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Huy Phan

My name is Huy Phan and this is a short bio about my journey to being a solo game developer working from home.

I’ve always had two passions growing up, science and gaming, it was either be a researcher or a game developer. My education led me to become a scientist (PhD, Molecular Biology) and up to 2013, I was a postdoctoral researcher in Switzerland.

However, the work/life balance isn’t great as an academic research scientist. Also, the uncertain future, academia politics and chasing grant funding was not something that I was happy with.

On top of those issues, I have a young family, with two small babies. I wanted to spend more time with them, watch and guide them as they grow up. I had to shift into a new career that allows me to take care of my family financially but also allow me the time or presence to raise my kids directly.

So I turned to my old passion, gaming.

I saw an opportunity with game development, because despite all the concerns around the “Indie-apocalypse”, it’s never been easier to publish games and reach the masses.

I had/have this believe that if I “make a good game, it will sell”. My reasoning was simple enough, if I, somewhat of a geek (hence, Halfgeek) who enjoys gaming, there must be many gamers out there like me, with similar taste!

In early 2013, I resigned as a researcher in Geneva and returned to Melbourne to begin a new journey. With no knowledge of coding or making games, I had to start from scratch and each game I’ve made has taught me so much more than before. It’s all learning milestones and very satisfying.

As to the huge risk in quitting a very well paid job, changing career and forsaking many years of education, whether it was a stupid/naive idea or the right one, time will tell…

Information about

Huy Phan

Homepage
Country: Australia