Last year during my Christmas break, I had an itch to start a new side project. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to work on, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be another website. I manage a web development team by trade, so I needed something different and challenging.
While enjoying the time off, I was playing with my Nintendo Switch and downloaded Blossom Tales. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s an indie title that can best be described as Zelda: A Link to the Past, but with slightly less charm. Blossom Tales reminded me how fun old-school video games were. Growing up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I had always imagined how much fun it would be to make a video game. At the time, it didn’t seem like an achievable goal. Where would I even start? What would I need? Without the internet, this dream, like many others from that era, ended before it began.
Inspired by memories of childhood games and motivated by my desire to dive into a new project, I decided to finally build my first video game.
I had no experience making video games, I didn’t know any of the required programming languages, and I had no artistic talent. Additionally, I had a full-time job, a toddler, and a pregnant wife. These were all the ingredients needed for the perfect procrastination cocktail, but I was determined to overcome all obstacles in my way.
Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to come up with a solid concept. It started with me stumbling upon this post about making gooey cheese for a pizza model in 3D software. I don’t recall the exact reason that I landed on that page, but I do remember testing out Blender 3D at the time.