Does anyone know what happened to Vic Davis?

He left digital games in 2015, working on a boardgame, and since then - nothing. Great designers shouldn’t just vanish outright, even if that is a very selfish thing to write.

Perhaps he got a baby to care for? One or two of those will take a man off the face of the planet for years.

He used to show up here every now and then… @Vic_Davis , are you there?

Given the changes in the last couple of years it would probably be worh his time to re-visit getting his games on Steam.

He said he was moving on about 18 months ago.

Some people say he is ganking scrubs in Elder Scrolls Online to this day.

Well, he seems to be happy, and that is the most important thing, really. And maybe he will release a boardgame one day.

I’m not on the cart just yet. The concern is really touching though. :)

I have in fact been very busy and doing a lot of new things and have been having a great time. My apologies if I have disappointed anybody with the lack of actually making games. I just needed a change and honestly after coming up with half a dozen prototypes I realized that I wasn’t having fun doing it and it wasn’t really that enjoyable playing them either.

I still love playing games though and being able to step away from design has let me rekindle my love for them. Somebody should write a book on the patterns like this where sausage makers come to abhor sausage. I’m envious of all the designers out there who keep their passion for games and their love of working on games in harmony.

And Yes, I’m still ganking in Cyrodiil. I play in spurts here an there. Just finished a good stretch and now taking a break. Made Alliance Rank 48 and now almost at 49 and my fifth star. I am pretty despised so I won’t give out my char name. :)

I’ve always been a big fan of Mark Twain’s work and I remember reading some of his biographical work early on that made a big impact on me. One of his books talks about his early years, and how he became a riverboat pilot at a fairly young age. And he remarked that when he did so, he lost some of his capacity to see the beauty in the river - when he looked at the river he found he was looking at the flow of currents, looking for signs of trees and rocks just under the surface, things that could harm a boat. He kind of lost the capacity to just view the river on its own terms, to just enjoy its beauty.

I don’t imagine that works the same way in every person, or in every industry, but I always kept that in mind when I was thinking about a career. And for myself at least, I always kind of kept games walled off in my mind, they’re a thing I just want to enjoy and not necessarily pick apart or analyze (though there are exceptions). Maybe not the same thing you’re talking about but there’s definitely a limit to how much I want to know about the sausage factory. I just want to eat.

I knew it! :) Good to hear from you, Vic.

Yes, really enjoyed your games way back when. My kid always thinks game makers make games forever…I tell him, uh, there is more to life than any one thing and we can always change our direction…life is short, expand!

Yeah exactly. There are some, maybe many professions where you can be a producer and a consumer with equal fanaticism and enthusiasm. It makes you better at your job. I found that always looking at games by breaking them down into systems, mechanics, loops etc actually took the magic out of enjoying them. It could just be me though.

Hehe. I chuckled when i saw that. ESO is a great game. I just basically just pvp now but every once in a while a go do some of the new content. They have consistently added great new content.

Thanks! That’s really nice of you to say. I’m really glad I made the change but I will always look back on the experience positively. Making games as a lot of people here know is a great way to make a living and very rewarding. And very stressful :)

I’m still playing Solium Infernum with a group of people I found through Steam. Great game.

Speaking of Solium infernum, wasn’t there a board game in the works? Did that go anywhere?

Yay Vic! Glad you are well sir!

Nearly every baseball writer I like has mentioned that they started out a fan, and now it’s just a job. As a job, it’s impossible to just be a fan.

Not sausage, but I am a chef, and started my own business a year+ back, making donuts. I get asked regularly whether I still like/eat them all the time, and the answer really is no, not as much as I used to. I taste each new menu each week, but beyond that, not so much. Ah well.

Italo Calvino’s touched on this in his book If On A Winter’s Night, a Traveller- a character in the story, Ludmilla, doesn’t want to go to the book publisher because being immersed in that world and seeing how they get made would ruin her enjoyment of finished books.

Thanks Rod. That’s very heart felt. Congrats on the new venture with Paradox. Looking forward to seeing what your collaboration cooks up.

I only wish becoming a chef would tame my appetite :) The last decade has not been kind.

I’ve been coaching a lot of soccer over the last few years and it’s been fun probably because it is not a paying job.

That’s a long story but I don’t think it’s happening. I haven’t heard from Artana in a long time. No hard feelings on my part. They have made some really interesting games like Tesla vs Edison and I think they are headed in a different direction now. I’ve moved on so like I said that’s fine by me. I didn’t have to invest anything besides the art and a few meetings.

I didn’t realize that was a thing that was in discussion. Every time I have ever played it, I invariably think that it would be (even more) amazing face-to-face.

Glad you’re well Vic. I finished a game of Solium Infernum only earlier this year after a long break from it!

I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while, being as my partner is an illustrator and Solium Infernum’s artwork is so good, how on earth did you manage to get so many illustrations produced to such a high standard? It must have cost a fortune! I’ve always wanted to have a high resolution gallery of them to peruse. The in-game resolution is a tease!