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Doing what you love
Doing what you love
| Name: | Deborah Marshall |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Aug 10, 2007 | |
| Rating: |  Not Rated | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
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| Profile Page: | View profile page for Deborah Marshall |
Blog post
Hello world.
A few of you may recognize me from such hits as the "Torque X Beta Survey," one of the projects I worked on as an intern here for the last year. I've literally graduated to become a card carrying member of the GG ranks.
I've been meaning to write a blog post for a while, but the title of "Survey Girl" doesn't lend itself to a lot of friendly, casual conversation (emphasis on "friendly"). And unlike a lot of cool guys here working directly on top secret projects of various natures, I simply act as support doing a little market research and analysis here and there. Nothing to write home about. ("Mom, guess what statistical calculation I did today!")
But what I lack in street cred with many of you, I can identify with the pursuit of doing what you love. For about 14 years now, I have been a serial writer. I started out with short stories in high school, and then slowly and painfully wrote an novel over an eight year period. Once I'd finally finished my first one, crappy though it was, I wrote another novel. Neither have been published, but I consider finishing both of them one of my greatest life achievements.
Sound familiar to anyone else out there?
It isn't easy making this choice. It takes a lot of discipline to finish such a lofty goal. A lot of people didn't believe I could finish it (especially when I hit the 4-year mark with my first novel). Others showed only vague interest in what I was doing. ("That's great, Deborah. And did you hear about Paris Hilton yesterday?"). And I lost my will to finish many times ("Novel or Zelda? Novel or Zelda? Hmm....").
But over time, I did reach my goals. And I've got new goals too, even though I'm in one of my hibernation modes. And in the meantime, I've managed to snag an awesome day job, where I am never bored and get to learn from the best of the pros in this industry. And best of all, it supports my passion, because there is no shortage of creativity and perseverance in the Garage.
So good luck to all of you out there. I hope I can help you out in my own small way with my silly little surveys and a few spreadsheets here and there.
A few of you may recognize me from such hits as the "Torque X Beta Survey," one of the projects I worked on as an intern here for the last year. I've literally graduated to become a card carrying member of the GG ranks.
I've been meaning to write a blog post for a while, but the title of "Survey Girl" doesn't lend itself to a lot of friendly, casual conversation (emphasis on "friendly"). And unlike a lot of cool guys here working directly on top secret projects of various natures, I simply act as support doing a little market research and analysis here and there. Nothing to write home about. ("Mom, guess what statistical calculation I did today!")
But what I lack in street cred with many of you, I can identify with the pursuit of doing what you love. For about 14 years now, I have been a serial writer. I started out with short stories in high school, and then slowly and painfully wrote an novel over an eight year period. Once I'd finally finished my first one, crappy though it was, I wrote another novel. Neither have been published, but I consider finishing both of them one of my greatest life achievements.
Sound familiar to anyone else out there?
It isn't easy making this choice. It takes a lot of discipline to finish such a lofty goal. A lot of people didn't believe I could finish it (especially when I hit the 4-year mark with my first novel). Others showed only vague interest in what I was doing. ("That's great, Deborah. And did you hear about Paris Hilton yesterday?"). And I lost my will to finish many times ("Novel or Zelda? Novel or Zelda? Hmm....").
But over time, I did reach my goals. And I've got new goals too, even though I'm in one of my hibernation modes. And in the meantime, I've managed to snag an awesome day job, where I am never bored and get to learn from the best of the pros in this industry. And best of all, it supports my passion, because there is no shortage of creativity and perseverance in the Garage.
So good luck to all of you out there. I hope I can help you out in my own small way with my silly little surveys and a few spreadsheets here and there.
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 05/13/08 - Yard Sale Junkie coming to a portal near you! 04/18/08 - Survey Says ... TGEA 1.7 03/21/08 - GDC, TGB, You and Me 01/31/08 - Game in a Day: GG Style! 01/23/08 - Call to Action: GG Internships 12/14/07 - TGB 1.6 Released...and Manatees? 08/10/07 - Doing what you love |
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Submit your own resources!| Gareth Fouche (Aug 10, 2007 at 10:08 GMT) |
And yeah, you should be proud of finishing your novels. That ability to go the entire distance is rare. If you asked me what the single biggest issue facing most indie game devs was, that would be my answer. Like most amateur writers I imagine ;)
| Daz (Aug 10, 2007 at 10:33 GMT) |
What you lack in street cred in game development, you seem to make up for with street cred elsewhere. In my mind, game development is like writing a novel in c++, using illustrations created with a 3D package.
Welcome to the Garage.
Edited on Aug 10, 2007 10:45 GMT
| Leroy Frederick (Aug 10, 2007 at 11:27 GMT) |
| Unsung Zero (Aug 10, 2007 at 12:21 GMT) |
| Simon Love (Aug 10, 2007 at 14:57 GMT) |
Failure is part of the learning process. Failure to NOT play zelda has doomed many of my own projects, yet I find that gaming, when used responsibly, can actually help my productivity. For instance, every morning, I play half-an-hour of Forza 2 or some retardedly hard shooter thru MAME, coupled with a big cup of coffee, and It sends my brain into productivity mode for some reason.
It's easier to play games than work hard on your own personal projects, mainly because games provide instant feedback and generate player motivation to actually progress through it.
Wouldn't it be great if you had to fight a dragon every time you wanted to save your excel spreadsheets? :)
No it wouldn't, yet it if were a Windows option....I might turn it on.
| Deborah Marshall (Aug 10, 2007 at 16:06 GMT) |
@Unsung Hero: I lived in Japan a few years teaching English, and that's me standing next to a tiny Japanese man in a Taiko no Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master) costume. Post photo op ever.
@Simon: You're right about the downtime thing. Sometimes, just listening to music will get me pumping to write. You're doing one thing, but your mind is working out problems with your game/novel. And it's a really incredible experience when you get an A-ha! moment during one of those sessions.
| Donald \"Yadot\" Harris (Aug 10, 2007 at 17:55 GMT) |
| Curt Hopkins (Aug 10, 2007 at 18:55 GMT) |
| David Montgomery-Blake (Aug 10, 2007 at 20:56 GMT) |
Great blog. Finishing a novel is huge. Finishing two is really, really...HUGE! Have you shopped them around? Looked at self-publishing/podcasting/etc?
@Curt
Lorca rawks. I have always thought it fun to replace poet laureate with poet lariat. It's amazing how few noticed.
| Dunsany (Aug 11, 2007 at 16:24 GMT) |
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jensen
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Knight
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