When Gamers Grow Up To Be Programmers: Happy Birthday Nintendo

"What I think it comes down to is the awakening that happens within the gamer at the point when he/she realizes that the power to create these systems of sheer fun is within their own reach. This moment of awakening spawns a young developer that will work tirelessly to learn the very system that they have enjoy manipulating with a controller."

There's a lot to be said here. Do you remember how you felt the first time you programmed something? Whether it was a BASIC math script, hacking a TI-82 game or an HTML page, do you remember the joy you found when "it actually worked?!" Having been a programmer for 10 years, I still get that feeling when I see something I wrote working.

I've often thought there was something special about early video games in the NES era that fostered a generation of great problem solvers. NES taught us tenacity by kicking us back to the start of a level if you died halfway through--no checkpoints every 5 minutes. Games made us apply puzzle logic to proceed--making all the pieces fit, in the right order, to achieve success. Programming is the exactly that.

I got my start in programming thanks to the Gameshark for N64. It taught me the underpinnings of what went into making what went on screen, thus leading me to build a website focused on hacking Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time with Gameshark where we found pieces of the game removed from the final playable version. That awakening was invaluable to my professional career.

I received an NES with Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when I was in the second grade. I had decided that I wanted to make video games for a living by the end of the day. That didn't quite work out, but I'd bet there are a lot of developers like me out there who started programming for the same reason. Only thing is, I wonder if it still works for kids these days. It was pretty easy for one person to whip up something fun and nearly professional in 1990, but I think one might be discouraged when he finds out just how much goes into making something like Halo.