I guess I’m technically a game designer now since I am designing Thornwatch. It still felt very strange to be invited to speak on a panel at PAX Dev though. I’ve always avoided the show because the entire point of PAX Dev is to give developers a space to speak freely without fans and media around. We built a treehouse for them and I didn’t want to spoil that.
I was asked by Mike Selinker to sit in on a panel with Patrick Rothfuss though. I was under the impression that it was some sort of world building panel where we would field questions from the audience about creating stories for games. I figured I had some experience with this and I’ll pretty much do anything if Pat is involved. The three of us sat down a few minutes before the panel was scheduled to start just to go over the details. Selinker pulled out a stack of paper and explained he would be reading a story about D&D that he had written. He said it would take about fifteen minutes. Then Pat pulled out his story also written down and explained he’d be reading a story about playing games with his son. I don’t remember exactly what I said but I think it was something like, “What the fuck guys?”
I told them that I thought we would be answering questions from the audience and so I had done zero preparation. Selinker said the panel was a “story time” and each of us was going to have time to tell a story about games and how they intersect with family. I may have shouted the next part “I don’t tell stories! I’m the drawing guy not the story guy!” This was the first time ever at any PAX I was honestly scared to go on stage. I had nothing prepared and I had no idea what I was going to do. Then I remembered my Minecraft CSI post. I’ve never just gone on stage and told a story but the news post was pretty fresh in my mind. I figured it was my best chance at not looking like an idiot up there.
Well it turns out the entire panel was recorded and Selinker just posted it this morning. Pat and Mike both delivered incredible stories and I highly recommend watching this panel to hear them. You can also watch me trying not to panic while I deliver a slightly embellished version of my Minecraft CSI post.
-Gabe out
