History
I grew up in Solon, a small suburb of Ohio, for the first 18 years of my life. In my early childhood, I would constantly watch my older brother play video games on his SNES, N64, and GameBoy Color. And for that reason, I attribute my love of gaming entirely to my brother's influence. As I grew older and began to play games myself, some of my favorites were Paper Mario, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and the Pokemon series. Additionally, my love of gaming made my parents' house into a "hub" of sorts for multiplayer same-room gaming as my friends would come nearly every week and play competitive games such as Super Smash Brothers Melee and TimeSplitters into the night.
As I grew older, games such as Portal, Shadow of the Colossus and Braid quickly entered the ranks of my favorite games and had such an artistry that I began to contemplate entering the games industry as a field of study. Combining this with my fascination of the technical achievements of some of my favorite series like Gears of War and Halo, I soon had dreams of becoming a game developer.
I chose to make these dreams a reality at the University of Southern California where I currently study computer science and game design as well as participate in the Makers of Entertaining Games Association. Aside from having one of the strongest game design programs in the world, USC afforded me the added bonus of getting as far away from my comfort zone as possible both literally and figuratively. I felt that I would not continue to grow into the best person that I could be in the comfort of my childhood friends back home in Ohio.
This decision has worked out even better than I ever thought it could. The kids in my program are some of the most creative, interesting people that I've ever met. The classes place you into industry-realistic team-based settings where you learn to criticize, then iterate your own ideas until they are significantly more refined. The professors give you all of the resources possible to make any personal project possible. In a university of like-minded people, I've never felt more at home.
As I grew older, games such as Portal, Shadow of the Colossus and Braid quickly entered the ranks of my favorite games and had such an artistry that I began to contemplate entering the games industry as a field of study. Combining this with my fascination of the technical achievements of some of my favorite series like Gears of War and Halo, I soon had dreams of becoming a game developer.
I chose to make these dreams a reality at the University of Southern California where I currently study computer science and game design as well as participate in the Makers of Entertaining Games Association. Aside from having one of the strongest game design programs in the world, USC afforded me the added bonus of getting as far away from my comfort zone as possible both literally and figuratively. I felt that I would not continue to grow into the best person that I could be in the comfort of my childhood friends back home in Ohio.
This decision has worked out even better than I ever thought it could. The kids in my program are some of the most creative, interesting people that I've ever met. The classes place you into industry-realistic team-based settings where you learn to criticize, then iterate your own ideas until they are significantly more refined. The professors give you all of the resources possible to make any personal project possible. In a university of like-minded people, I've never felt more at home.
