Greetings, zOMGaians.
The process of envisioning a world for you has been a great experience. Working non-stop with the dev team for 2.5 years to extend Johnny Gambino's family problems for you all has been the ride of a lifetime for me.
"zOMG!" is something of a miracle. Almost no one on this team had ever made a game before. No one at all, anywhere, had ever made a true MMO in a non-downloadable Flash environment before. And I don't know of any MMO ever created to specifically integrate into an already-existing social community, especially one as unique and cool as Gaia. (Plus the whole 15-person dev team thing. That has to be a world record for "smallest MMO dev team size".)
So although I came to Gaia specifically to build such a world, now that 98% of the work is done, this leaves me in something of a bind. I build big projects. Usually ridiculously huge ones and usually from scratch. But Gaia already has a big world of its own now and doesn't need another one.
It would be fun to keep supporting this world for years to come, but the truth is that Gaia is filled to the brim with creative people that can do as good a job as me (maybe better) now that the virtual world is built up into a solid shape.
That means it's time for me to move on. Other worlds still need to be created and my work in that area isn't done yet. So I'm gonna go do that.
There are still a few new things coming from me in the next few weeks. (A rewrite of the Fountain and Goof games, specifically.) You'll probably hear from me when those roll out, and I'll post a Journal entry once I find my new gig so you know where I went. (Blatant plug: If you like "zOMG!", you'll probably like whatever I build next. It'll certainly be a radically different game but design style is a "stamp" and you'll see "Q-ness" in all my games.)
Anyway, I just wanted you all to know where I had gone. It's been an honor and a privilege to help virtually realize some of your dreams into entertainment, and I hope you'll keep your love for the unique virtual world you have here.
See ya in the next game! Go Gaia!
-- David "Qixter" Georgeson
Sr. Producer & Creative Director
"zOMG!" (Apr 2007 - Nov 2009)
(thread left open for posting)
P.S., This will be a fairly gradual goodbye. I'll be helping the team with some script debugging and being a consultant until the end of the year. But my hand is off the tiller now.
smile 
