The idea for the Game Object Creator (GOC) has been bouncing around inside my head sense high school. In high school (even earlier than high school) I was tossing around the idea of building my own game engine from scratch. Until high school I was never really serious about learning how to write programs. I had grown up with technology of various types and I was always curious about how technology really worked on the inside. So during high school I decided to try and learn programming on my own using the web as my teacher.
I was only able to get so far in learning how to write software from websites, blogs, tutorials and books. From all of these resources I was able to write simple visual basic v6.0 applications. Applications like temperature converters and count down timers. While I was learning to write programs in vb, I got introduced to the concept of Local Area Network (LAN) games and parties. The more I participated in LAN events the more I wanted to make games of my own.
I then started to learn c++ and DirectX® . Again I went back to my original teacher the internet. I was able to learn enough c++ to become familiar with the syntax of the language but I was not able to gain an actual understanding of c++ until I took my first college level programming course, but more on that later. By the time I was done trying my best to make a engine but I wasn't making a hole lot of progress. So I wound up archiving the code I was writing and learning.
So I continued to tinker with c++, DirectX® and Win32® . I wasn't fully interested any more and was coming close to abandoning my idea of being able to write games. Also during this time in my life I got introduced to the Massive Multilayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPG). I admit I spent way to many hours playing games of this type. So during the MMORPG phase I was going though, I was taking general education classes at my local community college. Working toward my goal of wanting to become a Software Engineer.
Thanks to a botched MMORPG that used to be fun to play and a subsequent emulator project, I was finally back on track to complete my original goal of being able to make a game engine. I was finally able to after a year get my academic skills up enough that I finally got accepted into Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT). While taking classes at OIT I got to go though their 3 required classes on c++, taught by Mike Hoffman. After taking the c++ series I was able to finally gain an understanding of how c++ actually worked, and tie in my previous knowledge of c++'s syntax. I was finally on track to learning the tools I would need to be able to make my dream become a reality.
Along the way as I have been progressing though OIT's courses I have been given the opportunity to learn XNA® a Application Programming Interface (API) that allows developer to write games for both the Xbox360® and windows® platform. I really liked what XNA® had to offer to developers but I could see the potential of having something similar to XNA® for game development but not just for Windows® specific platforms but for multiple platforms. So as I was starting my senior project I decided to tackle one of the many big dreams I have had bouncing around in my head sense high school. The idea of making a game engine from scratch was on the top of my list but now I wanted to be able to use my engine on more than just Windows® boxes. Thus the idea for the Game Object Creator (GOC) was born and now a year after I started on this capstone project I am finally able to see my dream become a reality. Now I hope that my dream will inspire and enable many amazing dreams of future Software Engineers.
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