Paper Disc to Real Code

My first attempt at making a video game was as a kid cutting a piece of paper into the shape of a disc and scribbling a title across it.

I don’t remember exactly how old I was. But I was definitely old enough to know that putting a piece of loose leaf into a PS2 wouldn’t magically turn it into a game.

At least… I should’ve been.

The Gap Between Interest and Ability

Whether it was vanquishing Heartless in Kingdom Hearts or catching Pokémon, video games could keep me immersed for hours.

I would often imagine myself living in those worlds.

And at some point, I wanted to be able to make my own.

Like most kids, my imagination was bigger than my abilities. My mind was bursting with ideas with no way to translate them.

There was a time during my childhood that I remember my mom buying a game development book for me and my brothers. But, I was intimidated by the work it took to make a game and went back to just imagining.

The Message That Changed It

I still enjoy games now as an adult. But as my tastes and priorities have shifted over the years, that original intensity has faded.

I still play. Just not as frequently as I used to.

Then one of my friends messaged me.

He sent a link to a Twitter post (I don’t know if I will ever get used to “X”) for a vibe coding game contest.

It caught my attention so I took a look.

Why I’m Doing It Anyway

That link made me consider something I have not seriously thought about since my childhood: game development.

What really piqued my interest was that this contest could help me learn a skill I’m lacking: using AI to create something.

I’ve been learning programming seriously for the past year and a half. But outside of asking ChatGPT questions, I have never really used it to develop anything.

This feels like an opportunity to do two things at once:

• follow through on something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid
• develop a useful skill

What This Is (and What It Isn’t)

My goal isn’t to build the next Super Mario.

It’s about developing skills and showing myself that I’m capable of going beyond my limits.

My goal is to:

• experiment
• figure things out in real time
• build without overplanning

There’s a good chance it’ll be messy. Probably frustrating at times.

But that’s kind of the point.

What I Expect

Right now, I have zero clue what I want to make.

I have no idea what will work.

I don’t know what the end result will look like.

All I know is that I’ll be further along than I am right now.

Where This Goes

I’m going to document the process as it happens:

• the ideas
• the mistakes
• what works
• what doesn’t

Who knows if I’ll make something actually good.

If I don’t, I’ll still get valuable learning experience from it.

The chance to win some extra cash doesn’t hurt either.