How I learned to stop worrying

Presenting oneself is always awkward so let’s try a little storytelling, shall we?

I’ve always wanted to make games but was disheartened during my teens because there seemed to be nowhere to go to learn how to actually develop them - mind you, this was in the early 2000s in Brazil.

So what did I do after finishing high-school? Well, what any crazy person would do: I studied nothing but 3D animation and movie making for a year.

I felt lost because, while I could do quite a bit with it, I never seemed to find my niche. I would bump into problems that I couldn’t solve and I didn’t feel the passion to soldier on. That year’s graduation project, a short movie, remains unfinished.

In feeling lost and pressured to “find myself” I decided to try entering university - which I did but not in the course that I originally wanted.

I spent two years chasing a literature degree but again wasn’t happy with it so I gave up. I settled with something I was comfortable with and that is how I got a degree in graphic design.

I did a few gigs here and there but even thought I was proud of the results, I was unhappy. “Is this how I am to feel for the rest of my life?”

At the same time, a friend of mine had finished his graduation project (he was an architecture major) and lo and behold, it was a game. A simple, 8-bit minded beat’em up.

And then it got me thinking. He made that game. Maybe, just maybe, it is not such an impossible task. Maybe I could learn by myself. Maybe now with the internet I can actually find the information I need.

From 2014 onwards I’ve been studying programming and I’ve completely fallen in love with it. I’ve learned Processing, Lua, Moonscript and Javascript. I’m constantly learning and evolving, tackling all kinds of different problems.

So what do I do now? I design software for a living, creating the best experiences that I can!

I love what I do. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it is at times very frustrating. I feel extremely happy when I do it though.

Hi. I’m Thaís.