ABOUT ME
Background
When I was 13, I got my first computer, I started playing Minecraft and came across some videos about the behind the scenes in the Mojang office and I was instantly intrigued. I quickly went back to google and searched "How to make games." After hours and hours of having no clue what I was doing, I ended up with one level of a 2D platformer, which I was very proud of. Not long later my IT teacher got the whole class to learn some python and the next year, I was bored in class so I started messing around with Tkinter where I made a cookie clicker type of game (it was terrible.)
Once I started college I chose the options of Computer Science, Photography, and Sociology, thinking that my dream games career was gone. However, my mum had been looking in the meantime, without telling me, and found a games college where I started working with Unity and creating my first complete game, BlockSlide with my friend Scott.
After finishing my course at college, I started working full-time and, in my spare time, I began work on my next main project which is currently an untitled Virtual Reality RPG, Survival game.
After working hard on my Virtual Reality game, I landed my first job in the Games industry as a Technical Animator at Cloud Imperium Games where I now create Maya tools and Rigs while also working with the Gameplay Story team to fix animation issues within Squadron 42 using CryEngine and bespoke Maya tools.
Skills
During my time at Access Creative college and all the time I have spent learning at home, I have gained a variety of skills.
I would say that my main skills are:
- Programming
- Rigging
- 3D Modelling
Programming was the first thing to do with games that I was interested in so naturally it is where I am most confident. My main language is C# primarily in conjunction with Unity. I am quite confident using Python as it was the main language in my High School IT class, GCSE Computer Science, and for a short time, A-Level Computer Science until I moved to Access. But since school, I have used Python to create tools for Maya and my personal workflows. I have also used Java, HTML 5, and Lua but I am not entirely confident with these languages however I am willing to learn and find them all very interesting.
Rigging is what I do as a Technical Animator at Cloud Imperium games and so far I have rigged countless props and mechanical items using Maya, including some vehicle attachments for spaceships and I have rigged both props and quadrupeds using Blender. I am learning more every day and hope that soon I will be able to competently rig anything I am given.
3D Modelling is quite a new area for me but I feel that in the short time that I have been doing it, I have become quite confident, primarily using blender for my personal work but I have used Maya from when I was in college. 3D modeling is one of my favourite parts of game development because it lets me add almost anything I can think of into my games which is an amazing feeling.