After listening to The Mutant Ages’ “Top 10 Games That Define Us” patron podcasts I wanted to make my own list as I felt this was an interesting way to think about my relationship with games. When I shared a draft version of the first half of this list on the Eggplant Show discord, fellow listener Ryan Kubik shared a blog post they had written with a similar theme, which inspired me to flesh this out into a full-length blog post,

So these are not necessarily my favorite games, but rather the ones that had the biggest influence on who I am. Without further ado:

10. The Journeyman Project: Legacy of Time

This time-travel first-person adventure game had a huge impact on me and my friends when I was a kid. It gave me a fascination with ancient cultures that carried forward into my adulthood. I enjoyed this whole series but this was the first game I played and the one that had the biggest impact on me. A lot of my friends played this game too, sometimes together at the same computer, and it became part of our culture. As an adult it’s been amazing to have the privilege to visit many of the real-world locations that inspired locations in JP2 and JP3 including Chichén Itzá, Ancient Minoan ruins in the Cyclades, and a Tibetan Buddhist Stupa (in Colorado, not Tibet!)

9. Lode Runner: The Legend Returns

My friends and I played so much of this action puzzle platformer back in the day. Not only was it a game I loved, but it helped ignite my passion for game development since it came with a level editor, allowing me to experience the joy of creating my own levels to play by myself and share with friends.

As a sidebar, designer/programmer Beth Daggert is an industry hero of mine. Not only is she awesome for being one of the pioneering trans game developers, she released a copy of the sequel, Mad Monk’s Revenge for free on her website after the game was no longer being sold commercially.

A fan-made remake is available for free and runs on modern machines.

8. The Sims

I played a ton of this game when it first came out and got many of the expansion packs as well. I believe this was the first game I learned how to mod as a kid thanks to how easy this was to do using community-created tools and documentation. This game was the beginning of my lifelong interest in modding.

Amazingly, the fansite that I made for The Sims as a kid is still online along with my custom skins and object packs. It far outlived EA’s album pages for my sims families that I linked to.

7. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

This game hit me deep when it first came out. I was working as a mobile game developer but was pretty disappointed at the level of artistry in the field. This game showed what was possible when a creative team with a strong vision went all-in to create an audiovisual experience with a unique aesthetic. The writing was funny at times, too, and the music has stayed with me and introduced me to Jim Guthrie who is one of my favorite musical artists now.

6. WarioWare DIY

This is my favorite DS game because it’s a tool for creativity. It was the first opportunity I had to try making games on the go, and very quickly! It’s possible to finish a sketch of a game in an hour or two. I feel like we are really lacking for more tools like this, so much so that I tried creating my own game-making tool heavily inspired by it (unfortunately I haven’t finished it.)

5. Vega Strike

This may be the deepest of the deep cuts on my list but it’s very important to me. This is an open-source 3D space sim game in the vein of Elite and Wing Commander: Privateer. It’s definitely the space sim I’ve put the most hours into, both as a player and a developer. This game help me cut my teeth on open-source game development when I was in high school, learning important skills like writing bug reports, using version control, writing technical documentation, and 3D technical art. It’s also one of the first games I learned how to mod. And I had a lot of fun playing it too, even in a semi-unfinished state!

4. Star Control 2 aka Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters

I was a little kid when this game came out (1993) and did not discover it until much later (2004) when it had been re-released with an open-source remaster/sourceport. I had played the original Star Control for genesis prior to that, but UQM blew it out of the water. The combination of the open-world RPG elements, great writing, humor, and unique ship combat captured my imagination and hasn’t let go since. This game was also an important way I gained experience with open-source game development, as I had opportunities to contribute to the game wiki, some modding, and working a bit on a fan game called TW-Light. I am beyond excited for the proper sequel after waiting for it for 20 years, which did quite well on Kickstarter!

The original UQM game is available for free on Steam as well as a DRM-free download for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

3. Riven: The Sequel To Myst

It was difficult to pick between this game and the original Myst but ultimately this one was my favorite. As a kid I felt completely transported to these strange worlds. This series also inspired me to learn how to make games, as my friends and I made an attempt to make our own 3D “age” using Bryce3D. Myst is definitely the more well-known of the two games, but I think Riven is a huge step up in quality: the graphics are essentially photorealistic (although low-rez by today’s standards), the worldbuilding is more thought out, and the puzzles are much better integrated into the environment and seem very natural. It’s a masterpiece of a game, and I was thrilled to play this year’s remake in real-time 3D with VR support, which is almost certainly my pick for game of the year. I’m hoping that the remake will help bring in a new audience, and it finally allowed fans like me the chance to experience the worlds in VR, which is the next-best thing to being there.

2. Doom (1993)

I did play a bit of Doom/Doom 2 as a kid when I was at computer camp. I remember thinking it was cool, especially the cheat codes that gave you invincibility, all weapons and items, and could let you fly/noclip around the level. It was more or less just another game though, and I think there were other FPS games I probably spent a lot more time on as a kid including Jedi Knight and Half-Life and its various expansions/TCs. The reason this game is so high on my list is because of the relationship I’ve developed with it as an adult, starting with my first Doom mod, Imps R’ Us I made in 2018. Since then, I have come to really love the community surrounding classic Doom, and particularly the modern sourceport GZDoom. It strikes a great balance for me in terms of fidelity, allowing a lot of flexibility in spite of its many limitations compared to a modern game engine. But when making Doom mods, even someone like me with rather meager pixel art and mapping skills can still feel productive and reasonably happy with the output.

I’ve also met a lot of great people and made friends because of Doom, including my original team I made Imps R’ Us with back in 2018, and the many people I met through JP LeBreton’s WAD Wednesday streams and Discord server. It’s been really interesting learning more about the history of id software, and the indie game development spirit is alive and well in the Doom community. The FPS action and metal aesthetics aren’t really what appeal to me about this game and I don’t really have any interest in the newer Doom games (I’ll take Mr. Friendly over those any day of the week.) I am content to explore what it’s like to use the Doom engine/sourceports to make other sorts of games - mostly nonviolent.

1. Minecraft: Java Edition

I have been playing Minecraft since alpha in the fall of 2010 when the only version available was creative multiplayer. Even back then, it captivated me to see what kinds of creations people were able to dream up. Since then, it’s only gotten better, with the introduction of survival mode and the many, many features that have been added in a decade and a half of development. I have not been playing it the entire time, I go through phases where I put it down and then come back to it after a long absence to see what’s new.

If it were only that I had played this game a lot, it might have made this list but probably wouldn’t be #1. What pushes it to the top for me is getting involved with the modding community. I discovered a love for animation programming when I became the second contributor to the GeckoLib animation library. And I spent many years pursuing my dream of re-creating the world of the Stormlight Archive in Minecraft across three separate efforts. Not only is this one of my favorite games of all time, it’s had a huge impact on my passion projects for many years.

Runners Up

If you got this far, thanks for reading. And here are my runners up:

  • Mass Effect 2
  • Sonic 2
  • Pokemon Red/Blue
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Braid
  • Fez