Background Story

Gaming has been a true passion of mine for many years. I keep telling the story of the first Tomb Raider game that came attached to the components of my brand-new Nvidia graphics card back in 1996. My dad and I had set out to build my next PC together from scratch as the former one sadly went up in flames (yeah, don't ask, I still don't know what I did to it, I swear). Either way, I instantly fell in love with the game's main character, Lara Croft.

So much so that I started replaying the first Tomb Raider last year. I am still editing the other playthroughs, but you can watch the first four levels that hilariously are playing in Peru (insider info: I now live in Peru ) on my Odysee channel:

You can find a graphic below for those who don't know the game or its evolution. Note, I fell in love with the character when it still seemed like it was made from a paper-cut instruction printed on a cereal box:

Back to the main topic: gaming and I have a long and complicated history, but a few years ago, I finally decided to learn how to make stuff for games, and I set out to learn Blender 3D. I thought game asset design would satisfy me, but of course, it didn't. So I dove into character design and finally, last year, took my first steps in Unreal Engine 5.

Resource Recommendation

Around the same time I tested the waters with Unreal Engine 5 in general by building my own virtual space, Bad Decisions Studio came out with their free course. A true masterpiece of a course containing nineteen episodes that get you from noob to pro in a matter of weeks (if you have nothing else on your hands, maybe even in days). Sadly, last year evolved for me with much more complexity than I could have anticipated in more than one way. I was elected Lead Steward for Unlock Protocol DAO and faced some personal challenges. So, time got scarce. This meant I only completed the course in the last days of 2024. Nonetheless, I believe the course is valuable and worth recommending. It teaches general handling of the game engine and specializes in how to handle cinematics. PS: It will be even more exciting if you are a Star Wars fan 😉.

In addition to choosing a very popular theme for the course, Bad Decisions Studio also made fantastic choices when it comes to the structure of the course. It works very well as a point of reference if you find yourself in need of looking something specific up, like how to create a texture or add a sequencer to your project. Check out the full course outline and linked videos below:

My Result

Curious about my result? I had a really fun time following the course outline and learned a ton of valuable stuff. But most of all, I loved the Star Wars theme. Check my final video out here:

Stella Achenbach

🎨 Digital Creator

https://odysee.com