I think it’s been 15 years since I had the dream that inspired me to create the first Mittens animation. In the first month it was online, it was watched around seven thousand times, and it put me on a path to running my own business.

To make the buttons at the end of the animation, I learnt a little bit of programming. Those few lines of code were the first steps to learning Actionscript, with which I would create my first digital games.

I made many more animations, learning to become a better writer and, with those simple games, I learnt about games design – making many mistakes along the way, and learning from them.

Those games gave me the knowledge I needed to move into the mainstream games industry, developing complex games that would be played by millions of people. With the knowledge from my own small games and the big games, and my studies that had given me a PhD, I moved into education, writing, and games development/design consultancy. With those I was given the title of Associate Professor of Creative & Entertainment Games at NHTV University in The Netherlands in April this year.

A 15 year journey, started from a dream and a couple of kittens having a conversation. I think it’s only fitting that I give them a small ‘thanks’ for everything they started in my life, with a little comeback comic strip. If more scripts fit them, they’ll pop up on here again!

Have a great week!