Why do you want to pursue this major?I am excited to learn more and participate in the potential research opportunities available at UCSC under the AGPM major, with professors and undergraduate students. Research opportunities are a unique aspect available to UC students specifically, and UCSC is the only school with a game design major in the UC system with a focus on art, design and user experience building. My passion for art and computer science finds an avenue for creative exposure in this environment.
I consider being surrounded by others like me while doing what I love to be the ideal environment to work and learn. I will be able to learn significantly faster when guided by peers and responsive mentors as opposed to learning entirely on my own. Having an open and accepting environment to learn and experiment will also help me grow as an artist and developer. I believe the projects and opportunities I will receive as part of this major will be meaningful and necessary for my personal growth and my future after college. Having an early exposure to the industry in this learning environment ensures that I will be adequately prepared to enter into it and hone my skills accordingly during my time as a student. The skills, contacts, and future personal achievements in this major at UCSC will be immeasurable for my future. What kinds of games do you wish to make?The games I make should be like the games that inspire me –– thought provoking, detailed and unique. Ideally, my games create a universe that encapsulates the player’s thoughts and attention without breaking the immersion. I enjoy worldbuilding and creating immersive experiences through atmosphere and storytelling, and strive to create games that leave lasting impressions even after the game is done. One thing I would like to see in the future is games that are closer to interactive movies, and I would like to be a part of that change.
Games can be a canvas for sharing one’s imagination. As an artist working mainly in the fantasy genre, my favorite thing to do is to think of a way to make the improbable possible, and make it happen through digital artistry and playable experiences that bring fantasies to life. These are my goals as a self sufficient game developer. |
What kinds of games have inspired you?I am drawn to games with relatable characters, unique visuals, provocative stories and detailed sandbox environments because they give the player room for creativity and self-expression. The games that have inspired me all share these qualities.
Unique visuals and storytelling devices are clearly evident in the game Journey. Myself, and many artists and game developers that I have talked to have found this game inspiring and a powerful influence on the industry because it revealed a new possibility for games as playable experiences. Similarly, Unravel is a newer game that also has inspiring visuals, characters and gameplay. Overall, the move to more cinematic visuals in games is inspiring to me because I feel like my artistic skill will have room to shine. In many cases, games are an outlet for individuals or a platform for them to start anew in a parallel universe where anything is possible. Grand theft auto does this, and to a more PG degree, so does Minecraft. Similar games like the Sims series which give the player immense control over the in-game universe and its characters to such minute detail fascinates me and is a goal I have for myself as a game developer. How does your work demonstrate this intent?As I learn more about designing games, crafting cohesive stories and other art forms I have yet to master (like music for example) I become closer to reaching my goal of creating powerful interactive experiences.
I want to become a better writer to write storylines that help me orchestrate worthwhile experiences, and Marimo was my first attempt at doing this with games. Appliance Escape was my first attempt at reaching out to an audience much younger than me. I experimented with doing so by creating a game inspired by one of my favorite movies as a child, The Brave Little Toaster. I was able to feel empathy for simple household appliance. I’ll never forget the emotions that movie evoked in me, as a child, and I intend to create similar experiences for my young audiences in my future work as well. In Little Witch Hut, I experimented with the idea of “trading up from a safety pin to a house” as a mechanic in a fantasy world setting. I tested pixel spriting as a new artistic medium, and learnt a lot of things about 2D animation and walk cycles. I spent the most time working on the flow of the crafting system and designing the narrative and setting for this game. Having detailed sandbox environments is something I intend to create in my work. In the game, The Wooden Puppet, I try to give the player the perception that they have control over their environment by placing interactable objects affected by the player’s force. I also took away some of the player’s affect over larger furniture to emphasize the feeling of being small, and accentuate the enormity in height and mass of the human-sized furniture. These choices are all intended to further the story, aesthetic and feeling I had in mind for the game. |