Hi, I'm Chris, I currently work and play from the blissful middle of nowhere in the sticks of Norfolk, UK. I live with my wife Em, our two kids; Jasper and Willow, two cats and two and a half horses.
A designer by trade and fiercely passionate about gaming, music and film. I cherish time with my young family and documenting this stage of our lives in a multitude of ways, creating content to treasure one day. I enjoy writing and creating videos about sharing this hobby with my kids almost as much as playing the games themselves. I also enjoy kicking back and playing my electric guitar loud, running, cycling, and swimming. Just to clarify, I don’t play the guitar whilst I run, cycle or swim. My son has also taken a shine to the guitar and it is fast becoming another passion we share as he begins his journey of learning to play. And I must say, his taste in music is second to none.
But you're not here for our fledgling family band... you are here because of games, computer (video) games, board games etc. Well, I'm pleased to say you are in the right place.
My relationships with family and closest friends have all been forged through gaming in one way or another. I have the fondest memories of Sunday evenings as a kid playing board games as a family. A small spread of sandwiches, crisps and treats set out beside the game of choice that evening - a perfect 'light' dinner after a Sunday roast. A tradition that lives on to this day every time we get together, and one I plan to continue with my own kids.
My life in gaming (so far)
The first game I remember playing was a handheld Pac-Man game, or more precisely a "Grandstand Munchman" which was my Dads (AKA. Grandad-dad-dad).
Space Invaders soon followed at our local leisure center. The place itself is pure nostalgia to me - and I reckon it's the first thing I got nostalgic for, the layout, the carpet, the smells, the works. It was a sleek black tabletop arcade machine that you would sit at, much like a coffee table. It had an air of mystery to it that aroused my curiousity and I had to play it.
Next, I remember being at my Aunties house and my older cousins putting on Rainbow Islands on a computer that took tapes. I thought this game was gorgeous and so much fun. I patiently waited for my go, studying what my cousins and brother were doing. Then my turn came... and I loved it. But I was much slower than they were, and as such the timer ran down and the level started flooding... the fear was real. Something I relived when drowning Sonic a few years later.
Not long after, I awoke one random school day morning to the news we had a computer! The mighty Atari ST (520 FM). My cousin had helped my Dad set up the evening before whilst we were all round the corner at my Nans house, completely unaware - playing Fuzzy Felt in Space (the very same set my Son now adores). My Dad beamed from ear to ear as he showcased what it could do by proceeding to load up Pac-Mania.
We had a computer! That was a long day at school I tell you. Itching to get home to sample those digital fruits. By then Dad had discovered another game on the same floppy disc that he wanted to share; Nebulus. A game I enjoy to this day, and I swear still has the most banging chiptune theme music EVER.
I recall grabbing any random floppy disk from the Powerpack set of games it came with and then figuring out how on earth to play whatever would load. Discovering gems I just couldn't stop playing; Dungeon Master and Entombed still stand strong today. The muscle memory I must have for Entombed is no joke. The very same computer I speak so fondly about is sat right in front of me as I type this, pride of place on my desk. Fully set up and always ready to go.
A couple of years later the same cousin (who by now was working as a software engineer) had a stripped-down Gauntlet arcade machine in the middle of his lounge. I remember running up to it and clicking the credit button countless times, so much so that after a solid hours play with my brother there were still loads to play out after we went home and I'm told he had to listen to it play out well into the night and he wasn't best pleased. No idea why he couldn't just unplug the thing - but he had reasons I'm sure (Highscores?). I wonder if he was sat at work the next day muttering to himself "RED WARRIOR IS ABOUT TO DIE".
Once we'd swam as a family after school each Friday my Mum would pump coins into the arcade machines at the local leisure center. That was one hell of a way to start the weekend; Street Fighter 2, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Mortal Kombat... the list goes on. And... She would watch me. Engage in what I was doing, ask questions about it on the walk home as I consumed my vending machine treat, and always made a real effort to be involved. To this day she knows it's one of the things that make me tick and always takes an interest.
Vending machine sweets and arcade games whilst riding the dopamine hit after a good swim. It's no wonder I'm nostalgic for that place. Throw into the mix that it also played host to Saturday Club, where many of my friends and I would go for 3 hours on a Saturday morning. Swimming, Arcade machines, Rollerskating, and party games in the sports hall - majestic.
As we all began to get game consoles, after-school gaming sessions quickly followed at each other's houses. This was during the heights of the Megadrive and SNES 'console wars', right through to the multiplayer heaven that was the N64.
Micromachines 2 WAS my birthday party the year I got it. I mean, it had TWO control ports IN THE CARTRIDGE! We could play 8 players at once, at home! Inconceivable! The game even came with a book of party invitations for this very reason, they knew what they were doing.
