Side Project: Runner P

It's been a while since I've posted any updates so I wanted to explain what's been going on.

Last week, I published the game I've been working on for about 4 months, Runner P, onto my itch.io. It's an endless runner I made with the Unreal engine. I understand it seems a little weird to for me to juggle two different game projects so I'll do my best to explain. 

In my pursuit of getting a job as a game writer and/or narrative designer, I have seen applications and been asked in interviews if I have any experience in any prominent game engines. At the time, I could only say I was, at best, familiar with Unity and Unreal. In interviews, this seemed to always give a somewhat disappointed "Oh...I see..." response. I'm sure there were other reasons why I ended up not getting the job but my lack of experience in these kind of game engines felt like a significant one. 

When the Covid-19 pandemic reached the point of lockdown, I found this to be a good time to learn something new. So I decided to learn how to use Unreal to the point where I could make a complete game. I eventually became confident enough where I thought it would be a good challenge to give myself a deadline, the end of June, to finish making a game.

This game is nothing amazing, just a very simple endless runner. But I still feel very proud of myself, and my friend who helped me with the art assets and UI, for making it. It was a very educational experience for us both and helped us have a better understanding of game development and design. I think back on some of the most frustrating, complicated issues and I realize how much I learned from it (especially patience). I also learned a better development process that I can apply to Wayfarers. Now that I'm down with Runner P, I can say in interview that I'm knowledgeable enough in Unreal to be able to make a game with it on my own. 

I'm so glad I followed through with this project because I feel even more confident and motivated in tackling tasks I've been intimidated on starting for Wayfarers. It's also given me more confidence in attempting things with Wayfarers I never dared to even try before.