with one of the others.  More than anything, the sensation of meeting these people and realizing they're human gives me the sense that I can achieve similarly great things.

What separates these people from everyone else, aside from some measure of skill, is that they have the drive to stay the course and bring their ideas to form.  If the skill is lacking, the same drive can be directed toward learning or working around one's limits.  As for the nature of that drive -- people always talk about how difficult motivation is -- it's simple:

Your goal must be something you want with every fiber of your being.  Know first what motivates you and then engineer your vision to appeal to all of these motivations.  My dream project was intentfully engineered in this way; to be something I want to do the work of making, something I want to have the distinction of making, something I would love to experience myself, and something I hope to share with others.  It's ambitious, and painfully personal, and something I care about enough to make personal sacrifices for and put years of my life into.

-- and therein lies the danger --

My feeling is less that it's something I want to do and more that it's something I must do.  When it hasn't moved forward in a while I think "memento mori".  I think about how if I were to contract a terminal illness I would want to pour my every waking hour into this work and how I would scold myself for not having done so before.  I know that if I neglect it I will become depressed; this is at once an indication of its value to me and a mechanism for forcing me to re-evaluate my lifestyle if I stray from the course.  It also takes me to a state of mind where I probe ideas I would otherwise avoid, which are valuable to the work.  I know that the authors' depression played a role in three of the games I mention, and I suspect this was the case with the other two as well.

So dedication comes at a price.  Thus what I suggest is not a lesson for everyone, but it seems to me it's a lesson for people who wish above all to do great things, even to the exclusion of their happiness...

[sebaslive]

A bit depressing... so what games were created from this so that we can get inspired as the result to the sacrifice?

[Evan Balster]

Alec Holowka, Jonas Kyratzes and (if I'm not mistaken) Kan Gao all dealt with a depressive cycle during their work:  Aquaria, the Lands of Dream games, and To The Moon respectively.

[Graham-]

I like Gabe Newell. ... Square, yes Miyamoto, Jordan Mechner (prince of persia). John Carmack.

Indies: Blow, Notch. I like the Overgrowth guys. They have a youtube channel. Holowka's podcast I like listening to. I respect it.