Revenge of the Gamer

This year my Year in Review is considerably less structured.  I have no report card, no set of goals I set for myself in January.  Yet ironically this year I was more organized and I accomplished more than I ever have in my life.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In January I began pouring effort into publishing Shattered Gods.  I knew it was an ambitious goal.  I wanted to create an entire roleplaying game and bring it to market.  It’s something I’ve talked about doing for the entirety of my adult life, yet I’ve never come even close to realizing that dream.  This year I finally changed that.

I created a website, started a campaign and began building the engine.  It was slow going, but within a few months the framework for a real role-playing game began to emerge.  For the first time I really believed I was going to succeed and my enthusiasm was infectious.  Many of my friends got onboard and have helped bring Shattered Gods to life.  They helped create maps, game mechanics, classes and to brainstorm parts of the world.

The result is that twelve months later the game is nearly finished.  I’ve hired an editor to get the manuscript ready and a layout artist to create the PDF version of the game I will eventually sell.  I’ve even signed up to run the game at Dundracon, where I will debut Shattered Gods to the world.  It is a heady feeling.  Fifteen years of false starts have finally paid off and I believe 2012 will be a year of great success as a result.

Shattered Gods was not the only massive project I focused on this year.  I also developed Evil Dice- an app for the iPhone and iPad.  As of this writing the app is not yet in the store, but man is it getting close.  I’ve hired a game tester to put the alpha version through its paces, and with her help the app is nearly ready for release.  Once it hits the app store I plan to pay a pair of developers I’ve met to port it to Droid.

How can I afford to do this?  Because I no longer work in collections at Redwood Credit Union.  This brings me to the other massive project I focused on this year.

I created Sly Fox Applications, my app development company.  My little sister designed my logo, I created a website and I was off and running.  In July I joined BNI (Business Network International).  I learned how to create and manage a business, and I landed my first pair of clients.  More importantly I learned to advertise, which led to an incredible opportunity.

In October I posted an ad on Craigslist for Sly Fox and later that very same day I received a call from a company called PBHS.  They wanted to interview me for an iOS development position.  I agreed and three weeks later I took a job as a software engineer.  Since then I have been creating an iPad application for them called iConsult, which will be tested in a trial hosted by Johns Hopkins university. I’ve spent 50+ hours a week programming and my skills have increased dramatically in a very short time.

I am finally living my dream.  I LOVE developing software, but for PBHS and for Sly Fox.  I also feel an extreme sense of validation.  You see back in 2010 I took a gigantic risk.  I bought an iPad and a MacBook and decided to learn iOS programming.  I dumped a huge number of hours and capital into learning iOS, because I believed it was the hottest new technology and that I’d be able to make a fortune if I could develop apps for it.

I was right.  I’m making great money at PBHS and Sly Fox is earning me a steady second income.  That’s BEFORE my apps hit the store.  In 2012 all the work I’ve poured into role-playing aides will pay off.  I will finally bring some apps to market and if I am right I will make a small fortune doing it.  I think I’ve hit on a goldmine and I plan to milk it for all it’s worth.

I am more confident than I have ever been, both in my abilities and in my future.

Part of this confidence has come from Toastmasters.  In the thirteen months I’ve been going I have won Best Speaker for 11 of the 15 speeches I’ve delivered.  I have learned how to enthrall a room and instead of fearing public speaking I have grown to love it.  This will serve me well.  Earlier I mentioned Dundracron.  I am delivering a seminar for gamers there, a seminar that I have prepared using skills I learned in Toastmasters.

Things are going great on the relationship front as well.  Amelia and I have been dating for nearly two years and I believe I have finally found the woman I was meant to be with.  Not only is she amazingly supportive, but she balances me in ways I can barely express.  She makes me want to be a better person.  I love you Amelia.

Wow.  I look back over what I’ve written and can’t help but feel a great sense of pride.  Three years ago I was a lazy stoner who spent his time playing video games.  Today I am a driven entrepreneur who is living his dreams.  It’s such a massive difference.

I can’t wait to see where the future takes me…