ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ TRON AND QUARTERED]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ TRON AND QUARTERED]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Just throwing it out there: I was completely and utterly convinced I was going to be a designer of video games when I grew up. You could make an argument that I still haven't grown up so my dream could still be fulfilled. Or, you could make an argument that "puzzlemaker" and "video game designer" aren't really that far removed from each other. I have, after all, made a few puzzles for a video game. It hasn't come out yet, in case you were wondering.
So what made me change my mind? I think it was around the mid '90s when the controls became utterly ludicrous. Not only did you have to navigate 2+ joysticks and an entire arsenal of buttons, but also you had to memorize pages and pages and pages of combinatory moves just to play the fecking things. I guess I just never saw the fun in that at all. Part of the appeal of the golden era of video gaming was the simplicity of the early games. Not that they were simple, far from it. But rather since the technology was so limiting the game play had to more than make up for it. Asteroids? Where was the frills in that? Didn't matter, cuz you could play the hell out of it. Tetris? Not for me, thank you, but holy God, Liz will kill hours with that one. There was some beauty and art in those very minimalist games.
Anyway, share the puzzle. New one on Monday.
Brendan Emmett Quigley creates custom-made puzzles for all occasions: birthdays and bar mitzvahs, anniversaries and retirements. You name it. Need a puzzle for your website or your publication? He can do that, too.
Brendan's custom work clients have included The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, BeerAdvocate, Boston Magazine, De Beers, The Decemberists, ESPN, The Improper Bostonian, Lollapuzzoola, McSweeney's, Phish, Reflexive, The Smithsonian Magazine, St. Martin's Press, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and Andrew Weil.
Call (617) 2-999-BEQ or click 
