Alessandro Cuzzocrea

2024: Year in Review

Pencil sketch of a still life featuring a human skull resting on a book, with a flower in a cylindrical vase positioned next to it

Another year has flown by—it feels like it ended before it even began!

As the final day of 2024 arrives, let’s take a moment to chill, and review the events and oddities that defined my year. ✨

Table of Contents

🎮 Push Golf and Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest 21

After finally building my new workstation PC, I decided to dive into learning Unreal Engine 5. What better way to put my newfound skills into practice than by joining a UE5-based game jam?

Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest 21 was a unique experience that pushed my creativity and technical skills. The contest ran for about seven weeks, from February 16 to April 7. This relaxed timeline allowed participants to brainstorm, prototype, and build their projects at a comfortable pace.

Having mostly been accustomed to shorter game jams, adjusting to a longer format was a learning curve. Still, it gave me the chance to push my limits (pun intended 😂) and explore new ideas, culminating in Push Golf.

Push Golf's page on Itch.io

Participating in this competition was a lot of fun and a valuable opportunity to deepen my understanding of Unreal Engine. That said, Push Golf ended up being my only serious gamedev project this year—which, looking back, feels a bit disappointing. 😭

If you’re curious about the journey, I’ve documented the entire process in a two-part blog series:

Push Golf and the Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest: From Nostalgia to a Game Jam (Part 1) - thumbnail Push Golf and the Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest: From Nostalgia to a Game Jam (Part 1)
Push Golf and the Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest: Creating the Game (Part 2) - thumbnail Push Golf and the Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest: Creating the Game (Part 2)

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