thePadlockesTech

Lockes attended the University of Texas at Dallas and got an education from the beginning stages of the Art and Technology Degree plan with a focus on Game and Graphic Design. He struggled to get into the gaming industry, never landing a role when applying for the local companies such as Gearbox and idSoftware. He found beta test roles that didn’t lead to anything and eventually found himself making music and delivery driving for companies such as Papa John’s and Tiff’s Treats. in 2015, he tinkered on a video game starring his ex-girlfriend and himself in RPG Maker. She responded with the greatest thing he ever heard: “You should be doing this for a living”.

Now highly motivated, he took matters into his own hands and designed, developed and self published Lockes The Thief, a single player stealth adventure game that oozes cool. This game was fun, stylish and ambitious. Maybe a little too ambitious for a first game by a solo indie dev, but he finished it and it is currently on Steam!

A few days before the State of Unreal 2026, he started his next solo project Loan Sword$man, which many people have had an interest in. After hearing the news of Unreal Engine 6, Lockes plans to pivot in a direction that will help him make quick, iterative, fun games that his growing audience will enjoy. After deciding it might be too much bloat for a single developer to make 3D Semi Open world games, he made a new pivot in October 2026. He is now focusing on making Loan Sword$man a 2D Game made in GameMaker. He plans to have a finished game by April 2027, giving himself 6 months and tight constraints to make something that works and slay the evil scope creep beast.

Stay tuned for more updates on this star developer!