March 25, 2012 scottcjones 4Comments

The morning of the shopping spree, I woke up early and put on the shopping spree outfit that my brother had picked out for me: sweatpants, gym shoes, and a zip-up hoodie with two large pockets in the front. Dressing for comfort and speed, he explained, was the only way to go. “Plus, you can fill up those pockets with action figures,” he said, which, I had to agree, was an excellent point. When I went downstairs for breakfast, my mother took one look at me and said, “Where do you think we’re going today? Berry picking? We’re going into…

March 14, 2012 scottcjones 3Comments

Scott Adams' adventure games were once so popular, they merited magazine ads like this one.
One final digression, then I’ll get to my game-making attempt, promise. There are two landmark gaming moments from my childhood/teenage years. There was “The Night I Beat Mike Tyson” (Punch-Out!!, NES). And there was “The Night I Killed Dracula” (The Count, VIC-20). Both nights were significant, because gaming–which was something that I typically did alone, apart from the rest of the members of my family–became, at least for a scant few minutes, a family affair. On “The Night I Beat Mike…

January 6, 2012 scottcjones 2Comments

After the surgery, I donned the pair of retirement home-style sunglasses that were inside my recovery kit and went home to begin what I was certain would be a glorious convalescence. I got into bed straight away, anxious to start listening to one of my audio books–Swamplandia by Karen Russell–and sleep and do nothing for several days. “All right, eyes,” I said to my eyes. “Go ahead and get busy healing.” (more…)