New Beginning

Hello. I'm Steven. Pleased to meet you. 

Somehow, almost magically, I've become a game dev. And not a hobbyist or a moonlighting indie, either, but a real, honest-to-God game developer. I've always wanted to be a game dev, even before I knew anything about programming. I got a NES for Christmas when I was 5, back when I still believed in Santa, and I knew nothing about it - I had no idea such things existed. My parents had set it up so that it was running the intial demo loop from the start game menu, and I just sat there and watched Mario jumping and jumping. It was one of the best moments of my life, and not just then, but even now. Just a purely wonderful, magical moment for me. Now children grow up with technology all around them, but back then I had never seen anything like it. I grew up in a poor school district and until then all I had seen was an Apple IIe and my brother's word processor. And here Santa had dropped this gift into my living room: this incredible, interactive ... thing. I didn't even know words like "console." Actually, I don't even know if the industry was using the word "console" back then. But they certainly knew what they were, unlike me, for whom it was effectively alien, a gift from the future.

I knew almost instantly that I wanted to make games, and thankfully unlike most children with that dream I grew into an adult that was excellent at Mathematics and programming, so it wasn't as far away as it might have been. But life goes on, etc etc, people get sick - I got sick, and quite badly - jobs come and go, you make plans around people and places and there was no room in those plans to be a game developer. It was like being an astronaut. They exist, but there aren't many of them and there certainly aren't any around you. 

But life got worse - as it sometimes tends to do - and I got existential, and I returned to that early dream, and decided to make a go at it, writing small games as educational exercises, studying graphics, AI, networking, gameplay - the works. I was going to do it, and it was going to be great.

A year later I got an email from Human Head Studios telling me they wanted me to start work as soon as possible. So here I am, a real game dev, a real maker of games. I've only been working a couple of weeks, but it's great. Every day I awaken and excitedly get to work as soon as I can. It's no fantasy, obviously, and it can be as frustrating and difficult as any other job, but I can start and end my work day with a smile on my face, which is a new experience for me. I hope it's the start of a long and fruitful career in the industry. 

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Okay, so with that intro out of the way, what am I going to blog about? I'm not going to explore my adjustment to the industry, because that's too place-specific. I'm not going to blog about my office or my coworkers or our projects. This blog is entirely personal, and is not endorsed by my company. 

What I am going to write about is technology I have a strong interest in: procedural generation, graphics, and simulations. I'm aiming for one substantial post a month, plus smaller posts whenever I release a personal project - and possibly book reviews. With time I might branch out into other areas, but for now I'm keeping its scope limited.

I hope you enjoy what I have to say, and that this turns into a fruitful interchange of ideas lasting for many years. It really does feel like my career has finally found its home, and I want nothing more now than to grow into it as deeply as possible.

Thanks for reading!