I'm not sure if many people (or anyone!) noticed, but I recently updated this website to have a more modern look, and to better represent the work I've done over the last few years.

So far, so good, I think. I like the way everything looks and functions, and in terms of updating old content, I'm about 95% there. As of this writing, all that's really left to do is update my "techniques" page, and maybe update some of my old GameMaker examples/tutorials to GameMaker: Studio.

Speaking of GameMaker, part of the site changeover had me going back and reviewing a lot of the old art and games I've produced, and that got me feeling nostalgic- particularly the part where I went through all of my old GameMaker Community forum avatars. That really took me back and got me thinking about all the fun I had at the GMC back then. The personalities of that place! The goofy games everyone made! The strict rules of the forum! Ah, man.

I created my first big game, Hover Tank 3D, and released it on the GameMaker Community in January 2006. I had spent the better part of 2005 working on that game in my spare time. I even briefly gave up on it at one point when the online system I was using, which depended on another user's web service, suddenly stopped working, and I was faced with taking the entire multiplayer portion of the game back to the drawing board.

During the time I created Hover Tank 3D, I had a really crummy job. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad, but the pay was terrible. One of the perks of the job was that my boss would let us skip lunch and then go home early, so I got quite used to going home early and having an extended afternoon of game dev. And even though things are a lot better now than they were then, I do still look back on the amount of time I had to devote to my game development efforts with a little bit of envy.

I have gotten to load up some of my old projects in GameMaker: Studio lately, and after finagling with them to make them work in the newer version of the program, it's been fun seeing them come to life again. I have an idea about merging the new physics engine with a game like Hover Tank 3D to make something a little more accurate than the old game... but we'll see if I can find the time to put it together. In the meantime, it's been fun remembering all the fun of the past.

Anyway, if you do happen to read my blog occasionally, and you've come back to check out the new design, I hope you like it, and thanks for reading. And if you have any fun stories about the old days of the GMC, feel free to post them in the comments. I'd love to hear them!