Actually, a lot of things are like this...

When you learn to drive a car, you start all nervous on your L plates. You play it safe, ask lots of questions, and drive well under the speed limit by accident. Then you get your P plates (at least, this is how it works in Australia). All of a sudden, you have no supervisor, a higher maximum speed limit, and previously unknown independence. You gain confidence, start to push boundaries, show off a lot, and generally think you're unbeatable.

Then something happens. Maybe a close call, maybe a crash. Maybe just further general experience.

It may not even directly happen to you, but for whatever reason, you suddenly realise you are far more inexperienced than you thought. You slow down, you take your time, you accept that you never stop learning. You are humbled, and what you do next can either broaden your horizons, or close them off forever (in this field, anyway).

I have recently been given some programming code by people who are professionals. I can follow it, even though it's an unfamiliar language, and I'm proud of that fact. However, I can also see a level of professionalism in their work that I have yet to attain. I have been programming, almost entirely self-taught, for over ten years. But, until now, I have never really seen how a professional does it. I am humbled, I realise I have far more to learn than I thought, even after so long. What will I do about it? If I'm serious about programming as a career, I need to use this as a spring-board for my education. I could let it depress me, but then I'd have nothing left. So my only choice is to improve.

And I actually feel pretty good about it.

I forgot to title this post. New site!

So, some people (Ha, I lie. *One* person. I don't have that many players yet.) have expressed dissatisfaction at my continued use of divShare. Well, stuff divshare! I am now the proud owner of a website! A small, free, thing that uses a template, but a site nonetheless! There are no waiting periods for downloads! Yay!

Unless, of course, I run out of bandwidth, but that's 100 gigs per month. Plenty, plenty.

I am now plunging head-first into the weird world of making web pages. It's not pretty. I wouldn't want to live there. But I must admit, I find it interesting.

Here 'tis!

Whew!

I was hoping this whole thing would be easy, but I spent half an hour trying to come up with a name for the blog. And what did I end up with? "Albey Amakiir's Game Development". Oh well.

Anyway.

I'm Albey. Hi. *Waves* I've been designing games for yonks, but I have yet to release anything. There's a good reason for this, in the form of some very good advice I once read. It was something like "In any creative endeavour, NEVER release your first completed piece. You may think it is wonderful, but you will regret it later." Well, that may be good advice, but it wasn't really the only reason. I was also (and maybe still am) petrified by the possibility of public recognition, good or bad.

But, maybe this will be good for me.

So. My current game development status is as follows:
The Underground - 99% complete.
Unnamed game involving samurai - prototype 1 sort-of complete.

The Underground will not be released until GammaIV is over, as it will be an entry. Actually this brings me to my first piece of game design advice. If you can't get something done, make a deadline. If you still can't do it, use someone else's deadline. For example, join a competition. It seems to be working for me.

And with that, here's to a long and fruitful career as a game designer! Yay!