Game Dev Nation is a site for guys (and gals) who want to create mobile apps and games — but who have mortgages, day jobs, and kids who need shoes, so there’s no freakin’ way it’s gonna happen.
Unless you make it happen, even just a little bit at a time.
My name is J. A. Whye (most people call me Jay). I created computer games back in the days of the Apple II and at some point “strayed” off that path. Now I’m too old and too poor to switch careers back, but I still want to create my own games, so I’m going to make time for that to happen.
What’s intensely cool is that I stumbled upon a framework that makes creating your own mobile game so fast you won’t believe it. It’s called Solar2D and it’s a community-led project that’s completely free and open source (MIT license). Check out the Videos section of this site for some samples that will blow you away.
If you have a lot of time, go ahead and learn the intricacies of Swift and Xcode, or C# and Unity. But if you’re strapped for time like I am, but still want to create your own game for the iPhone, iPad, Android, Win/Mac desktop, TVs, etc., take a close look at Solar2D.
You’ll be glad you did!
(Screenshot above is from Crawl Space Games’ “Zombies Ala Mode” made in the early days with Solar2D.)
Update (August, 2015) Early this year I was asked to create a CS109 course for UAA that was based on Unity — and I jumped at the chance. Since then I’ve stuck with Unity due to that being what the school I’m attending is using — and I intend for them to hire me to teach game dev in a year or two so I’m focusing on Unity. I love Solar2D, but I see the possibility of a career with Unity.
Update (August, 2020) The Unity course turned out awesome, but I missed Solar2D and have switched back to that. It’s so much faster to create games with Solar2D than anything else I’ve used. (And I’ve poked at a lot of game engines and frameworks.)