“Nevermind, thats too much. Show me the short story.”
First and foremost, I want to help you get to know a little about myself before we move on. Game development or a hobby in itself has been my lifelong ambition. If it wasn’t for my father, I would have never even attempted to pursue the arts of interactive storytelling. You see, at an early age, like 2 or 3, I was exposed to video games and the accompanying visual software. My dad use to work for this printing press. I remember little about the place, but I’ve had my fair share of great memories. At this place, the employees had a break room with a new personal computer in it. Here everyone got a chance to try out the latest games (Ok maybe not, but it was definitely used for gaming on the off business hours). Being exposed to it during my rare visits, our family broke down and bought a home pc. Here my life in game development and modding began. My father brought home games like Wolfenstein 3D, Catacomb, Heretic, and many other games from Apogee/ID Software. I am lucky to have such an outgoing, creative, and funny father, even if it’s hard to get work done with him around at home.
That said, I’m not the type of person to be bound to the idea that my birth limits me to the experiences had from there on out, limited to ‘my generation’. Something I find insulting when discussing Pong or 2001: A Space Odyssey with older folks. They think I’m a young tadpole overextending his knowledge. No, I’m not here to one up anyone or prove that young people have no need for elders. I’m here to share experiences with the fellow man. We’re a community, whether you like it or not. I’m glad I took this sort of mindset as a lot of people nowadays are incapable of acknowledging or observing the mindset of others. It’s either you’re way or the high way attitude. I like to experience things as if I were a part of that generation. I don’t want to see it in the context of watching an old film or reading a religious document. I literally make myself believe its nostalgia, and grow a sort of bond with the content. Because of this, I draw inspiration from all aspects of life and its many great authors.
My love for game arts and development are complimented by my other love, Literature. From Neuromancer to 1984. I favor stories that bridge our factual reality with the fringe sciences and fantasy while drive your mental capabilities towards the darkness of the unknown. Thanks to Howard Phillip Lovecraft, George Orswell, William Gibson, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and others for all the inspiration and help to drive me to where I am now.
With a firm hand, I’m not in game development to make the next sports or racing game. I’m here to tell a story, a story that benefits video games and not the industry interactive films. Games are games, movies are movies, and books are books. Though even as games stand proud, they fall into the stereotype of repetitive work or overly artistic experiences. Give them a formidable experience, I say, and not a task.
I do though, have my own thoughts on game storytelling, so here’s a little insight on my thought process. We all know about the old adage, ‘It’s the journey and not the destination’. I had always found this true about gaming. Yet, I’ve learned that a journey becomes meaningless without an ending that compliments the experience. They go hand in hand. With the journey, you build up meaning, giving purpose to your existence. The ending finalizes the inevitability, but does so tactfully by giving closure without berating the former. An ending should be a metaphorical ‘Thank You’ to those that played. Without meaning, your product is nothing more than an evolved ‘Hoop Rolling’ game.
Carrying on, I completed most of my education in Game Arts in 2010. Since then, I’ve been freelancing with a host of companies. I worked as UI Programmer at Tic Toc Games and Sunken Media. Later, I assisted Wayforward Technologies in Cutscene Cleanup for Centipede Infestation. Though the biggest job I’ve had since wasn’t in my industry. I began working at Giant Sportz during the early half of 2012, the world leading Paintball Company and parks. I worked as a full-time Graphic/Web/Film designer and Project Lead for various projects. Many setbacks were had, like losing my car in an accident a day or so before getting laid off on my birthday. Add salt to injury, this was also a couple of days after moving to another city, no longer escaping the tiring rush hour of Los Angeles. After some time and then some, I wanted to finally jump into my lifelong dream bringing my game ideas into fruition.