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Jan 2009, myself and the entire staff were laid off from my first software dev job due to the financial crash and outsourcing to Russia and India. Became very disillusioned with being a dev and took a part time office job for a couple of years, basically achieving nothing :(
Eventually started looking for entry level game dev positions, went for a few interviews at very well known studios all over the UK - I was willing to upend my life and relocate alone.
Despite qualifying from university with a computer science degree and having 2 years experience in business software, every single one said I didn't have enough experience for a *graduate role*.
Fast getting fed up of the whole thing, I thought I'd apply for a business software dev role locally instead. Another graduate role, I made it to the final 6 candidates out of 180 applicants.
Turns out we had to go through a further 6 hour interview process in competition with each other, for 3 spaces that were available.
I apparently just missed out to 3 other candidates who were far more qualified than myself and shouldn't have been applying for graduate positions, but that was all they could get through to in the job market of the time.
Apparently I really did only just miss out though, as the same company had me back in for another 2 interviews (same role, different department, so they wanted to interview me themselves). Eventually I got the job and it turned out to be a fantastic place to work!
I learned a hell of a lot. My previous dev role had consisted of about 2 weeks of coding across 2 years as it was a consultancy that couldn't find any work other than writing documentation (which is why I went off the profession).
In 3 years I went from graduate to senior to tech lead and it was possibly the best working experience I'll ever have.
Things change, people move on, faces change. Eventually I was given the opportunity to go self-employed as a contractor elsewhere thanks to the people and connections I'd made. It was a great challenge to take on, but more importantly it paid a bit too well!
It was this change in financial circumstances that let me start commissioning some work for King under the Mountain (and therefore it was the birth of the project) - concept art from @AnthonyAvonArt , sprites from @24andahalf and music from talented composers (@jordanchinmusic)
The idea for the game took shape in 2015 and it was 2016 that I really put a lot of effort into it thanks to the inspiration of working with these talented people.
In Feb 2017 I exhibited the game, on my own, for the very first time with an incredibly early build. I was on a stand adjacent to @motiontwin and they were extremely welcoming and supportive of me panicking a bit on my own (congrats on the amazing game guys!)
The following month I went to EGX Rezzed with some friends, my wife and @jordanchinmusic
It was an incredible experience to see people play (and enjoy!) the game, And at the same time (in hindsight, a mistake to do it at exactly the same time) the game launched on Kickstarter!
It was an incredible experience to see people play (and enjoy!) the game, And at the same time (in hindsight, a mistake to do it at exactly the same time) the game launched on Kickstarter!
It turns out it's incredibly difficult to find success with digital games on Kickstarter these days. I was hoping to raise enough funds to work full time on the game for a while and really get it ready for release. The campaign didn't reach its target.
That was May 2017. I was due to move house in June and my first child was due to be born in August and I knew I wouldn't be able to fulfil the demands of an extremely ambitious hobby project while managing all that and holding down a full time job, so I regrettably put it on hold
By the beginning of 2018 things were starting to get back into a sensible routine (boy was I right to put everything on hold while having a baby!) so I got back into gamedev here and there where I could, but it was extremely tough to find any free time at all.
I put everything in to having another crack at Kickstarter taking everything I'd learned with a much lower funding goal. It was a success! Not a gigantic success, but big enough that I've been able to really dedicate a lot of time to the game.
Now it's the start of 2019, and in a couple of weeks kingunderthemounta.in will be on properly on sale for the first time as a first alpha release. It's always been my dream project and it's been an absolute joy to be able to make it come to life.
What a complete turnaround from 2009! The younger me would never have believed it'd turned out like this :) Here's to the next few years and bringing this dream to completion! threadreaderapp.com/thread/1085909…
