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MikeDeVine
Joined 6 December 2009
→About Me
====About Me====
====About Me====
I'm a third-year transfer IGM/New Media student, which essentially makes me the world's oldest freshman at 21. After graduating I hope to work in the game development field and eventually become a Game Designer at a major studio. It's been a long winding road for me to get here to RIT: I spent four years at my local two-year community college on Long Island in order to earn enough credits to transfer here with an Associate's in Computer Art- without breaking the bank to do so.
During my stay in the Long Island branch of Purgatory, I served as Layout Editor and Editor-in-Chief for the school's newspaper, which won several awards normally reserved for 4-year schools. I have many years' experience in journalism and graphic design in both print and online forms, as well as computer art.
I also worked as a counselor and Chief Technician/Technology Instructor for my local Boys & Girls Club, which in addition to my prior five years' experience as a summer camp counselor at my local YMCA and my background as the son of an Early Intervention Speech Pathologist has given me a substantial amount of insight into the development of children's' minds as well as a fair grasp of how kids of different ages define "fun"- a concept I think is important to have a handle on from the early stages of any kid-oriented project.
Finally, I founded a small business, Neighborhood Nerd, late last year- a computer repair service with a unique business model designed to support my Boys & Girls Club during the economic downturn, essentially by serving as a for-profit arm of a non-profit company. While the Boys & Girls Club and I were unable to finalize a formal partnership agreement before I left for RIT this fall, Neighborhood Nerd had still managed to become a profitable business in less than a year, something I take a lot of pride in (especially since it was probably the ONLY business to make a profit in fiscal 2009 without needing a bank loan and/or a government bailout).
So yeah, I've been pretty bored with Long Island's lack of game design-related activities, and I'm looking forward to finally getting some experience in a role similar to what I can expect to see someday as a full-fledged Game Designer- and I love having the chance to be a part of something with such noble intentions like the OLPC project, and being able to actually make a tangible difference here. I've got some experience and abilities I can bring to the table aside from just straight-up programming (which I'm only barely proficient at); I guess I'm what you might call an 'ideas man', so hopefully I'll find enough ways to be useful on this project.
====Projects====
====Projects====