Introduction to My Game Development Adventure
Welcome to my personal development blog, where I will document my journey as a solo developer. Asrah is my “pen” name. This blog will serve as a log of my experiences, challenges, and learning moments throughout my first game project.
The Vision Behind My Game
The core idea of making a game originates from me being a gamer for a very long time. Now I aim to try out every step and domain of the creation firsthand, from programming, drawing, animation, sound effects, music, level design. I guess music sounds the hardest. I have some experience in some of these or at least they are closer to me, but not that one.
What to Expect from This Blog
This blog will feature 1-2 posts each month detailing the progress of my game. I feel that is a bit rare, but since this is a side project next to my fulltime job, I can’t really make more progress. Expect to see screenshots and images showcasing different stages of development, along with occasional YouTube videos to provide deeper insights into my work. The current focus is just gamedev, but the blog may grow more versatile over time, featureing other projects too.
How my “Career” Started
My first console was an Atari 2600 clone, which we just called Joystick since it had those controllers. Had no cassettes, just the games integrated on the console. I got this when I was about 7 years old if I remember correctly (was born in 1988). Once I was “forced” to play a game on this so I would learn multiplication for school. A game where you had to enter the answer for questions about how much is 2×2 and such. Since I liked playing on it, it was a lesson and a bit of a punishment at the same time. It did not make me dislike it fortunately and I learnt what I was supposed to, as well.
The second one was a Nintendo Famicom clone, which we just called Nintendo. There were lots of cassettes. We liked it so they were fitting as presents for example. Some of my childhood friends also had these and occasionally we lent each other some of them.
I had no idea about what these were at the time, didn’t even know these were clones of something, just looked up right now. I remember how they looked like and the feeling of the games we had though.
Sometime later we got our first computer, an IBM 286, I think. I’m sure about the big switch on the right side and the floppy drive in the middle. Unsure how the mouse looked like. Interestingly the keyboard layout changed almost nothing in the last decades.
This was a different beast. Felt like it could do more than just the consoles, but actually we just used this for gaming too. But it was something that really started me on the PC gaming path.
None of the above images are made by me. I have none of this hardware anymore. These are the best I found on the internet; I mean those that look the most similar to what I remember.
Games I Play(ed), Like(d)
Some of my earliest favourite was the yellow cassette Nintendo clone Double Dragon III, a sideview fighting game. Over many years I played almost exclusively on PC. Here is a list of my played games. Quake 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, Pokémon (yellow?), Red Alert 2 and 3, Diablo 3 and 4, Warcraft 2 and 3, World of Warcraft, Unreal Tournament and 2k4, Wolfenstein (very first one) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom 3 and 2016 and Eternal, GTA 3, Guilty Gear XX Reload, BioShock 2, Need for Speed Underground 2, Descent, Portal, Age of Empires 1 and 2 and 3, Sims 2 and 3 and 4, Palia, Infinity Nikki, Tomb Raider 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones and The Infernal machine, Painkiller, Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Age of Wonders, Gothic, Hitman Codename 47, Resident Evil, Dino Crysis, Suffering, Civilizations 3 and 4, Black and White, Railroad Tycoon, Freelancer, Oni, Max Payne, Prince of Persia, Monster Truck Madness, Postal, Motorcross Madness, Mario (Nintendo), Tera Online, Epic Battle Fantasy 3, Street Fighter (Nintendo), Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Star Wars Racer, Knights and Merchants, Half-Life, Alien vs Predator 2, Sonic 3D Blast, Medal of Honor, Serious Sam.
Not in particular order and not all included. I really tried to remember the most.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. I invite you to explore my progress and get inspired!