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Evan Barker

Specialization

Level Design

Internship

Power Level Studios in Montreal, Canada

Tell us a bit about your experience in your major!

I really enjoy how the game majors are formatted from semester to semester. Each fall semester is mostly individual work within your major and specializations. For example, second-year designers take Game Technology, Principles of Game Design, and a specialization class. Then, all of the majors come together in the spring semester to work in teams for the Game Studio classes. This format really gives students time to learn and then apply themselves in a group setting with their new skills. The Game Studio classes are great for meeting new people and getting to know everyone in the game majors.

What’s the best thing about living on campus?

My favorite thing about campus is the huge amount of events that the Student Engagement team puts on throughout each semester. My second year, they organized an obstacle course called Grit ‘n Wit. In a group of four, we competed in a timed race that included logic puzzles and physical challenges that ran throughout campus. These types of events are always a ton of fun.

What advice do you have for students thinking about coming to Champlain for college?

Imposter syndrome is a very real problem that most students feel at some point in their time in college. Remember that you’re here to learn, and that you don’t have to know everything from the start. I didn’t even know how to define “Game Designer” when I walked into my first class, and here I am with internships lined up in the future. You can do it.

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Harper Bennett

Advice to Students?

Working with friends is better than working alone!

Favorite: Book, Movie, Podcast?

Movie: A Silent Voice

Inspirational Quote?

“And remember that bad times…are just times that are bad.” – Katrina, Animal Crossing

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Charlie Carucci

Specialization

Sonic Arts

Internship

Game Design Intern at Insomniac Games in Burbank, CA

Post-Grad Job

Associate Designer at Insomniac Games in Burbank, CA

What is the best thing about the professors in the Game Design program?

The professors at Champlain all have experience in the industry. They can talk to us and say, “Listen, when I worked at EA…” or “When I was working on Myst, this is how we did things.” Plus, since they have been in the industry, they have connections at big companies—your professors can actually help you land a job after graduation.

Can you tell us about your internship?

During my internship at Insomniac Games, I did a lot of hands-on work for the new Spider-Man game for PS4. The work I did mostly involved level design and scripting using Insomniac’s visual scripting language. I also attended weekly design meetings, participated in feedback playthroughs for different missions of the game, and worked with several departments in the studio.
The most rewarding part of my internship was getting to watch the gameplay demo for Spider-Man close the 2017 E3 Sony Conference. I couldn’t stop smiling and thinking about the fact that I hadn’t even started my senior year of college yet, and a game I’d been working on was one of the most impressive games shown at E3.

How did Champlain prepare you for the professional world?

Skills I learned in my production classes—like working on a development team, using version control, and becoming familiar with the development cycle—made it easy for me to adjust to Insomniac’s way of working. Even beyond the classroom, getting involved with different parts of the college through my work as a Student Ambassador taught me how to be a productive member of a team who communicates when I need help. These are skills that I used every day at my internship. I’m confident that everything I have done at Champlain has prepared me to be a successful part of the game industry.

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Genevieve Guimond

Specialization

Interactive Narrative

Internships

Rooster Teeth in Austin, Texas/Double Stallion in Montreal, Quebec

Favorite Class

Principles of Game Design

How has the Upside-Down Curriculum enhanced your education?

Being thrown into teams and development processes immediately at the start of my college career helped me confirm that game design was something I actually wanted to commit to. Without having hands on experience, I feel like we wouldn’t have the chance to understand our future careers nearly as well, not to mention we wouldn’t be as prepared for professional lives after graduation.

What projects have you worked on in classes that you’ve found particularly rewarding/useful?

There are too many to choose from! One game I worked on in the spring of my junior year was a survival game called Lymantria Dispar. It offered me a fascinating challenge when it came to developing and implementing a narrative that, while it wasn’t the focus of the gameplay, really added to the game and improved replayability. I might have torn my hair out a bit trying to develop a variable narrative based on the order players picked items up in, but I was very proud of my work at the end.

