My name is Zack Hiwiller and I am the author of this blog. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA in the early eighties as a New Year’s Baby. Being born at 4:38pm in the afternoon on a day where one is celebrated and lavished with praise if they are born earlier probably is the seed of my incredibly strong pet peeve of being late to anything.

I develop games for a living for a large corporation. Surprisingly, it is what I wanted to do at a young age which I promptly forgot when adults told me I had to be “realistic” in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. It was in my junior year of college at Carnegie Mellon University (studying Information Systems, minor in Philosophy) that I decided that a life of writing banking software while potentially lucrative would probably not be fulfilling for me. I then committed myself to picking up skills that would benefit a game designer. I was given the privilege of an internship at Electronic Arts soon after and worked really hard to make an impression that would get me hired full-time - if not there then at some other reputable studio. It worked.

Since then, I’ve worked on a number of shipped games and a few canceled or aborted ideas. In the meantime, I study other design blogs and attempt to keep my mind open for ways to expand in my role.

Q: Why do you have a blog?
A: I used to abhor and despise blogs because I equated them with ugly Myspace pages and self-serving ranting. I found it very egotistical to think that someone would want to read what I had to say. Then I realized that it really wasn’t an ego issue at all. One can write simply to write. It’s a “If a blog falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” issue. I want to write because I enjoy writing and practice makes me better. Considering I want to publish at some point (I keep my fiction works close to my chest), a blog seems a logical route. Also, there are a number of game designers out there that have great blogs and it seems to work well for them.

Q: Are you just going to write about game design? I don’t care about that, nerd.
A: That’s what I plan on writing the most about now, because that is what is interesting me. I expect one reads a game designer’s blog to read about what they think about game design. But since the primary objective of this blog is just to get me typing, I will post about whatever is interesting me at the moment. I’ll try not to be too loquacious as I try not to take things too seriously.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: Professionally, it is a secret. Personally, it is a secret. I’ll post about these items when a) I feel there is something worthy to post and b) I am permitted to post.

Q: How do I contact you?
A: I am very interested in talking with other designers and folks interested in game design. Leave comments on posts if applicable or email me by the address in the header image.

Q: What are your favorite games?

A: Here’s a short list:

• Actraiser
• Bomberman (Series)
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Donkey Kong
• Elder Scrolls (Series)
• Halo (Series)
• Ico
• Jet Set Radio Future
• Katamari Damacy
• Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
• A Mind Forever Voyaging
• Passage
• Portal
• Rock Band
• Silent Hill (Series)
• SimCity (Series)
• Splinter Cell (Series)
• Thief (Series)
• You Don’t Know Jack (Series)