Anyone who has regularly visited Pantarbica (and to those who have: “Thank you!”) has noticed that I haven’t done much with this blog for a long time. Here is the answer to what has preoccupied my attention away from this site.
Game Design
All my life games and the ability to just play have been as important to me as being creative or pursuing other career paths, which have given me a diverse skill set. While I have had reasonable paying jobs, enjoyed various creative activities like music or writing, and started web sites like this one, something seemed to me to be missing. As a recreational gamer, I maintain a circle of good friends who still meet to play games; we like role playing games which exercise our abilities to participate in interactive stories. Alone I would challenge myself to video games. Yet, I did these games for fun. It never occurred to me to transform my hobby into a profession.
Until 2017, when I investigated an ad that I saw for learning about creating games. The next thing I knew, I was talking to someone at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florinda, about my potential as a game designer. He was convinced that I had the appropriate background, and I began to envision future possibilities. Through our conversation, my passion for games married my assorted other work experiences and skills in my mind. I said to myself, I can do this!
For the next two and a half years, I was an online student in their game design program. I learned the basics of producing a fun game, mixing certain game mechanics and story elements so the player has a rewarding experience – win, or lose. Last year, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Game Design. However, the world changed…
Starting At Home
…And so did my life. Until the spring of 2020, I had a position in the food industry. When the Covid-19 pandemic spread with increasing death counts, I found myself hunkering at home to be safe than sorry. After several week of this, the people for whom I had been working seemed to weary of paying me and I was let go. An understandable business choice of their part. I was happy to have guaranteed free time to complete the game design degree with its final big project – a video game I put together with a good team of fellow students.
During the past year as the pandemic cycled through its surges, I have remained unemployed. I have spent the time working in my own space as an independent game person or indie developer. Many of the software tools I need are here at home already. With them, I have a few game projects in varying stages, mostly using the Unity3D game engine with C# scripting, but I am exploring other game creating systems as well. Throughout, I reflect on the creative process, how making games often draws upon various media and that for me game design merges what I have previously learned.
I’m Back
Moving forward, I intend to post my thoughts about games – my interactive form of expression – and creativity. When others have written better than me, I will curate their articles here, perhaps including samples of their media, and adding relevant links and links of interest to the list I maintain at this site.
pantarbica.com