The video game industry is one of the newest mediums, but we've been "playing" since before we were even a species.

I see game design as getting in touch with our deepest roots as humans. We're still in the early stages of what a game can be, and there is no limit to what we can create.

I got my start in game design by tinkering with the ModTools for UE2 that came along with Unreal Tournament 2003. I was instantly hooked and ended up buying the book "Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design".

At the time, it was just a hobby, but I started learning all kinds of software that would end up leading to my eventual career. I had used Photoshop since before they even supported Layers, so I had a leg-up there. I started to tackle 3D Maya, Max, Visual Studio... I've always had a love for just poking around and finding out what software is capable of.

After high school I started college as an economics major, since I still didn't consider game development as a viable option to make a stable living for myself. But I took programming classes on the side as a way to scratch that itch.

On a seemingly unrelated tangent, I made some friends through the retail jobs I was working. They had been attending the Art Institute in their new Game Design program. They were using Unreal and were shocked at how proficient I was with it, just as a side-hobby.

Years later, one of these friends contacted me with an opening for a Junior Technical Designer and encouraged me to apply. I whipped up a quick demo using the ModTools for Gears of War and it was a hit!

Now I've been in the industry for over a decade and a half, and sometimes I still can't believe that I get to have my childhood passion as a career.