Hey everyone. Today I wondered how long I've been programming for. I started roughly around when I joined this website, so I decided to take a look at when I joined. Apparently it's been 6 years and I still haven't put out a 2D game similar to Zelda which is my goal. I have however created a windows phone game, tetris, pong, various tools, and I've learned a ton of information. What's funny is you can see my first post on gamedev and my posts looked just like the new guys that are posting in the For Beginners forum now. "Hell I even started a DirectX or OpenGL?" thread back then! I just found it interesting to see how much I've grown as a programmer (and somewhat in maturity based on my posts that look like a 7 year old wrote it!).

Anyone else notice this about themselves? (specifically with your posts on gamedev)

Yeah, I've noticed that. Heck, I still find myself doing that now - looking back at threads I've made even a month ago. Not specifically on GameDev though.

Years ago (I think I joined in the year 2000), I was extremely active here. Then I discovered bars. I have *one* completed game, a two-player tetris clone that you play with a special controller that forces you to arm-wrestle against your opponent. But I tend to have a problem with finishing projects, allowing myself to get bogged down in the final 20% and get distracted by a different hobby, something I inherited from my mother.

It's important to learn how to finish things. I'm starting to focus on much smaller things now. Every once in a while, just work on something that you know you can do in a weekend. You know you know all the parts. You are honest with yourself and don't say, "oh, but I could probably figure that one part out," because that one part is probably way more than you think it is.

But even if you don't finish a project, don't think of it as a waste of time. You still learned something in the process. Keep track of everything you do and review it periodically. You'll probably be surprised with just how much you actually do in a year.

Don't tell anyone but my original account here was banned because I started one (or two) of those stupid protest threads ("Locked thread? But I thought FREEDOM! Mods == Nazi!") after a moderator misunderstood one of my posts and decided to lock the thread and throw a bunch of petty insults at me.

How times have changed... I started this account about a year later I think. Don't tell the other mods that it's a duplicate of a banned member...

I wasn't on here as a student... but wow, looking back on some early posts I've forgotten how little I knew about many things as a beginner in the workplace!

My early posts in language-war threads are especially embarrassing...

Next year I'm going to change that, and release my first "indie" game (and engine)

Next year I'm going to change that, and release my first "indie" game (and engine)

^ At least finish software rasterizer for occlusion culling you have promised 10 months ago.

I have joined sometime in 2007, and then i was stupid, now i am a bit less stupid.

^ At least finish software rasterizer for occlusion culling you have promised 10 months ago.

It was a weak promise! And it will be in my open source engine repo next year when I'm using it in my game, probably

Eventually, I'd like to release my own open source version of this algorithm, but I've got other things to be working on at the moment.

Hi,

Becoming a member here was one of the best decisions of my career. I have been here for over a year now and I too have grown by leaps and bounds.

The knowledge and understanding gained here resulted in my being qualified to get an IT Consulting gig, establish realistic goals in game development, and continue on a team which is making a simulator that has been under development for quite a while, among other miscellaneous other opportunities made possible.

Yeah, very much so, my first posts on Gamedev were from when I just started learning C++ (over 10 years ago :))

Great to see I'm not the only one!

Hodgman's little story made me laugh haha.

Gamedev is definitely the best community I've encountered on the internet. When the day comes that I finish making my 2d rpg game....everyone here will know xD

I hate to think what my first few posts on here look like. That being said, I've learned a lot. I'm also not terribly active in game development now. I've got more than enough keeping me busy. I do like keeping my feelers out for things. Perhaps some day I'll actually make a video game (something better than kraken-smack, my contest entry I did a year and a half ago).