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Comment by yelloworangefog | Hacker News Reader

That all rings pretty true for me. I wasn't a fan of math as a kid, or anything I associated with school really. I got into programming through Game Maker, because video games were something I legitimately cared about and liked. It pretty much changed my life and gave me something to aspire to.

Now that I've grown up, my primary interests lie in virtually all aspects of computer science, and I no longer consider making games to be much more than a hobby and passion project to spend my free time on. I only wish I'd have had a mentor of some kind in the world of CS, so that I could have gotten into it earlier in my childhood. Major props to you for being an awesome uncle :)

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Dude, hell yeah. Game Maker changed my life. I was so proud to be able to script my own stuff and be able to hang with the older kids in the irc channel. None of them believed an 11 year old was writing his own pure-GML games!

Now, decades later I’m finally pursuing that little dude’s dream, although games also lost their luster for me on the intervening years...

> although games also lost their luster for me on the intervening years...

Yeah. I still like writing small games from time to time, mainly just to serve as programming exercises or for fun if I'm bored. I had to accept at some point that I don't have the wide variety of skills needed to make my any of my dream games on my own (and also the time commitment to make a whole game by yourself can be insane). If I were to make a serious effort to do so, I'm pretty sure I would just be disappointed and feel as though I'd wasted my time because the final product wouldn't live up to my fantasy. To realistically do it, I'd need to either sacrifice a lot of creative control by collaborating with people, or wait until I've eventually acquired enough skill in the areas of art and music et cetera to pull it off by myself.

100% in the same boat, finally coming back to a bit of personal game dev. Just do a little every day (or a few times a week). Try sketching a couple things. Play D&D or any other more creative game to learn design. You're wayyyy more likely to make a good game if you set out to make 10, then waiting forever to make the one "good" one. Just keep trying and practicing.

Thanks, that's good advice. I do oftentimes get arrogant and overestimate my ability, when I get the game dev itch. As with anything, there are some things you can only learn from experience. I think I have a pretty good amount of experience in the "playing games" department, but I sometimes erroneously assume that it will directly translate into my ability to make a good game. I can't count the number of times I've spent like a week straight working on a game project I'm passionate about, only to be met with the sobering realization that I've set my sights too high. You're absolutely right that I'll be more likely to make a good game if I set out to make ten of them. I need to get better at planning projects I'll actually be able to finish.

Congratulations on living a young you’s dreams!! That’s an immensely cool accomplishment!!

Would that be the Game Maker from 1987, 1991, or 1999?

Ah, 1999.

Heck yeah, thank you for the kind words, and here’s to following your dreams :)

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