2 - My Journey So Far
My journey as a game dev started later than most. At the age of 26 I decided I would get serious about my dream of work in game development, and so during work breaks and after I got home I followed online courses to learn how to program and watched YouTube tutorials about the Unity game engine (Shoutout to Brackeys for creating content that made starting with the engine easy). Along with this, I applied to the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to undertake a Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments. As of writing this blog, I made these decisions three years ago in 2020 and have done much since.
Blackjacky and Phaser 3
The first game engine I touched was the Phaser 3 game engine that used JavaScript as its scripting language. I learnt how to use this engine by following a course on Codecademy. Blackjacky was a version of the card game Blackjack that I wrote after completing the course.
Duck Ranger
After finding out about the Unity game engine and its popularity amongst the indie community, I immediately sought to move over and begun working on a 2D platformer called Duck Ranger; A game where you play as a masculine duck that solves puzzles and punches enemies using the power of his massive duck beard.
Whilst working on this project, I began my studies at QUT and switched my focus away from development. This project is on indefinite delay, but working on it helped me immensely before beginning my studies.
Pond Protector
The first small project I made for an assignment at QUT, Pond Protector is a simple single-screen strafe shooter where you play as a frog protecting its pond from mosquitos and other animals that want to dirty the water. A fun and simple project that was the first time I proved to myself that I could make something that felt complete, no matter how small.
Unnamed RPG
I spent my first Summer break working on this game that I never named. I wanted to code some typical RPG mechanics to push my development skills further before my second year. I absolutely loved working on this project and will definitely return to it if given the opportunity.
The Other Me
My first ever Game Jam submission for The GMTK Game Jam in 2021. Our team of three, named “Pangolin’s in Pyjamas”, which included myself and my friends Jazmin and Grim, endeavoured to create a game in 48 hours around the theme “Joined Together”. Our team created a 2D puzzle platformer where the player could astral project their spirit to help them solve puzzles. Our team did incredibly well considering it was our first ever game jam!
Scream Dream
The second coming of Pangolin’s in Pyjamas for the Australian Global Game Jam in 2022. I have forgotten this jam’s theme, but our team created a 2D action platformer in 48 hours with the idea of: “What would the nightmare of a nightmare creature be?”. Thus, we put our nightmare creature into a world of overwhelming cuteness.
Open Day
My first group game project made at QUT with the Unity game engine was a game that we developed with the purpose of inspiring people to attend university. With my friends Emma as artist, Bianca as programmer, and myself as designer, team lead, and supporting programmer, we created something that we were very proud of in less than thirteen weeks while studying other subjects.
Zoolich
The Pangolin’s in Pyjamas strike again! Now with the additional member Bianca! The first Brackeys Game Jam of 2023 has just recently passed and, despite a couple of us moving in the middle of it, we created another fun little puzzle game. The theme of this jam was “The end is a new beginning”.
After some deliberation, we decided we wanted to create a puzzle game where the player was a lich who had been removed from their real body and turned into a slime. Their objective is to solve puzzles and find their way back to their real body to regain their powers and dominate! We fit the theme by making the player have to “die” to an enemy in order to gain the form of that enemy. Each enemy has their own unique abilities (e.g., wombats can push boulders), while ghosts have no abilities at all. The player must choose the correct form while dodging ghosts in order to complete the puzzles!
Our team had a lot of fun working on this jam, and I’ll be writing a post-mortem in a later post!
Current Project: Lumayn
Lovers of Neopets, Tamagotchis, Pokemon, and Digimon, unite! My current project aims to be the final destination for all lovers of pets and partner creatures. Combining the love of having a bond with a magical creature, with none of the forced labour, this game will be full of fun and excitement, with none of the guilt.
Description
Adventure around a world while exploring different locations. Strengthen the bond with your partner creature and help rebuild a city that has been almost destroyed by a trio of evil creatures.
Details about the current development of the project, and future development plans can be found in the next post, and future posts!
Frog Time!
Thanks for making it this far into the blog! Here's your reward: Today's frog; The Malaysian Horned Frog!
