What is this place?

Good question. I’m glad you asked!

I’ve had a blog for quite some time. We’re talkin’ 10 years, maybe? But I ran out of reasons to use it and I let it sit for the past couple of years. Then I just removed it entirely. After two days of no blog, I suddenly needed a place to write down some explanations for ideas I have about how games and stories should be designed.

I want to be a game developer. I think I’m ready to attempt game development, but I don’t have the set of skills to be hired by an existing studio. I will develop those skills and make games on my own, and I will document my journey. This is the place I will document that journey. I will post thoughts, explanations, ideas, experiences, coding problems, business problems, and whatever else I think of about my journey in making games.

Who am I?

Good question. I’m glad you asked!

To borrow from the tagline of my Twitter profile, I’m first a Christian, then a libertarian; a conservative; a brony (Twilight Sparkle is best pony!); a programmer; a writer; an artist; and an economist. I have been a writer and reader for as long as I can remember. I have been a PC gamer for almost as long. I am also currently a full-time .NET programmer, so all this gaming stuff is happening on the side.

I have been having trouble deciding what hobby I really want to focus on in my life. I love writing. I love drawing. I love programming. Programming is my official job at the moment, since I’ve worked with computers since we owned a Commodore Amiga 1000. Taking the programming degree in college was the easy choice. I got an economics degree too just so I could have something new!

I try to draw and write in my off-time, but I am increasingly having less and less time. Lately, I’ve played Telltale’s The Walking Dead series and I’ve suddenly decided that I’m going to focus on art in a fashion that I’m familiar with: Games. As I’ve mentioned above, I have no skills in actually making games. I don’t meet the requirements to join an existing studio, so I am going to do it myself.

I live in rural Indiana and am quite familiar with the idea of small businesses working hard to do it on your own. I take an amazing amount of inspiration from Glenn Beck and his work to create The Blaze, and I know it’s completely possible for me to start a game development studio if I applied the same work ethic. I am completely capable of researching everything I’ll need to make this work, and I am completely capable of working hard enough to make this happen.

Without this becoming a résumé (or becoming too personal), that is who I am.