Introduction

Since I just set up this blog I think its best to introduce myself and give a brief summary of how I came to this profession (and because it would seem silly to write retroactive blog posts for all the things I've done the past few years).

My name is Dan Porter. I was raised in an un-extraordinary suburb outside of Atlantic City, NJ.
Whats more important is that at some point I realized that I loved video games. Not just playing them, but making them.

I first started modding Starcraft, but probably spent the most time working with Warcraft III towards the end of high school. One day over the summer of junior year I started working on a map. I got sucked into it and ended up spending 3 sleepless days cranking out Cowicula's Wilderness Survival, one of my most successful maps. I decided I try to go to college to learn how to make games, which at the time was a pie in the sky dream. I did a bit of searching and discovered that not many schools offered a legitimate program in Game Design... most schools tend to teach students Maya/3DS Max and C++ and then call them game designers.

I discovered Champlain College by accident. The school was fairly remote, and not many people think of Burlington, Vermont as a tech center. However, the school did offer a 4-year bachelor's degree in game design, which was rare since many schools focus on 3D art and programming.

When I arrived at Champlain for my Freshman year I was surprised to find that their program was actually about game design. Rather than learning how to model or code, I was being taught about design principles, game mechanics, scope, and flow.

At the end of Freshman year, I found out about an obscure department in Champlain College called the "Emergent Media Center" which was apparently exploring serious games and other interactive media development. I applied for a job which turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I worked over the summer on the Information Literacy Project. Our goal was simple; create a Flash game that would teach incoming college students about Information Literacy (just google it, its basically a more general term for researching information and using it). I was working on a team of about 8 people: a producer, 3 game designers, 2 programmers, and 2 artists. In 3 months we created a substantial design document and a working prototype of the game. We ended up continuing into the school year making a better prototype to satisfy our clients (the Champlain College Library in this case). The project was then shelved for a semester while the EMC focused on other projects.

In the mean time I worked on the IBM Open Worlds project from the fall of 2008 through the summer of 2009. We had a non-disclosure agreement so I can't go into detail. Suffice to say we worked on "exploring virtual worlds business management solutions." Spoocat.

About a year later, after doing lots of secret stuff for the IBM project, I returned to the Information Literacy Project as the which started back up again in September of 2009. Although I was a designer on the project previously I was given the position of Assistant Project Manager, which was essentially a producer role working directly under the staff supervisor, Ray McCarthy Bergeron. Ann DeMarle, the director of the EMC, had asked us to produce an iPhone game in the Unity engine based on the flash prototype we had made the year before. We familiarized the new team with the design of the game and defined our pipelines for production. Unfortunately, I could not pass up the opportunity to study abroad in Montréal (a veritable Mecca of game development). For those of you who don't know, Montréal is home to several studios for major game companies including EA games, Ubisoft, Eidos, Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M) and several others. Anyway, due to my semester abroad I had to hand off the project lead position to James Fraina, a senior game designer who was working as Lead Designer during that phase of the project.

In Montréal I have a lot less on my plate in the way of game production simply because I can't work at the EMC from up here. However, it has provided a plethora of learning experiences I couldn't have gotten anywhere else, including some crucial insight into how the game industry works (not to mention networking opportunities). Perhaps the greatest benefit of studying here is that my classes are taught by people who are currently working in the industry. I'd have to say the best insight to game design has come from my Advanced Seminar in Game Design teacher, Alex Hutchinson, who is currently a creative director at Ubisoft (he previously worked on titles such as Spore, Army of Two: 40th Day, and the Sims). On top of being an Aussi, he is probably one of the most intelligent and enthusiastic speakers I've heard, which makes listening to his rants absolutely fantastic. When it comes to game design, you name it and he'll have something to say about it. Another prominent figure is Genevieve Lord, the "boss" of the study abroad program and motherly figure to all of us game devs. Former industry producer, she has given some of the most sagacious advice on project management I've ever heard. We've also had quite a time in our Production II class, which has proven to be extremely hectic this year. Anyway this is still in progress so I will leave it for the rest of the blog.

That pretty much sums up the past 8 years of my life, so now that should serve as a bit of a back drop for the rest of my posts.

Thanks for reading,
-Dan