Your gamedev story

[Solpeo]

How old were you when you decided that creating games is something that you want to do every single day?

What was your motivation (for example mentor or a game)?

 

And what was your first game? :-)

[plicatibu]

My first contact with games was with an Atari 2600 and Frog, Keystone keeper, River Raid and Mega Mania (my most beloved game).

 

Since then I wanted to make games but lack of courage make me work with boring stuff (server applications in C/C++ and Java for Telecommunications and Security area).

 

In 2010, I was both 39 years old and very depressed with my current situation: my tendinitis was (and still is) very severe, I had no much pleasure on my daily job (other than the pay day), and I desperately wanted to change that situation. By chance a friend of mine gave me a version of Mega Mania that could be played in PC.

 

I decided to play it (against medical recommendation: keep as far from computers as possible). While I was playing I felt so excited as in my childhood and I decided I'd realize an old dream: I'd learn how to make games.

 

The first game I made was Morra Even Or Odd (it was ridiculously easy to make). It took me 4 months to be ready because I had to work only a few minutes once in a week in order to not improve my pains.

 

The second game took me a month. It was another ridiculously easy game to make. It's named Morra Matchsticks. They are so boring that when I asked my wife what she thought about them she told me: they're a piece of crap. It hurts

 

But no hard feelings. I know they're not Angry Birds but I'm proud of them because I made them. Not only I made them, but I finished them. Have you ever wondered how many games never see the light?

 

Then my tendinitis got worst and I decided to make an MBA in Industrial Automation to be able to work as Engineer again in case of need. It put me off game development for almost 2 years.

 

Fortunately my tendinitis got better and I could keep working as a developer. Then I came across an article about running arcade sites and I decided to give it a try. It was an interesting experience (even taking in consideration that I expended much more money than what I earned). During this period I ported Even Or Odd for Flash and I sponsored many games.

 

In July 2013 I decided to start learning how to make games again. I loved the experience and I wanted improve my skills.

 

Running arcades take too much time so it's not feasible to both make games and run them. I had more than 20 arcades and started shutting down almost all of them. Currently I have just 2 arcades: plicatibu.com that is for Desktop users and g4a.net that is for mobile users.

 

My big doubt currently is: should I transform plicatibu.com from an arcade site to a site that shows just my games? I mean, a site that will show my portfolio? It's something that I'll ask opinions in another post.

 

In September 2013 I discovered Phaser and felt in love with it. I'm almost finishing a game I'm making with Phaser and I hope I never more stop making games.

 

I couldn't (and I still can't) quit from my current daily job because of financial reasons but as I improve my skills and deploy better games I hope to make a living with them.

 

Sorry for this long post.