Bio
Having bared my soul to its full nakedness, I reserve this space but to bequeath the following nugget of unadulterated fact: I am better than Dorian at Mario Kart. There is balance in the universe.
Length of time I have been employed in the industry
7 years. Give or take.
Game companies I have worked for
Gearbox! I also did a couple of contracts for Valve and another company of less reputable stature.
Titles I have worked on
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Earned in Blood, Hell's Highway, Counterstrike: Condition Zero, Half Life: Decay. I also did some Counterstrike and Day of Defeat work in my modder days before all the titles I worked on contained at least one colon to separate title from sub title. Mayhaps we'll reship one of those games with a secondary sub-SUB title to ring in the industry feared double colon!
Resources I would recommend for those interested in getting into game development (books, tutorials, sites, etc)
Mostly anything by Anne Rice. You have to understand the love sick vampire before you can understand the intricacies of game development. I'd also recommend browsing the forum of choice for your particular field.
First game I remember playing
It was Super Mario Bros. We discovered my deadly allergic reaction to dogs when I was six so we traded in the golden retriever for a Nintendo. My Dad taught me the ropes- he was so good at it warping was practically banned. If you couldn't beat Super Mario straight through without warping, you didn't get dinner that night. At least that's how I choose to remember it.
All-time favorite game(s)
Unquestionably, Chrono Trigger... probably. I also enjoy anything with "Mario Kart" in the title to quench my insatiable thirst to ram things with high-speed turtle carcasses.
Non-video gaming hobbies
Photography. Parking validation. Alphabetizing soup recipes. Stacking dice. Writing movies, comic books, and sonnets to hair metal bands of the 80's. Creating Venn diagrams... is balancing eggplants a hobby?
Favorite bands/music
Ben Folds, Death Cab, The Beach Boys, Jaime Cullem, Johnny Cash, Postal Service, Straylight Run, Kanye West, William Shatner, Relient K, Neil Diamond, Lisa Loeb, Simon and sometimes Garfunkel, Dave Matthews with and sans Band, Preston Grey, B-Kweller, Yellowcard, Jason Mraz, The Rocket Summer
Favorite books/authors
Tom Sawyer, Catcher in the Rye, Blue like Jazz, The Watchmen, Sandman, In Cold Blood, The Mysterious Stranger, And Then There Were None.
Favorite TV shows
Lost, Veronica Mars, Friday Night Lights, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, The Office(US), 24, Alias (circa season 1 and 2), The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, Batman Animated, Animaniacs, Green Acres, Best Week EVAR, anything involving drunk celebrities getting into car accidents.
Favorite movies
Road to Perdition, Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter, The Messenger, Spellbound, Serenity, Ocean's Eleven, Leon, In America, Dr. Strangelove, A Very Long Engagement, Jarhead, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Batman Begins, Kingdom of Heaven, The Departed.
"A house divided by itself cannot stand." Abe Lincoln dropped that just before someone else asked, "Wouldn't a house divided by itself equal one?"
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