Tabula Rasa : Illumination - Christofer

Hometown
A little bitty town in New Jersey

Favorite games
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), Super Mario 64 (N64), Goldeneye 007 (N64), Metal Gear Solid (PSX), Final Fantasy 7 (PSX), Metroid Prime (GC), Soul Calibur (DC), Dragon Warrior (NES), Prince of Persia 2 (PC), Monkey Island 2 (PC), Battlefield 1942 (PC)

Favorite movies
Better off Dead, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview with a Vampire, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Army of Darkness, Dead Alive, Shawshank Redemption, The Usual Suspects, Fifth Element, Donnie Darko, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Friday, Run Lola Run, Office Space

Favorite websites
Blues News, Voodoo Extreme, The Onion, IGN, Gamespot

Favorite bands or songs
Portishead, Massive Attack, Tool, NIN, Future Sound of London, Aphex Twin, Frontline Assembly, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Bjork, Sasha, Orbital, Delerium, Paul Van Dyke, Junkie XL, Lords of Acid, Underworld, Boards of Canada

Describe your job
The title of Game Designer is so broad since each designer works on different aspects of Tabula Rasa. Early on, some of the things I worked on involved designing some of the systems that our adventures use. Currently, my main focus lies in content development.

With the maps I work on, I'm responsible for scripting out the logic and gameplay, decorating the environments players walk through and working with other designers, artists, and programmers to bring the maps to a state where they're polished, fun, and rewarding for the player.

What advice would you give to someone with aspirations to do what you do?
The one thing I recommend to anyone trying to break into game development is to really get involved with games as much as possible. Try to learn about areas that interest you, network with others that play games or develop them, and do try your hardest to get your foot in the door.

If you're in an area that doesn't have any development studios, try and expand on game-related hobbies or interests that you enjoy. If it involves the environments you walk through in games, focus on learning the editors and toolsets that are sometimes packaged with certain titles. If art is more your passion, then practice your art skills from traditional to digital.

The internet is an incredibly powerful tool to showcase your work. It's not uncommon to hear of those recruited into the industry based on some amazing work they've done in their own time (hosting fansites, writing guides, creating maps, doing 3d art, composing sound mods, etc.). Use this to your advantage when you can.

If you do live in an area where there are some development studios, keep an eye out for job openings. Don't narrow your search to just development-related roles. Look at all positions that are open. Many people overlook Customer Service and Q&A positions even though they're a tremendous source of learning when it comes to seeing what is involved behind the scenes with games. I also think it's much easier to move into development from previous industry positions simply because you're already exposed to the development process and teams in-house.

Regardless of what's available to you where you live, find out if there are any local game development conferences in your city and attend the ones you can. The IGDA is a great source for checking out such conferences as there are new chapters popping up throughout the country each year. These meets often have developers there that can answer any questions you may have and provide information on how you can learn more.

Finally, really try to understand games as much as possible. Now, I don't mean go to your local videogame store and snag every game and console in sight :). Instead, when you're playing at an arcade or your friend's house, take some time to look at the game from different perspectives. What keeps bringing you back to play for hours on end? What parts of it are exciting to you? What frustrates the heck out of you? Look at all aspects including sound, design, art direction, etc. No one area is more important than the other and each serves an important role in making the player have fun..