Welcome :) I’m Mike or Cooptayto

Ever since I was young I’ve been interested in programming and video games. My dad came home one day with a DOS machine, I think a 386 or a 486 and I was instantly enamoured. I have no idea how I figured out how to use a CLI as a 6 year old but I was spending all the time I was allowed on the machine. I learned about QBasic and wrote my own little adventure stories.

Since those days, I’ve always had an interest in game design. I actually completed a Bachelor of Computer Games at university, but unfortunately was a bit timid due to the industry conditions I’d heard about and opted for a career in enterprise software instead. Although that career came with stability, better conditions and better pay, it turns out that it was incredibly dry and didn’t really ignite passion in me once I was in the career rhythm of the work (You can only be so interested in design systems and drop down menus for so long).

At this point, I figure life is far too short to spend so much time doing something that just feels like a checkbox if you can actually afford to take risks and do something that might make you a whole lot happier. I’m no longer in my corporate software job and have commited a significant of my free time towards game development with a hope that my wife and I could find a sustainable path forward in making our own games and sharing stories and fun with other people.

For now though, that’s a lot further down the road than where we are now, right now we are looking to build small games, develop our skills and capitalise on feedback to become the best possible indie devs we can be.

I will primarily use this blog to talk about game dev progress as I progress through gamedev.tv’s Ultimate Indie program.

Finally, please consider checking out my wife’s blog for her thoughts through this process as well!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and here’s to crafting great experiences!