Hi, I’m Len … and I wrote all of this :)
(I got out my TWO part glasses to remember to see both parts as ONE WHOLE … time to get out your glasses too!)
Greetings and welcome! Thanks for joining nearly 30,000 other ISS Vanguard fans… like me! This is my own website. I am not part of Awaken Realms and while I think they like my website, they didn’t ask for me to do this (I kind of surprised them:) I am trying to provide a source and a resource for everyone regarding ISS Vanguard.
Note: Awaken Realms has not and is not paying me nor did they send me anything.
For my first 170 articles I did not have a prototype of the game. I had asked Awaken Realms (twice) if they could please send me a prototype to write about, but they were not able to do so. Instead they told me that the prototypes that they had sent to a few reviewers [four in the USA] were theirs to keep (they did not have to return them to Awaken Realms) and that I should see if one of them would send me their prototype when they were finished with it. So, I asked a couple of the reviewers and one of them graciously sent me their prototype which I received on July 30, 2021. From that point on I have been able to take my own photos of the game!
Question: How do I qualify to be doing this huge website?
Answer: Actually, no qualifications are necessary. Anyone can do a website like this if they are willing to put their time (Lots Of Time) and their own resources into it. However, I do have a webmasters certification from Marquette University and I used to be the guy running the official website for the State of Wisconsin until I retired a decade ago [December 2010].
Actually, I think my background tends to show how this is a perfect fit! I love Science Fiction. I have hundreds of Isaac Asimov’s books plus nearly every Arthur C Clarke and Robert Heilein book. I watched Star Trek when it was originally aired on TV (ie, not a rerun, on DVD or streaming:)
I have loved playing games for over six decades, especially strategy games. I used to play to win (and often did, so people tended to not want to be gaming with me). Now I play games for fun and have just as much fun losing as I do winning.
However … my background puts me in an ideal spot! I used to write procedures for the State of Wisconsin. I wrote a manual for IBM (yeah, it was kind of boring).
I had training in proofreading and have done extensive proofreading (I edited two books being translated from Swedish into English for a friend who is from Sweden. She translates them, but English is her second language so she wanted me to touch up the English to sound like a native English speaker).
I have done beta testing as part of my job. I remember some of the programmers being upset when I would “break” their program – they would say things like “why were you hitting that key on the keyboard?” and I’d say, “Why didn’t your program just ignore me typing that ‘wrong’ key?”
I managed the official “help desk” for the State, so I understand how people come at a program (and in our case, a game) from different viewpoints.
I co-authored two books on how to write your own games on your personal computer (ie, coding). And this was back when people didn’t even know you COULD have your own personal computer.
I wrote two other books and published a newsletter magazine cooperating with a Danish software team. It was great to fly to Denmark to work with them!
I am the founding editor of Compute! magazine, which was published by ABC for years (you might have seen it in your local bookstore or even your grocery or department store’s magazine rack years ago).
I have done webcasting for the Governor…. filmed training sessions for the Police department, even planned and coordinated a project that took over 300 people 7 years to complete – a Handwritten Bible – just one copy but you can see my video with some of the stories => My Short Fun Stories Video (it is at the top of the page)
Note: I have ISS Vanguard prototype 2.0 … but remember that Awaken Realms made changes to the game based on feedback they received on that prototype!
If you have questions about ISS Vanguard, please note that most Mondays Marcin (from Awaken Realms) has a LiveStream on Facebook where you can type your questions as livestream comments and he answers them as best as he can! For details click => Official Q&A Videos
You also can try leaving a question over at the ISS Vanguard Community Facebook page. Others in the community likely have answers or suggestions for you! For details click => ISS Vanguard Community (Facebook)
Even though most of my career I worked for the Department of Administration for Wisconsin, I am not really very formal. Rather than wearing a shirt and tie, here are 75 shirts that I wore while coordinating the Handwritten Bible project for seven years:
This is a slideshow of my 75 tropical shirts … And if you think that is a lot of shirts … please know that I have posted nearly SIX TIMES as many articles on this website (almost 450 articles… likely will hit 500 in about a month).
Fun fact: I wore a tropical shirt every day for 7 years even during Wisconsin Winters! (I just wore a long sleeve T-Shirt under them when it got cold).
My ISS Vanguard 