Every Day a New Journey
January 23, 2024
When I was in the ballpark of about ten years old, my parents bought me my first game-making program. It was as simple as simple could be; tiny pixellated characters moved about on a big grid, programmable to follow fixed patterns, follow player input, or create textboxes on demand. Though primitive by today's standards, it was perfect for creating simple mazes and adventure games. I would spend hours pushing the limits of the engine, and when I wasn't playing with it, I would spend just as long dreaming up the scenarios that I was planning to create. I didn't know it yet, but I had found my purpose.
There's a certain irony to that, because as much as I loved experimenting with making games, I never actually made anything of substance with that program. My imagination often outstripped my abilities, and I had a child's habit of abandoning or deleting work at the drop of a hat. I still remember the first boss battle I ever designed but never implemented, a crude bullet hell fight against a ghoulish possessed tree named Rotten Apple. It would have been the crown jewel of my childhood if I had ever been able to summon the attention span to actually finish it. As-is, it's naught but a memory.
In a lot of ways, not much has changed since then. I can often be found crafting an intricate story or refining some imagined feature in my head, but getting anything onto the page, let alone out into the world, remains a challenge. Slowly, though, my abilities are catching up to my imagination. At long last, after so many years of considering it an impossible dream, I've properly started my game dev journey. Again.
The purpose of this blog is twofold. Firstly, it is about my personal journey through the world of game development, from my storied past all the way to a hopeful job in the industry. Secondly, it is about the wide world of not just creating, but modding games - taking something you love and putting part of yourself into it to make it even better. I'll be looking into a variety of different games and genres, explaining my own experience with modding them, and asking the question: What makes a game 'moddable'?
This is far from the start of my journey, but the end isn't in sight either. Let's call this a hopeful midpoint. And until that blissful day when I finally get hired as a games writer...
Fine. I'll do it myself.
This is Nonagon, signing off.