The Past

After some time as an employed software engineer and architect, I ran a payments software development and consultancy business for more than 14 years, together with two amazing co-founders and friends. Over the course of these years, we employed or contracted 50+ different individuals from three different continents, generated tens of millions in revenue, and were able to turn some very big wheels with very small teams.

Working with these people was a huge joy and I had planned to continue running the business until retirement, and maybe hand over the reigns to my children one day.

Unfortunately the economy took a different turn. In 2023, we lost several huge contracts and failed to compensate them with new gigs. The profitable business turned into a cash burn, which eventually left us no other choice than to let all people go and cease operations by end of July 2024.

The Present

This twist of fate left me in a weird career break and with a need to unwind and pursue a personal dream: building my own video game.

I’ve been passionate about game development since childhood, but when I had the chance to enter the industry in 2003, I opted for enterprise software instead. Years later, I became fascinated by VR after watching Guy Shelmerdine’s ‘Catatonic’ on the VRSE app using Google Cardboard – literally strapping my phone to my forehead. Eventually, I started building VR experiences for Quest 2 and Quest 3 in my spare time.

When I sat down to weigh my options, three thoughts came to mind that are relevant to this site:

1. If I had one regret on my deathbed, it would be not having at least tried to get into game development. So why not take advantage of this transition phase?
2. I believe we’ll continue to see major technological breakthroughs in two fields: AI and XR. I’m convinced that XR is going to become commonplace, just like the use of smartphones, and when it comes to VR games, there’s more room to shine for indie developers compared to the massively crowded flat screen space.
3. AI makes a huge part of my software development and consultancy activity redundant. I hear dozens of confident colleagues saying: “BUT…” – but this “BUT” gets quieter and quieter every day as AI models and tools continue to advance. And if it’s not AI, it’s cheap labor from emerging countries. The boom times are over! Maybe entering into creator mode is the best course of action nowadays.

So I fired up Unity and started tinkering.

The Future

For the time being, I let my intuition guide me. I have no set goals, no roadmap, no deadlines. I don’t know if this game will ever see the light of day or end up shelved like dozens of other ideas before. I deliberately keep referring to it as a “VR game prototype”, and I take it as a learning and unwinding opportunity while I make plans for the future.

Feel free to browse through the blog to follow the development, and subscribe to be notified when Beneath The Order will ever be released.