Can you tell us about your internships?

After my sophomore year, I interned at Rooster Teeth as the ScrewAttack Writing intern, which meant I contributed to a bunch of scripts that were being published to their YouTube channel (which is now named DEATH BATTLE!). I was able to write solo pieces even as an intern, and when it came time for me to go back to school they kept me on as a contracted writer, which is something I’m still doing! The fall of my junior year, I went abroad to Montreal and interned with Double Stallion as one of two Game Writing Interns. This meant I got to research for their IPs as well as contribute to not only their games’ story and flavor, but also help out with their social media by writing tweets! If you happened to follow that company and you saw a bunch of cryptic tweets about the enemies from their gam, Speed Brawl, taking over the world… that was the interns!

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Karl Lewis

Specialization

Sonic Arts

Favorite Class

Senior Capstone/Production

What made you choose your major?

Video games have always been one of my most cherished passions. It was always my dream to be able to create fun and immersive game experiences that make lasting impressions on players throughout the world. The Game Design major at Champlain was the first step in achieving that dream, and after seeing people have fun playing my games, I can safely say that I’ve been living the dream with my major!

How has the Upside-Down Curriculum enhanced your education?

The Upside-Down Curriculum put me right into the swing of actual game development and design from day one. From my first day at Champlain until the present, I’ve been learning about how to make game experiences on paper, prototype and iterate on them to receive feedback, and use that feedback to bring designs to life. Without ever having to wait to see if my major was right for me or not, I knew from day one that I was in the right program!

How has your Champlain experience prepared you for your future career, both in and out of the classroom?

My experience at Champlain has effectively prepared me for a career in the game industry through classes that not only teach design theory and principles, but also require hands-on creation and implementation of ideas and concepts in solo settings and within multidisciplinary teams. The experience I’ve gained working on games with teammates from different disciplines and walks of life is the real deal, and is quite possibly the closest you can get to actually working in a real game development job!

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Andersen Pinckney

Biography

Andersen is a Game Design graduate from Champlain College’s class of 2020. He has worked as an aerospace software engineer for Saber Astronautics, a project manager for the DoD, and in production for Rockstar Games. He has been an adjunct professor for Champlain College since Fall 2021.

Favorite Quote

“Shake and bake, baby!”

–Ricky Bobby

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Maggie Pono

Piece of advice to students?

You won’t always be able to give 100% to a piece of work but that doesn’t make it bad, it’s just the best you could do at the time and that’s okay.

What's your favorite book, movie or podcast?

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Inspirational Quote?

“If we were all trees there’d be no more wars, because we’d be trees.” – Child in Golden Sun

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Amalia Russell

Piece of advice to students?

Don’t let stress over school get in the way of taking care of yourself. Take a break to stretch and rest your eyes when you need it.

What's your favorite book, movie or podcast?

The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente

Inspirational Quote?

“I have found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.” – Gandalf

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Conor Tully

Internship

Game Design Intern at Ironbelly Studios in Montreal, Canada

Post-Grad Job

Quality Assurance Tester at Bungie in Bellevue, WA

Why did you choose Champlain College?

I was looking through the Princeton Review for top game design schools, and Champlain caught my interest so I had to visit! When I stepped on campus for the first time, I could really feel the career focus at Champlain. The faculty were willing to show me what their classes were working on, and they answered every question I came up with.

What projects have you worked on that were particularly rewarding?

I got to make an arcade-style game with a team. It was fun to make and play. The game uses a steering wheel and Wii remote gun to shoot aliens and drive through a wasteland. I have learned so much from this project, and it has been one of my favorite experiences at Champlain.

Have you had any on-campus jobs?

I was a Student Ambassador on campus for two years. My job taught me how to communicate with people from all walks of life. It helped with my public speaking skills, and I got to interact with important people on campus.

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