Jackson Nexhip, left, shares his game development skills with participants Cody, Dylan, Stanley and Adam at one of his regular Friday afternoon sessions.
Have you ever had an idea for a digital game and wondered how you could bring it to life?
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Ex-chemist and now video game developer Jackson Nexhip has started hosting free sessions in Shepparton to help other locals learn the craft of video game development.
Online gaming is steadily growing in popularity, with a massive 76 per cent of the Australian population playing online games.
And while the words ‘play’ and ‘game’ are often associated with children, the average age of a player in Australia is 35 years. They play games for a variety of reasons, including traditional fun, to keep the mind sharp and for social connection.
Mr Nexhip, who’s been teaching gaming development for six years via his YouTube channel, Slightly Esoteric Game Development, says the in-person sessions in Shepparton will provide even more benefits to game lovers.
“If anyone is interested in game development as a hobby or a career path, something like this is a good entry point,” he said.
“It’s a good launching point, a good chance to meet others interested in the same thing and will provide collaboration opportunities.”
Stanley gives game development a shot.
Mr Nexhip said the sessions were aimed at people aged 16 and up, as that was the age at which many had an idea of what they’d like to do for a career, but anyone who was interested was welcome.
For now, they will be targeted at complete beginners to learn the basics of creating digital art, animation, sound engineering and game programming, with scope to evolve to meet the demand of participants.
Jackson Nexhip is providing the sessions to budding game developers for free.
Photo by
Bree Harding
Mr Nexhip, who can often be found at Shepparton Skate Park when he’s not making or playing games, said, besides eSports being taught in select Goulburn Valley schools, there weren’t many opportunities for this kind of tuition in regional areas, so he wanted to make it more accessible.
It’s also the reason he’s doing it for free.
“I want to make people aware of it and feel comfortable coming along without pressure; they don’t have to worry about whether it is going to be worth it,” he said.
“I played a lot of games when I was younger and if there’d been an opportunity for something like this, I would’ve been like, ‘hell yeah’.”
Mr Nexhip has developed three of his own games, but has worked on “too many to count” with other developers.
This week, he will launch a new one, named Void Tender, that he created alongside four other developers hailing from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and North Carolina in the United States.
The main character traverses the ‘void’ while ‘tending’ to the environment and photographing the machine-like wildlife within it.
The launch will be held at Gamer’s Resort in Maude St, Shepparton, this Friday, September 26, between 4pm and 6pm (the same times as Mr Nexhip’s free weekly developer sessions).
All are invited to the launch, where people can experience the highly visual and audible Void Tender using virtual reality headsets.
Anyone interested in trying out the regular video game development and digital art lessons can either take their own laptop or use the on-site PCs at Gamer’s Resort.
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