So, I've been learning how to make games now for a little under 4 years. While I always had wanted to be a game designer, I never had put much serious thought into it growing up.

​Instead, what I did was dedicate many years to music. I got my first instrument at the age of 15, which was a Squire bass guitar. 

For the next few years playing bass was basically all I did. It was fun. This eventually lead to me joining my first band, The Pegleg Pirate Squad. 

This is all that remains of that online. A teaser video I made in high school.

As with most bands, it didn't work out. Oh well.

Years would pass and I taught myself some basic guitar. Later on I would join up with some cool dudes and make a band called Watch Your Step! where I would play some guitar.

We might have been a bunch of dirty punk boys, but it was a lot of fun. Once again, it didn't work out.

After a couple more years of floating about, I decided to give the music more try. This time with The Nash and myself back on bass.
I was going through a pretty shitty time in my life and things quickly got out of control and ultimately I decided that maybe music wasn't what I should be doing. So... what? 

I remember it started with a conversation with my brother. Somehow we had gotten on the topic of game development, and how many developers recommended having a portfolio of projects, rather than a degree, when searching for jobs in the industry. This lead to my discovery of the game engine Unity, and many long nights of following online tutorials after work.  

So, yay; I was learning to make games, but holy shit is it hard to do with no real instructor, no direction, and no technological skill. Needless to say, I often found myself doubting myself, asking myself why was I doing this, and trying to figure out if I really enjoyed going through all the stress. 

When I would really start to think about why I wanted to do this it always brought me back to the same place:

Somewhere around the age of 7 things went to shit in my family, and slowly video games transitioned from something that my parents would use as a treat, to something they used as a distraction. By the age of 9 or 10 the only life that existed was the one inside the TV screen. What was once a five member household became three, and that's being generous. Countless nights were spent staying up until 5 or 6 in the morning playing N64 with my brother, often while drinking coffee neither of us knew how to properly make. Castlevania 64, Jet Force Gemini, Pokemon Stadium, Hybird Heaven, Ocarina of Time, these were my reasons to get up in the morning. Or maybe it was Monster Rancher, or Chrono Cross, or Digimon World. Don't even get me started on Lunar: Silver Star Story; that game fucked up my entire world. What I'm trying to say is video games were extremely important to me, and kept me from getting into too much trouble. 

When I needed an emotional crutch, or an escape from a depressing reality, I had video games. Now that I'm older I feel it is my responsibility to give back/pass it on. 

Does anyone know if Games as Therapy exists? Because I think that should be a legit form of help.


Seriously though, Lunar. That game. <3 
 

Hello friends

Welcome back to another episode of Blogs with Joel. We took a short recess last week due to the Christmas holiday, but we're back with more fun things to talk about. 

So, first of all, Happy 2018. Welcome to another year. I hope you keep on the grind and your dreams come closer to fruition. 

Do I have any goals for this year? Kind of. For the most part I'm just going to stay the course. Keep focused on developing The Ovate Order(TOO) and stay consistent with my diet and work out routine. I do have one actual 'goal' for the year though, which brings me to my next point...

NYS Game Development Challenge 2018

So, last year RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) started doing this awesome thing where they host a competition of sorts where the winners obtain funding for their game development, among a slew of other benefits through working with the RIT community. 

I entered TOO into it last year, but failed to place among the finalists. This year I plan on placing as a finalist. 

However, let's talk about failing for a minute. Failing is awesome. It's the best thing you can ever do for yourself. Why is that? Because when you fail you are left with only two options; the first option is to give up. Now, no one likes to admit they've given up, so a lot of times we tell ourselves, or people around us, things like "I didn't really want it anyways" or "I didn't even really try as hard as I could." This is a great tactic at avoiding the reality of the failure, and the pain that comes with realizing that maybe you aren't as good at that thing as you thought you were. 

The second option is to get better. Now, this is when the awesome shit happens. Once you realize you're a failure you're able to really start trying, and start pushing yourself to that next level.

You never really know who you are until you fail. So, I hope all of you people out there fail. A lot. Like, all the time. 

While we're on the topic of learning...

Hitting Rock Bottom

Another great tool for unlocking your inner Rocky is having to deal with that awesome sensation of hitting rock bottom. That point in your life where it really couldn't get any worse. I love it, it's probably one of my favorite places. They say nothing motivates like pain, and if you've ever had the pleasure of hitting rock bottom you know it's quite a painful place to be. However, if you're able to get your shit together and climb back up from the bottom, you have basically unlocked the secret to accomplishing anything you want in life.

That being said, I encourage everyone reading this to completely fuck your life up, intentionally, to the point where it seems like there is no coming back. Then, fix that shit. Cool, now you're ready to own the world. 

Sounds risky? Yeah, probably is.


TOO 2

Yeah, if there's ever a sequel that will be what it's called. People will be like, "Yo, you got that TOO 2!?" and their friends will think they are talking about that shit dancers wear. It'll be the greatest comedic act of 2025.

For now I'll focus on TOO. So, I've been taking my time with this new area I've been working on. I think it's going to come out really cool. I'll be posting some pics and whatnot on the homepage within the next couple days, but basically it's an old energy reactor. It's not part of the main story line, but fits into a side quest involving a very bizarre town secluded away on the northern coast of the island. Strange times will ensue. 

I think once I have gotten all of its art pieces done I will be moving on to the next little continent. I need to do a little research on the local geography of its real-world counter part beforehand, but I think it's going to be really neat. 

Check out the links on the side bar to hit up my Twitter, IG, and Facebook. I post things, sometimes. 

Peace out, human scout. 

-New Year, New Meowth