Why did you want to study games?
I’ve always loved who I get to be when I play games. They transport me to magical realms, offer me opportunities to express my creativity, and enable me to create connections with other people.
Making games evokes similar feelings to playing them. Creating games connects the strategic and engineering modalities that I studied in economics during my undergraduate degree with the narrative storytelling that I pursued professionally for over a decade in film and television. A master’s degree in game design and development, particularly at USC Games, felt like a natural next step – a place where I could layer strategic engineering work back into my creative projects and learn how to design evocative narratives using cutting-edge technology.
What have been your greatest successes and challenges at school so far? My greatest success was creating Lucky Duckies, a 3D networked co-op action-adventure game in Unreal Engine. In the game, a family of rubber duckies tries to survive a dog bath. I directed a team of 64 students from five colleges in all aspects of game making: design, art, engineering, marketing, UI/UX, and audio/composing for the Advanced Games Project course. We created an hour of gameplay and showcased a demo at the USC Games Expo. Afterwards, our game received interest from several game publishers and developers.
Which challenges have you faced at USC? The challenges that I faced at USC Games revolved around choosing which classes I should take. Technology is constantly changing, so USC is always offering new and exciting classes. Choosing was difficult.
What projects have you worked on that you’re proud of? I loved Myth of Lumi, a 3D physics-based card dueling game where players trap magical creatures called Lumi inside their card decks. On the narrative design team, I created three enemy characters, wrote dialogue, and crafted world-building documents. Our game went on to win Tencent’s Global University Prize at the GWB Game Awards and was an honorable mention for Best Student Game at the IGF Game Awards.
I also loved working on the M.S. capstone project, Doodle Cards, a party game where players create, draw, and battle trading cards. For the project, I designed, engineered, and implemented ten mini-games. It was really fun working on a game that revolved around its players’ creativity. The cards they devised from our prompts were always so inventive and hilarious.
What advice would you give someone who is thinking about applying to SCA? Don’t think twice. At SCA, you learn from the best working professionals who have literally built the games industry.
Initially, SCA offers you an opportunity to take big swings, try wild ideas, and push the boundaries of Cinematic Arts. Towards the end of your degree, you’ll hone your voice and develop strong professional skills by creating industry-facing projects with your peers. It’s a remarkable experience, and I’m honored to be an SCA alum. Fight on!