I made my first post on GameBlogGirl in August 2013. Can you believe it’s been over a decade? I really can’t. At that time, I was still studying Computer Science, not yet graduated, and constantly writing, journaling, and playing games. A blog seemed like the next logical step.
Only a decade and some change but the internet, the world, and video games have changed so much since then.
When I started, I was spending so much time playing games and watching game news. My ultimate goal was to make the blog big enough that I would get invited to E3. It seems a bit funny now since E3 isn’t a thing. Though other gaming events have taken its place that I’d still love to go to.
I worked with Gamer’s Sphere for a moment as a VP of that magazine, got a job in Silicon Valley, had children, started my AI company. Now, I’m playing games with my oldest every day. Wild how things work out.
Writing about games was fun, but I’d get so busy with life that I’d rarely make time. I made a few attempts every now and again to keep posting, to keep the site alive over the years. While writing was fun, what I really, really wanted though was to make games. I used to watch G4 TV’s Icons as a kid, then I graduated to documentaries about studios and creators. Since 2014, I’ve been tooling around with Unreal and Unity. But never could make the time to dedicate myself to a game. If I’m honest, it almost seemed like too big of a dream to me. I thought to myself, “Once I’m successful and financially secure, I’ll do nothing but make games, create art.”
Late last year, after a family member passed away, I decided to release a game. I realized that time passes regardless of your plans. And I didn’t want to let the stresses of everyday life hold me back. It didn’t matter how rudimentary, broken, or unfun my game was. I just wanted to start building it, finish it and publish it. It was an exhilarating feeling. Felt like I had finally slayed the tutorial boss in Dark Souls and the real journey could begin.
Here’s the game:
https://yg3ai.itch.io/elysias-hard-drive
That game I called Elysia’s Hard Drive. I created an AI for my company called Elysia and thought an endless runner (endless driver actually, you ride a motorcycle through a 2D Cyberpunk city — hence the punny title) would be easy enough for me to make and had a strong enough hook to get a few minutes of play from the co-founders. I honestly made it for everyone at the company to play over Christmas.
My second game really was a Christmas gift for my niece, a simple Sylveon pet game. I stopped thinking of making a game as something I wanted to share (with a perfect vision) and reframed it as something I wanted to do. If it’s bad, so what? The magic was in creating it, finishing it, and releasing it. Can’t control if people enjoy it, so why try? All I can do is control my intention. I want to make people laugh and smile like I did as a kid playing Power Stone all afternoon.
I felt immense relief after publishing those. I somewhat expected that. I had wanted to make games my whole life and finally crossed that invisible barrier into “real game desinger”.
What I did not expect was for one of my fashion designer buddies and his music engineer friend to commission me for a full-fledged video game after seeing Elysia’s Hard Drive. The story is so crazy I suspect I wouldn’t believe it if I heard it. (This game is currently in development by the way! It’ll release alongside an album and fashion collection).
So fast forward a few months (to the present), and I’ve published 4 games on Itch now and I’m working on the aforementioned game (a 3D delivery game). In a lot of ways, it’s been wild. It’s been a long and circuitous journey. Just like the best games. 🙂
What I’ve learned so far:
- Don’t wait
- Make things (and don’t worry about the quality)
- There’s no perfect way to start or finish
- The making of the thing is enough (you don’t need good reviews or a ton of money for it to be a success)
Here’s a link to the games on Itch, if anyone is curious –
Jacqueline Carter, aka Game Blog Girl ;p
