Game Developer magazine editor Patrick Miller delivers his personal salute to all those who contributed to the publication's 19 year legacy, in this reprint from the the final issue. (It's available as a free download here.)
I've been dreading writing this column ever since I found out Game Developer was closing. Putting off the editorial until the last minute is standard practice for magazine editors, but this one has been extra tricky because, well, it's the last one ever.
But in the end, after all the drafts are proofed, and the illustrations are placed, and the sacrificial offerings of coffee, cigarettes, and booze are made to the production and design folks, the words that run through my head are not "Goodbye," but "Thank you."
The rest of this issue is about saying goodbye (we even made you a mixtape), so I'm going to use this page to express gratitude, instead.
TO THE READERS
First off: Thanks for reading. Game Developer wouldn't have lasted 19 years if we didn't have people like you out there who stuck around for issue after issue, devouring all the game development knowledge we could possibly throw at you. I'm convinced that our readers are some of the smartest and nicest folks I've met in the industry thus far, and I hope to see you among Gamasutra blogs and GDC talks as they try to pick up where we left off.
Since Game Developer is meant for professionals, we've had a relationship to our readers that I've never been a part of before -- because you are often our writers as well. Other publications typically demand that the editorial staff function as capital-E Experts that pass knowledge down to the readers in a one-way relationship, but with Game Developer, my job has more or less been to provide readers with ways to share knowledge with each other.
Some of the best stuff I've had the privilege to include in this magazine in the last year and a half began because a reader insisted that we should be covering X topic, or disagreeing with Y column—to which I responded, "You wanna write about it for us?" So thank you, readers, for helping us make the best damn game dev magazine we could possibly make.
TO THE EDITORS PAST
Game Developer has built up an excellent reputation over the years, and I credit that entirely to the dozens of talented people who tended to these pages before I did. I have been consistently surprised by the esteem with which industry people regard Game Developer. It felt humbling and inspiring to know that the work we did was due in large part to the industry giants on whose shoulders we stood. (It also made my day-to-day job a whole lot easier.)
TO THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES STAFF
There are plenty of people involved in making Game Developer that don't get any love besides a brief mention on the masthead. Thanks to the sales team for doing their damnedest to keep print alive; thanks to our wonderful advisory board for offering their time, knowledge, and expertise; thanks to the Gamasutra staff for their support and collaboration; thanks to production manager Dan Mallory for talking me down each time I was sure we weren't going to ship an issue out on time (this was usually about halfway through the third week of each issue cycle); thanks to art director Joe Mitch for busting his butt every month to turn out an amazing magazine in about a week; thanks to our copyeditors, Alexandra Hall and Carrie Shepherd, for lending me two pairs of eyes much sharper than mine.
And while I'm at it, I'd like to extend a personal thanks to Simon Carless, Pearl Verzosa, and former EIC Brandon Sheffield for taking a chance on a new editor and giving me a turn behind the wheel. It was fun while it lasted.
INSERT CREDIT TO CONTINUE
If there’s one thing I've learned from the last year and change working on the mag, it's that the people who read, write, and produce Game Developer do great things. There's an ex-Game Developer editor working in the White House now, for crying out loud -- that's pretty cool!
So I want you to read the rest of this issue cover-to-cover a few times -- maybe put it somewhere safe and re-read it every year or so, because it's just that good -- and rest assured that we plan on doing great things, and we want you to do so, too. Personally, I'll be sticking around as GDC's director of online community, so don't think you've seen the last of me.
In closing, I'll borrow a few words from author Garrison Keillor: Be well, make good games, and stay in touch.
I'm sad I discovered GD Mag so late in my life, and well, career. Best wishes to everyone involved and thanks a lot for all the quality output over the years.
I have so many great memories of GD, both reading it religiously, and contributing. Thanks so much to all the staff who made it possible, you accomplished and influenced so many people in an overwhelmingly positive way. I hope you're all incredibly proud of your legacy.
