Hi there

earok · Post by **earok** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:51 am

Hi everybody,

Well, where to begin. My name is Erik Hogan, I am 22 years old and I am living in Auckland, New Zealand.

It was only a couple of years that I found out about Dyspraxia. Back then I was a volunteer for the St Johns and for study one night we had to read about various medical conditions and I ended up reading a section of one book about Children's disorders. I felt like I was hit by lightning when I read the Dyspraxia one.. everything I had trouble with.. making friends, following instructions, balance, coordination, playing sports.. everything was mentioned there. From the moment I read that I knew that it was talking about people like me.

Every year at Primary School and High School I just managed to scrape through. I did very well at Polytechnic (College) though, and I am now earning an okay living as an IT Engineer.

I live by myself in a one bedroom apartment. I have a drivers licence but I strongly dislike driving because of the fear that I might cause an accident, and I only drive if I have no other alternative. I have a few friends, but nearly all of them live down South (where I used to live) and i've made very few new friends since i've moved upto Auckland almost a year ago. I find myself frequently and deliberately avoiding social gatherings because of my awkwardness with conversation, its almost impossible for me to have a good conversation unless its about a topic I have a particular interest in. That said, most of the time I am fine with being by myself. I have a few really good Internet friends so that helps a lot.

My hobby for a long time has been designing computer games, i've been making free amateur games for a couple of years now and one day I hope to be able to make a living from being an Independant game developer. I am a Christian and my interests are movies, games, history and politics.

Well, I guess thats all I have to say for the time being. I really look forward to getting to know you all

Liz944 · Post by **Liz944** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:37 pm

Hi Eric...

Welcome to the forum!

monkey · Post by **monkey** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:01 pm

welcoem. i am also from New Zealand. (bay of pleanty)

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:48 pm

Greetings and Salutations

Good to see a big ol introduction post that tells me a little about you :D Not been enough of that recently.

I think the internet has been a bit of a boon socially. It's a great equaliser what with a lot of people getting confused about sarcasm etc. and there being less pressure to respond to everything immediately right that second.

Everyone likes games :D I may be a little bit of an addict (Computer games, board games, roleplaying games, whatever) I try to develop games, and people generally tell me that what I do is very good, but I never have the followthrough to finish anything. Generally anything I make has about 5 minutes of playtime and then I get bored and make a really good start on something else ;)

Links to some of the stuff you've made?

earok · Post by **earok** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:46 am

Its nice to meet you all, and its always good meeting a fellow Kiwi

do you live far from Whakatane monkey?

Heh, I have bit of a problem with finishing games that I start, it seems to be common problem amongst Amateur game developers, however very recently I did finish one game that im particularly proud of (I got it finished because it was a competiton entry with a three month timelimit) it can be downloaded from the link below, the name of the game is 'Project Firestart'

http://www.remakes.org/comp2006/screenshots.php?page=8[/url]

monkey · Post by **monkey** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:41 pm

Its nice to meet you all, and its always good meeting a fellow Kiwi do you live far from Whakatane monkey?

i live one hour from Whakatane, very close to Tauranga

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 12:16 pm

That game is pretty damn awesome for a months work with just a handfull of people. I wouldn't even know where to begin to make a fully 3D FPS!

I suck at it of course. I ran out of ammo on the first two enemies and the third one got into an elevator with me - game over!

Ruth · Post by **Ruth** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:04 pm

hi earok

I wrotwe a game program 20 years ago that made a small aeroplane fly across the screen whilst clouds came the other way and you had to dodge them, I was very proud!!! I'm almost as good at playing games as I am at writting them - I don't like scary monsters or people with guns!!! as a result I can only play kids games, I'm quite good at jak and daxter and a knockout on the Hobbit ( as long as my husband kills the scary monsters!) I had conforming to stereo type but there you have, in possibly more detail than necessary.

I would LOVE to visit New Zealand one day ( and not just cos of the Lord of the rings). You're pn my list along with Chine and Tibet and Americea and

GWhizz · Post by **GWhizz** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:22 pm

Hello Earok! I too love new zealand it looks so peaceful and extreme sports!! and lord of the rings and more films too!

I have always found I can't play scary games and parts of Zelda too some of the monsters, i have tried to play halflife but can't. I play Goldeneye mostly and I have trouble with the original grand theft auto, the overhead version

I hope you enjoy the forum I too have stumbled across it and will use it from day to day!