Meet Unemployed Chicken
Unemployed Chicken is the solo game development adventure of Jeff — an aspiring indie developer building games, learning in public, and chasing the not-so-tiny dream of turning passion into a full-time career.
What started as a late-night “there has to be more than this” moment has grown into a focused (and occasionally chaotic) push toward creating meaningful, fun, and memorable games.
Unemployed Chicken is built on a simple belief: progress comes from iteration, not shortcuts. Every prototype, tool, and feature — whether shown here or shared on social media — is the result of curiosity, experimentation, problem-solving, and learning the hard (but rewarding) way. Some projects are playful experiments, others are more intentional steps forward — all of them are part of the journey.
If nothing else, this site is proof that growth happens one system, one bug, and one tiny win at a time. 🐔🎮
My Journey
Unemployed Chicken began with a simple but uncomfortable realization: I was going through the motions, working a job I didn’t care about, and mindlessly shuffling through the day. Something had to change. It was time to stop waiting and start building.
The goal was ambitious at the start (unrealistically so): learn game development fast and go full‑time as an indie developer within a year. Reality had other plans. What I discovered instead was how deep, challenging, and rewarding game development really is. Learning Unreal Engine, C++, Blender, animation, texturing, and multiplayer systems took far more time than expected — but each struggle built a stronger foundation.
Along the way, I chose exploration over shortcuts. I experimented, broke things, rebuilt them, and sometimes took the long road just to understand why something worked. I followed courses, wandered off the path, and occasionally made things harder than they needed to be — but those detours helped the lessons stick. Every prototype, every failed idea, and every tiny win added up.
Unemployed Chicken isn’t about overnight success. It’s about progress through iteration. Some projects are experiments, others are stepping stones toward larger goals, but all of them represent forward momentum. This journey is as much about learning in public as it is about building games — sharing the process, the missteps, and the small victories along the way.
Today, I’m focused on laying strong foundations: systems before spectacle, understanding before polish. The dream of becoming a full‑time indie developer is still very much alive — just grounded now in patience, persistence, and realistic growth.
This is not the story of someone who has already “made it.” It’s the story of someone building toward it — one prototype, one mechanic, and one lesson at a time.
