Posted December 20, 2025 by axye07
while this is my first published game, i've actually been a game dev for quite some time. let's see how i got here.
way back in primary school, a friend and i discovered Scratch, a website that you could make games with just by snapping code blocks together. we churned out dozens of poorly made, but genuine, projects. game dev became our passion. our ambitions were unbound.
secondary school came around. we decided we were too grown-up for Scratch, and picked up Unity. some things were familiar, but otherwise we were starting from scratch (ironically). so, we got to learning. my friend found out about game jams: competitions where you must make a game based on a theme in a certain time-frame. the perfect way to learn- the limited time forces you to keep your games small. we found one that suited our needs and joined together!
no, i didn't. why should i bother with silly little game jams? my ideas were way too great for them. so i kept chipping away at my dream game. my friend, meanwhile, finished jam after jam. he improved, little by little.
the years passed. i continued with my project. i stagnated. he found a small team to work with. i burnt out. he became better than me in every way. i gave up quietly.
high school was over. i began seeing a psychologist. we talked about setting goals, and i thought: i've tried game dev before. why not give it another go? so there was my goal: "i will finish a game by the end of August."
this time, i was okay with failing. i'd just set an easier goal.
but i didn't fail.
it's not an impressive game. it's a generic topdown shooter. but it's mine.
(and i didn't need AI to make it lol!!)