A Post About a Blog: Edmund McMillen

Alert, alert! @EdmundMcMillenn has recently opened up a new Tumblr dev blog for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

That ends the newsworthy portion of this post; certainly, the opening of the Tumblr is major news to any and all Isaac buffs (like myself! I am your Golden God!), as McMillen has promised a weekly stream of teasers from the forthcoming Nicalis remake: videos, gifs, screenshots, information, and music. Diptera Sonata, below, won me over very quickly:

The main thing that I’d like to draw attention to, however, is McMillen’s personal Tumblr, which is now largely a domain for nigh-daily Q&A for fans. McMillen’s answers are astonishingly open, honest, and gripping, and recommended reading for anyone interested in the making of art and video games.

I’ll let one of the entries do the talking:

i do enjoy answering questions that might help people, i know i could have used some advice when i was younger so i usually answer those. i think its important when being in the public eye to put as much as you can out there so people get a better idea of you as a whole person, instead of the caricature  the press/internets paint you out to be1

Here are some more past examples of the kind of answers that you can expect from McMillen. First, answering the question, “Did you ever feel pressure from your family and peers to go to college?”:

be true to yourself, soul search and find out what you want. be logical, if you think you might want to do something for a living and go to college to learn how to do it… DO IT BEFORE YOU GO! volunteer at places so you can see if thats the type of career you want to do, dont invest in something you think you might wanna do.

be honest about your feelings to those who pressure you into doing things with your life, if they are realistic people they will understand.2

Or, to the question, “Does success bring happiness?”:

[…] dont focus on outside successes, focus on personal success. each game/drawing/etc you make is a building block towards something better, put your head down and focus on whats around you now and not what will eventually come.3

And to the question, “what’s the most important thing one should do to stick out from the crowd?”:

[…] then just send [your art] to everyone, show people how much you believe in it, let your passion for your work spill out, youd be surprised how many people will get excited by something someone is excited to talk about.4

And, finally, to wrap things up, the question, “What do you hate most about your job?”:

[Releasing a game] feels like the end of a relationship, you no longer get to be with this person anymore who youve obsessed over and lived with for a long time. now everyone is picking your relationship with them apart and telling you where things went wrong, or reminding you of the good times.. but its done! its over and all you can go is move on to the next one.5

Check it out.

P.S.

Don’t forget about @TommyRefenes, the second half of Team Meat, who also has his own Q&A Tumblr. With some really good answers.

  1. http://edmundm.com/post/70353083303/do-you-enjoy-having-your-fans-a-lot-of-people-look-up []
  2. http://edmundm.com/post/70322995539/hey-ed-i-know-youve-been-asked-for-advice-about []
  3. http://edmundm.com/post/75619609965/does-success-bring-happiness-i-live-to-draw-i-love []
  4. http://edmundm.com/post/68476939031/im-an-aspiring-indie-game-developer-and-nobody-knows []
  5. http://edmundm.com/post/70372823144/what-do-you-hate-most-about-your-job []

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