Ever since I was eight years old I have been tinkering with computers, trying to bring games to life.

At that age I had access to nothing but Microsoft PowerPoint – not exactly an appropriate program for game development – but over the next couple years I still managed to create dozens of little ‘games’ using it. As the years passed, I began to discover the limitations of this simple point-and-click interface and turned my attention to learning actual game design software. Macromedia Flash was the first, and I spent years learning and experimenting with it, finally able to create some of the concepts boiling in my head.

From there I moved forward into exciting new frontiers, trying my hand at modding with Java and tinkering with Valve’s Hammer Editor. Twine and Inform 7, both text-based engines, offered an intriguing creative challenge at designing more narrative focused gameplay, and an opportunity at re-learning the fundamentals of game design through necessary simplicity.

I continued to reach further, delving into Unity and Unreal Engine to push my ideas further, sharpening my experience in both development and management as the lead developer for several game jam projects with over a dozen team members, and serving as a founding member for CMDC Studios. It wasn’t long before I was once again expanding my skill set as a freelance level designer, working remotely to build gameplay and sequence level events inside Unreal Engine 4.

In 2021, I became project manager for Amnesia: Restored, where I lead a group of 32 in reconstructing the 1986 adventure game Amnesia published by Electronic Arts. From there, I continued work with the Electronic Literature Lab, preserving and restoring old pieces of digital web art and games.

Soon I found myself back at Washington State University Vancouver, this time as an assistant instructor teaching students VR development inside Unreal Engine 5, and as a gameplay design consultant for the VR game based on Rob Swigart’s work, Data Entry: Portal.

Even now, I’m still driven by the same personal motivation that started all of this nearly two decades ago.