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You nudge a thumbstick here and something shifts to the right up there on the screen. You press a button and a small cartoon figure leaps into the air. The screens are accustomed to passively watching respond to your intent. This is why I want to make games. This is why I have always wanted to make games.
I would sit on the floor looking up at the black and white tv. I thought that if I could only adjust the dials in the right way, I could change the images on the screen. I could influence the flow of light. It would be years before home video game systems were common.
I considered, for a short while, creating a mechanical system to remotely control a character or race car or spaceship. I didn’t know enough about electronics to create the analogue circuitry used in the earliest video games. I still don’t. Making the mechanical system I was dreaming about would probably have been even more difficult.
Now I have tools and libraries that make controlling objects on a screen almost trivial. Making it easier to accomplish has done nothing to dull the magic of that feeling. The feeling of moving your thumb and watching blobs of light respond. It still makes me want to make games.