Times they are a changing

I came home from work today to find that a dramatic life-altering event had occurred. Our dog Pugsley had decided it was so cold that he dragged my GarageGames wool and leather jacket into his bed and claimed it as his own. (Once something ends up in his bed, it changes ownership... no matter what you try to do.) So gone are the days in which I would walk into a Best Buy wearing the jacket and strike up a conversation about the games or a Torque engine that employee might have played with.

But alas, times they are a changing...

Even the crew in the garage have finally been able to drag the old faithful website into their dog bed and unveil the new building blocks of the future.

Now it has been a few years since I was in the garage. In fact, I'm just a few weeks away from moving into a new position as the head of an international aid organization, and therefore not as plugged in as I used to be. But I do know that the GG crew still loves what they do and that they still strive to bring new, accessible, and disruptive technologies to the masses. The same passion for games and fighting for the little guy that caused Jeff, Rick, Tim and Mark to create the foundation for the indie revolution, is the same passion that is currently driving all the crew in the garage (that is probably bursting the warehouses seams right now) to continue adding the building blocks that were laid so carefully many years ago.

Yes, I do understand that many people (including myself) can find it so easy to point out perceived missteps in the latest building blocks (the new site). But I'm pleased to hear that many of the community features that drew most of us to GG are on their way. And many of those features will be added with even more functionality.

I do feel for those working at GG who have been receiving the brunt of the "constructive criticism". I vividly remember many a day when I felt there was nothing we could do to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the community. (even having to produce warning label t-shirts for Pat)

Over the past few years since I left GG, I've helped a bunch of the community developers with press issues and marketing concepts. I've answered a few questions regarding compiling on a mac (which is hysterical for anyone who actually knows me... Benjamin answering a programming questions????) and been available at odd hours to run tests for people. And I began to think that there are still hundreds and probably thousands of other people like me (and most who do more and know more than I do) that make up the GG community. The GG community is comprised of those of us that want to be the GG community. And so, I'm excited to see some of the upcoming functionality that will come with the increased capabilities of this new site framework. Because with the new framework, and those of us who believe in the dream of GG, the community will grow stronger and larger. (Which will probably lead to GG having to rebuild their website again, and then we can all bitch and moan again before we have a "rally-around-the-flagpole" event of epic proportion.)

So yes, the times they are a changing... but for the better. The sun rising on the horizon (the first version of the website) gives us an encouraging glimpse of the great things in the coming day.

And I guess this big change (my dog stealing my GG jacket) will also require me to buy a new coat.