Brandon Baker studies video game development at the college
By Francais Healy
fhealy@jccc.edu
When asked, many people will say their dream job would be making a career of what they enjoy doing in their free time. Brandon Baker is going to school to do just that.
“Growing up I played a lot of video games, and there was no other path I was set on going towards. When thinking of what to go for in college, I was thinking I like playing video games so I’m going to go for video game design,” Baker said.
Baker looks forward to someday being on the other side of the creative process of video games. He is inspired by the games he grew up with, like “Jak and Daxter” or “Rachet and Clank”, and the games he loves.
“My favorite game of all time is probably ‘Fallout 3’. I look for the more MMO type games to inspire me with their level design, quest design, and world building,” Baker said.
When creating a game, Baker believes the subject matter should dictate how a game is designed.
“It depends on the genre. A lot of detail, good detail. Small little details. Like if you’re trying to make a dark, creepy, scary game then the lighting would be important,” said Baker.
One of Baker’s focuses is level design, and he aims to find what makes each level enjoyable.
“A lot of the things we talk about in class is finding the fun,” said Baker. “I think immersion is the most important things to make a great game. If the player isn’t immersed in the game, they won’t find it fun. They won’t play it. ”
Even though Baker develops for PC in class, he aspires to develop for consoles later on. Despite the growing market for mobile and PC games, Baker thinks that consoles will continue to be at the forefront of the industry.
“Developing for PC is generally easier, but I’m more of a fan of the console games, so I would much prefer to develop for consoles if I could,” Baker said.
In the future Baker hopes to be either a level or game designer for a big name developer.
“I’d like to work for a big company like Bethesda or Gearbox down in Texas, start as QA and move up to like a level designer or game designer.”
A few years from now, Baker could be creating something that millions of people will play.