DESIGN DIARY - 12.04.00

Tom's Wife

I know the commandment: "Thou shalt not speak of thy neighbor's wife."

First of all, Tom is not my neighbor.
And second of all, I'm not speaking.

Being a full-time game designer also means carrying on with your personal life. I know this seems like a given, but, like many jobs of that nature, game designing is un/fortunately (depending on your biorhythmic cycle) not an occupation you can just leave at the office. What do you do when a new gaming system is burning a hole in your mind? How do you react when the Muse of Game Design hits you in the middle of the night? Where do you hide when game mechanics invade your dreams?

We all know that Chuck is crazy. So I turn to our still-sane Jedi Knights designer, Tom, and ask him about his Life.

"Of course it's impossible not to take your work home," Tom says. "Up to a certain point." Nobody's asking Tom to take printouts home at night and spend his evenings tweaking statistics on Jedi Knights cards. However, because Tom can leave one of his computers at Decipher doesn't mean that the other one - the one inside his skull - switches off until the next morning.

But Tom's wife is nothing if not understanding. "Kathy helped me a lot," explains Tom. "She helped me process the feedback I got on the game, and in general she helps me keep my perspective solid." An avid Star Wars fan and gamer, Kathy is an ideal sounding board for Tom. "I can always get a fresh 'fan' perspective from her," he continues. "She's close enough to the project to be able to know what she's talking about, yet distant enough to give me an idea of how a particular aspect might appeal, or not, to the public."

Naturally, Tom would rather spend his energies on personal matters when he's at home. Debating destiny numbers is best kept inside the offices of Decipher. But sometimes one can't escape one's calling.
"When I'm excited about something, I'll show it to Kathy. And she'll provide me with a good indication of whether or not what I'm excited about is exciting," Tom laughs. "So the exciting stuff I bring back home. The frustrations I try to leave at the office."

Kathy came to Decipher a few times as an "observer and facilitator" - as Tom puts it - during playtest sessions. A Star Wars CCG and Star Trek CCG veteran, Kathy was in her element. "I once took her through the Art Department," says Tom, "and Joe showed her some of the images. They were still at an early stage but Kathy was very impressed."

Being two gamers, the Lischkes probably spend all their time playing games, right? Well, not quite. When games are part of your work, their role in your personal life changes somewhat. But there's another thing.
"We're both very competitive," Tom says with a grin, "so we do play a lot of games - just not typically together."

And come to think of it, I don't remember the two of them playing the same game together at a "Gaming Night at the Kallenbachs..."

Francis K. Lalumiere
The Juggler