Could someone help me edit my essay for the Summer Programs for Diversity at Carnegie Mellon?
The prompt asks me to "describe some special interest, experience or achievement"; I chose to write about game design.
Since my childhood, I was fascinated at how video games really worked. How did developers figure out how to move a character on the screen with the press of a button? Why is the game world divided into chunks of little uniformly sized tiles? Filled with curiosity, even as a young child I always dreamed of developing my own video games. I would draw levels and characters on a canvas in a computer graphics program and have my sister 'play' these games by dragging a character image across the screen.
As I further matured in middle school I would ponder upon my interests and what I really wanted to pursue as a career. There were so many things that were interesting to me; the fact that adults picked a career and usually stuck with it for life was disappointing to me because I had so many interests. I enjoyed doodling on my computer, building things with LEGOs, writing stories in my journal, and playing music in my band. Each of these activities had something in common: the simple idea of creation. Regardless of the medium, the idea of creating something and sharing it with others was really exciting to me. So, in the 6th grade I began to teach myself how to make games. Quickly, I learned that making games was just as fun as playing them.
Over the summer, I developed a 3D top-down shooter video game called <censored>. The game consists of randomly-generated labyrinths; players explore these levels, solve puzzles, and defeat enemies to complete their objectives. The game was entered in the <censored> Competition as an entry for a PC game title that could be ported to the Playstation Portable gaming device. <censored> would continue on to become a semifinalist entry in the competition. This was a huge step forward for me, because I was able to experience the full game design process from top to bottom. I learned how to organize and complete large scale projects under strict deadlines, improve gameplay through testing and understanding player experiences, and optimize my game to run well under heavy hardware limitations.
For me, video games have evolved from a fun way to pass time to a vast medium that can be used to express myself. The element of interaction that is present in video games adds an extraordinary amount of creative room for an artist, allowing him or her to connect directly with the audience. The future of video games is looking bright, and the rapid evolution of the industry in my short lifetime is unbelievable. I am looking forward to my future and I am very excited to pursue my dreams and help build the future of video games.
Since my childhood, I have been fascinated by wondering how video games really worked.
As I further matured in middle school, I would ponder upon my interests and what I really wanted to pursue as a career.
I enjoyed doodling on my computer, building things with LEGOs, writing stories in my journal, and playing music with my band.
For me, video games have evolved from a fun way to pass the time, to a vast medium that can be used to express myself.
I am looking forward to my future, and I am very excited to be pursuing my dream and helping to build the future of video games.
That sounds like the most fun you can have in a career!! Good luck in school!
:)
