Catalyst Softworks

Every holiday season while I was working at Helpful Human, I would strategically use my remaining vacation days to take off the last 2 weeks of the year. With this free time, I would see family, relax with my wife, and work on personal projects.

In December of 2019, Mark (my business partner) and I met up for some coffee while I was on vacation. He asked what I had been up to and I told him about a game concept I was playing with. After discussing my consistent interest in game development he asked, “if making games is something you really want to do, why don’t you go all in?”

I was definitely caught off guard by this question at first. Surely I can’t just go off and make games full time, right? How would I fund that? What about my responsibilities at Helpful Human?

# Maybe I could?

Over the next few days this question would continue to gnaw at me. I had definitely become less and less interested in doing consulting work. I wasn’t even getting to write code anymore. I was at a point where my entire role was to sit in meetings, answer emails, review code, and manage other developers.

While this is the natural evolution of many programmers’ careers, this really wasn’t what I was interested in at this point. I wanted to be apart of actually making things, not just directing others to do so.

Worst yet, I was doing all of this for a project that wasn’t of personal interest to me. It was an internal app for a major enterprise business full of red tape. The decision had come from upper management, and the workers (our users) had to be constantly convinced to work with us.

# I think it’s time I resign

After around a week of contemplation, I made my decision. My wife and I had a some money saved up and she was working full time at a stable job.

Sometime around New Years, I called Mark and asked if he would meet me for a chat. We sat down and I told him that I was ready to resign. He knew this was coming when I called him, and though sad to see me go, he was supportive of my decision.

I offered to stay on for a few months to help with the transition and to find a replacement for my role. He agreed and we would begin the search for a new senior developer to take my place. In exchange, he would help me get my new venture off the ground and buy me out of the company.

# It… took a bit longer than expected

My initial plan was to be out by the end of February, but we hadn’t found a hire to replace me yet. We kept looking and I kept working. We figured it was only going to take a few more interviews and we’d have someone in place.

By the way team, people are getting really worried about this bug going around. Let’s plan on working from home next week to be safe.

Little did I know that would be the last time I would work with my co-workers in person. The COVID-19 pandemic had hit and the entire world was now in lockdown.

# Eight months later

The time had come. I said my final goodbyes to the Helpful Human team over Zoom. I filed my paper work, set up the necessary accounts, and created the brand. I was now the founder of Catalyst Softworks.

Over the next few years I would work on a number of projects under the Catalyst moniker. Some of these include Out of Control Center, BullShoppe, Bomb Ball, and the Unreal Community Wiki.

# Where I am now

Hoping to finally find some greater success and stability (without the current need for occasional contract work), I’m exploring some new directions and opportunities for myself and Catalyst. I have a few ideas for games I’m hoping to continue pursuring and am actively building new tools for game development.