Games Design

The escapism and excitement of games have captured my imagination since childhood, but it was the E3 2009 event which fired my interest in their development; the presence of gaming giants from Nintendo to NaughtyDog underlined the industry's key position and power in multimedia, and I am increasingly aware of the growth of gaming in recent years to become the biggest entertainment industry in the world. My thirst to become a part of this has only grown as I have tried my hand at creating worlds and characters. I have experimented with both physical and digital platforms, from drawing to digital modelling and animation, and I am convinced that studying Games Design at university would be the ideal path for me. I would relish the chance to combine my talent for analogical drawing with computer software, pixel art and animation, in order to help drive visual innovation in gaming and have found inspiration and influence from the Naughty Dog developers, particularly the Uncharted series, which incorporates a thrilling character-driven story with breathtaking visuals and won the Best Graphics Technology at E3 2009 for one of its games. Shigeru Miyamoto, creater of Zelda and Super Mario, is unparalleled in creating worlds and characters which remain iconic and enduringly playable and versatile. I have become driven to earn my place alongside these giants through beginning to develop my own games for smaller platforms including independents and mobile applications. My main interest on this course is the creation of worlds and characters: the design, modelling and edition of these aspects of gaming are crucial to their successful execution and I am keen to develop my competencies with graphics and rendering tools. I have gained a good knowledge of genres, visuals and gameplay tools through watching industry events including the Game Developers Conference and Gamescom, and am an avid member of the biggest gaming forums on the net such as IGN and Gamespot. In 2011 I attended Portugal's most exclusive gaming event to preview Uncharted 3, where I was able to question its developers about the game's creation. I was fascinated by learning about the work and lives of the developers of my favourite franchise, who encouraged me to follow my passion as they had done, through constant gameplay, study and dedication.

At school I have gained high grades in all my subjects, including Arts and Multimedia, History of Art and Drawing, and a 7.5 in my IELTS. Through my Multimedia class I manage a blog on Tourism, including delegating tasks to the workgroup, and acting as a designer, writer and photographer, and I have also created my own blog to exhibit my portfolio and latest design work, a project of which I am very proud. I have undertaken work placements alongside my studies since 2010, including Anipop and IberAnime in events organisation and sales, which greatly developed my skills in communicating as part of a team and problem-solving. I also freelance as a graphic designer for an online store, including banner and logo design and development, which gave me experience in commercial visual design and its goals. At school, I headed my class project of a painted mural, including both choosing colours and lettering and organising other students, and the mural appeared on national TV which gave me a unique sense of achievement. I went on to organise the school LAN Party: bringing my passion for games to others was a real motivator and I enjoyed taking on the responsibility of organisation. I am also one of 2 managers of school communication projects on the TV network.

I have always considered myself a citizen of the world, and being part of an international gamers' community online proves that my chosen industry is a truly global and progressive one. Above all my genuine passion and desire to bring my creations to life inspire me to complete my training in the UK and forge my dream career in the most exciting industry in existence.