This self-taught, self-motived and self-maded developer went from homeless to at-home at the highest levels of video game development.

self-taught自学而成，self-motived 上进的，self-maded白手起家的

"Right there," Ryan Zehm says, pointing to the ground next to a dumpster pushed against the exterior wall of Boise's main library. "That's where most of my first video game was built. The library had everything I needed: books on programming, free internet, and a place to warm up when I needed it."

Right there 就在那里，Pointing to the ground next to a dumpster指着垃圾桶旁的角落，pushed against the exterior wall紧挨着外墙

Today. Ryan is the award-winning founder of NurFACE Games, a video game development studio that designs and creates games for mobile and PC platforms.

award-winning 获奖的，creates games for mobile and pc platforms面向移动和pc端开发游戏

But just a few years back, Ryan was a homeless former Hewlett-Packard employee who split his days between the The River of Life Men's Shelter and the Boise Library. Often, he says, those days were spent leaning against the north-facing wall along River Street, next to a dumpster and within reach of an electrical outlet. There he could sit relatively undistrubed for hours at a time creating his first video game - Space Blast - on his one possession of any value, a used laptop he found on Craigslist for about $25.

former HP employee前惠普员工，Men's Shelter 救助站组织，those days were spent在那些度过的日子里，leaning against the north-facing wall along River Street靠着沿着River大街的图书馆北墙，within reach of an electrical outlet插座触手可及,relatively undistrubed相对不受打扰的，On his one possession of any value他唯一最值钱的

It was a long fall for an intelligent, motivated guy who showed, even from an early age, an aptitude for technology.

a long fall for an intelligent, motivated guy对于这个聪明，积极主动的人来说，那是一段长期的低谷，even from an early age, an aptitude for technology即使在很小的时候，他就展露出了技术才华。

"We[Ryan and his brother Brandon, co-founder of TSheets] were both homeschooled our whole life and our parents never let us watch television," Ryan explains. "But when I was five or six, my dad brought a 286 computer. He told us there were games on there and that we could play the games if we could get it to work."

homschooled家庭式教育，即在家上学

They got it to work. And by the time Ryan was just seven. he had already programmed his first game. "It was just a text-based adventure game, but I was hooked," Ryan grins. "Game development became my lifelong passion."

text-based adventure game文字冒险游戏，hooked上瘾了，grins咧开嘴笑，my lifelong passion我毕生的热情

Throughout his homeschooled childood (he was only briefly enrolled in public school, an experience he describes as "a disaster"), Ryan found solace and stimulation in creating other-worldly characters and environments both in games and in writing fiction.

Throughout his homeschooled在家庭式教育期间，briefly enrolled简单的登记，solace and stimulation慰籍、刺激和启发，creating other-worldly characters and environments塑造角色和场景，both in games and in writing fiction 在游戏和文字的世界里

“I can play in somebody else's world or I can come up with my own," he says, "Just having a pen and paper was stimulating, but the computer was way more stimulating."

Just having a pen and paper was stimulating仅仅通过纸和笔就很刺激了

After completing his homeschool studies and briefly enrolling in a college correspondence course. Ryan took a job with Hewlett Packard in Boise running servers and other IT tasks.

in a college correspondence course在大学的函授课程，running server服务器运维

Life was pretty good. Ryan was making a decent living doing work he found interesting. He owned a house, a nice car and was generally living out the America Dream.

life was pretty good生活美满，making a decent living doing work he found interesting收入可观，也乐在其中，generally living out the america dream典范式的美国梦生活

Eventually, Ryan got tapped by his superiors for an assignment in Costa Rica. where he would train Costa Rican employees to hold positions previously held by Americans. Ryan spent months living and working in Costa Rica. He found it fun and interesting.

Eventually后来，got tapped by his superiors for an assignment被上司指定委派，Costa Rica哥斯达黎加，hold positions胜任职位

The one day, things changed.
"I flew into Boise and went to HP on Chinden and the whole place seemed like it had been cleared out," he recalls. "I found my desk and it was empty. I asked someone about the pictures and other items I had left on my desk and they gave me a box. I had been laid off."

flew into飞抵，on Chinden惠普办公地，W Chinden Blvd，recall回忆，

Ryan was upset about becoming a victim of corporate downsizing. It felt dehumanizing. He briefly considered following some of his HP coworkers to positions they were accepting at Micron, but determined it was time to take his career into his own hands.

a victim of corporate downsizing公司裁员的受害者, It felt dehumanizing那让他觉得很不人性， Micron美光科技，determined it was time to take his career into his own hands决定是时候开创自己的事业了

"I decided I needed to stop this stupid corporate life and go do something on my own."

