Glenwood gamer is making a childhood dream come true

ANDREW Vermeulen a local lad, and former Glenwood High pupil, has worked hard waiting tables at a restaurant in the hopes of saving enough money to make his dreams of becoming a computer game creator a reality.

Today, years of hard work, patience and dedication have brought the 26-year-old leaps closer to that dream with the first stages of his 2D computer game, You vs The Ages almost complete.

Speaking to Berea Mail from his home, Andrew said he didn’t have the funds to go to varsity to further his studies in IT, so took a job at a local restaurant where he works part-time to raise the funds for a decent powered computer and online courses from which he has earned many certificates and qualifications to embark on his dream.

Andrew’s parents may not have been able to afford his tuition, but they have supported him in every way possible with his dream. “I’m not one for technology but I do know music so helped with getting music for the game,” joked his dad Doug, who also kept a childhood drawing his son drew when he was in pre-primary school depicting his dream of having a gaming studio.

Andrew has completed courses in computer programming, game theory, 2D and 3D design and gamification. Using the Unity programme, last December he started his first game, You vs The Ages. “The game takes you on a journey through history and you have to unlock a historical knowledge fragment on each level from the pre-historic ages and middle ages. It is in a cartoon-style to make it friendly and approachable,” he said.

Andrew is hoping the local community might be able to assist him with completing his game and helping him spend more time on it with donations through crowd funding. “Working part time to pay the bills and working on the game is quite difficult but I am going to keep at it,” he said.

Andrew was only about 6-years-old, when he fell in love with gaming. “I received a Space Invaders hand consul as a gift and was so fascinated. Later when playing Super Mario Brothers at a friend’s home I saw the possibilities were endless with computer games. When I realised people made them, I knew that was what I wanted to do, my friends laughed because they couldn’t understand how I knew what I wanted to be at that young age. I persevered and worked at improved my drawing skills. When I was in Grade four I started planning my gaming studio and had this vision,” he said.

Andrew said gamers currently have a lot of negative and violent content and hopes to change that. “I want to give people the opportunity to have escapism with a sense of fun and learning and hope my games have a positive effect on people,” he said.

The game is currently in its Alpha stage and if anyone would like to assist Andrew they can visit the Indiegogo crowd funding site to find out more about the game at https://igg.me/at/YouVsTheAges or email him on: ethise7@gmail.com