Hello, everyone!
My name is Gerald Kelley and I'm joining this here TIGSource, looking forward to interacting with people just like you, the reader. That is, people with a love of the video-game making process. (Doesn't that sound just delicious. I think so.)
So who am I? Where did I come from? Well I'm glad you asked, you handsome devil, you.
It all started back in 1982 when I was born in Davenport, IA. Then a bunch of Iowa stuff happened that isn't relevant to this post, and BAM! My parents got us kids an Atari 2600. So I began my video game playing life with classics like Pifall, Asteroids, SeaQuest, Moon Patrol, etc etc etc. This was about the time everyone was doing the NES thing, so I pretty much skipped out on most people's nostalgia, unfortunately. (I did get to sneak in some Castlevania time at a friend's NES, though. My lord! Still a favorite.)
Right about 1992, or so, my dad ended up getting a 386 computer. PC games would be my main source of entertainment from then on, and still are. Most gamers have Mario to look to, I have Commander Keen. Oh, the pogo stick.
It wasn't long until my brother and I got hooked up with Ultima VI, my introduction to RPGs. I must have been about 10 or 11 and I sucked so bad at figuring out the mysteries and plotlines in that game, but the fact that I could go out and explore in any direction and there would be stuff to interact with (!!!!), I couldn't get over it! My brain was blown wide open and I've never fallen out of love with open world RPGs.
So much more! But I don't want to bore you (too late?), so I'll skip ahead about 13 years:
I've just graduated college with a degree in Studio Art. Now what? Well, unfortunately I went into art school with the intention of becoming a game dev, but for some reason I still can't figure out, I forgot that ambition, or got seduced by the art school mentality (take your pick) and effectively didn't maximize my education. But thankfully there was the PC modding scene out there to remind me of the fire that was burning in me. (Too much? Oh well.) You see, I had already done modding in high school, but I didn't know it at the time. I used to half-make Star Wars: Dark Forces levels with a shareware level editor, counting up all of my rooms/cells so I could maximize the limited potential of the free version. I loved it, but didn't realize that I could have started learning game dev on my own back then. I was waiting for someone to teach it to me. (Big mistake)
The Oblivion modding scene was my salvation. I took on the modding name, MooCow, and dove into WorldSpace development. (You can find my old projects at
http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/users/75691 and
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=User.EntriesListing&id=142389) What started as a love of empty, barren landscapes, became a realization that it was exactly how a lot of people learn the process. What some know almost instinctively, I needed to learn the hard way: No one teaches game dev. At least very few do, and almost no one in the Midwest. Things are a bit better now with schools supposedly starting to catch up, but back then, there was still a lot of advice against going to school for game design. But anyway.
For a while I tried to dodge 3D modeling, telling myself it was too complicated, but eventually I dove in. This was one of my first lessons in "Don't be intimidated." I soon discovered the power of self education and the internet. Thank goodness for open source graphics programs and cheaper ones like Crazy Bump (amazing program!).
Fast forward through a lot of time spent on my Oblivion project (Painful lesson: "Keep your scope small when it's pretty much just you.") and we find ourselves in May of 2011. This was my introduction to the IGDA: Chicago chapter and Indie City Games (also in Chicago). BOOOM! Other people that make games! My mind was blown wide open, yet some more. Chicago has been a great influence on me. I have a lot to be thankful for around here. One thing would be the IGDA: Chicago Game Jam in Oct 2011.
This was my first taste of actually finishing a game...Firestarter -
http://www.kongregate.com/games/benedictfritz/firestarter?acomplete=fire+starter This post is already huge, so I'll just keep it at: I was so freaking happy it was ridiculous. I hope I didn't annoy too many people in the Jam.
Firestarter took the Judge's Choice. So happy.
I couldn't get it out of my system. I wanted more. Thankfully my buddy Benedict Fritz (programmer on Firestarter) recruited me for a project he had cooking called, A Night Forever.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/benedictfritz/a-night-forever I had done so much 3D work in the past it was really awesome to get a chance to do 2D for a bit and get a feel for it. Once again, I was feeling intimidated by the task in front of me, but it was getting a little easier to ignore those feelings and push into it. Definitely no regrets. So happy with the result.
I'll finish up this way too long of a post with what I just got done with: Jupiter Jerry's Tour of the Kuiper Belt. I wanted to make a game on my own. I started looking into Unity 3D back in April 2012, and seeing it was possible, but I hadn't done any programming since my brief time as a Computer Engineering major in college. Indie Game: The Movie fixed that. They were on tour before their video release and Indie City Games and IGDA: Chicago hooked them into a stop in Chicago. Like a lot of you, most likely, I loved the crap out of it. It was only a few days later I plunged into Unity 3D and realized that making a game was way more possible then I imagined.
About 7 months later, many lessons learned the hard way, and many design revisions and I've released my first game that I can call "my own" (as much as a single developer can claim to have done it on his own. There are always helpers, testers, and supporters along the way. Or at least there should be).
Try it out. Have some fun. Blow up wads of paper:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/MooCowG/jupiter-jerrys-tour-of-the-kuiper-beltTo those of you that got all the way to the end: Thanks for reading. For those of you that didn't (even though you won't read this anyway): Thanks for starting. Sorry about the length.
I think that's about it.
Cheers everyone! I hope to meet some of you in one way or another.
Gerald Kelley
www.geraldp.net