I'm a software developer by day and a game developer by night! I made some games when I was in college, but I didn't really finish any one of them -- they were all more kind of a proof of concept. I started working about a year ago in software, and I liked it at first, but now it's become boring. I enjoy way more returning home and thinking about crazy stories and game ideas,
A few months ago, I was watching a video on the GMTK's channel and noticed he cited a book called I "A Game Design Vocabulary", by Anna Anthropy & Naomi Clark (which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the topic). I was curious about it, so I bought it and read it entirely. I was amazed at how much incredibly interesting stuff I had been missing out on all this time, so I bought a couple more books, read them, and then started looking for game design patterns in games like Portal and The Stanley Parable.
I quickly fell in love with the notion, and decided to give a game jam a shot. My first jam took place a couple of months ago, and I did not win, but I did meet some unbelievably talented and kind people, two of which joined me again for this jam! I've played so many awesome games, met so many interesting people, and been infected with so much passion by the community that I can only say I know I'm on the right path.
Games are truly amazing. You can imagine anything you want, draw/design it on a whiteboard, and bring it to life by yourself, or perhaps with a little help from your friends ;). And the best part?
It is so damn fun.