Report – You could get frustrated watching the daily rollercoaster ride of the Dow, but we have little doubt that the American Dream and the land of opportunity are still very much alive. And one such Cinderella story could be evolving, I thought, from a blog telling the story of a homeless man who apparently is feverishly working becoming a game developer. We took a closer look and as much as we would wish the author to realize his dream, we have our doubts that this dream, if it is in fact a dream, will ever become reality: American Dream or American Fake?   

So, one of my biggest weaknesses is blog trolling. I can’t help it, I’m absolutely addicted. Being a blogger myself, it is intriguing to read the posts, and get inside the minds of others. So when I stumbled upon the blog of this homeless man, who apparently is working on his own video game, I wanted to find out more.

This man (no name has been published) claims to be homeless, up to his ears in credit card debt, and having very little to no money to his name. He lives in a shelter that is equipped with nothing but a computer and he owns a copy of Game Maker 7.0. His blog profile mentions that he hates working. But his dream is to become the best game designer ever, according to the blog.

The further I looked into the author, the more strange information I stumbled upon. On September 5, he appeared on the GameDev forums and asked whether it was possible to design or program games when you’re homeless. He mentions that he would be losing his home soon. Within two days, he created his blog. His very first post proclaims that he is broke, and homeless with no job. It is at that point that he explains his plan to develop his very own game so that he isn’t required to get a job that involves working.

Sure, it is a blog, but it seems the author oftend oes not find teh right words, which could be excused, but posts that are littered with racism certainly can be not.

I’m still not swayed at this point. I mean, this could be a joke, a ploy, a fake. However, I believe that this whole scenario is way too personal and self contained to be a farce. When you read through his posts on GameDev, you see that he isn’t doing any shameless self promotion, and even more importantly, he is not receiving ad revenue from his blog- as there are no ads on it. Everywhere I’ve found information on him is within forums, where he has asked legitimate questions.

His ideas and concepts are extremely disjointed. Originally, he described a platform game that was called The NeoVerse, which includes moving platforms. Throughout his blog you notice that he has multiple game ideas. He started work on a completely different game called Pocket Dungeon. His notes are muddled, he seems almost lost and confused.

As he is in the throws of development, he also has enough time to maintain a different blog that reviews indie games - he both bashes and praises different games. He even states that he had a meeting with Michael Mendheim who was the creator of Mutant League Football. At his meeting he claims that he was not offered a job as a designer because Mendheim doesn’t want to waste money on someone with no talent or promise. He speaks horribly about Mendheim, but gets his point and does no t agree with it.

His blog goes through issues that he is encountering financially, and also even getting kicked out of his short term home by his ex-girlfriend.
 
The more I read, the more I got confused as to whether this is a marketing gimmick for something, a poor attempt at humor, or if this guy is legitimate and I should really feel sorry for him. So I emailed him. I felt this urgency to do a little internet spy work. After following this guy since the beginning of September, I had a few questions. His response to me was short and sweet: He told me that he would not be able to answer any questions until his game is completed.  

Toward the end of September, he stopped working on The NeoVerse and another game, Me Vs. My Robots, so that he could concentrate more of his efforts on Pocket Dungeon. He has even given the game a dedicated release date of February 28, 2009.

The blog goes through the evolution of the game, and its development process. The game changes often: In fact, he discovered that Pocket Dungeon is the name of a Playstation game in Japan, so he changed the title to The Fire Mage, and even came up with a backup in the event that this name is also taken: The Fire Mage of Azul, even if believes “that’s kind of a gay name.”

The following diatribe on what he wants from video games leads me to believe that he just might be legitimate, and as much as he is serious, he has thoughts that make you scratch your head: “I want people to be able to turn off their brains while playing the game. Just like old school games - I want people to just play the fucking thing. You don’t need to sit there watching cut scene after cut scene to explore why you have to collect X amount of bandannas and how it affects the characters feelings. You just pick up bandannas because they’re spinning. And, because you CAN. That’s what they’re there for.”

“But, I want to make a deep game. Something that gets people thinking IF they WANT TO. But, the thing is, even if they don’t want to, I still want people to get the message of something deep. While they’re mindlessly playing my game, I want them to get the message that something is going on in a real kind of way.”

I have no idea whether there is an actual game development, whether there is an actual homeless person and whether there is a dream. And as much as I believe in the America Dream and as much I would wish that dream to come true for anyone believing into it, I just don’t think this particular dream has many chances of becoming reality.

really homeless?

Oct 10, 2008 16:19     

Is he really homeless if he's living in a shelter? when I first read the title of this article, I thought he is living in an alley and hitting the library during the day to do the deed.
MorituriMax report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Executive Export Sales Assistant

Oct 10, 2008 16:22     

give the homeless a chance, not all are crackhead ass drug addicts roaming around fucking with the streets. He reminds me of my friend robert, hopefully he will end up like him.
Matthew Bergin report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Valve will hire him

Oct 10, 2008 19:29     

They seem to just hire people they really like.
You report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

"homeless"

Oct 10, 2008 22:04     

Sounds like a regular guy who's lost his home due to debt. He hates working, but I guess he's doing what he loves. Good luck to him. I was hoping for a game developed because of insight from a back alley hobo.
nev report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

The pursuit of happyness

Oct 11, 2008 00:46     

gaming* sounds like a good movie
Jaimz report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

exactly why...

Oct 11, 2008 08:50     

...is this tech news? Ok, perhaps human interest, but TECH NEWS? comeon...
Scott report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -2

Don't blame him....

Oct 11, 2008 18:39     

He's having a Mid-Life-crisis, Not Crysis
Sorbitol report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -2

Your reproting sucks

Oct 11, 2008 22:24     

You didn't find this story yourself, someone else did earlier this week. But more importantly, if this was a news story, why is your opinion all over the piece. Get a real job.
A_Real_Newsman report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

hahaha

Oct 11, 2008 23:55     

"it seems the author oftend oes not find teh right words" Sorry, but I found this very amusing in your article!
ChOOkiE report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

Was this like an Essay by a student or something?

Oct 12, 2008 14:46     

:? I must say I'm slightly confused... and I found that really not news at all exactly... but.. I have a lot of faith and support in the site still, good worko
Blake report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

lame

Oct 12, 2008 18:20     

dude... the best game ever?? wtf? if you read what the game is about, its about trapping animals, becomming the "master trappeR".... dude.. wtf? seriously... Pokemon already did that! Lay off the pipe a bit... just my 2c.
Rdawg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

This guy is gonna be the best video game developer *EVER*

Oct 13, 2008 04:39     

Don't hate the player, hate the GAME! So what if he is homeless, he has a dream! He is going to make the best damn "casual" game for the "casual market" and live off his "casual-mo-frickin'-dividends", foooolz! Oh yea! Chicks will dig this game...it's casual. I don't think I've been this inspired since I came across this site a few years back: http://realultimatepower.net/
feyks report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

hehe

Oct 13, 2008 11:07     

nice article. but I'M going to be the greatest game designer ever! - alex chicago
alex report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

while one goes one way...many others go the other way.

Oct 13, 2008 12:16     

yea, one guy goes from homeless to programmer.. and then a lot of programmer got layoff or go crazy and become homeless...
andy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Game Development is working!

Oct 15, 2008 11:37     

enough said
WPJ report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0