Hello! I am an aspiring gameplay and narrative designer with a bachelor’s degree in computer game design and an associate’s degree in computer science.
My interest in game development goes back a long time. As a child I loved to play video games, so much so that my parents often had to kick me off of them so that I could do chores or go outside. Being restricted from video games was often very boring, so until I could get another chance to play them I would try to imagine my own ideas for video games and play them in my head. Pretty soon I formed a deep-rooted love of making video games and made it my goal in life to become a professional game designer and writer.
I have always had a strong desire to make video games but as a child and teenager I didn’t have the technical skills necessary to make them work on a computer. In order to compensate for this fact I instead created them using paper and pencil. By using my head to run the logic, I would then task various members of my family with trying to beat the games or compete with one another in them (having five siblings REALLY helps with testing). My games were always a little weird because they tried to replicate certain aspects found in videogames, like real time combat (we used metronomes to synchronize our movements) or Fog of War (I designed a game board with flaps for hiding traps and player pieces). Near the end of high school however I began to grow frustrated with the limitations of paper mediums and resolved to learn how to program in college. I managed to fulfill my resolution within two years by getting an associates degree in computer science. From there, I was able to move on to George Mason University to put these programming skills to the test by learning how to make video games from industry veterans.
My time at GMU was life changing. I learned more about games than I ever thought possible during my time there. Perhaps more interestingly, I learned a lot about how to work effectively with others through group projects. Through my work there I have had the chance to serve in various specialized and leadership roles collaborating with other artists, sound engineers, and programmers; together we would experiment with different game conception methods and learn about the intricacies of communication and group dynamics. During my time at GMU I even had the chance to fly over to California and attend a Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. By the time I graduated from George Mason University I was equipped with a thorough understanding of the challenges associated with game development, as well as the will to push through those challenges to bring my dreams and visions to life.
I intend to continue pushing myself to learn more about game development while also exploring the never-ending stream of video game ideas I want to bring to life. My two biggest passions are gameplay and narrative design; I like imagining stories and figuring out how I can reflect those stories through a game’s mechanics, levels, missions, dialogue, and cutscenes. I take heavy inspiration from games like Batman Arkham City and Metal Gear Solid 4 on how video games can be used to tell stories. I would be very excited to get a job relating to level or mission design in a larger projects since this would give me a good outlet for story telling from within the confines of a larger project.
Game development is my love and passion; I am very eager to face the challenges ahead on my path to making great games!
Darren Walsh 