This brings back so many memories. I followed most of your steps (up to using the Unreal Engine... never had the chance) and I went even further back. My Dad was a bit of a gadget geek so we had at least 1 or 2 computers in the house at all times: Laser 128; Commodores 64, 128 & Plus4; 486SX; 486DX; and so on and so on. I would fiddle with the programs themselves and "half-hack" the encoded code and end up changing the graphics for the worse.

Now I barely have the energy or interest to play games at all; however, I'd love to make an actual RPG or adventure game (like the King's Quest series) sometime. I just need to figure it out... I don't pick things up well sometimes, which is why even though I've been "programming" since I was 5, I have just in the last 3-4 years actually understood how to program and the "why" factor.

Although, I must say, in my Middle-School computer class, when everyone else was using Logo to make the turtle draw, I was programming BASIC programs to make cool rebounding and mirror-image color patterns.

Very nice walk down memory lane.