我决定终止这种愚蠢的职场生活，开始做一些真正属于自己的事情

So Ryan started his own IT consulting company, helping companies set up computers and networks. But being a young, first-time entrepreneur in the middle of the greatest financial downturn in nearly a century was not a recipe for success.

IT consulting companyIT咨询公司，first-time entrepreneur第一次创业，financial downturn经济不景气，was not a recipe for success成功很难

Ryan struggled, and could no longer afford the rent for his comfortable, suburban home. Fiercely independent, he found himself homeless. First living in a car, then a tent along Bogus Basin Road, then at the River of Life shelter. Some family and friends helped how they could, but Ryan wanted to do things his way, even if that meant living in a shelter.

struggled挣扎，no longer afford the rent for his comfortable不能再负担以往舒适的生活，suburban郊区的，Fiercely independent 极其自立，the River of Life shelter救助站组织，

"It wasn't a great place, but you got a meal and a place to sleep," Ryan says. "I was homeless for over a year, but I never begged. I never asked anyone for money." That's when I said I'm going to make video games until I get off the street."

I nver begged我从未乞求过，I'm going to make video games until I get off the streeet我要做游戏，直到靠着种方式结束流离失所的生活

That's what he did, borrowing library books and library's surprisingly strong wifi connection to learn the ins and outs of video game development. After about five months, Space Blast, built entirely at the Boise Library, was ready for release.

learn the ins and outs of video game development学习视频游戏开发的方方面面，ins and outs of输入输出，所有细节,ready for release准备发布

"Eventually I started making enough money off of the [in-game] ads to afford a $300 a month apartment in Emmett."
The isolation of Emmett allowed Ryan additional focus.
"I didn't really do anything but eat and make games."

the [in-game] ads游戏内广告,The isolation of Emmett allowed Ryan additionoal focus住处与世隔绝让Ryan更专注于游戏开发

Ready to grow, Ryan established NurFACE(pronounced "in your face") and developed additional games for the Google Play app store.

estabished成立了

He entered a number of game development competitions and finished at the top - or very near - each time. Ryan's reputation and workload was growing.

在各大游戏开发比赛中斩获佳绩，reputation and workload声誉和工作负荷

"In Boise nobody knows me, but thanks to these competitions, when I go to San Francisco I get to meet with the CEO of Unity [game development platform] and one of the founders of Electronic Arts," he says

But Ryan wanted to find more collaborators locally. He began reaching out through Facebook and Craigslist to find other local game developers, and when he didn't find much success, he formed the Idaho Game Developer's Meetup Group, which has since grown to nearly 150 members.

formed the Idaho Game Developer's Meetup Group创建了爱德华游戏开发者聚会小组

While Ryan continues to develop games for mobile and computers, the recent interest and growth in virtual reality applications and Ryan's success at VR-development game contests have opened a host of new opportunities.

Virtual reality applicationsVR应用，the recent interest and growth in VR App, 最近对VR应用的兴趣也不断增长，a host of new opportunities大量的机会

"VR is going into everything: medical, classrooms, conference calls," Ryan says.
"The only people with the skills to create VR content are game developers and Hollywood. Right now, most of my projects are VR related."

VR将渗入我们生活的方方面面，医疗，教育，电话会议等等

Ryan's vision is clear: to bulid Idaho's first 100+ employee independent game studio. What's not so clear is where the employees will come from to achieve that.

vision is clear愿景恨清晰，

Boise State's GIMM program is a great start, he says, but not enough. His most recent hire is working remotely from Utah, meaning dollars that could be circulating locally end up 400 miles away.

GIMM游戏，互动媒体和移动技术，最近他通过远程办公方式雇佣了犹他州的员工，那就意味着钱依然在本地流通直到400英里(还是不太明白)

No matter what the future brings, Ryan says he will continue to share his lifelong passion of games with the world.
"It's a lot of fun making it, but it doesn't compare to the huge gratification you get when you share it with people."

the huge gratificaiton巨大的满足感