Welcome to my blog !

I’m really happy you clicked on this page, because it means you care about me more than most people do.

I have to apologize for potentially disappointing you, though—I don’t have any impressive game releases to show you yet. But since you’re already here, why not take a look at my story? You might find it interesting.

I’m not sure where to start. Even though I’m an independent game developer, my background is pretty messy.

Hmm… I’m not a developer with a computer science, game development, or related degree. I only stayed in school for about eight and a half years. I didn’t even finish my nine years of compulsory education before I left. I started working when I was 15 years old.

My first job was as a welder. That sounds like it’s a million miles away from game development, but that’s what’s fun about life—you never know what tomorrow will bring. I stuck with that job for several years, going from an apprentice all the way up to a master craftsman. It was incredibly tough.

I didn’t like the work, it was far from my interests. I loved art, I loved drawing, and I once dreamed of becoming a painter. But now, instead of a brush, I was holding a welding torch. I felt lost, not knowing where my future lay. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep going or when it would end.

Just as I was agonizing over what to do, fate made the decision for me—I developed epilepsy!

The doctor couldn’t figure out the cause, but I suspect it was due to the radiation from the welding torch. Because of this, I couldn’t continue the job, it was too dangerous. The workshop environment was complicated, and if I had a seizure, no one could guarantee my safety.

That time was one of intense anxiety—more than ever before. I felt like my life was over, ruined by epilepsy. But everything has two sides: a bad side and a good side. The bad side was that finding a new job would be extremely hard. Who would hire an epileptic patient who couldn’t even fully take care of themselves? Since finding a job was difficult, I decided not to look for one! And that was the good side—I didn’t have to go back to welding.

I used the money I’d earned from welding to buy a low-spec computer. I wanted to teach myself Photoshop and graphic design. Graphic design was obviously much safer than a welding environment, and it was something I was genuinely interested in. Later, I found a graphic design job near my home. It was actually a very small advertising shop, where I mostly designed business cards and signboards. The pay was low, but I loved the work.

A year later, I grew tired of the lack of challenge in that job. I wanted to learn game development.
Reader: Wait, I thought you wanted to be a painter?
Me: Hahahaha! Besides drawing, I also loved playing video games when I was a kid. If I had to choose one, I would definitely pick games!

Back then, my favorite console wasn’t the Nintendo series, it was the SEGA MEGADRIVE. And my favorite company wasn’t Nintendo either, but TREASURE, especially Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier. Gunstar Heroes is very similar to KONAMI’s Contra - Hard Corps, both having top-tier audio-visual presentation. Honestly, without the MEGADRIVE and TREASURE, I don’t know where I’d be right now.

Eventually, I quit the ad shop to teach myself game development.
Reader: Why do you always teach yourself? Wouldn’t a training course be faster?
Me: Simple. Because I didn’t have any money. Hahahaha!

This was clearly going to be a long and difficult road. I didn’t even know if I could learn it, to be honest, I was a little nervous. But whatever, I had plenty of time to try.

I self-studied C language programming for about a year, but it was incredibly disheartening. I made virtually no progress. I still couldn’t write any decent programs, only printing “hello world” in the console. Games have dynamic graphics, but I had no idea how those images were displayed using code. At the same time, my family started getting annoyed at me for staying home all the time and not working. They knew nothing about computers and assumed I was just playing games all day, thinking I was unmotivated and doing nothing serious. If I were still an epileptic patient, my family probably wouldn’t have bothered me, but strangely, my epilepsy had healed without treatment. Since I was well again, it was time to go back to work.

Under family pressure, I finally gave up on self-studying programming. But I didn’t want to do graphic design, and I definitely didn’t want to go back to the factory. An online friend suggested I learn home furnishing visualization (3D renderings). I looked into it and was quite interested, so I switched to self-studying home rendering, specifically 3DMAX. Because I was naturally interested in visual design, I picked it up fast. After only three months, I found a job as an interior designer. All my colleagues had university degrees. I only had an elementary school education. While I felt a bit inferior, I was also proud—I could work alongside university graduates!

This sense of pride only lasted for a year, unfortunately. I discovered that interior design was very different from what I imagined, it felt more like being a salesperson than a designer. I’m quite introverted, so I wasn’t really suited for the job, and I quit again.

For the next six months after quitting, I drifted aimlessly, not knowing what to do next.

When people are idle, they tend to look for something to do. I heard that the Game Maker engine was pretty easy to use and didn’t require coding, so I started messing around with it. In the process, I realized that to achieve certain effects, you still had to write GML scripts. Somehow, I suddenly had a “lightbulb moment” with code! I could write code now! This was incredibly exciting. Did all that C language I studied unconsciously sink in? I didn’t care about the reason. I just wanted to be happy about it.

I made a small demo with Game Maker and showed it to a developer friend online. He was surprised I managed to make a demo and suggested I switch to the Unity game engine.

Once you unlock the secret of code, learning other programming languages is much faster. Within a few months, I had made a demo using the Unity engine. Relying on that demo, I found a job in game development. I will never forget that day. I, the person constantly criticized by my family for being unmotivated, finally had my moment of triumph. That offer felt like receiving a university acceptance letter. From that point on, I officially entered the game development industry.

The road ahead will surely be tough, but for me, the hardest days are already behind me.