Introduction
The potato has launched.
Posted on 12/19/2016 by Tim Rice
Welcome to Party Hat Potato! This site will be a home for my blog, board game reviews, and perhaps more. For this first post I’ll answer some questions (that nobody asked me...).
Who is this guy?
My name is Tim. I’m a software developer, game enthusiast, and apparently an extremely gifted graphic artist (have you seen the site logo? I designed that all by myself. And it only took like 3 hours...).
I like to play games of pretty much all varieties, but my collection consists mostly of party games and family games because those are the games I get the chance to play most often. I’m also an amateur board game designer. I haven’t had any published designs yet, but it’s been a dream of mine for a while now and I have ideas floating around in my mind constantly.
What will you blog about?
This blog’s focus will be tabletop games and everything related: reviews, opinions, personal research, design projects, and more. Basically, I’m on a quest to figure out how fun works, and I might as well share what I discover. Perhaps as I gain more experience blogging I’ll become more comfortable branching out and covering other interesting topics as well, we’ll have to see.
Why are you starting this site?
- It's fun: Writing has been one of my passions ever since I first learned how. Now that I’m out of school, though, I don’t have an excuse to write anything other than code and software specifications… I’m hoping this site can be a creative outlet and allow me to express my thoughts on the topics that I’m interested in. I’m expecting this site to grow and change as my interests do, and it’s really cool to control my own little chunk of the interwebs.
- Self improvement: As an introvert, I’ve always had trouble expressing myself. My hope is that by organizing and publishing my thoughts, I will not only flesh out my own opinions, but I’ll learn how to convey them better. Since finishing school I’ve discovered that solid communication skills and confidence are paramount to success in this world, and I think this site will help me improve both of those things. I also think that having a blog will motivate me to work harder and accomplish more (so that I actually have stuff to write about!). I want to challenge myself, learn new things, and contribute to the board game community.
- To document my projects: I have a lot of game ideas, but up until they now they’ve tended to pop into my head, and sometimes make their way to a piece of paper and/or prototype, but eventually and inevitably they are forgotten. Putting my ideas up on my blog will not only allow me to remember what I was thinking, but hopefully I’ll be able to get some good feedback as well.
- To practice web development: I know this will come as a surprise (considering the unmatched quality of this website’s design), but I don’t have much experience developing for the web. It’d be a good skill to have, so hopefully I can learn a few things about what goes into maintaining a website.
- Networking/discussion: I enjoy thinking about games almost as much as I enjoy playing them. (Not) surprisingly, most people just aren’t that interested when I talk about how brilliant mechanic X is in game Y or how there should be a game with a theme of Z (where Z = multi-dimensional mind control squirrels of course). I’m hoping by thinking out loud, presenting my own thoughts, and engaging with other gamers and designers that we can generate great ideas together.
What’s with the potato? And the ridiculous hat?
Ridiculous is kind of a strong word..... Anyway, there’s no need to worry about the potato. He’s just an observer. Always watching...just to make sure everyone is having a fun time.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! If you’re interested in receiving notifications when I update the site, I have linked to a few different options below.
I will be adding features to the site as I find time (hopefully some actual content to fill all this empty space... It’s pretty lonely here at the moment). Until then, cheers.