I am a British-Irish indie game developer with many titles published on mobile app stores and online gaming portals. Developing games allows me to create interactive experiences that I can share with the world.
Professionally I have had many roles, including SEO analyst, apprentice web developer and even a studio assistant at an arts organisation.
I am currently seeking an opportunity to develop my passion into a successful career in the games industry.
As a child, I always knew I wanted to make games. I didn’t know how to program yet, so I just drew them on paper. One birthday I got a copy of The 3D Game Maker (by The Game Creators) which allowed me to create very basic games of my own.
When I was slightly older, I found out about Game Maker 6 (now Game Maker Studio). This allowed me to make better games using its own built-in programming language Game Maker Language (GML). I even published my first game called Bob The Box on my very own website, Magic Monkeys. It was a simple 2D platform game where you went from area to area collecting coins.
The trouble with Game Maker at the time was it could only export as executables (.exe). My friends would have to download it from my website to play. “Why can’t we just play it in the browser” they said. We always used to play Flash games at lunchtime, so I decided to start creating my own. My Magic Monkeys website was also turned into a Flash game portal with other people’s creations.
During this time, I also made maps for games such as Warcraft III. I would host my levels on Battle.net and play with other people. It was an exciting experience seeing others enjoy my creations in real-time, especially since they never knew they were playing with the creator. I even snuck in a few hidden secrets and easter eggs (which I still do).
When it became clear Flash was a sinking ship thanks to the iPhone’s lack of support and the numerous security issues, I decided to do nothing. I kept making games for the same platform I had always enjoyed creating for. It wasn’t until Unity released a free version that I finally decided to jump ship.
Since this was a big change, I decided to create a new website and brand for my games going forward. I called it Game Scarab. I am still making games using Unity and will be for the foreseeable future.