Theme Park Design Contest... Squeal!

When I first saw this contest on 's blog, I thought it was a dream come true.  Of course, it didn't take long for me to realize 2 big issues:

1.  It is due on March 30th, which is now 15 (already very busy) days away.

2.  The bigger issue - I don't know anything about the games this company makes.

That being the case, I sort of wrote off the whole thing as a bummer.  And that's when my good friend (and former co-worker at Disney World)   said, "Check it out.  Blizzard is having a 'Design a  Blizzard Theme Park Contest'!  I thought you might be interested in entering with me (tell me you're not foaming at the mouth already!)".  That was what I needed to hear (and yes, there was some foaming).  The month is still busy and the deadline is still close but Erik is an expert in the source material and we have a long history of working very well together (we designed and programmed big chunks of the show control systems for Fantasmic and Lights Motors Action together at WDW).  Even though we are on opposite sides of the country, we decided to go for it.

We got off to a slow start because of our equally busy lives but the ideas started going back and forth today and that momentum I was hoping for came back as though we haven't been apart for 2 years.  Wow, has it been that long?  Anyway, I think we've got a good plan now and it looks like Erik got our friend, Vic (a professional graphic artist) to lend some "final touches" assistance.  Win or lose, I think we've got a good entry in the works.  We'll see if the Blizzard folks agree.

I am so happy to be doing something like this.  Even if it is totally pretend, this is exactly the kind of outlet I live for.  I really miss doing these sorts of things at the open design forum at WDW and the Cirque one isn't really the same.  This is my idea of fun.

Now, I guess I better get to work on it.