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Introduce Yourself!

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Kyzrati:
Use this thread to say hello to your fellow Cogminds!

Let us know a little about yourself, in as many or few words as you like. (And/or pictures!)

You could also answer some of these questions:
-How did you learn about Cogmind?
-What other roguelikes do you enjoy?
-What are your other favorite games?
-What do you do for fun when you're not playing games?

Kyzrati:
Me first:

I've been making games my whole life, starting with a lot of paper-based games as a kid, and eventually moving on to developing simple computer games in the late 90s. I played a lot of video games in the 90s as a teen, so the transition to making my own was a natural one for someone inclined to take on creative projects of all kinds. My biggest regret is that I never joined communities or sought outside help, continuing to develop in isolation for more than a decade. Progress was slow and there was much wasted time and avoidable roadblocks.

I found the roguelike community in 2011 and instantly fell in love with the genre. Despite having been a computer enthusiast since the age of BBSs and MUDs, I simply wasn't fortunate enough to encounter roguelikes :(. Once I did find them, I played quite a few and spent the most time with DCSS, then pretty quickly decided I needed to make my own. So I decided to make an adaptation of one of my favorite games of all time, X-COM: UFO Defense. After two years of strong development, that project was put on hiatus, and the rest of the story continues with our first question below :D

- How did you learn about Cogmind?
Obviously my answer here will differ from your own ;).

Cogmind was born on a trip to Thailand in February 2012. I was brainstorming ideas for that year's 7DRL game jam, browsing "games you wish existed" type threads on random forums in our hotel lobby in Phuket. A one-sentence post (I forget where) about playing a main character that "builds itself from pieces of enemies" caught my attention. That day cruising around the islands on a boat, I imagined applying that idea to a game about robots, and my brother and I proceeded to think of all the cool things we could do to expand on that. The idea seemed really promising. I spent any down time over the next few days figuring out the basic mechanics, decided it could work, then made the game for 7DRL a few weeks later.

Over the next couple months I released a dozen updates, mostly to fix a few bugs, make some interface enhancements, and run a tournament for the hundreds of frequent players (mostly over on Bay 12, very much "the birthplace of Cogmind's player community"). Despite its humble origins and short dev cycle the game was pretty enjoyable, but at the time I was right in the middle of BattleScape development for my main hobby project, X@COM. So Cogmind was put to rest and there were no plans to return to it.

Then I reached a turning point in life.

My son was born (ironically around the same time Cogmind 7DRL was coded), and within a year my free time began dwindling significantly. There was only one way to continue developing games at any reasonable pace: make it a full-time job. I needed a promising "small" project that I could finish in a reasonable amount of time, something with a theoretical chance of financial success... Cogmind's 7DRL incarnation could be considered a prototype for a potentially successful game, so I decided to run with it, and here we are :D

- What other roguelikes do you enjoy?
I've spent the most time playing DCSS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup), mostly back around 0.7~0.9. So much content, replayability, and viable play styles in that game... and all so mechanically tight.

Another favorite gem, relatively new, is TGGW (The Ground Gives Way). It's a super condensed and streamlined roguelike experience, but despite the way that sounds, there is a ton of depth and content. Interestingly, aside from the fact that it's a fantasy game, among all the roguelikes out there TGGW shares the greatest amount of "gameplay spirit" with Cogmind in that there are a ton of items to find, and your abilities are completely determined by what items you choose to carry with you.

For me, a lot of roguelikes now fall into the category of games I spend more time reading about than actually playing, because I simply don't have much time to play games anymore.

- What are your other favorite games?
The original X-COM: UFO Defense, as mentioned earlier, ranks somewhere around the top (for the record, I didn't like the new one at all).

Somewhat related to Cogmind, I've been a life-long BattleTech/MechWarrior fan. It's a completely different genre, but there are a few obvious influences seen in Cogmind. I've played pretty much every BT/MW game ever, and for the past couple years the one game I've spent a reasonable amount of time playing is MechWarrior Online.

I know a game designer really should play a wide range of games, but my lack of free time has caused my list of "games to play" to grow out of control until I realized there's little reason to maintain it since there's no hope of whittling it down. Honestly, most modern games completely fail to interest me anyway. I do occasionally pick up a popular game and try it for a couple hours just to see what people are talking about. I play MWO mostly out of nostalgia, and as a way to relax. The rest of my "play time" is devoted to game development!

- What do you do for fun when you're not playing games?
I have many hobbies, but not much time to devote to them anymore. My favorite activity which I always have time for since it overlaps with my responsibilities as as dad is to take my son out on bike rides to various parks and playgrounds. I'm sure things will continue to evolve as he gets older!

As for a more "standardized list" of stuff I do, it's mostly traveling, photography, graphic design, writing/blogging, reading, and cooking.

Arseface:
Just got the email and signed up for the forums. I'll be getting the game as soon as I finish reading all the material on it and writing this post.

- How did you learn about Cogmind?
I found out about Cogmind a few weeks ago and was skeptical after seeing the level layouts. Played the 7drl and found I had worried for nothing.

- What other roguelikes do you enjoy?
I play a lot of Brogue, and I played a lot of DoomRL and Sil before I decided I needed a new computer that came without a numpad. I'm looking forward to Caves of Qud's public steam beta as it will be the first update in years.
I've tried to get into DCSS, Tome 4, and Angband. For some reason they strike me as really bland. Autoexplore + tab/damage hotkey is very mentally numbing.
Brogue is my favorite roguelike by a mile.

- What are your other favorite games?
I play so many games in so many genres asking for favorites isn't fair :P
Recently I've been playing MH4U, Elements the Game, and running a D&D campaign. I've been thinking of diving back into pokemon as well.

- What do you do for fun when you're not playing games?
For fun I'm working on a few tabletop games at the moment. One of which I'd like to become more than a hobby project. I'm also planning on doing a thru-hike of the Appalachian trail next year, so a bit of my time is spent preparing for that.

Paladin:
Hey, just noticed the forums and game opened up. I plan on nabbing the game soon, but first, a post here won't hurt. To keep it short, I have a decent background playing these types of games, and I'm really looking forward to jumping into Cogmind.

Draxis:
I'm Draxis from Bay 12, or Dessard pretty everywhere else.  Been around since one of the X@COM ARRP releases (2011 maybe?), and following Cogmind since it first came out.  Pretty excited to play it.

Don't really play many other roguelikes, though I've beaten DoomRL a few times; pretty much just play rhythm games, K-ShootMANIA and Osu, and the odd strategy game.

It's a bit sad that smf doesn't assign each user a number from zero like some forums  :V

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