STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: CHRIS SANGIORGIO
A self-proclaimed “web nerd,” Chris got his start in the world of digital media designing websites in Dreamweaver when he was in middle-school. His first gig came soon after, creating a website for a local hurricane shutter company.
“It was a big deal for me at the time. I read dozens of books and watched hundreds, maybe thousands of hours’ worth of tutorials on YouTube to learn the skills I needed,” said Chris.
Not satisfied with just HMTL, Chris devoted six months to learning about a dozen other programming languages.
Chris’ teachers started noticing, one even encouraged him to participate in the STEM Game Challenge, a national competition created by President Barrack Obama to promote the education of technology. The competition, and the opportunity for national exposure, fueled Chris to overclock his processor.
“I went into overdrive. I watched hundreds of hours of tutorials, read 3 books on the Unreal Engine, and developed 3 potential maps for the game, one of which I finished completely with programming and stock assets. I was not skilled with modeling and animation at the time, so I had to make do with what I had,” said Chris.
Three hundred hours, and countless sleepless nights later, the project was finished.
But rather than the happy ending he expected, Chris got a new beginning.
“It was a great learning experience for me. I had a lot of fun doing it, and it was what made me realize that the gaming industry was what I wanted to be in when I graduated,” said Chris.
Taking the skills he learned from the competition, Chris and his parents decided it was time to level up. They wanted Chris to learn the art side of the industry, get experience, as well as find out if this was his career path. Their search was finally over, when they walked through the doors of Digital Media Arts College.
“After about 2 months in college, I was almost certain that this was the field I wanted to pursue,” said Chris.
Fast forward a year and half, with the help and guidance of DMAC professors and students, Chris’ modeling and animation skills have gone from beta to boss. He is now working on a new game.
“It’s a cliché apocalypse game. The aliens invade, the governments ban together, and sooner or later they start destroying a couple of cities in each country, until they give up the power suit that they are trying to get back from earth,” said Chris.
This time, however, Chris has his own army of skilled graphic designers and animators to help him complete his mission.
“Hard work pays off. It’s just a cool thing to see other people playing your game, and saying ‘wow that’s awesome’ and that’s kind of the feeling you go for when you are trying to make a video game, or anything in the entertainment industry,” said Chris.
http://blog.dmac.edu/2014/07/30/student-spotlight-chris-sangiorgio/
