Hi, Billy!
I’m (very) proud to talking with someone important in the gaming scenario! Nice to meet you, guy.
I have to say that I’m very excited with all of this and I can explain why.
Firstly, the low price is the biggest opportunity that I ever seen. Seriously, is something utopian. I can’t imagine how something so powerful can be so accessible, even for me as brazilian (yes, we suffer with high taxes and everything here is expensive).
Secondly, it’s easy to see how you all from Epic Games are taking everything right to the edge. The UE4 itself is a preview of perfectness. Everything on it is easy and go smoothly.
Thirdly, is not the first time that I saw someone from official staff talking here, on the forums. This really make (all) the difference! Fellas from Epic Games are very participative and this encourages us to keep going — we have not just a company that we can trust in, but there are humans behind it whose we can count on.
Now, talking about the topic’s business. The first part of my life as programmer I worked on PHP web applications. Was a hard start but I’m still alive (lol). Then, I migrated to Microsoft and got MTA’s certification. The result? I left PHP behind.
The time passes once again and I was called to work on a company that can’t use Microsoft technologies and I really didn’t wanted to work with PHP. And what was the solution? Ruby (on Rails)!
I work with it everyday and today I consider myself someone who can do awesome things without “third-party hands”. I mean, I’m not an expert, but I can handle myself very well.
Ok, why am I telling my life’s history? I have to admit: the first step is the hardest. Is hard to take the concepts; is hard to take the right way; but with some effort we can reach there. So… YES! We can learn a new programming language as C++! Let’s do this!
I wanted to started with games a long time ago, but I never known what’s the first step and now everything sounds so clarified for me — and this is the result of this strong and fast community. We all united can create the next big things.
How inspring my text is, right? Yes, I’m a little excited. It’s strange when you know that the power to create games is a reality and you’re one step close of it.
By the bye, thank you for this opportunity. Keep doing the good work and let’s create the future; better, together. =)
(Finally, seriously, I always had curiosity to know how a professional game developer started in this scenario. Can you contribute with the community sharing a little of your history? (Yes, I’m abusing of your good patience, but, that’s not bad at all, c’mon.)))