My Introduction

Hello all!

My name is Graham and this is my first time attempting any sort of blog. To be honest, I've always been a little apprehensive about social media. I got tired of getting notifications from facebook asking me to try "birthdays" or some such nonsense. So I always stayed away. I think that was until I found something that, in my opinion, is worth writing about. That's not to say nothing else is, but I think you get the point.

I've always loved video games. I know that a lot of people see it as "a waste of time" or "too nerdy" or "for losers." I have also known kids when I was growing up that weren't allowed to play. Bogus rumors of it "rotting your brain" or some such nonsense. I loved them as a kid for the obvious reason, but as I grew up I started appreciating them as an art form and it's the ultimate art form in my opinion.

Think about a painting that puts you inside the mind and gives you control of the main subject. Or a song that changes depending on what's happening around you. Actually that last one is a bit too... pretentious? I don't know, but I don't like that analogy. Barely makes sense if you think about it haha. Anyways, I DO know that everyone wonders what it's like to be in someone else's shoes, and with the right type of game and great programming, BOOM! You're someone else. Have you ever played the Sims? Millions of people have bought that game to take the dog out or empty the dishwasher, but you're someone else and it's fascinating.

So a natural assumption is that I would try to be a programmer or game developer, but that has never really been an option in my mind. It's always been too embarrassing for me. I couldn't bring it up to anyone cause I thought I'd be laughed at. Called a nerd. Whatever. And don't go crazy cause I said that! I'm not saying it IS embarrassing, I'm saying I WAS embarrassed. Just me. Plus think about trying to ask a girl out or something and having to say "Yeah I make video games." That's not a deal breaker, but it probably won't help things.

Then I got to college. Yeeesh. I'm lucky that my parents are so patient because I flip flopped on majors like nobody's business. Nobodies business? I'm not sure how that phrase works... Anyways, I was a psychology major, then engineering, premed, business, russian, etc... finally got back to business recently because it's the most practical. You can work in any industry. (If Russian seems out of place, it's because I speak Russian. I lived there for 2 years on a service mission for my church.) So right know I'm attending Brigham Young University in Utah majoring in Business, double majoring in Russian (because I lived there for so long they won't let me minor in it...), and minoring in Computer Science (you know, practicality.)

This is getting long so let me get to my original point. My first day of computer science classes I was blown away by how much I loved it. I know it was the first day, but I got this feeling that this was something I could do and would love to do. I was also blown away by how much I HATED my Russian literature class. So I quickly forgot about Russian and decided to dedicate myself to business and computer science.

I was laying in my bed one night playing "Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes." on my ipad. It was a fun enough game but I had to go to bed and a thought dawned on me. Why can't I do that?! It was simple enough. Probably not TOO complicated. I could totally make a game like that!

I should back up a bit. I had a buddy that I was in Russia with that loved to fill the time we spent roaming the streets looking for people to talk to with thoughts about cool movies and stories he thought of. This got my creative juices going, so I came up with some ideas on my own. But they weren't movies they were of course - video games. I came up with one idea that I thought would be amazing. Everytime I play a game, I have a list of things I would have done differently. Something I didn't like that I would change. Like when you learn about some secret society of knights in an RPG or something, I bet you think "Why can't I join those knights?!" From that list, I created my perfect game in my head. That's what I told my buddy about.

Up until that thought of "Why can't I make that game?!" the thought of my perfect game was a dream that I thought maybe someday I could suggest to someone and they could make it. I thought of the 3D graphics and polished feel of games produced by big companies. But what makes a game great isn't the graphics, it's the gameplay and the story. Don't get me wrong, the graphics help, but you can still make a pretty game without all the 3D bells and whistles. I've played plenty of them.

So in that moment, I decided that I wanted to make my game. Don't get me wrong, I know it will take a lot of work and dedication. I wanted to learn what I needed to, so I could contribute to the gaming world and become a member of the gaming community. This blog is one of my first steps. I want to become more involved in this community, and this is my way of reaching out.

Also, this is where the title of my blog comes from. "The Developing Student." I'm sure you can get the point. I'm developing myself as a student of programming and games, and becoming a student of the development process. Anyways, I promise the other posts will be shorter, I just wanted to let you know a little about me. I hope you enjoy this blog as I talk about "One man's journey to creating the Indie game of his dreams." That, by the way, would be the subtitle to my blog if I could figure out how to put one on there... Not a great start to my career with computers haha.