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If you’ve ever wanted to fight monsters and save your little brother from an evil demon, you now can thanks to a creative freshman, Kaje Nielsen.
While some people put their time into playing video games, Nielsen has been creating a full-fledged video game. Every great story has a start; Nielsen’s started in the classroom.
“I took Mr. Barlow’s exploring computer science class, and he had us using a program called Scratch,” Nielsen said. “He said that this program is complicated and you probably will never be able to understand all of it. I looked at it and thought, ‘This doesn’t look too hard,’ so during my free time I started making a game,”
Though it started as a small project, Nielsen soon realized the potential of what he was creating.
“The next thing you know, I’m getting really into it and now I’ll be selling it soon,” Nielsen said.
When you begin to create a game, you have a lot of options in which direction you can go. There are so many different genres of games, and just figuring which type of game to go with can be your most difficult choice.
In the end Nielsen decided to create a tactical, turn-based, adventure RPG (role playing game).
“It’s an RPG. It has RPG turn based battles, it has a lot of strategy and puzzles. You have to save up money and know what kind of items to buy and know what kind of attacks to use on the different kinds of enemies,” Nielsen said.
In modern video game culture, the majority of video games are violent and gruesome, but Nielsen hopes to change that trend.
“It’s different from a lot of other RPG game. Many RPGs are all dark, this one is more of a light, happy, open exploration experience,” Nielsen said.
Being a game developer is no cakewalk, Nielsen has gone through several challenges developing the game with both coding and outside influences.
“Making the physics has required tons of mental concentration and troubleshooting,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen has had many issues and roadblocks outside of coding the game. Outside influences are something he has to work with on a daily basis.
“A problem outside of the coding process is,” Nielsen said. “I just don’t like it when people try to give me suggestions on how they think my game should go. I have a very clear image on how my game will look when it’s done. I don’t like when people try to influence me to do it their way,”
Nielsen works alone in almost every aspect of his game, denying almost all help offered to him.
Nielsen has put a part of himself into this game¾ his passion, hard work and dedication have made this game what it is today.
“[This game] really expresses who I am, and I like that about it. There’s a lot of people who are friends with me but don’t know me that well. This game really expresses my personality, and who I am,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen is always hard at work during his free time, and is hoping to have his game ready some time this spring. He will be selling this game for around ten dollars. Nielsen is hoping to get his career started with this wacky new game.
