Maybe I'll Be An Evil Genius

Rather early in my career a friend asked if I, a young software developer working on a federal contract, would be interested in programming video games....in Georgetown... with a very cool company. Of course I did and I joined a very talented team that did some really remarkable work, most of which never hit a shelf but between the artists, game designers and writers, the musicians, and the developers, it was easily the most creative group I've ever worked with and some of the coolest work in which I've been a part.

I was recently was reminded of this as we were cleaning out (The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning is a thing, apparently) the den and found a CD (pictured) of a prototype for one project I worked on while at the company. There's a story, of course, behind the title and artwork. It was a cutting edge idea for its time. We had a multi-player mode that supported more players than peer games (like original networked Doom and Descent). Nowadays, the game would be a class project for someone (minus the incredible art and music that was developed) and the bulk of it could be knocked out with a few well-crafted prompts with a good Generative AI model.

Two lessons that I took away from the experience: (1) the video game industry is brutal. Arguably, the company faced problems just because we weren't in a "video game" city. But even back then companies and project teams lived and died by individual game successes largely timed for holiday releases. And afterwards, teams would change companies or get laid off as companies prepped for the next year's offerings. (2) when you are a part of an exceptional team, try to hold onto it as it is a thing of beauty. You are pushed to be your best and continue to learn which powers the excellence. I've had the luck to be on a number of these and continue to work with an exceptional team across IEX and GDIT.So I look forward to more of this as I move into my role as the Senior Director for Mission Software Pursuits in our Defense division...or maybe I'll be an "Evil Genius" on Monster Island (Shhh)