There’s something magical about seeing an old picture of yourself, from a time so far back that you literally cannot remember being in that place, wearing those clothes or committing those acts. And yet it has to be you…the evidence is incontrovertible.

So much of my early life involved capes. Also, I remember this dart gun. When she told me to put it down once, I shot my great grandmother with both spring-loaded barrels. She won, by promptly whipping me. Daaaamn, Granny.

Ah, Freeport. This is the ditch I would sit in while my dad welded offscreen. Sometimes he’d send me to the bar across the street (seen here with these ‘vintage’ autos) for soft drinks or a burger basket. Good times!

Me and mom, on the see-saw. One of her many hair styles.

Doesn’t everyone love booth photos? I do.

A friend brought me this from his childhood collection. It’s him, his brother, me, my brother and a mutual cousin my friend and I share via marriage. Seeing this was surreal, since I didn’t meet my friend for another 6-7 years after this pic was taken. In other words, at some point, well before we hung out and knew each other, he and I were photographed at the same little kid birthday party.

Last one is my mom. She’s quite fetching here.

I dreamed that my ex and I moved into a yellow house in some suburb.

The house was similar to the one my parents built when I was 16. My dad and stepmom built the house in a different city, nearby, which required me to break up with my first long-term girlfriend. The family was in the process of moving when my dad and stepmom divorced. My dad, my brother and I only lived in the house briefly, during a time of chaos and sadness.

In the dream, my dog Star stole a Winnebego and drove off (seriously). Very annoyed that she would do this, I was following her in my car, trying to catch her and bring her back.

Out on the highway, I developed the impression that there was a threatening driver behind me. Looking back, I saw a black truck very close to my bumper, weaving and accelerating toward me. Occuring over the course of a series of snapshots as I looked into the mirror, the truck crashed somehow, still very close to my car. The black truck flipped into the air and started rolling, end over end with great violence. I sped up to get away from it and smoke filled the highway at my back.

A woman cop questioned me later, at some sort of diner, but I pretended not to know anything about the crash and got away without any trouble.

Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen have been working on this game design book for a while now, collecting up concepts, examples and vocabulary to help game designers think about the craft of making games.

The book is out and it’s great. if it’s not the first significant modern game design textbook, it’s certainly the best and most complete.

This is a critical read for game designers and for anyone in a leadership position within the video game business; shared vocabulary and basic understand of game design schemas will be increasingly important in the coming years.

Another GDC has come, and with it an Interview, with comments on GDC, games and the future of gaming.

Also available is Power Point presentation used during the lecture, “Orthogonal Unit Differentiation,” given at GDC. It can be viewed in HTML or downloadable PowerPoint format.