Have you ever asked someone about one of their passions and watched as pure joy and elation manifested from within them? We all have that thing, you know the thing we love to talk about and share with others. Some of us even have a few of those things!

You should take opportunities to share with people those things that you truly enjoy. You should also ask people about things they truly enjoy. It’s easy, just ask people what they’re really excited about in their lives right now, or what are they most looking forward to doing the next time they’re off work etc.

If you were to ask me on an average day to gush about something I love, I’d probably tell you all about canoeing, kayaking or just being on a lake in Algonquin Park. If you were to ask me that question anytime since the middle of August I’d say The Grid. Learning and getting excited about AI has been something that I’ve felt compelled to share with anyone who will listen, perhaps to their detriment.

The Intersection of Joy

What do you do then when you have two interests that seem so distinctly far apart? Merge baby! What if we make a new Arcade that captures the essence of backcountry camping in Algonquin Park? The question came to me as I was sitting around the dinner table enjoying some camp chat with my cousin and his wife (also avid campers). The conversation had already included much of my exuberant rantings about Claude AI and all it was capable of. With a few lines of prompting I asked CLU, the grid’s engineer, to start a new project on the workbench. To prove to my family just how amazing the coding process could be, I asked for a playable beta to be delivered as soon as possible. A few minutes later a link to “Portage - an Algonquin Canoe Trip” was launched and ready to play. Things were simple but functional. The aesthetic was basic but appealing. The object was simple, explore.

I passed my phone around and everyone, regardless of age or gaming experience, was able to pick it up and start looking around the park. It was user friendly! Wow. Another one-shot game — built in a single pass, no back-and-forth — that was completely reasonable. 8-BIT GAMBIT was fun and didn’t need much adjusting. This time, I knew I wanted to flesh out this game with so many parts of camping that I’ve experienced. I won’t spoil any of what’s hiding under the rocks or behind the next tree, but CLU and I have worked hard to create and iterate. We’ve incorporated small elements that you might never find and others that we’re secretly hoping you do because they’re funny, and oh so true.

Build Games You Want to Play

Game design, in the electronic space, has been around for decades. From Pong to Call of Duty, the landscape has adapted but games are successful because people want to play them. If you have the power to develop your own game that you want to play, you should. If you love the game, no doubt others will too. Share what you love!

Is there a risk that the process of everyone making games means we’re flooding quantity over quality? Yup, that’s probably going to happen. But quantity is where quality starts. That first build was simple but functional — it only became a game worth playing because CLU and I kept going back to it, adding the things I actually remembered from the park. And your game will have more of your own flair, spin and character oozing out of it than anything you’ll find on Steam or an app store. So go, create, make the game you want to play built on the experiences you love to share.

If you want to see where this one ended up, PADDLER’S PARADISE is in the Arcade now.

Keep on paddling, paddlers.

-Evrtek