Originally, I left Dreamhost because I wanted to get a webhost that ran on the .NET platform.  As a Microsoft advocate and .NET developer, I wanted to use a platform that I could develop and customize my own code and blog.

To be honest, I never ventured further than finding an already made .NET blogging engine and minorly customizing it to suit my needs.  It worked well, but it wasn’t up to par with other blogging engines I’ve seen such as Wordpress.

Further, being hosted at Dreamhost made things tons easier and had less hidden charges.  In my previous webhost, I would be charged for a domain registration, charged for locking that domain, charged for making it private, charged for adding a site for that domain, etc.  Dreamhost not only simplifies that, but is upfront about the prices you will be paying on a one time go.  You can’t beat the price.

The one-click installers, especially for Wordpress, made my life incredibly easy to set up my new blog.  Working for a few months on Anime USA’s webpage (a highly customized Wordpress template) gave me insight on how to manipulate the styles and PHP backend.

Someone said to me, “Isn’t it blasphemy for a Microsoft advocate to use PHP?”  I replied, “I may be a fan of Microsoft, but at heart I’m an engineer.  You have to use the right tool for the right job.”

Left: Original | Right: Fan-altered

“I remember when I first had that image sent to me. To be honest, I found it kind of sad. We’ve spent time in developing Faith. And the important thing for us was that she was human, that she was more real.

“We really wanted to get away from the typical portrayal of women in games, that they’re all just kind of tits and ass in a steel bikini. We wanted her to look athletic and fit and strong [enough] that she could do the things that she’s doing.

“We wanted her to be attractive, but we didn’t want her to be a supermodel. We wanted her to be approachable and far more real. It was just kind of depressing that someone thinks it would be better if Faith was a 12-year-old with a boob job. That was kind of what that image looked to me.”

From: http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/11/25/mirrors-edge-producer-depressed-by-sexy-fan-verision-of-faith/

Finally!  A developer that isn’t out to exploit their female game characters!

Welcome to Game Devigner.

The first time I heard the term “Devigner” was through Flash presentations showing off the latest technologies.  In the past, I’ve had trouble defining my interests and roles in development teams because I tended to be between two worlds.  I am an aspiring artist and graphic designer, specializing in anime-style art.  But professionally, I am also a senior web programmer with many years under my belt.  I can play both roles of designer and developer and have often been a bridge between the creative department and the programming department on larger application development teams.  But when it comes to defining who I am and my skillsets, it has been quite difficult coming up with a proper title.

So when I first heard the term “Devigner”, I was instantly intrigued and after a while I fell in love with it.  I love especially how it sounds like “Diviner” as if you are summoning something from the Aether and bringing it to life - which to many programmers and artists, is the experience you feel when creating something new.

The best programmers I have ever met were all “Devigners.”  Two of the best programmers I’ve ever worked with were undergraduate art degrees – a sculptor and an architect.  And one other had an associates degree in Business and is a musical composer and DJ on the side.

I believe that the best programmers can quickly switch from left-brain and right-brain and synthesize all sorts of data quickly to achieve a goal.  These Devigners not only were great programmers who are interested in code, but also see the aesthetics of well crafted and well thought out code design.  Code didn’t just “work” it had to work “elegantly” and they were never satisfied with a “cludgey” or “unelegant” fix.  That is what made their code beautiful to read and work with.  Devigners are a different breed of programmer.

In this blog, I hope to capture many different aspects of game design thoughts, theories and publish even a few working games in the coming months using various game technologies such as Silverlight, Flash and possibly even Adventure Game Studio.

I hope to bring new insight into aspects of game development that other bloggers may not get into because my perspective comes from experiences from being “of both worlds” in terms of Development and Design as a “Devigner.”