My first foray into game design

I realise this has absolutely nothing to do with Doctor Who, but bear with me because I wanted to talk about this. (Pleaaaaaseeeeeeeeeee?)

For the past couple of years, I've been extremely confused as to what I actually want to do once I've finished college. I was interested in graphic design (drawing being one of my favourite things to do in my free time) but that would've been a waste of my abilities in coding and maths. I wanted to become an animator at one point, but somehow it didn't feel very satisfying.

This confusion resolved itself only this year (sort of), when I realised that making games would be a perfect fusion of both my art and math skills. The coding and level design side of things would engage me intellectually, ensuring that the world is consistent with the character's abilities and the game is fun to play (kind of the whole point), while the art would be a fun side aspect of the thing. Plus, I've been playing games since I was 5. I've amassed a sizable collection of discs and cartridges (much to the detriment of my parents' wallets), currently stuffed into a drawer of its own. But, I thought to myself, where to begin?

After a few minutes of dedicated, intensive Googling, I discovered the imaginatively-titled Game Maker Studio 2. I excitedly registered and opened the program, only to find myself staring into a black void of unfulfilled potential. Perhaps, I thought, I'd be better off starting with the tutorials.

To my dismay, the tutorials were about a simple arcade-style shooter, as opposed to a platformer (a brilliant genre if done right). I downloaded the file anyway and began following the instructions. The sprites (character models) for the player and enemies had already been provided, but I wanted to create my own. Short of original ideas, I just sketched an overhead view of Sonic the Hedgehog and the EggRobos from Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Why Sonic? Well, I was bored and he's my favourite video game character, so my whole brain went "What the hell." (There's the obligatory Who reference out of the way.)

I tested the game at every possible point, making sure there were no glitches that could break the game. I added additional functions, like a lives system, a title screen and music. Finishing the project in the span of a Sunday afternoon, I titled my creation: "Sonic the Hedgehog Shooter Thing".
(Bit anticlimactic, isn't it?)

Without further ado:

I was incredibly proud of myself. I'd finally made a game of my own, with my own flourishes and design choices (static screen instead of moving one). Just yesterday, I downloaded a sample version of the tutorial project, to see what it was like. How could I, a mere amateur, compare to seasoned game developers who'd made an engine to help the novices reach their level?

Short version: It was awful.
Long, analytical version:

• The camera was too close to the player, meaning enemies'd pop out randomly and the player would have no time to react at all.
• Enemies were not generated one at a time, but rather in gigantic clusters, making the player even MORE likely to get killed.
• There were power-ups, but they would time out after about one second, making them completely worthless.

So, I was even more proud of myself than before. Maybe this is just my own arrogance clouding my judgement (believe me, it wouldn't be the first time) but I honestly thought I did a better job at the base mechanics of the genre. Hooray for me, I guess?

I'm excited to try out new things with this engine in whatever spare time I get (in Grade 10, spare time is scarce). 

(Er, um, this is the end bit. I have no idea what to say here. Um, bye!)