Self Reflection

To start off, I need to go back to the point where I first was exposed to video games, this is where the first thoughts of my mind started to churn about video games, both in playing them, and in a few short years to creating them.

I was young like most when first introduced to games, I was five or six years old but in my case we would only really play them during the winter months. My parents had a restriction on them that only when it got to be 30 degrees outside could we play video games. So it was then and from that point on that my love for video games started. I played many games from that point, ones that were of interest in my life include Hero quests, Quest for Glory, Kings Quest which the last one was a intro into the 3d gaming genre, and then from there Age of Empires to Diablo and Diablo 2. There have been so many games that I have played, I would have to say that the one that I really don't have a huge interest is in Sports, it was always a thing that I would rather do, which I was able to do rather then play. Though if I would have just played them on a console or pc, I probably wouldn't of had the injuries and consequences that lead from them.

I didn't finish High School, I dropped out in my junior year, seeing no interest in any of the classes. I went into the workforce then, doing Heating and Cooling for 2 years, worked slowed there with not making much, and I went to work for Carver Yachts at that time. Doing metal fab for another 2 years. I was at a point where I saw no chance that I wanted to spend my life doing factory work, or even tradesman job. Before I dropped out of High School I went online and did some looking around for anything dealing with Game Design then, and at that time there wasn't many options, with money being a number 1 concern, I couldn't afford DigiPen or FullSail, for those two were really the only options.

But, thankfully, and I can say that I was happy with the education that I received from ITT-Tech at that time. Ben Giesler just was recently hired there, and he wrote/developed an entirely new curriculum. More to the standards of what was needed to get hired on straight from school. In fact, upon his arrival, the first batch of students that graduated 3 out of the 5 were hired on. One was hired and is currently still working at HighMoon Studios.

I pushed pretty hard on the last 2 years of the degree, for the first 2 it was more about learning the programs, 3dsMax, flash, director, Photoshop, illustrator, and the following 2 years was around the pipeline and learning a game engine to create something for your portfolio. I was selected out of our class to intern 9 months prior graduation, where I was a QA for 3 months. After the 3 months I was then hired as a Teaching assistant. Now you may be wondering why I would go from QA to TA? Well, QA wasn't a paid job, while the TA was and it was good money while I finished school. Prior to graduation, I was hired on as a Adjunct Instructor, and from there I developed a love for teaching. Giving more ambition to continue teaching sometime down the road.

I am continuing my education to develop my artistic abilities and to obtain my Masters for a personal goal. I would love to get a job in the field, and I would love to be able to create my own games instead of following someone else's dreams. Though the experience I would cherish also as I learn more about the field I love so much.