Your journey begins here.

I'm going to be the next big game developer.

What? Oh, I suppose that is a tad large for an initial goal, but why not? It's been a passion of mine since I opened up my first Game Boy Color, stuck in Pokemon Blue, and lost myself in the 2.6" screen for the next year or so of my life. This was only intensified after the Christmas of my first console -- my beloved Nintendo 64. Years passed while games came into and went out of my possession. I hold my favorites high and shove the rest under my bed not to see the light of day again.

I don't even play that often for a kid my age. I tend to fall back into nostalgic patterns and shun the overpriced, innovative games of the new generation. It takes a special effort to jump back into the past and launch titles from before my time. I have a note on my phone listing all the games I 'need' to buy and play dating back to the first Bioshock release. Another lists the classics that I never touched. Mega Man? Final Fantasy? Sonic the Hedgehog? Super Mario Bros.?!

Clearly I'm not anywhere close to knowledgeable enough to hope to understand the forces behind great gaming. I don't deserve to add my thoughts into such a massive entertainment industry.

....

No, my ego can't handle that for an answer. I've made my decision. Earlier this evening I happened upon a seminar listed for current undergraduate students majoring in Computer Science, thinking it would be an educational use for my open afternoon. All I knew prior to attending was it would feature "representatives from large and small local high-tech companies [to] provide an overview of the job search and internship process..."

Blah, blah, blah. An hour of my life -- whatev~

One representative was Tam Armstrong, Animation Engineer at Bungie.

Huh? Yeah, that Bungie. After the panel I went up to Tam and discussed the video game industry with more depth. It is him I thank for sparking my mind back into full focus. 40 minutes later my mind buzzed with suppressed ideas from the past. I now realize how much potential I have in front of me. A university with a wealth of programming knowledge, websites rich with dev tools and tutorials, libraries upon libraries of documented coding books and gaming guides -- all within easy access. I'm ready to start this for real.


That was earlier today. Now I write. I write for anyone to read; I write for my own self-reflection; I write to keep a log of my progression. I write because I need an outlet for my passion for video games whilst my developing skills.. develop.

Want to join for the ride? Come aboard!