Writing Ingenium changed my life

Boston played in the background. The soft tap-tapping of the keyboard made for an odd harmony. The words came slowly, and it was difficult to think of the next phrase to write. His mind was trapped in a fog of think-edit, think-edit. Giving an exasperated sigh, he slumped back in his chair. He sipped at the luke-warm coffee in his mug, then paused mid-swallow. Slamming the mug back on his desk, the writer leaned forward and started madly typing, a fierce storm of inspiration upon him.

Moments later, inspiration dried up and the cycle began again.

This is what it felt like to try and put the world in my head into words on a page a decade ago. I hadn’t yet become comfortable with writing, and that greatest obstacle of creativity – judging words before writing them – was affixed firmly in my head.

Over the years I got better at letting go of the editor in my head. It became easier to write about Eiridia the more I wrote about Eiridia. One thing was always missing, though. I never quite knew what it was until we formed Silver Gryphon Games.

A different lens.

The view I had of my writing was narrow. I wrote to what I felt was a good standard, never considering that a broader context might be needed. Eiridia and Ingenium didn’t start to have that feeling of completion, of fullness, until I had a second and altogether different frame of reference.

Kevin came at the early Ingenium manuscript from a different point of view than I did. He saw things that I hadn’t, and considered things that I didn’t. His effect on Ingenium, as strong as it was, was nowhere near as great as his effect on me as a writer.

Writing used to be a chore. It was something that I did to reach an end goal. Whether that was a research paper deadline or an arbitrary word count, I always wrote as a means to an end. That changed with Silver Gryphon Games.

The creation of our game company began a process by which I’ve grown as a writer, an artist, and a human being. The pursuit of creating things expressly for the joy they bring to others changes you fundamentally as a person. Simple happiness inspires and drives the writing behind Ingenium – the happiness that comes from knowing that what you’re doing will make others happy. I’m not just writing a game. I’m hoping to remove some of the stress from your life and give you a way to have great times with friends.

That kind of mindset is very different from where I was eight years ago. Between Kevin opening my eyes to a new perspective on Ingenium and the discovery that writing can be its own end, I’ve discovered a sense of fulfillment through Silver Gryphon Games that I never would have found on my own. The positive effect that writing Ingenium has had on my life is so profound that I can only hope some of that joy bleeds through into the adventures you have playing it.