Interactive
In addition to making videos and writing words, I make ad-hoc websites. And, I’ve also worked in the video game industry – briefly. So… I guess a broad assortment of “interactive media” skills is an important quality for any online producer to… ummm… claim he or she has.
Websites I’ve Made
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s CDS Creative Services YouTube Channel (initial development)
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s CDS Creative Services Blog (developer)
UW PocketMedia (co-developed)
Independent America: Where Do You Stand? (co-developed)
Wardfriends (decommissioned, previously an events blog for LDS singles in Southern California)
Satoshi Morikawa’s Official Website
Video Games I’ve Worked On
I interned with the first iteration of the BVG Think Tank in 2004, a video game concept development group comprised of paid undergraduate associates at The Walt Disney Company’s Buena Vista Games shingle. Working here as a writer alongside a team of seven other interns, our Think Tank helped develop proposals to guide key decision makers and help Disney extend their reach with gamer culture. “Epic Mickey“, an idea we in the first think tank originally developed and pitched to Disney executives under the direction of BVG game designer Chris Takami, is currently being produced by Disney Interactive’s Junction Point Studios by big time game designer Warren Spector.
I also worked as a game tester/slave at Vivendi Universal Games during one month in 2004, helping test “Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity” for the Playstation 2 console.
My interdisciplinary undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California combined the fields of animation and creative writing. Altogether, I crafted a study program with the intent of writing a thesis on the subject of “Animated Interactive Narratives” – a fancy way of saying “video games”. However, this unusual undergraduate thesis, available here, didn’t just focus on video games, but covered a wide spectrum of interactive media, with an emphasis on entertainment.
Experimental Media and other forays
I think “bizarre” and “fun” are always good words for describing interactive media. As is “just doing random, fun nerd stuff”; I have dabbled with creating paper-based role-playing games, board games, educational games, and even took a stab at an old-school computer adventure game while taking part in the first ever USC Video Game Design Club. I try my best to geek with the best… geeks, or something.
