Hey, everyone! I'm back! It's really me and I'm not a ghost.
I wanted to tell the story of why I was away for so long and what happened to derail my game development career, but I don't feel like writing that much and I doubt more than a handful of people would read it anyway, so I'll just tell you the short form.
The short version: After presenting at a symposium in 2014, I put my game dev work on pause while I returned to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in software engineering. I got through all of my coursework quickly and successfully (straight A!), and then I started my dissertation. Around that same time, my employer at the time went through a rather tumultuous reorganization. I ended up being promoted into an impossible and thankless administrative position which made it extremely difficult to work on my dissertation. So I left that job and took another one which promised more time, flexibility, and support to complete my degree. However, after only being there for a few months, I was promoted into a leadership role that once again ate up all of my time and energy, leaving none for my research...or anything else.
In a nutshell, I paused my game dev work to get a Ph.D., and then abandoned that, too, so I was left with neither.
But last summer, exactly ten years since my last post to this blog, I decided to return to my passion. Like pressing the trusty Continue button, I'm resuming my life and work as a game developer. Last summer, I went through a major growth sprint as I started rebuilding MHFramework from the ground up. Now, on winter break, I continued building that foundation AND started my first actual game project in over a decade. More on that later!
The past ten years have been a journey, filled with personal growth, teaching, and exploring other avenues. Along the way, I’ve gained fresh perspectives and ideas that I can’t wait to bring into my game development projects.
Deep down, I always knew I’d come back. I had to. I just had to figure out how.
Now let's get on with this!