Not long after, Capcom made Resident Evil just for me... Certainly, for the slightly odd and horror-obsessed boy I was back then. But I didn't have a Playstation to play it! So I pretty much lived at my friend's house and beat it there. We had a Playstation when RE2 came out and boy was that a game. I did work experience at a games shop in my home town and the owner got it in early, shut the shop for half hour in the day whilst me and my friends were in there and let us playtest it. Shout out to Matt at Game-On.
Then the day came when we got our first family PC. My brother brought Sid Meier’s Civilization into my world, he found it on a game collection disc of mine that I picked up from Special Reserve (another nostalgia-soaked venue for me) purely to play Lemmings on. I kept it in the empty side of my Syndicate Plus dual case, and much like Syndicate, I became hopelessly addicted. I adore the franchise and many of its spin-offs to this day. It cannot be overstated my love for the Civilization series of games.
Being my older brother, Mark also brought home Duke Nukem 3D and the original Grand Theft Auto. Not only were these awesome games, but I began using tools like the Build engine to design my own Duke 3D levels, custom Civ scenarios, themes, and swapping in custom sprites and audio files into games like Worms. I often spent more time on this aspect than playing the games themselves.
In December 1998 my brother needed back surgery. My Mum and I took him to the hospital and as it was day surgery and he'd need collecting later that day we set out into Cambridge to spend some time together, and shop. It was near my birthday and as such Mum wanted to treat me to a new game. The game I chose was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. My first Zelda game (I was a Sega kid) and I was in awe.
Around this time whilst on Summer Holiday in Wales, my younger Sister, Nicola, shared her Gameboy Colour with me and I played through my first (and only) Pokemon game. I really enjoyed it, and the only reason its the only one I've played is I wasn't a fan of handhelds back in the day. I am nowadays as they are great to fit some game time in around juggling kids, so I have a lot of catching up to do on this front. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, and the Wario Land series are firm standouts thus far.
Then came the 'noticing girls' era when the older consoles went to die in the loft. Except for my Sega Dreamcast as I needed that to email said girls, and the occasional game on my brother's PS2.
My Dreamcast followed me to University. Bonding with dorm mates that would poke their head in my room and quizzically declare, "DREAMCAST!?" before being sucked into just one more game of Virtua Tennis and Power Stone. In return sharing in the most recent Playstation games on the PS2 they had set up in the kitchen - the year GTA San Andreas was released. That, and a few years of Smackdown, Tony Hawks and Non-stop Pro Evo football between lectures and I'm surprised any of us got any work done... Those that were there would likely attest it did not.
During my time back home from Uni, I would play Counterstrike and Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 over LAN with Mark and Nicola.
Back to Uni for year 2 (and to repeat year 1 of my course... as I didn't do the work, partied hard, bashed games, played guitar and frankly lived my best life - and I have no regrets). I moved into my first house away from home with my previous dorm mates. What followed was Party games galore on my new Platinum Gamecube I bought from Northampton Toys 'R' Us, initially just so I could play The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. Soon Tiger Woods golf on the Playstation joined the frequently played pile of games.
It was also during this second year at University I fell in love with a friend I made in Art Class back in my hometown during my sixth-form studies 2 years prior. I kept finding myself messaging her whilst at Uni, and gravitating to her and visiting the art studio at our old school just to see her whenever I would visit home. In 2003 we started dating. A year later she opted to study at my University and so she joined me there. Today she is my wife. Not gaming-related, but I won't stop boasting about how this stunner married me and still 'gets me' almost 20 years later until my dying day.
I got really into online Poker, and was pretty successful - my highlight being winning a tournament that brought in enough cash that me, a student at the time, could take Emma to Paris for a week and have enough left over to commemorate my victory by splashing out on a poker table - which has seen alot of action since then.
As my time at Uni drew to an end I was working part-time at HMV, which granted me 30% off right as the Xbox 360 launched. Some of my fondest memories of this time are the spells between work and study where I would sink into Oblivion - the Elder Scrolls game I took a punt on, and actual oblivion as I would not been seen for a few days as I got lost in this world like no other game before.
Then proper adulthood; sinking into a game like Bioshock late at night in my own place after a hard days work as I paid my dues as a designer. Inadvertently disturbing the neighbours with the bass the games atmosphere kicked out.
Game nights at friends' houses - but ‘grown up’ ones this time. AKA a lot of drinks and linked-up consoles for Halo / Gears of War bashment and/or an evening of Guitar Hero/Rockband. This culminated with the most amazing New Year's Eve bash at my dear friend Katie's house where we all dressed up as rock stars with the sole purpose of playing these rhythm games as a full band and getting wasted. We even ventured out to the pub as the only dressed-up ones in town - and we OWED it. Never have I been served at a crowded bar so fast. This led to many themed NYE's back in my twenties.
