I learn best by doing, so I do things.

A Life of Learning

I have always had a passion for games, and was introduced to them at a young age, sparking a lifelong love of the medium. The first game I ever played was Spyro on the Playstation 1, and truly, that was what started it all. I have also loved reading and writing since I was little, so it was only a matter of time before my love for games eventually met with my love for writing. I began to play a lot of story-driven games, and one of the first was Baldur's Gate. I was enchanted by the fantastic setting, the characters, and the plot despite the game being nearly as old as I was. Baldur's Gate led me to Dungeons & Dragons, and other games like it; it shaped me and inspired me. I owe a lot to this game, and it is no exaggeration to say that I would not be who I am today without it. Dungeons and Dragons gave me an outlet for my creativity, and allowed me to create worlds, characters, and stories freely that I could share with friends, and this brought together my loves of games and storytelling, and set the foundation for many of my philosophies on design and narrative, as the reactive nature of D&D allowed me to see exactly what resonated with people.

As I grew older, I decided I wanted to make games like the ones I was playing, and I got my first taste of game development in high school with MMF2, but I didn't initially pursue that desire in college, cautioned against it by family members who told me making games was too hard for someone who hated math. I originally was an English major, and pursued my passion of stories instead, but it was actually my English professor, who always praised my writing, that told me about this new 'GIMM' program on campus. He had noticed the topics of my technical writing often involved games, and knew about my love for video games, and from then on I was in GIMM, and I was able to transfer my storytelling passion and skills to writing for games.