Background

Heyo, I'm Jacob. So this page is just me writing some background on who I am and how I got into designing video games, if you want the short version of this then refer to the CV heading

Since I was little, I've been obsessed with video games, first playing on a hand-me-down Sega Master System and Super Nintendo. As I got older my interests gravitated towards PC games like Minecraft, Hearthstone and League of Legends, but my love for the medium remained. I would also grow obsessed with the creation and design of video games, endlessly watching YouTube videos on the topic (such as Extra Credits and Matthewmotis) and writing an entire essay for school titled "Video Game's effects on humans".

When I was 14, we were given a choice of subjects we could take for GCSEs, I was eager to learn how to program but I discovered that my school had no such option. Not to be dissuaded, I began to teach myself Game Maker Studio (Chosen due to fixation on Undertale at the time) and through it how to program. I've lost all the projects I created from this time, from what I remember they were unpolished and unfinished, but they taught me to make games and that's what's important. I've taken this determination forward in my life, I didn't wait until my school taught me to program, I did it myself. This has led me to develop further skills such as learning to play the guitar and sketch.

By College, I set on pursuing a degree in Computer Science, although video games were what I loved, I became anxious about my ability to enter such a competitive industry. Later, I would come to quite regret not taking a course in Game Design. I completed my A-Levels in History, Maths and Computer Science achieving an A in all three and enrolling at the University of Birmingham. Over the next 4 years, I grew less interested in Computer Science and realised that creating video games was what I wanted to do. The skills I learnt at university were immensely useful for achieving this goal (especially learning to program well) but it became clear that I wanted to enter the game industry as opposed to a traditional Computer Science position.

I began participating in Game Jams to start adding content to my portfolio and boosting my abilities. I ended up taking a year out of university due to personal reasons and spent this time creating video games, some successful some less so, but the lessons were learnt. For my final year dissertation, I would create a gamified fishing app to achieve a high grade for my degree while also furthering my skills. In 2023 I would graduate with First-class honours.

Since then, I've been living at home, working part-time jobs to keep money coming and performing volunteer IT work at a local heritage site. My free time is spent developing video game projects and adding to my portfolio. My short-term goal at the moment is to land a job in the video game industry and begin gaining professional experience in the field I've decided I want to be in. So yeah, if you're a recruiter who read all the way to here, hire me! please!