1. Ready for Launch!
Posted by
Steel Cyclone Studios
at
11:18 AM
Hello there! My name is Jordon McClain. In 2012, I founded Steel Cyclone Studios LLC; an independent game company on an ambitious journey to craft weird yet awesome video games! I strive to deliver top-end games that are funded, developed and distributed independently from publishers. I have accomplished a lot thus far. I have built a game engine from the ground up utilizing XNA & MonoGame and made several small games with it. I am on a mission to not only make awesome games but to help others turn their dream games into reality along my journey. Check out my game engine blog to learn more.
1. A 2D PLATFORMING GAME
Concept Cars
Monster Cars & Trucks
9. FPS (First-Person Shooter) TESTS
To learn more about how bullets work in games and to see a behind-the-scenes look of the video above, check out my Blood Splatter Test blog post.
Hello there! My name is Jordon McClain. In 2012, I founded Steel Cyclone Studios LLC; an independent game company on an ambitious journey to craft weird yet awesome video games! I strive to deliver top-end games that are funded, developed and distributed independently from publishers. I have accomplished a lot thus far. I have built a game engine from the ground up utilizing XNA & MonoGame and made several small games with it. I am on a mission to not only make awesome games but to help others turn their dream games into reality along my journey. Check out my game engine blog to learn more.
Welcome Back & A New Beginning
For those returning, welcome back! I truly appreciate your patience as I transition to this new website design. The past few years have been both chaotic and rewarding, filled with challenges that tested my resilience.
My time at EKU (Eastern Kentucky University) was far from easy. It was a frustrating experience where I often felt misunderstood. Many of my peers made false assumptions about my background, believing I had some kind of privilege or unfair advantage. In reality, my only educational resource was the internet. I didn’t fit the typical stereotype of a young Black man on campus, which led to frequent conflicts and misunderstandings. It was disheartening to face judgment from students who had access to student loans, grants, and scholarships, while I had to navigate my education with limited support.
Despite these obstacles, I was determined to excel academically. Even though I had consistently earned honors and good grades before EKU, I was repeatedly denied scholarships, adding financial stress to an already difficult situation. The pressure took a toll on me—sleepless nights, exhaustion, and setbacks that made it harder to progress.
Serving as a Resident Assistant was another challenge. Since I didn’t qualify for Federal Work-Study, I was ultimately forced to leave campus. My struggles were often misinterpreted by teachers and classmates as a lack of effort, making me feel even more isolated. In the end, I made the difficult choice to leave EKU in search of an educational environment that better supported my goals and circumstances.
Looking back, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished despite the obstacles. The site you see today is just the beginning of something bigger. As I continue on this journey, I’m excited to share new projects and ideas with you. Stay tuned—there’s some really cool stuff ahead!
Why Indie?
Being an Independent game developer is like a dream coming true. You are free to make any game you want, you have total creative control and you are not restricted by a major publishing company telling you what to do, say or think. However, I need your help.
Why Blogger?
With your help, I can implement and test features, provide playable samples, and gather community feedback from them based on your comments. I figured out how to embed my websites' source code inside of a blogger template. I also found a way to run my game programs through a web browser. Soon you will be able to play game samples directly from the site. Today I consider myself a life-long learner and self-taught student. I ‘am currently balancing a full-time job at Amazon to be able to pay bills and help invest in Steel Cyclone Studios on the side. It is my goal in life to work as an indie developer full-time and make games out of passion rather than strictly for money. In other words, there will be no pay-to-win aspects with our games.
What all have you been working on?
I don’t want to say too much to avoid getting ahead of myself and avoid being overly ambitious. Show don't tell is what I'm judging myself on. Where do I start?
1. A 2D PLATFORMING GAME
2. CREATING ART ASSETS
Concept Cars
Monster Cars & Trucks
3. SHADER PROGRAMMING
4. FLIGHT MECHANICS
5. CHARACTER ARMOR CUSTOMIZATION
5. CHARACTER ARMOR CUSTOMIZATION
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| BUZZ LIGHTYEAR |
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| Captain America "Just For Fun" |
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| Iron Man "Just for Fun" |
BLACK PANTHER
FUTURE SOLDIER CONCEPT
SPAWN
6. VEHICLE PHYSICS PROGRAMMING
7. A RACING GAME PROJECT?
8. ROBOT MECHS!
9. FPS (First-Person Shooter) TESTS
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| Driving in First-Person Perspective |
Lots of BLOOD!
To learn more about how bullets work in games and to see a behind-the-scenes look of the video above, check out my Blood Splatter Test blog post.
HEAD SHOTS
10. ME!
11. FUNDING
Lately I have been researching alternative ways to fund my game projects. Luckily, I have created everything so far with little to no money. I managed to acquire some programs and tools over the past few years to help aid my projects development all while balancing a full-time job, taking care of a family and continuing my studies on a single income. Currently I am working on a unique strategy to fund my games partly with the gaming community. Video game development budgets especially with larger companies are massive! Many players are unaware and overlook how much it cost to produce the games they enjoy playing. My goal is to keep my development budget as low as possible in order to spend less on engine updates and art assets. Instead, I am investing in time so that I can further educate myself in order to make more progress. Funding and marketing a game is something completely different from developing it. Again to avoid being overly ambitious, I am making smaller games starting out to test the waters before releasing my bigger projects. To help fund the development of my games, I will be selling T-Shirts! So check back soon to grab one.
Before I continue, I would like to first thank SORA TEMPLATES for their incredible work creating high quality website templates. I was able to embed my original website source code for Steel Cyclone Studios into one of their templates for the new site. If you are looking to create your own website and need a template to jump-start it, I most definitely recommend them. I would also like to thank all of you out there for supporting me. Whether it's supporting my engine development on my blog, waiting to purchase a shirt, or sharing my content and updates with friends on social media like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. This would not have been possible if it wasn't for you guys... the Community… who are supporting this initiative. So again, from the deepest of my heart here at Steel Cyclone Studios... THANK YOU! Back to work!
Before I continue, I would like to first thank SORA TEMPLATES for their incredible work creating high quality website templates. I was able to embed my original website source code for Steel Cyclone Studios into one of their templates for the new site. If you are looking to create your own website and need a template to jump-start it, I most definitely recommend them. I would also like to thank all of you out there for supporting me. Whether it's supporting my engine development on my blog, waiting to purchase a shirt, or sharing my content and updates with friends on social media like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. This would not have been possible if it wasn't for you guys... the Community… who are supporting this initiative. So again, from the deepest of my heart here at Steel Cyclone Studios... THANK YOU! Back to work!
