This is something that I wasn't so sure about just 8 weeks ago, but something I now believe more than ever.
Since leaving school so many years ago, I have struggled to find the right career path for me, I have always known that I was good at, and enjoyed art but translating that into a career is difficult.
I feel like I always knew that I was never going to be suited to the traditional daily grind of regular work, and my performance reviews from all my employments seem to confirm that. I now know that my undiagnosed ADHD was the reason that I have always found it difficult to complete certain tasks at work, and why my art has always had my undivided attention.
I have never been directly told this, but it has very often been implied by my employers that I am lazy, but this is so far from the truth. My art is the only thing that I have never been “lazy” at.
The truth of the matter is that I know my skill and would have no issue spending all of my time on it. If my previous employers expected me to make art non-stop, I would have glowing performance reviews.
This is what led me to game development.
I may have taken the long way around to get here but I am already falling in love with it. I have found myself wishing I could go back and tell my younger self that this is what she was meant to be doing all along.
I am so in awe of Unreal Engine. There is so much cool stuff that you can create inside the engine, and I feel like so far I am only scratching the surface of what can be achieved.
Just eight weeks ago, I started a Masters Degree in Indie Game Development, and I already feel like I have learned so much. I have developed one game already ,and I’m currently in the middle of my second one.
Just recently I learned how to create a school of fish using the Niagara particle system. I cannot describe to you the sense of achievement that I felt from that.
I sat for nearly an hour mesmerised by the swimming fish moving naturally across the screen
I have never felt more at home spending hours of my day in my office working on game development in Unreal Engine, and I am learning fast. This passion for games development is something that I share with my partner, Malcolm, who has decided to embark on this journey with me.
I wanted to create Hotel Outlaw so soon in this journey because I wanted to take you all along for the ride. To share the ups and the downs, and to share with you our passion for developing some fantastic games.
I hope you enjoy following along with our progress and I can’t wait to tell you more about the fantastic skills that I am learning. I am so excited for the future we are building and there are so many amazing ideas we are working on.
Also to anyone out there thinking it’s too late to retrain for their ideal job, it’s never too late. I am 40 and I have only just realised I am a game developer. We’ve got this!
Catch up soon.
Emma xx