So it begins.

So it begins.

I have decided to take a punt at games development, again, I know there is probably millions of us doing the same but why and how did I get here ?

In a bedroom a long long time ago .......

As a teenager I first got access to a Commodore Vic 20 and got access to basic. I was amazed and loved that I could write code and thing would appear on screen and react. Over the next few years I wrote some very basic games but was able to share these with friends at school and loved the interaction and excitement of thinking up something new. 

I later moved onto the C64 were I started to move to machine code  and playing about with raster inputs scan. Thought I was a god with my skills and the world would bow to my power, Mathew Smith and Eugene Evens had nothing on me. I was hooked. I wanted to be spend my life creating worlds that people could get lost in. 

The came the most important computer in my life the launch of the Amiga 500. Wow it felt like we had reach a new level of what games could be I think I was more excited about its launch then anything before or after. I was right.

Things had changed though. No longer could bedroom  programmers create games and become famous. It was now a team that was needed with dedicated skills and of course money ! I could not write music (Still had a massive admiration for Rob Hubbard and what he had done  on the C64), my art was rubbish. I stopped creating games it was all too complicated and life was changing I was no longer a kid and in my late teens. Alcohol and friends too up my time.

So University called  and off I went to do a programming degree, still a chance maybe. This was the end of my game development journey the real world took hold.

Back to the Future

So 30 years later in my 50s I decided to try again. Mid life crisis you might say. 

At present I am still in the very early days and only a couple of weeks in but wow how things have changed. The game engines take up a lot of the work but I am having to learn Art and animation. I don't think i can get away with my 16X16 pixel single colour sprites from the C64 days. Music is on the list too. 

The difference is I am enjoying it. 

The internet and YouTube have giving us so much and communities I could not imagine 30 years ago. 

So were does this leave me now. I am starting a journey I really want to continue. I don't want to become a millionaire or pack in the day job. I am just enjoying the ride at the moment. 

But writing a game is fun till you finish it then what do I do with it? Move to the next. 

This is why I have launched my first game here. Basic not great but its a good five minute time waster I hope. 

I would love the community to provide feed back , i feel this is going to be a great motivator to keeping me going with my new hobby. Otherwise it back to playing open world Ubi games on the PS5 in my spare time. Modern gaming is a subject for a different rant.

So enjoy my first game Spaceman. Yes I have completely ripped off Jetpack from the Spectrum days but I hope someone likes it. There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet now. One person must be sad enough to like it.