Hey.
Wow. well, I'm new here, and apparently, I've broken some mandatory forum rules so now i have to do this. Not because of rules, but because i have to, for myself.
I'm awful at Obligatory Introduce Yourself Thread posts.
I'll start by saying that it will probably be a case of TLDR, because i sometime have what a friend on my called "Writer's Diarrhea" (the opposite of writer's block).
So I'm Oded Sharon, i'm an indy game developer from Israel, and recently, I really lack feeling the love from fellow indy devs. Or from a lot of other people in the game industry, whom I used to consider friends, as a matter of fact.
I've been struggling hard with Pizza Morgana, the game I've been working on with my company for the past two and a half years.
But wait, let me start at the beginning.
I'm 32 years old. I live in Israel.
This is me, giving a lecture at the GC|DC Game conference in Leipzig, Germany.
And doing my favorite thing as of recent, Drinking while playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero:
This is me coding "Anteamz" a Global Game Jam 2009 game, a week before my son was born (we fear my wife would deliver during the game jam, but she didn't)
Here's my Facebook badge so you can read all about me there.
http://en-gb.facebook.com/oded.sharonI'm very friendly, and if you write "Game Dev" in your friend request i'll be happy to chat with you about ANYTHING. Game related or not. As long as it is not Politics or sports.
I've been making games since the age of 8. I've learn programming at the age of 6 with LOGO, then Basic, where i programmed a "choose your own adventure" kind of game which i based on a story i took form a local newspaper.
Later on I've made some small games and mods when i was in high school. My first job was to create a MUD for Israeli dial-up users to spend their calling time on when the first ISP's came to Israel
I've done some programming on side project when i served 3 years in the Israeli Air force, like a game where you have to crash some origami cranes into each other in 3D. that was before there were 3D cards.
After the army, i went working as a "regular" programmer, but soon after i came back and worked as a programmer and game designer for Ballerium. I did my BSC in Computer Science and Physics degree while working full time on the MMORTS, actually more than full time, i've had days where i'd work 12 hours straight, after being in the university for 6. then i'd go home, nap and wake up for more Quantum Mechanics classes.
This is some info about Ballerium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballerium 
When the company closed, i decided to start my own company, for that i went of and enrolled in MBA studies. I've learned some interesting things, and one of the things that i did during my degree was go to Orange County as part of a program for excelling students, in which they taught us important lessons in business, like how to network, or how to make a 60 seconds elevator pitch.
The fun thing was that UC:I , the school this program was at, was ACROSS THE STREET from Blizzard HQ. So one Satuarday afternoon i walked right up to their offices and asked, "Hello, i'm Oded, a game dev from Israel, is this where you made my favorite game World of Warcraft?"
Luckily the guy who i met was the community manager, and he gave me a tour of the facilities. A year later I actually mer Mike Morhaime (CEO, Blizzard) and he was a very nice guy, but that's a whole different story.
One of my goals during my degree was to open up a game company that will be operational.
We've started with a game called Zbang, did a demo for publishers and went publisher hunting. That was my first GDC. I came back home after a bunch of failed meetings, and decided to work on Pizza Morgana. which i won't post about here, but after you've all accepted me to your community, in the proper forum.
I have a lot of stuff i can say about the 2.5 years of development and marketing. It's a struggle, and sometimes i feel like i'm battling windmills, even with my own kin, fellow indy developers. Right now the company is me and 5 other active members, and we're all working from our own homes with our laptops, and sometimes meeting in my living room to work together.
I will tell you, if you ask nicely, and you promise to let me know what i am allowed to talk about and where.
A few years ago, I saw a lack of activities in the local IGDA chapter and today i'm the Israel Chapter Coordinator of the IGDA along with another Guy that's helping me.
We've taking the local community from meetings of 10 or so people to BIG conferences of 200-300 people like the one we are having this Friday. (Am i allowed to link to it?)
http://gameunconf2009.pbwiki.comI've played a lot of games through the years, and my favorite Genre is Adventure games. I've played all the graphics adventure games that were made until the year 1995 when i was drafter into the army. My favorite game of all time is Monkey Island 2, and i've even founded the website "Buy a car for ron gilbert" a few years ago as a joke
http://car4ron.comI actually ended up buying him a toy car. I should look up that picture and post it some time. I forget where it's at along with all my thousands of pictures.
I've met a of my game industry idols in person, including Ron Gilbert, TIm Schaffer, Noah Falstien, Dave Grossman, and even people like Shigaru Miamoto. There are many other i've talked to online but havn't met like Al Lowe, which i'm hoping to one day.
I also love playing MMORPGS, i've been on Asheron's call 2, Star wars galaxies, City of Heroes, and of course, I have a level 80 undead mage in WoW.
I also like playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and i'm going to start making Rock Band songs for Israeli (and non Israeli) bands with the opening of the Rock Band network .
I have a lot to say about me (Do i need to add pictures to stuff?):
And I'm an all round geek.
I'm an accordionist.
I'm a private pilot.
A licensed fireworks operator (i do the BIG independence day shows around here)
I'm a ham radio. (4X6NB)
I love hacking stuffs with electronics (I've build an Accordion Hero game controller - google it up)
I was one of the founders of the Israeli Star Trek fan club.
The name Corbomite Games, is an homage to the second star trek episode.
I know a bunch of the star trek actors in person from running conventions.
I met my wife at a sci-fi convention.
I have a 8.5 months old baby, who i already dressed in star fleet uniforms when the new trek movie came out.
I'm dyslecsic... Dislecxis.... Dyslectic. I sometimes read the OPPOSITE or misread stuff, for example when I read a phrase saying:
"Talk about anything and everything in this board... including commercial games!"
I assumed that i can talk about anything and everything, including posting about my own commercial game.
I wasn't aware that there are other hidden rules that i didn't see.
I don't think this intro is even getting close to saying everything important that there is to know about me.
Oded Sharon,
CEO - Corbomite Games.
Community
