St. Michael's Mount, Penzance, England
About Me
Personally
I am a 22-year-old Florida native, born and raised in St. Petersburg. My mom is from Florida, but my Dad moved to the United States when he was 11 from Liverpool, England. In my personal life, I enjoy playing video games and traveling to new places. My favorite game genres are probably survival-crafting, building & automation, and colony sims. At home, I have a wonderful Fiance (Wren) and 2 lovely cats named Church and Samara. These are both horror franchise references, Church being the black cat from Pet Sematary and Samara being the name of the girl from The Ring.
Professionally
Professionally, I am a college student pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Digital Media with a focus on video game design at the University of Central Florida. Although, my passion for video game design did not start in college. I attended the Academy of Entertainment Arts at Hollins High School (as it is now known), which gave me a solid background in the game-making process. This magnet program started my journey by teaching me the basics of Gamemaker Studio, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk: Maya, and Unreal Engine. I have continued pursuing my passions by developing my skills in Autodesk: Maya and Unreal Engine, while learning new engines like Unity, GDevelop, and Twine. I love to learn more about the game-making process and continue expanding my knowledge on the subject as I grow into the career I am passionate about!
Education
2022-2026
Digital Media B.A.
University of Central Florida
After transferring to The University of Central Florida, I enrolled in the Digital Media major with a focus on video game design as it was exactly the major that I had been searching for. The major focuses on teaching you how to design and create video games by showing you the process of creating textures, designing levels, initiating playtests, debugging your games, etc... When selecting electives, I was allowed to select a focus between Art, Design, or Programming; I selected the Design track. The extra elective classes in the Design focus are:
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Game Level Design (In Progress)
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Game Optimization and Performance
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Multi-Modal Design
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Physical Computing
2020-2026
Additional Relevant Classes
These are some additional classes that I have taken that are relevant enough to mention:
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Introduction to Programming (Python)
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Introduction to Programming with C
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Javascript Basics
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Computer Fundamentals for Business
2020-2022
Non-Degree Seeking
St. Petersburg College
I began taking classes at St. Petersburg Community College to start earning credits toward my general education requirements as I decided where I would like to transfer to pursue a Bachelor's Degree.
Some of my Favorite Games
Biggest Inspiration Games
Relevant Work Experience
2023-2024
Shift Manager
Verse Orlando
I worked for a startup called Verse Orlando, an Augmented Reality Experience that was located in Dezerland Mall. Working at Verse taught me many beneficial skills in the realm of Augmented Reality content. I worked with Microsoft Hololens 2 headsets, performing duties such as:
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Re-soaking the headsets for new spaces by scanning the environment.
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Using the headsets' IP addresses to configure and edit settings on the devices.
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Placing headsets in and out of Kiosk mode for use by customers.
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Troubleshooting issues that are presented with headset upkeep and maintenance.
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Fixing bugs inside of an experience using the Enklu software inside of the experience's code.
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Gameplay testing unreleased experiences and reporting any bugs or inconsistencies found.