Will I ever be able to develop my own video game?

January 12, 2025 - Reading time: 3 minutes

Since I was little, I have dreamed of developing my own video game. When I was 5 years old, I was given a NES with the Popeye video game, with the promise of having one of those machines from the bars at home. Obviously, I was fascinated: not by that title itself (although I played it a lot), but by others that I was able to play later, such as Super Mario Bros., Operation Wolf, DuckTales or Isolated Warrior, among others. It was clear to me that I wanted to work making video games.

I started to create a series of paper prototypes with my brothers, a series of screens and characters that, with established rules, we moved by role-playing as if they were a video game itself. It was absurd, but we invested a lot of time in those games, and we had a great time.

When I was able to get my own PC (when I was about 16), I started to try out some video game engines, RPG Maker, above all. I dreamed of creating all kinds of games, some extremely complex. Over time, I ended up shelving the idea and taking on more realistic projects like web pages and small programs. But the thorn was still there.

From time to time, I have been researching various technologies, such as Microsoft XNA, and I have even given lectures on video game development and some of the various engines available on the market, dreaming of being the one who finally decides to create something serious, once and for all...

It is true that I have created a video game: it was my final year project, and it was a kind of extended version of a game by another student, which inspired me. It was actually an application for children with hyperactivity camouflaged in a video game, and I developed it with web technology, thanks to the Phonegap framework (and the corresponding Cordova library).

A few years ago I decided that my first video games would revolve around the ninja theme, and it's quite possible that I'll end up doing something like that. At the time I wanted to do something with stop motion, but those were just dreams, and nothing serious materialized.

At the beginning of 2024, I decided to put my foot down and started planning something serious. But I can't stop wondering: should I attack the problem by going with what I really master, like web technologies? Should I do something simple using Unity or similar engines? I don't know, honestly. Maybe this blog is the push I need...