As you get older, you mostly find yourself launching the games you played as a kid.
Launching being the key word. You fire it up, click around for a couple of minutes—well, maybe 10 at most—and then quit.
There’s not even much nostalgic joy in it… just a fleeting glimpse of yesterday’s sunlight brushing across an unshaven cheek. Like trying to sip coffee from a mug where it dried up weeks ago.
Right now, I’ve got Diablo, Settlers, Heroes 2, M&M6 installed… and today, I even dusted off the first Civ. I should probably add Warlords, Orion, Dune, Warcraft, and other classic nostalgic titles to the mix.
Install, launch for two minutes, quit. Then sit there and code your idle game.
As for new games—there’s no pull at all. Those polished pixels are just too smooth, they evoke zero emotion. At least with the old ones, nostalgia sometimes sneaks up on you through the layers of apathy — barely felt, but it’s still a catch.
And so it goes.