A Foundation of Pixels

I amusingly tell folks, “If I could have failed the fourth grade I probably would have”. By 5th grade and on I was much more disciplined, I assure you; but 4th grade was a flurry of ‘Book It’, ‘Back to the Future 2′ and ‘Super Mario Bros. 3′. It was in this time that I knew I wanted to make games, not just play them; in those days, rather than do my assignments I would flip them over. As I stared at that clean, white, space I saw endless possibilities. Possibilities that needed to be filled with blocks and platforms and Goombas. The “Mario” levels I drew would go on and on, sometimes it became necessary to tape multiple pages together. Excited to the point of gyration, I would show anyone who would listen, anyone I felt at least had seen Mario before, who would appreciate my complex vision. “See he starts here, then he jumps on this thing, and then he gets the flower, and goes down this pipe…”. That was all just the start.

Games would come and go. The Super Nintendo was a pretty big deal. I remember the day my dog had to be put down, only, no one had bothered to consult with me first. In embittered anger and confusion I locked myself in my room, through a veil of heaving tears I played and played until I beat ‘Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past’ (which is -still- the best Zelda game in my opinion). In time, things got better, as they tend to do.

When other kids got Nintendo 64s, I got into PC gaming. Favorites of those days included a Dick Tracy game that came with -one- speaker; it was the first time the machine had made more sophisticated sound beyond bleeps and bloops. A couple years later it became ‘Day of the Tentacle’, ‘Sam and Max’, and ‘Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis’ that would consume me. Their Disney like graphics, and attention to a complex narrative and puzzles renewed my drive to want to make games, not just play them. I drew and redrew the Day of the Tentacle characters over and over, and even designed whole stories and sets for them to inhabit; as if I were setting about the business of making an official sequel.

Ultimately it was ‘Myst’ (and the titles that would follow, ‘Riven’ and ‘Myst 3′) that would drive me to want to learn how to make whole 3d Worlds. I buried myself for days in the Myst novels, and filled entire sketchbooks with drawings from my own “Ages”. As if I were Naturalist like Darwin, studying the Galapagos Islands, I would cataloging the ruins and plants and animals unique to those worlds.

Not Just Video Games

Going back, it was in the 5th grade I found my first oddly shaped dice. I watched my brother “role play” with his friends back then, wishing I could be included in moving the adventurers around the cave. We bonded more when we found an exciting and intimidating board-game in a Kmart in Alabama; countless battles would take places on the board of ‘Hero Quest’.

After my brother left home for the Army, and I was left home in the 8th grade, I decided these trinket of chance he left behind were the key into unlocking other worlds. Gathering my friends we told stories, drew maps that would span huge 11×17 pieces of paper (once again needing to be taped together to get the whole picture), and rolled the dice. We did this for almost a year making up our own rules as we went along. All we knew was “20″ meant a massive explosion of awesome, the coolest thing that could happen did. At that point, we didn’t even know there were books to accompany the dice-rolling rituals we were engaged in. While at a hobby shop with my grandma I would buy my first Roleplaying book: ‘Westend’s D6: Starwars 2nd edition’.

Those days seem like a lifetime ago. I’ve been storytelling for over 15 years now, and like most things in life, the medium has grown and changed with the inclusion of technology. We don’t gather around a table anymore, the best of us have been scattered to the four corners of the globe. We use VOIP to keep in touch, and Wikis become the tomes we fill with our adventures and the details of our worlds. With each new chronicle, campaign, or story I learn more of what it means to spin a gripping yarn, how to interface with people’s various personalities, and the comprise of a bringing together multiples people’s expectations and making their shared vision a reality. Character and Drama is the core of everything, second only to fun.

Becoming a Life Long Learner

To this day I still play lots of games, but wouldn’t call myself a “gamer”. I’m very much into the social aspect of games now, and if a game comes out on Steam it needs to have a Co-Op or Multilayer element to grab my attention. I’m more interested in creating “moments” than just unwinding; moments between friends where, despite the nature of the game we are playing, stories are subconsciously being written, memories are being made, times we will look back on in fondness.

These days it takes me some time to settle into a new game: from the onset I find myself analyzing how a game is similar to those greats that have come before it. How is it familiar? What gimmick or mechanic do they advertise most to draw people in? Do they innovate -anything- or is this just a behemoth, derrivitive of other’s hard work? What does it do well? What does it do poorly, and is there any room for Improvement? These are just a few of the things that are going through my head when I latch onto a new title. I think this spans from my time as a Hardware tester. Everything is a variable, the Scientific method is a good road-map for prodding life and getting a response.

I’ve been to several colleges, but the best thing I have ever learned was how to learn; and that if you want to be the best human being you can be never stop learning. Never stop questioning and exploring. Strive to be a “Life Long Learner”. This very much applies to games as well.

A Sense of Accomplishment

Its an age old conundrum: Jack of all Trades, Master of None?”. My interests have afforded me the opportunities to explore an wide array of skill-sets. With confidence I can say I could provide solutions for anyone looking for Game Art, Websites, Content Management Systems, Video Editing, Studio Quality Sound Recording and more. This is the accumulation of two Multimedia degrees, the later being a Batchelor’s in ‘Video Game Art and Design’.

One of the larger scale projects I worked on for nearly two years was ‘Starflight: the Lost Colony’. I had the honor of working with a great cabal of guys who are my dear friends now. Starflight was an official sequel to a Sega Game produced in the 80′s, and here we had the reigns to take it in a more modern direction while mining for “fun” and staying true to the spirit of its predecessor. Those were great times. We all got to put what we had learned in University to the test, and what arose from those experiences was a rough gem on its way to becoming something great. We polished our game and presented it to the Marketing department of our college and they paid our way to GDC that year. Alas, we all graduated around the same time, and the major stakeholder in the project went his own way. Check out my Game Art section for more on Stargflight.

Shortly after graduation I was contacted through a friend and asked to make some icons for a game. If you’ve read this far you know I have been Role-playing for nearly half my life. This game was a well known table-top RPG ‘Rippers’, and they were looking to bring it to Facebook. I had the thrill of working with one of the producers of the game itself, and he commissioned several dozen icons. I had to create a spreadsheet to keep them all straight, and shared this with my benefactor so he could track my progress. He gave me a snipit of inspiration for each one, and let me pick out the reference material and pallet. After submitting the sketches, I was off to the races, digitally painting each one large, and then touching it up once it had been reduced in size. I had a ton of fun and even learned a thing or two. I’d do more in a heartbeat.

After ‘Rippers’, two of my buddies that worked with me on ‘Starflight’, wanted to make their own Facebook game. We did some brainstorming, worked out the mechanics on paper and I set to work designing the world and the screens. ‘Arcane Academy’ was going to rock. Fate is a fickle lady though, and they both got jobs making other cool games and getting paid real money. In the meantime I have been creating marketing solutions for small businesses providing them with websites, webdesign, logos, business cards and more. I get to work with some unique characters, it pays the bills, and allows me to broaden my volume of work. The siren song of games design still coos my name on the night wind.