http://www.themaninthecape.com/

I’ve put out The Man in the Cape as a free download. You can also optionally “purchase” a copy for $2.49 if you are feeling generous.

Creating a game from scratch had always been a dream for me. It was something I had always wanted to do since I was a little kid. As a kicker, I had always wanted to learn how to program. When I was young, I would play around with QBasic alot, and I think that may have planted a seed. Admittedly, I never had much patience in my youth, so the idea that I could create something as complex as a game was a complete pipe dream.

Fast forward to 2011. I’m a bit older and far more patient. Seeing as I always have some sort of DIY/creative project going on in my life, I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to make a game, I would have to just go for it. From 2011 until 2012, I made The Man in the Cape, teaching myself C++ as I went along.

The time I spent working on the game was equally joyful and horrifying. I don’t think I had the slightest idea of what was required to learn programming. Educationally, I have a decent foundation, but I wasn’t very prepared. So, I ended up spending many long nights overworking myself, reading books and learning the craft. But, when a piece of programming was finished and working, I felt a great sense of accomplishment that would propel me forward.

From development to release, working on The Man in the Cape has been an immense learning experience almost unlike anything else I have taken on in my life.

On release, the game sold a some copies and got a tiny bit of attention. For someone’s first game (that maybe has the quality level of a person’s first game), it was more than I could have asked for. So now, I’m putting it out as a free download.

The finished product is now one or two years removed from where I am now as a developer, so it feels less precious to me. Now, I just want people to have a chance to screw around with it. So, give it a whirl!