OldSky

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Welcome to OldSky! On this website, I will introduce you to the many things that have inspired me to pursue game development over the years. To start let's discuss the popular creator site Newgrounds.com.

What is Newgrounds?

Newgrounds is a website that hosts user-created content such as games, art, movies, and music.

Newgrounds has gone through quite the journey since it's creation in 1998. There were a few variations of the site before 1998 which were meant to host the creators' flash content. Once people started showing interest in posting their own content to the site in 1999, the website gradually took off from there. Users of the site would post their Flash content through the Portal where a html page would be created to showcase it. Soon Newgrounds automated this process and the submissions became even more frequent.

Why I care

Although I never posted content to Newgrounds myself, the website allowed me to keep up with creators who showed a real passion for game development just for the sake of it. Users weren't incentivized to post games for monetary reasons, they simply made content for themselves and the community to enjoy. This site helped foster my passion for game development because it showed me that anyone can make a game.

Want to learn more?

For more detailed information about Newgrounds, I encourage you to visit their wiki at https://www.newgrounds.com/wiki. All the info mentioned here was sourced from the wiki.

See all the games I find inspiring!

Stardew Valley

A single developer spent 4+ years making this masterpiece. It goes to show that one doesn’t need a large team to create a spectacular game. All one needs is time and passion for their project to create something wonderful.

Minecraft

A simple game that had insane success. One of my favorite aspects of Minecraft is the community that’s built up behind it. Minecraft at its core is a very simple sandbox game but the modding community can completely transform it into a game that suits anyone’s preference.

Hypnospace Outlaw

This game possesses the ability to make me nostalgic for an era I never lived through. It demonstrates the ability a game possesses to fully immerse a player into the world that they’ve created.

Thomas Was Alone

Simple graphics. Clever storytelling. This game demonstrates that graphics is not always the end all be all in a game. You don't have to be an artist to make a quality game. Elements such as music or narration can make a game just as interesting as one with fancy graphics.

Just Shapes and Beats

Yet another game that demonstrates how focusing on elements of game design besides graphics can create a fun experience.

Want to stop procrastinating on that personal project you promised you'd start and just make something already?

Join a game jam today!

If you aren’t familiar, game jams are an event where creators are given a very limited amount of time to create a game revolving around a specific theme. There are many different types of game jams. In some jams, the winners may receive a cash prize. In others, the game can be specially promoted through a popular site. And most are just meant to motivate the game making community to, well, make games.

Game jams were another great place of inspiration for me. The amount of work that creators can chug out in such small bouts of time is quite a spectacle to see.

One game jam that I followed was the Brackeys game jam, which ended when Brackeys officially left his YouTube channel.

Check out the Brackeys Game Jam #2 game submissions here.

I’ve also browsed itch.io's vast assortment of game jam submissions from time to time. They even have a jam calendar for developers to view and join game jams at any time.

Before becoming a UCSD student, I had been teaching myself how to program. During that time, visiting help forums became essential for me to learn about different tips and tricks of coding. Viewing the code solutions that others had posted also helped me start to familiarize myself with common coding practices. Even after enrolling in college I still frequented help sites often.

Sometimes it’s better to have someone explain something to you in simple terms rather than wrestle with a complicated definition you’d find in a textbook.

Stack Overflow isn't the only site I use. I often reference program-specific help forums when I'm using software like unity or blender.

I also frequent discord servers that have dedicated help channels to allow good-natured professionals to work alongside and teach beginners like me.