I've never been good at talking about me, so let me talk to you about what I know best, games. Being able to full dive into different characters and lose myself in realms I could only dream of has grown my love of video games since first loading 'Zelda: Link to the Past' cartridge into my SNES. 

Right, I feel more comfortable now so lets see the stats, I have spent 33 years on this planet learning. The first 5 years I focused productively and efficiently on functioning as a human. I then spent another 13 awkwardly manoeuvring through school and college, moving on to 10 years learning how to be a farmer (and I don't mean in Stardew Valley), until finally realising that whilst I have a continued love for potatoes, my true calling is in video games. 

At the ripened age of 28 I decided to take a leap of faith, follow my passion and do what would truly make me happy by trying to get into the games industry as a programmer. After lots of research I decided the best pathway was to join the University of Bedfordshire and study the 4 year course for BSc Computer Games Development, so that's exactly what I did. One year into the course and with a much greater understanding of roles within the games industry, I realised  the coding side of games was not what truly interested me. Instead, it was the intricate detailing within games and how the creation and positioning of different detailing impacts players actions, movements and the immersion within that virtual world.

 With this new trajectory, I knew I wanted to become a game designer (what really broke it down was Liz England's 'Door Problem' post), the next 3 years were spend enriching my mind and studying the following;   

• Player typology's and how how each type approaches tasks/ challenges
• Psychology/ player psychology
• The use of architectural techniques and what emotions they invoke
• The beats and flow of a game and their importance
• The importance of clear documentation and planning before implementation
• Play testing/ prototyping and play testing again and again (and again and again)
• Emersion within a game, both video and board games alike
• and much, much more

Within those 4 years, multiple alpha prototypes were created both solo and as part of a small team some of which can be seen in this portfolio. When my final year project came about I was fully equipped with the knowledge and understanding needed to; plan, test, re-plan and beta test before building the full level called 'The Crypt' leading to me graduating with a first-class degree in Game Design. 

Following graduation, I was approached by the university to work as part of a small team of alumni to build a game project bringing us to the end of 2022. I have recently been approached again by the University of Bedfordshire to co-work on a new game project and academic paper, my assigned role for this project will be the game designer and main game developer.