DevLog #1: Who is Ned — and why GNOR was born

Going back to being a beginner

I was about ten years old when I discovered that it was possible to create games without knowing almost anything about programming.

I opened RPG Maker for the first time on a slow computer still running Windows Vista and started exploring. I created maps, played with events, changed things I didn’t understand, and hit Play just to see what would happen.

I had no plan.

Most of the time, I didn’t even really know what I was doing.

But that was exactly what made it so interesting.

I would try something. It would go wrong. I would try it another way. It would work. Then another question would appear:

“What if I do this?”

Without realizing it, I was learning how to make games by exploring.

Years later, I graduated in Digital Games, worked as an artist in studios, and became a Game Design teacher.

Looking only at that sequence, it seems like a pretty linear path.

It wasn’t.

At some point along the way, something strange happened: while I was learning more and more about games and starting to teach other people, I almost completely stopped developing my own games.

Going back to being a beginner

When I decided to start creating on my own again, I noticed something uncomfortable:

I had forgotten a lot of things.

There were concepts I still knew. Others I only vaguely remembered. And several I needed to learn practically from scratch.

My first reaction could have been to hide that.

After all, I’m a teacher. Shouldn’t I just know?

But I started realizing the opposite.

Going back to being a learner could make me a better teacher.

Because there is a huge difference between knowing something and remembering what it feels like not to know.

When you’ve been using a tool for years, many steps start to feel obvious. Terms no longer need explanation. Small decisions become automatic.

For someone who is just starting, none of that is automatic.

And it’s very easy to forget that when we’re teaching.

That’s where the idea for GNOR began to take shape.

Why I created GNOR

I teach classes and I see people who want to make games constantly running into the same feeling:

“This seems way too complicated for me.”

Programming. Engines. Game Design. Art. Animation. Interface. Audio.

You start wanting to make a game and suddenly it feels like you need to learn ten different professions before you can create anything at all.

Then you open a “beginner” tutorial.

Five minutes later, three unexplained terms appear, a window you don’t know how to find, and something the teacher says is “pretty simple.”

It’s easy to conclude that the problem is you.

I want GNOR to be different.

The idea is to create a space for people who are just starting in game development and still don’t know all those things.

A place where I can relearn, experiment, and create while turning what I discover into content for other people.

Without pretending that everything works on the first try.

Without hiding the mistakes.

And, most importantly, without assuming that you should already know.

A teacher who went back to being a learner

I don’t want to build GNOR on the idea that I’m an expert who has all the answers.

I’m also not starting completely from zero.

I have my education, my professional experience, and everything I learned while teaching.

But now I’m getting my hands dirty again and walking parts of this path as a learner.

This creates a position I find interesting:

I can walk a few steps ahead, discover where the holes are, and then come back to show the way.

If something confuses me, it will probably confuse another beginner.

If I make an interesting mistake, we can understand why it happened.

If I discover a solution, I don’t want to just show which buttons to press. I want to try to understand why it works.

That’s where the idea of exploration in GNOR comes from.

What you’ll find here

GNOR will be built around three ideas:

Learn

Game development concepts explained from the beginning, without assuming knowledge you haven’t had the chance to acquire yet.

Explore

Tools, techniques, ideas, and experiments put to the test so we can understand not only how they work, but why they work.

Create

Projects and challenges that turn knowledge into practice.

Because watching someone make a game doesn’t necessarily mean you learned how to make one.

We need to try.

And probably mess up a few times.

Where we’re starting

Right now, I’m beginning a new exploration with Construct 3.

I want to learn the tool, understand its fundamentals, and gradually create more and more complex things with it.

That means you’ll probably find my discoveries about Construct, game development, Game Design, and the problems that appear as the projects evolve.

But GNOR is not “a site about Construct 3.”

Construct is just the place where this new stage is starting.

Other tools, techniques, and areas of game development may naturally appear as we move forward.

What matters is the process:

learn → explore → understand → practice → create.

The helping hand I wish I had found

Maybe you’re just starting now.

Maybe you’ve already opened an engine a few times, followed some tutorials, and still feel like you couldn’t create something on your own.

Or maybe you simply have a game idea and have no idea what the first step should be.

It’s for you that I want to build GNOR.

I don’t promise to have all the answers.

What I can do is explore, test, study, and share what I discover as clearly as I can.

Because making games can be complicated.

Starting doesn’t have to be lonely.

If you’re also learning, you can come along.

We still have a lot to discover.

A big hug!