Comments on: Postscript

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:41:49 +0000

I devoured this journal a month ago, cutting and pasting snippets of text that really struck a chord with me. I printed them out and taped them up; I’m so suprised how much they’ve kept me focused and “up” for life, surviving this Hell that’s been 2009. As I make an inventory of ‘09 I wanted to thank those words for being so positively affecting and for coming so unexpectedly:

“You dumb shit. You’ve dug your way deep into an active gold mine and are holding off from digging the last two feet because you’re too dumb to appreciate what you’ve got and too lazy to finish what you’ve started.”

It’s true: People like you better if you stand up for yourself. There’s no percentage in being self-effacing and making them think they can walk all over you.

Everyone has their own particular form of self-destruction. Mine, I’m starting to think, is standing outside myself, watching myself live my life, turning my face so as to give the cameras a better angle, and thus missing the whole thing.

The more experiences I have, the more I realize that working with people you like and respect is more important than anything else.

“You know, there’s a lot of poverty and injustice here… only a few people are really living, the others are just struggling for survival.”

I know myself well enough to know that whatever happens, it won’t be my excesses I’ll regret, it’ll be the things I held myself back from doing. In all my life I’ve never yet given a present so lavish, or made a gesture so expansive, or indulged a pleasure so recklessly that I regretted it later. Whereas there are so many things I look back on now and think: That was one of the high points, that moment will never come again, why did I hold back?

I know it’s possible to err in the other direction too, to screw up your life by not thinking of the future. I just don’t think I’m nearly there yet…

thanks again! between Book of Eli and the PoP movie, here’s to oh-10 ushering in the DECADE OF THE NERDS!

By: Rodolfo Vega

Rodolfo Vega — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:08:13 +0000

Hola señor Jordan.
Espero que aun practique su español, quiero comentarle que soy de Mexico, tengo 25 años y me encuentro creando una empresa de desarrollo de video juegos junto con cuatro amigos, y me encuentro muy deprimido por el poco apoyo que encuentro en mi pais, sin embargo al estar leyendo su diario, me he llenado de animo para continuar.

Espero algun dia pueda estar frente a frente con usted y no solo saludarlo sino mostrarle mis videojuegos.

¡Hasta luego!

PS:It Will be a pleasure to follow your steps, and above all I hope that my games are worthy challengers of yours.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:03:05 +0000

Just wanted to add to the chorus of approval. Inspiring, enlightening stuff.

By: Lars

Lars — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:24:50 +0000

This was a fantastic read, and very inspiring even though I’m not a game designer, film director or anything analogous to what you are doing.

I’m off to do some things I’ve been procrastinating on for far too long. Maybe this time around the sense of carpe diem that’s been built up through experiencing these slices of your life will stay embedded in this dilapidated cathedral of potential.

Best of luck to you with your new movie and game,
Lars

By: Fred_PJ

Fred_PJ — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:57:08 +0000

Thanks for sharing these great journal entries, it was a pleasure reading it, even back then you were already a great human being!

By: cp

cp — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:00:05 +0000

Brilliant. I love reading about the infancy of the gaming industry and the pioneers behind it.

By: Vic

Vic — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:54:18 +0000

What an amazing ride… This was a joy to read! Thank you for sharing. This really could be a movie some day. It would be really cool if our paths crossed in the future and I got to shake your hand. I am a huge fan of your games starting with Karateka. Cheers.

By: Francis

Francis — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:09:09 +0000

I’ve stolen an hour here or there every day for the past week to finish reading your journals. I feel like you could take a small cut of them and publish them as a wired article on “the insides of game publishing”. Its a wonderful thing to follow through with a project that you love, though it seems it rarely feels that way when you’re nearing the 99% completion mark.

I hope life has found you well, I’m sure I could check up on your current happenings, but for now I’m going to think of you as a 25 year old game developer figuring out life, business and passions. (And of course consider your journal a reflection of myself.)

Thank you for sharing.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:03:49 +0000

It’s 5:02 am; I just spent a good 3-4 hours reading through this. Though I did skim a few entries (maybe more than a few) this was as gripping a read as any I’ve had in a good while. It scares me to think how much time it took you to type all this up, though.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:54:40 +0000

Thanks so much for putting up your journals! I had no idea that the core of one of the few games that started my love affair with computer games (mac Prince) was created mostly by a single programmer. I believe it was on the mac demo disk that came with my Mac Performa 600 (a 68030).

Besides that, the journals were a long read, but they were great. It had parallels with what I’m trying to do in web software, and the way I do my work. It echoed my wanderlust and my restlessness. And, it gave me a lot of things to think about. They made me realize simultaneously that success requires the help of other people, and also that I may be stuck in a rut. Again, thank you!