Welcome to Play Kaizen! I’m Grant Rodiek. I created this blog over a year ago, which is the length of time it took me to figure out an actual thesis. I also had a baby… he occupied some of my time.
I’m a senior producer Game Director at Maxis, but more importantly, I play and love and think about video games a great deal. I don’t think that makes me unique, but it’s where my heart resides, and why this blog exists.
Play Kaizen seeks to be a blog about the video games I play and the elements of them I find truly special. I won’t be writing reviews and I hope to avoid basic commentary such as “this game has really good combat.” I want to be even more focused, hopefully insightful, and occasionally clever.
My premise is to identify one idea experienced in the one game covered each blog that would be a perfect addition to any game. That’s a broad statement, but it is a constraint that excites me.
I write in seasons, which are five posts that will be released at a regular cadence. I want to respect your time, but also focus my efforts on crafting great insights. The season finale will be special, as I’ll take the previous five blogs, each detailing a mechanism or experience, and I will combine them to pitch a new game. I will take breaks in between the seasons to write, edit, and catch up.
Finally, I sincerely seek to write something that is concise, interesting, and accessible to anyone who enjoys playing games of any type. I will edit vigorously to respect your time, but also not send us all down a path of jargon. I’ll experiment with brief snack sections as well, such as recommendations, gems on sale, and a preview of the next game in case you want to follow along.
The first post will publish Friday, January 14. I’ll write about God of War (2018), which is long overdue in my mind as it is the game that caused this blog.
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