Work was a big focus as I worked my butt off to make my mark, traveled a long way to make an opportunity for myself, and eventually relocated for the job I have made a career out of. So when the chance for gaming sessions with friends emerged, it was very much a case of go big or go home. Epic weekend-long odysseys for the release of Skyrim and Fallout 4. At least 5 of us, each bringing a TV, a console, and a copy of the game to each of these launch parties. All heading off on our own paths and getting lost in something we had waited years for. Takeaway, drinks. Not a care in the world. Heaven.
During this time I met and became close friends with Ems 3 closest friends other halves. Over the years we've gone on many Airbnb trips "with the gang" where serious board game sessions were a mainstay and I've discovered some incredible board games from people much more in the know on that front than I. And even one time a VR headset was busted out. This group all had children within 9 months of each other in 2018 so we have all become parents together, been there through the ups and downs, and I'm lucky to have them as friends and have appreciated the support and banter our "Dad's Army" Whatsapp group has provided over the years.
Then came ALOT more Pro Evo. Almost exclusively at one point for a few years.
Before the Nintendo Switch and my old faithful, Zelda made me fall back in love with single-player games. Breathe of the Wild is simply the best game ever made, and to jump from that right into Mario Odyssey was the greatest one-two punch ever and for a time the Switch was all I played. It also was very practical as my role meant I was traveling abroad every other month. I was back in love with video games of all sorts, from all eras. I began to look into all that I had missed with my single-minded Pro Evo blinders on.
Long story short, gaming has always been there... and I'll kick your ass at Evo.
Fatherhood
Before becoming a parent I often found time to play games whilst Em was spending time with her horses - her favorite pastime and key to her mental well-being. She would care for, ride and compete on her horse. This was a win-win situation as the horses need daily care so there was always a window where I was free to do whatever I wished. This would often result in me going for a run or a bike ride, then settling down to play a game whilst my legs screamed at me - especially with the amount of training I did in 2016 ahead of running the Berlin Marathon.
In 2018, our son Jasper was born. Becoming a parent changes everything. It’s wonderful, it's beyond words, but you can never be prepared for the loss of identity it can create. You can lose yourself in the transition. It's very easy to come out the other side of months of sleep deprivation and not remember what makes YOU tick.
Becoming a Dad led to this hobby being crammed in whenever possible. Depending on energy levels, focus and mood, for a spell that often meant not at all. Rather obvious as I'm talking about playing games here, and now I have a living being to care for and keep alive. And when he slept, we slept. But slowly I managed to fit in short bursts on my Switch, held high above a sleeping Jasper on my chest. This led to me sampling a more comprehensive range of game types that had not always resonated with me... and losing the blood circulation to my hands.
As such, I consider myself to have a much broader scope and a greater appreciation of game genres since becoming a Dad, and as such try many more games than I used to, arming me with far more choices depending on my mood, energy levels, and time.
This fundamental shift led to the consolidation of my games and consoles from across the years into the box room at our rented house which was my office at the time. Thus forming the roots of my game room. A space I could escape to when needed, as Em does with her horses. I dusted off my childhood Sega Mega Drive and was able to enjoy a game from start to finish during a single nap time.
Making time for the real you
Once through the real fuzzy days, we had steadied the ship but were concerned we were forgetting ourselves in a sea of change. Throw a global pandemic into the mix and we needed to make some changes before we broke. So Em and I formulated a plan. Beginning with booking dedicated slots for our hobbies. Em scheduled time to ride her horses, not just feed and clean up after them. We earmarked Wednesday nights for us to be creative together and work on our side projects and other pursuits (like this). And Thursday night became my Games night. This arrangement and what it entails continue to evolve to this day. In 2021 we welcomed our daughter Willow into the world. So even more family fun and firsts lay ahead, and I'm pleased to say we still make time for the real us.
This all forms part of an ongoing journey to rediscover and express myself since entering fatherhood. Gaming has resurfaced as something I need to feel like me and plays a prominent role in my life. Articulating this, finding a way to make time for it, not feel guilty about "wasting time", and ultimately sharing it with those closest to me is a vital part of my own self-care.
It is my hope this forms the foundations of a lifetime of play with my kids. Much like my parents, siblings and I still play board games every chance we get, and the 'bashment' that occurs whenever my closest friends and I get together.
If in 10 years I can be playing a game with my kids and amidst the fun, something casually comes up in conversation that gives me a real insight into what they are going through in their world. What challenges they are facing at that moment in time, as it does so regularly when I play with my friends and siblings. I will be one happy Dad.
On the other hand, if the day should come when my kids don’t want to play with me anymore. I will have a treasure trove of moments, memories, and joy I will cherish forever. But from my own experience; a family that plays together, stays playing together.