Okay. The “This month in Dan” title is probably pretentious. No, it’s a couple suitcases of pretentious. Regardless, here are some links to other things I wrote, produced or did this month. (Which is also, in it’s own way, probably pretentious too. Oh well.)
Nightmare Mode:
I like signs in games. I always wonder, as I look at them, why they are placed where they are. Is that a sign for the player or something for the characters? What does the sign say and what is it saying? Those questions, as well as probably the only positive spin on the denizens of Borderlands you will ever see, were part of Building Worlds: Signs in Borderlands.
My sister is getting married in a few months. If anyone is wondering why I, seemingly out of nowhere, started talking about my singleness and relationships in games (other than it being linked to the Blogs of the Round Table topic of “Love” in video games), that’s why.
I’ve been getting asked, by my mother and other relatives more frequently over the last couple weeks, when I’m getting married. (As the older brother and over 25, it’s not my favorite question. It’s right up there with “English degree? Are you going to teach?”) Given that, I’ve been forced to examine my life. And, of course, by “examine” I mean that other people are doing it for me.
Anyway, some of those ideas got funneled into Life and Death of Sigrun in Dragon Age: Awakenings.
Podcasts:
I somehow talked my way onto the VGHVI podcast. The latest episode says that “Dan assume[ed] hosting duties,” but what it meant to say was “Dan introduced the podcast and then let other people talk for awhile.” (I might have secretly been eating dinner most of the episode. Shhh. Don’t tell them that.)
Game Dev:
I finished February’s game. It’s Indigo Protocol.
It’s… I don’t know. It’s something. I ended up talking about it across several posts over on my dev blog. You can watch (and listen!) to a week by week breakdown of the process (Week 2, Week 3, Week 4).
Those videos probably say way more about me than any of these blog posts ever will. On Saturday mornings, after staying up late on Friday night, I am a bit… loony. And I might also laugh-way-too-much-oh-my-god-I-am-so-sorry. (March’s game won’t be as purposely funny. I hope.)
Digital Ephemera 
hey, good job publishing in places! I should… try that. I think I liked your Dragon Age piece best, probably since I identified with the “siblings playing make-believe in the back yard and then growing a little distant as adults” thing.
Don’t let other people pressure you about relationships! Here in Utah it’s very common for young people to feel like they should date/marry, so I guess I feel sensitive for other people about it.
It seems nice, the whole publishing on bigger sites-thing, until you have to deal with editors and comments saying you got something wrong. I like the increased audience but I also, despite only being there for a couple months, like having my own blog too. I can write about what I want when I want and I do not have to contend with schedules or the crowds. I can be, to some degree, more anonymous.
Thank for the praise for the Dragon Age piece. It grew out of the “My younger sister is getting married, what I am doing with my life?” line of thinking. I’ve been wondering where she went, but I guess we both changed over the years. Not just her, but me too.
Yes, well, I don’t feel young. I’m 26 and I spend time talking to 18-year-old freshmen as part of one of my jobs. To me, some of them seem ridiculously young, immature and, in some cases, ignorant of the wider world. It’s nice of you to say that, “Don’t let other people pressure you,” but I’m the oddity for sure.
In my family, I’m the anomaly. I’m the writer, the creative type, for our group. I live in the South and for me to not like guns and NASCAR, I’m the strange one. I don’t follow nor care about sports. To both like and, God forbid, write about video games marks me as The Strange One.
“Only 8-year-olds like video games. Don’t you know that?” their eyes say. To be older than 13 and still playing video games is unreal to them. To be unmarried AND talking about them marks me as… I don’t know. Something. I don’t bother asking. It’s easier to ignore them if we don’t discuss it.
There is very little pressure to get married. That’s not really a thing I get other than in recent months with my sister. It’s more, “Is Dan still single?” that gets to me more than the marriage question. My normal is not theirs and they do not understand the most people my age are, in fact, single. For me, this is my life.