Earlier this week I wrote about "Moon Runner," a TRS-80 game I created when I was 18. That was my first piece of commercial software, but I'd written dozens of other games before that.
The first game I remember writing was "Possum Run," a bloody takeoff on Frogger which was published in a magazine called Hot CoCo when I was 16. Back then I was a long-haired metalhead, and I remember my friends being absolutely shocked to discover that I was a published geek.
During the remainder of my high school years I published a number of other games in Rainbow Magazine, including a goofy platformer inspired by Bloom County which featured a penguin trying to find wings that would enable him to fly.
Writing those games wasn't just a hobby: it was my great escape from the boredom of school. I remember countless days staring at the clock in class, just waiting for the final bell so I could go home and continue coding. And during class I'd often be scribbling code in my notebook instead of taking notes.
Every now and then I toy with the idea of getting back into writing games, and I've even considered creating Android versions of my old games. But I'm more of a news and communication junkie these days, so writing games doesn't interest me the way it used to.
Although I have to admit, it sure was fun coding that Easter egg in FeedDemon :)