In reply to AlfredJ.

That’s not weird; it’s a very nice message and I appreciate your taking the time to write it! I should mention that I can’t take any credit at all for the community at Telltale; that was largely the work of Emily, David, Doug, and Jake (as far as I could tell!) who remembered a time when LucasArts had been so communicative with fans and wanted to try and recreate that. I’m glad to hear you found it inspiring!

This post was actually more sanguine than it probably sounds, as I’m starting to appreciate more the value of internal validation over external validation. It is MUCH appreciated when I hear stories like yours, that people like something I’ve done, or that it connected with them I. A way I hadn’t expected. And I still marvel at how lucky I am to be in a position to hear stuff like that.

But I’m also starting to appreciate more that I can assess stuff I’ve worked on in ways that have nothing to do with whether people liked or hated it, or are even aware of it. I can spend years working on a game that people will finish in a couple of hours and then forget about. That used to horrify me, but now I think it’s fine, because it doesn’t change what a huge impact the experience of making it had on me.

And thanks again for taking the time to tell me about the impact the Telltale community had on you!