Hiya, again. This is the bit more casual page where I plan to write my thoughts on different games and mechanics, other personal projects and other cool things I like. Might write something about my journey into game design too, but its pretty standard.
I grew up in the city of Norrköping, moved to Stockholm when I was 13 and then to Skövde to study game design. Now I still live in Skövde, but I am open to moving to some other part of Sweden (or even nearby EU countries) if I get a job there.
What do I play?
I play a variety of games, but as I mentioned in my initial blurb on the front page and you might guess by the rest of my portfolio, strategy games are my favorite. I like grand strategy games (Eu4, CK3), 4X's (Civ, Stellaris, Age of Wonders), turn based tactics (Xcom, Darkest Dungeon, Baldur's Gate 3), card games (Slay the Spire, Marvel Snap, used to play Hearthstone) and more bite-sized strategy games (Slipways, Terraformers, FTL, Into the Breach). The one main subgenre I wouldn't say I'm a fan of is traditional real time strategy games like Starcraft or Age of Empires, as I find real time games without pause quite stressful. Real time with pause like FTL or Shadow Gambit are cool though.
Currently I am replaying Baldurs Gate 3 with some friends, and also really enjoying Against The Storm
Besides strategy games?
While I do play a lot of strategy games and Civ 5 is the game I have the most time on steam, its not close to the game I have spent overall the most time on. Let's just say I am glad Minecraft doesn't have have an overall hour count. It's been a while since I played a lot of it, but between different mod packs, servers (both mini game and friendly servers), custom maps and vanilla survival I have put in a lot of hours there. Besides Minecraft, some examples of games I've played and liked a lot are Portal 1 and 2, Subnautica and Below Zero, Hades, Katawa Shoujo, Overwatch (though I quit because Blizzard, you know) and the Mass Effect trilogy and Andromeda. My favorite non strategy games of all time are Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden west. Fantastic world, characters, and great gameplay. (Please don't make me wait 2 years for the PC port next time Sony)
No console titles?
Eh mostly. The only console I had for some time was a Wii and that was years ago. I played through Mario Galaxy 2 as well many of of the Lego games, I also played quite a bit of Wii Sports Resort and Mario Kart. Those last two are the only video games I've really played with my family. They are cool people, but they aren't really gamers..
Right now I don't feel the need to get a console for the few individual titles I would want to try. They generally get a PC port at some point anyway and there aren't a lot of strategy games on consoles. I'm also awful at controlling with a controller, I would rather use mouse and keyboard for basically any game I play.
What about board games?
Love them. Board games are basically concentrated game design and the social aspect is nice too. Of course their graphics and presentation matter, but besides that it's just the mechanics. Sugs (Skövde University Gaming Society), the local board game club, has made me a lot more social than I otherwise might have been, and I thank it for it. My favorite type of board game are deckbuilders, like Ascension, the Clank! series, Dune Imperium and Dominion. I've found that I like games that have a lot of different cards, but aren't "just" card games with predefined/player created decks. My favorite board game overall is probably Terraforming Mars.
I am now part of the leadership at Sugs and play board games there (basically) every Tuesday evening, so if you want play something, just swing by.
And tabletop RPG's?
Also great, even if getting together a proper campaign is hard. I have played three characters from roughly level 1 to 5 in DnD fifth edition and they have all been great experiences. Acasez, my online username came from a Lizardfolk Cleric I played in one of those campaigns. I have also DM'd a few different campaigns, all in homebrew settings. I should set a up a page about them. Right now I would say I prefer Pathfinder (2e) to DnD, though both because all of the nonsense Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast has been up to recently and because its better balance and tactical depth. I have DM'd a few campaigns Pathfinder and they went well, would love to play one sometime.
I have also been in a Anima Beyond Fantasy campaign, which was interesting. It had some cool ideas, but also a lot of strange systems and unnecessary complexity.
When not gaming
I read a quite a bit of fantasy books. I love interesting worldbuilding and magic systems. Some of my favorite series include The Wandering Inn, Arcane Ascension, Mother of Learning, Riyria, Mistborn and the Shadow Campaigns.
I've read some Sci-fi too, and while I prefer fantasy there are good books there like The Expanse series, A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet and Project Hail Mary.
I also read some manga and fanfics (mostly fluff and canon divergence AU's). I am writing a Horizon Forbidden West fic, can be read here (does it count a as a writing example?).