Well, it all started when I was barely 3 years old and was a complete fanboy of Pokémon, after watching the anime series in spanish. Also loved Spiderman and dressed as him in halloween after having watched the first movie. During that time, I remember I used to have a gold Pokedex which would tell me (just like in the series) cool facts about Johto Pokémons.
One day, I saw this kid in the school bus playing with the new Game Boy Advance! At first, I didn’t know what it was and asked myself “What is that machine for?”. I wanted to try it, so in the end we agreed to switch his Game Boy Advance for my Pokedex for 1 week.
Next, the moment I got that machinery into my hands with the title of “SPIDERMAN” written in the main menu of the Game Boy Advance game they made for the first movie of Spiderman… I knew from that day on something would change in my life… And it did…
I ended up returning the console like 2 months later after her mother had yelled quite a few times to me, but when she asked to give it back I would always reply with a “I left it at home” excuse xD Later that year, for Christmas I got my own Game Boy Advance with Super Mario World with it!
From this point on, video games have always been an important element of my life, just like sports. I mainly practiced tennis, soccer, table-tennis and swimming.
Video games have really helped me in rough times, when I needed to isolate myself. This was very useful: at boring family meetings, at boring school bus trails, when my parents argued and I couldn’t go anywhere, when they helped me socialize and make new friends; as I’ve always been the shyest person of my neighborhood. Also, very importantly, during middle school I had no friends and got bullied either by classmates or by teachers, it was a very tough part...
But they’ve also made me laugh and have fun when playing coop games with a friend beside! I’ve also discovered amazing worlds that you couldn’t by just watching a movie or reading a book for say.
Once my parents made me clear that I couldn’t become a professional tennis player T.T, the only thing left for me where video games…
So that’s why I started making video games, they were my true love since the beginning of my life, they have meant so much to me and helped me so much that I want to make other people feel the same way. To help them isolate themselves when they need it. It doesn’t matter if they’re having a bad day or if they’re suffering a lot, I want to alleviate even if it’s just a little that pain they’re going through. And most importantly, I make games to make people have fun.
You can find more devlogs here: https://johnnyginard.tumblr.com
