Hi there. I'm electronsonmars, or just Ben. As many kids do, I tried designing my own games when I was little on up through middle school. One of my fondest memories is the time in the fourth grade when I brought my newest game, called "The Maze," to a game day and had a group of kids play it non stop the entire day. I got tired of it and went to do other things, but they kept on playing.
In middle school I came up with a sort of hybrid wargame/rpg and it became my obsession. For the next three or four years I worked on it pretty much exclusively taking it through two very different drafts before determining that the foundation was all wrong and in a fit of frustration I tossed it out. That act of throwing out what I'd worked so hard on sort of killed my drive. I've tried several times since then to restart the design, but I haven't made any traction.
Which brings me to today. I decided not too long ago that it was time to try game design again. I want to see what I can do now that I'm older and have quite a bit more experience with gaming in general and the sort of iterative thinking that goes into polishing a design.
I'm in my last semester of college and am going to graduate in December with a BS in Chemistry. Sometime in the next month or so I'll start working on applying to graduate programs. Game design is my lifeline, or sorts. It's the productive hobby that I think can keep me sane in the coming years of school.
I haven't done much yet. I have one idea (Trash the Town) that's nearing the initial prototype phase. I just need to finish up the card lists for it. I also have two other very rough ideas that I've been toying around with. I'm hoping that this forum is the place to hang out and help keep me connected with the community.
