Introduction & how I got into games

When I was born my Dad immediately hated me because he had spent almost the entirety of my mum's pregnancy attempting to get Mech Warrior 3 running on his computer and my mother's water broke within 15 minutes of him finally succeeding in this. He would not have the opportunity to play Mech warrior for roughly 5 years, with me.

Truth be told I can't remember a time when video games weren't a part of my life. The first game I can remember is Resident Evil which I helped dad beat when I was three years old, I helped with the puzzles. When my mum found out I was playing a game rated MA15+ we were both in the doghouse. Despite that I went on to play Silent Hill with dad, this time when we were caught dad said games were educational and I was learning to read. So, from then on, I was on a strict diet of lengthy role playing games that included books worth of dialogue and menu text. Although learning to read off poorly translated JRPG left me with some strange spelling and grammar. 

But I fell completely in love with role playing games. Jade Cocoon (criminally underrated), Final Fantasy's, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire, Parasite Eve. When I was older I had Fable, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, The Bio Ware RPG's were all incredible and I was obsessed. I played Dragon Age so many times I can remember every little detail still. I even finished Morrowind on the Xbox (if you thought it was clunky on PC, you should try fighting cliff racers with a 30-foot draw distance.)

I also enjoyed multiplayer games especially couch co-op. Anything I could play with my friends in the room with me. Me and my dad finished the halo campaigns together and every Wednesday afternoon at school we would do LAN parties where we played Day of Defeat, Counter Strike, and DOTA All Stars. Dota in particularly has become something of an addiction. According to steam I have spent about 2500 hour on it. 

Looking back on this post as I have written it. I'm struck by how many games that are so important to me that I've skipped over, while still including so many. But I think it's important to say that starting In KOTOR and continuing through Boulders Gate and Planescape Torment. I was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons and through these games I learnt about pen and paper role playing which I equally became hopelessly in love with and it was here that I started thinking about design. Creating my own worlds, monsters, puzzles, and treasures. And then of course everyone who plays video games dreams of making their own. Now from D&D, I have these books full of my own adventures and I start wondering what if I could bring them to life. So despite my better judgement I have let my dreams of adventure pull me away from my computer science degree into game design electives. And so, for the coming 13 weeks, this will be where I'm documenting my process of learning to develop game and hopefully bringing some of my dreams to life.