First lines of code written already back in the 1980s – Ville Helin’s career story

Finally, in 1998, software development changed from a hobby to a full-time job for Ville. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the bottom of what has kept Ville motivated for all these years.

Learning languages from hobbies and work

Ville wrote his first lines of code on a Commodore 64. Back then, coding was just a casual hobby that produced text-based adventures that he and his friends enjoyed.

But this had already sparked Ville’s interest in coding games, and in 1992, his interest only began to grow further. Ville started to code his first project on an Amiga MC68000 assembler.

Over the years, he has gained plenty of experience in programming languages. Nowadays, Ville primarily uses Unity and the C# in his work. He has also gained experience in other technologies and programming languages: he is an expert in MC68000 assembler, C, C#, Unity, and J2ME (Java Mobile Edition). In addition, his leisure activities also expand his skills.

“For fun, I use ActionScript3/Flash to update old Flash games and an ANSI C89/90 macro assembler for hobby projects. Of course, I also use the Unity and C# languages when I code in my free time.”

A wide range of work experience in the video game industry

Ville’s interest in games can be seen in his work experience, especially. He has also worked in the shipbuilding, IT, and research industries.

Ville is also heavily invested in hobby projects. His longest-running project is the WLA DX project, which he began in 1998. It is a multi-platform cross-assembler package that converts machine code into binaries that are processor-readable. Ville worked alone on the project for years, but since moving it to GitHub, he has received help from others.

Another of his most significant hobby projects is Wzonka-Lad, a Nintendo Game Boy emulator he coded from 1996 to 1999 and that is still open-source to this day.

“In both projects, I was responsible for basically everything, from software design to development and the function of the user interface. In addition to Wzonka-Lad, another of my free-time gaming projects is the Perfect Balance Collection game.”

The game took a few months of work and is designed for iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, and macOS. The project was short because only the code was new.

“I used Unity and C# to recode Perfect Balance Collection, which I previously coded in C/C++ for iOS years before. I coded and designed the collection’s games myself. The collection includes five Perfect Balance games from my old games company ttursas Oy. Almost everything to do with the project was my responsibility. I had help from friends with the audio, field design, and graphics.”

Ville’s handiwork can also be seen in the following games: War Diary: Burma, Need for Speed: Carbon 2D, and Candles of the Dead.

A quick learner wants to make helpful code

Long-term coding experience is visible in Ville’s daily work.

“When I do familiar things, I can usually put code together quickly. I’m also a quick learner.

For Ville, one important motivating factor is that over the years, he has been able to work on software that people find useful.

“Useless work doesn’t motivate me. It’s no fun to spend a year or two coding software, such as a game, that no one will ultimately use.”

In Ville’s case, it’s easy to see how his interest in the software industry, which was first sparked over forty years ago, still burns bright today.