The Cake is a Lie Or: Why I Decided to Create My Own Videogame

The Cake is a Lie Or: Why I Decided to Create My Own Videogame

For as long as I can remember, I have been an avid reader. No, not the type of reader who would rather stay at home reading than go out with friends. No, not the type of reader who reads while walking down the street and then runs into a pole or parked car. I was both of those, and worse. My parents would actually ground me from reading as a punishment. I can tear through a book like a mutant killer shrew through a bad movie.

Or maybe a killer Muppet in dire need of braces.

The reason that I bring this up is because it explains my absolute LOVE for video games. I am just as fond of Commander Shepard as I am Harry Potter. Mordin’s death shook me up as much as when Hedwig died. Link’s quest in “The Ocarina of Time” is every bit as engrossing as anything Diana Wynne Jones, Anne McCaffrey, or Mercedes Lackey have written.

For me with reading, it is the story that hooks me in. Writing style certainly affects how quickly I read, or how easily I comprehend what is being said, but it doesn’t throw me off of a story that is truly compelling.

Unless it's Twilight.

Stories have been probably the defining aspect of civilization. While speech most certainly developed so that we could more effectively communicate with each other, there would have been no need for us to develop words beyond the most simple of phrases. Primitive paintings found in caves around the world tell a story from literally thousands of years ago.

In the time frame of human civilization, video games are one of the newer kids on the block. The earliest video games (like Pong, Asteroids, and Super Mario Bros), were only about the game play because there really wasn’t anything else. Without the ability to save your game, stories had to be either compressed into such a small portion that it could be told in five minutes or so, or just thrown out altogether.

This movie, though, is an abomination.

The issue facing video games today, though, is that many people still consider them to be those simple games. And there are still games like that today. The entire market of casual games is the perfect example. But not every video game has stayed at the same level as Candy Crush.

Which is why I say that the cake is a lie. My love for stories has led me to try and write stories of my own. But I’ve constantly been defeated by a combination of my own inability to keep writing and my discontent with what I had written. And while I have been an avid video game player, I had never even considered that I could create my own game.

And then, suddenly, I was hit by a lightning bolt. I came across a program that did most of the complex programming, and it opened up the possibilities for me to be able to craft my own story. But it wouldn’t require just writing. I would need to be able to draw out characters. I would need to be able to craft the music. And I would need to be able to find the story to create my game around. Which is what I absolutely love to do.