I just spoke to my son, David. He phoned me up to tell me the very good news that I have a new granddaughter. She’s called Leilani and weighed in at a good 8lbs 8ozs! Katie and David are as pleased as punch, naturally, and I can’t wait to see the new addition to the family. Big grins all round. 
Writing and Design
Steve Ince writes about these two aspects of his life, and much more besides.
A New Granddaughter!
A Brief Report on the Writing Industries Conference
The Writing Industries Conference was great. I’ve never before met so many writers in one place and in spite of lots of news of the demise of print in recent months the attitudes were mostly positive.
Writing Industries Conference
I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything this week, I’ve been busy with a few things, amongst which has been the preparations for the Writing Industries Conference on Saturday. I shall endeavour to blog about it next week. Because it’s a non-games event I’m sure that I’ll feel a little out of my depth, but I’m expecting it to be great fun and tremendously valuable.
Mitchell on Twitter
My cartoon cat, Mitchell, is now on Twitter.
He’s only just signed up, so god only knows what he’s going to post about. I dread to think.
A Blog Post Every Day?!
I was reading this post, “You should blog every day” over at the Bubble Cow blog, which got me thinking about my own posting schedule – a hit and miss affair even at the best of times. Should I consider posting every day or is that idea a potential hazard?
Rules for Game Writing?
Graham Linehan (@Glinner on Twitter) tweeted a link to a wonderful article on the Guardian website: Ten Rules for Writing Fiction. It’s two pages are filled with lots of writers’ rules and tips and I’m sure it’s a good read for writers at all stages of their careers.
I started thinking about the possibility of coming up with my own set of rules specifically aimed at game writing and after thinking about it for a little time my initial thought was that it might not be possible to do this at all.
My Top Twenty Films
This post was actually going to be a list of my top ten films, but I got a bit carried away. And there are still tons of others that could have been included in this list. They possibly might have been if I’d done the list at another time. It’s a pretty mixed bag and there are probably a number of films that wouldn’t be in other people’s top twenty.
Gameplay is King
I read this yesterday: Gameplay is King: Story is Distant Second. It’s an interesting read and one which I almost completely agree with. For games, gameplay is the most important aspect and should always be so. If it’s not then it likely stops being a game and becomes something else with gameplay elements. That isn’t to say those other things aren’t valid or equally enjoyable for what they are.
Genre Distinctions in Videogames
Or, more fully, Stephane Bura’s Handy Guide to Genre Distinctions in Videogames.
Through the wonders of Twitter, I came across Jay Lake’s Handy Guide to Genre Distinctions and suggested that we might need something similar for games, which is why Stephane created his version.
Cool or what? 
Personal Summary
Steve Ince
I'm an award-nominated writer and game designer with 17 years of development experience. I've worked with a large variety of clients, both in the US and across the breadth of Europe.
I also write and draw cartoons and comic strips.
I have a partner, June, three grown up sons, a granddaughter and a cat.
Interview with Alternative Magazine Online
I was asked to do an interview for Alternative Magazine Online and like I usually do with these things I said yes, so imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail through with the most ever questions for an interview. Thankfully, most of them were pretty good questions and I managed to get through the whole thing in a couple of evenings. You can find the finished result here. Big thanks to Martin Mulrooney for taking interest in what I have to say.