Ryan Heilman
Many of my fondest memories of growing up revolved around the games that I played. Whether it was Chutes and Ladders at my house with my neighbor, Checkers at the pre-k/day care, or The Winning Ticket with my best friend at his house, games were always a part of my life from a very early age. As I got older, the games became more sophisticated. I remember very clearly in 5th or 6th game when my friend Shane brought Dungeons & Dragons to school. While the other students were kicking a ball around at recess, Shane, Fred, Dave, and I sat on the convent steps absolutely enthralled by what he brought. It changed my life.
Many of my nights and weekends were now spent wandering the forests of Greyhawk or battling orcs in the deadly dungeons that my friends created. It was a blast! Of course, I did not stop there as my love for games as well as my proximity to Avalon Hill then led to my increased interest in wargames. Now, in addition to my fantasy battles against bugbears and kobolds, I also spent my time battling the Rebs at Little Round Top and the Nazis in France. Fun times were had by all!
Unfortunately, the fun times ended. I somehow got it in my head that D&D and wargames were uncool and that I would never get a date if I spent all my time planning those games. I thus took a long hiatus from games. For almost 30 years, I played very few games unless it was a party game or some poker with friends. During that time, I did manage to meet and marry my wonderful wife (ironically, she was also a D&D player growing up) and had a son.
In addition, I gained a career and explored the world a bit. First, I worked in California at Questor Systems, Inc. as a Technical Suport Manager. I spent my time there providing telephone technical support and traveling the country training museum personnel how to use our program. After a few years, I transfered back to my home town of Baltimore and took a job at the Walters Art Museum managing the art collection. Finally, I got my teaching degree and started teaching history and then eventually technology in Carroll County Public Schools.
With the invention of Facebook, I slowly started to get connected again with many of the people that I knew in grade school and high school. This connection eventually allowed me to return to gaming. I found a game group to play games with regularly. They exposed me to many of the classic games that I had missed over the last 30 years as well as some of the best of the new stuff. I also reconnected with my D&D and wargame buddies from grade school and started to explore those games again.
Not only was my new found connection with games a lot of fun but I also started to think a lot about making my own games. This is something that I dabbled with when I was a kid but never really got very far. First, I toyed around with a card game based on the Space Race between the US and Soviet Union. That game came together fairly well although I never did find a market for it. Next, I was approached by my good friend, Dave Shaw (formerly of Avalon Hill), about making a wargame.
Dave had an idea to make a game based on his travel to Belgium with his wife. He wanted to make a WWI game about the German invasion of Belgium at the start of the war and the Belgian resistance. As I thought this was a good idea, I asked him if I could tackle it with him. While it took several years to complete, Brave Little Belgium became our first published game and became a critical hit.
After that, the games came quickly. Brave Little Belgium was quickly followed by White Eagle Defiant and then Ginormopod 2050 A.D.: Attack of the Giant Bug Monsters. In addition, I was asked by several game companies to do graphic work and development work for them. This led to my involvement with some fabulous designers like Brad Smith, Hermann Luttmann, and Wes Crawford. Out of this came great games like Comet, The Struggle for Zorn, The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth, and That Others May Live.
Now, I am taking my love for games one step further. With the help of my fellow designer, Wes Crawford, we have created this company, Wharf Rat Games. Our goal is to create high quality, engaging games that will rival the major publishers in the industry. We are starting slow and plan to only focus on one game at this point. We hope to have that game out on the market within a year.