When I was in my early twenties - with not much going on in my life - I decided to make a change. I remember being in my parents garden on a sunny day kicking a ball around with Ziggy, the dog. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I'd quit my job and spent most of my days sleeping and playing video games.

I used my first computer at age 5, a Windows 95 machine my parents were eager to show off. Having a computer in 1995 was an expensive endeavor, and we were not from an affluent area - so this was a big deal. One of my earliest memories was waking up in the early hours to find my parents setting up the new computer, not expecting us to use it until morning.

This machine came with a few games on CD. Ecco the Dolphin, Comix Zone - and another CD held Casper the Friendly Ghost. To me, these games were classics. I never had a Nintendo or Sega games console - so this was really my first introduction to computer games - I was born into the PC Master Race. Needless to say I was hooked, and for the last 25 years I've likely racked up tens of thousands of hours in total.

It was in the garden reflecting on my life that I realised that games were really a fundamental part of my life. I loved playing them, and they ignited my imagination in a way nothing else really has. I'd made some mods, and maps in the past - but never my own game - despite always wanting to. That was a task that seemed far beyond my capabilities.

8 years pass, and I'm now a somewhat accomplished Software Engineer at Fandom - having moved to San Francisco from the UK in 2019. I haven't made games yet, except for a few prototypes - but I feel finally equipped to start. I'd spent a year learning the fundamentals of Unity, and now I'm dipping my toes into Unreal after their recent UE5 trailer. With a full time job, I'm only able to spend a few hours an evening on this, so I'm starting a blog to capture my thoughts in a more structured manner.

The incredible Unreal Engine 5 trailer

Some posts will be long-form content, like this - others will be "Scrap" posts that should be considered nothing more than note-taking. If you stumble across this at some point in the future, don't expect much. I'll try to keep everything tagged and categorized, but this is really my personal journey into making games. If it helps you too, that's awesome.