Jake Evans on the Fear and Loathing of Commitment.

Have you ever found yourself at the gym in absolute agony wishing to yourself that your workout could instead function like an 80’s movie montage? Each workout last’s only seven seconds before quickly cutting to the next one, all while sweaty arena rock blasts in the background. It would rule and we would all save so much time and energy, let alone having an excuse to wear leg warmers again.

Sadly, reality doesn’t offer us convenient montages when we want to expedite the harder parts of life. Instead, we’re forced to go through every painstaking second ourselves, arriving at each destination through our own decision-making and hard work. Jake Evans knows this. While he would have greatly appreciated a training montage for his professional journey, Evans has had to experience every second of hard work and sacrifice for himself. Now as a game developer for Facepunch studios, he finds himself in a profession that was once a distant dream. He didn’t let the long journey break him, and because of that, he was able to bring his dream to life.

The Beginning

Jake Evans, now 29, first began his game development journey 14 years ago. The internet was the wild west compared to what it is today, as titans such as Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter either didn’t exist yet or were in their digital infancy. While others were busy playing flash games or systemically abusing forum boards with bad music opinions, Evans was busy customizing his personal space. Myspace was at its peak in the mid-2000s, and for good reason too. It was a space for self-expression and customization where one could create their own webpage without hosting a domain.

This was especially true for Evans, who suddenly found himself thriving in this new and exciting community. Before he realized it, he was doing semi-professional web development work as a teenager. “We created a few websites where people could grow their MySpace friend count and customize their profiles with designs and whatnot. Eventually, we got so good at it we had multiple profiles with tens, even hundreds of thousands of friends (nowadays you call them followers).”

Evan’s journey was just beginning. For a kid who grew up in poverty, often buying his own food and clothing just to get by, it was a long and daunting road to personal success. A long and daunting road he would have to walk himself.

The Process

After graduating high school, Jake Evan’s career journey was temporarily put on hold. He now found himself working in the oil fields of North Dakota far far away from a computer. It was grueling work that demanded everything from his body and mind, consuming every aspect of his life. Time, energy, and health were all running out at an alarming speed. “I was working 100 hours a week, 7 days a week, 28 days at a time, then getting 14 days off. Did that for about 4 years before realizing the money isn’t worth the time”.

Time is money, and Evan’s needed more of it. After he quit the oil fields, he fully committed to developmental work. He shifted his focus from web development to game development and began to educate himself in the field. This wasn’t easy, and it required a lot of time and sacrifice. As Evan’s himself stated,“most of the time between 2014 and 2020 was spent getting educated in game development rather than focused on creating and publishing this game…A lot of sacrifices were made in the journey.”.

Spending a half-dozen years learning and working in a field with little immediate financial return was extremely difficult and came at a great cost. “I lived nearly homeless for years as I taught myself how to create games, and often wondered whether it was ever going to work out. Many indie developers go through the same shit, many never catch a break.” Evans was now far along in his career’s journey, especially compared to his simple origins those many years ago in high school. He was never intimidated and it showed. His work ethic and desire had led him much farther down a road that previously looked far too long. He crushed fear, and it was paying off.

Reaching the Goal

Now in 2021, Evans has positioned himself as an expert in walking long roads. He created and published his first game to Steam in 2018, which has maintained positive reviews and sold thousands of copies. In 2020, he recreated surf and bunnyhop mechanics from Source Engine into a standalone game that was published the same year. He also secured a position at Facepunch studios, notable for games like Rust and Garry’s Mod, while also serving as a consultant on game programming and development for a variety of large youtube channels.

Yet even with all of these accomplishments under his belt, Evans knows that the journey is far from over. As he continues to publish more games and acquire more skills, he has become comfortable in the process. Time, energy, and personal sacrifice are vital parts of any long journey, but Evan’s serves as a prime example of how none of those things should keep you from your goals. Even if your goal isn’t crystal clear, Evan’s doesn’t want you to be discouraged. “I

didn’t know what I wanted to be even when I started making games. I just started creating and never stopped.”

So as you find yourself at the beginning of any long road towards a goal, keep in mind the possibilities. Nothing is out of reach if you’re willing to walk the walk. No one knows this more than Evan’s, whose rock-hard calves have walked many miles to get to where he is today.

Check out Jake Evans (crayz) on instagram and twitter.