Unit 1: Week 1 - Video Game Blog Article

Hi my name is Alondra Abarca and welcome to my personal video game blog.

I have played video games every since I was very young.
I think I was 5 or 6 years old when I started playing video games. My mom told me that one day she found me sitting at dad's computer clicking on the keyboard and playing a game on it. I had somehow figured out how to turn the computer on and was able to operate it well enough to play games on it. My dad's first reaction was to get mad at me because he thought that I would break the computer but my mom convinced him to try to teach me how to use it instead and from that day forward  my life as a gamer began. I got a PlayStation one console for Christmas. I was overjoyed and confused since playing on a console was different than playing on the computer. But in just a few short days I had figured out how to play it and was playing games such as Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid,  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Spyro the Dragon. I could play Spyro for hours and hours and not get bored since it kept me quiet and focus something my parents appreciate specially because it gave them  some free time for themselves.

I was born in Santiago Chile in 1992 at a time were the economy was not doing so well my dad was lucky enough to have a good position in a company and I being an only child was able to reap the benefits of this in the way of PC games. But by the time 2000 came around my dad had lost his job and we as a family were force to adjust to a different way of life. We had to sell a few of our possessions and eventually my dad got a new job but we had to move to Canada.  It was tough for us to adjust to life in Canada it was very different than where I came from and I didn't know the language. So I remember that during that time my dad felt bad for me since he noticed I started to get depressed so he bought me a PlayStation 2. The graphics had improved a little since the first PlayStation games had come out. I also enjoyed the backwards compatibility it provided since that meant that I could still play some of my favorite games like Spyro the Dragon.

Then while I was halfway done elementary school I got a PlayStation 3. It came with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was the one with the 60 GB hard drive and it lasted me about 9 years before the system died on me. I have lots of fond memories of that system. I even remember opening it up in the hopes of being able to fix it since my warranty had expired. My dad helped me out as well since he had worked in fixing computers. We manage to get it to work for about 2 months than it broke down forever and I had to say goodbye to it RIP PlayStation 3.

But my love for games grew despite this lost and eventually I bought another PlayStation 3 Console the slim version and got the Assassins Creed Trilogy. It became my favorite game series to play and I even manage to get my best friend who didn't play video games to play with me. The PlayStation 3 graphics seem to be getting better and better as new games kept coming out. Assassins creed also taught me a few words in Italian so now if I go to Italy I know how to say rest in peace, thank you and hello as well as a few swear words which is always what people want to know when learning a new language. Despite my love for gaming consoles I also still love playing PC games. My favorite series being The Dragon Age games. Dragon age Origins will always have a special place in my heart since that is one of the first games that thought me about mods and how to add them in the games.

When I graduated High school I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I thought I wanted to be a doctor or a psychologist but I was still unsure. So I took a year or two off school and I worked in my families company for about that time. I liked working and making money but soon enough I felt like I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life.  I still enjoyed playing video games. I would always come back and play a game or two even if I was tired from work. Than I remember that I had taken computer animation in high school and I had enjoyed the class so I thought to myself. Why not become an animator or video game designer so I applied to the Art Institute and soon got an interview. But half way through the process our family company felt in hard times and I had to cancel my dreams and put it on pause to try and help my family save the company. So I thank the school for accepting me but told them I didn't have the financial stability to afford the career. So I went back to work and after a year my parents and I were able to pull the company back from the dark hole it was going into. My parents felt bad about me not being able to study full time and have a career so they convinced me to try going to Douglas College and try the psychology thing but after doing that for 3 years I called it quits. I just notice that I had no idea of what being a psychologist really meant. It was a reality check. I thought to myself do I really see myself in a room psychoanalysing
someone and giving them advice about their life no I was as lost as them. So I left Douglas after finally deciding that psychology was not my thing and thought back on what I had previously wanted to study before which was game design.

I had been working part time while studying at Douglas College and if I put all my money together from that and the money I had saved up working full time at the company I had enough for the tuition fee and enough to cover few quarters. So I applied at The Art Institute of Vancouver and at BCIT. I applied at two places because I didn't want to miss any opportunities that came my way. But After a horrible interview at BCIT I decided that I should look towards The Art Institute as my ticket to game design. I new that it was expensive but my parents supported me one hundred percent and were willing to help me cover some of my tuition. The experience at the Art Institute was Completely different than the one I had at BCIT. The campus was much smaller and the classes more personal. The interviewer was very nice and approachable and the entire atmosphere of the place was fun and relaxing. So I was overjoyed when I got accepted.

I started in February and did a mid term and now I am starting my first Quarter.
I have already learned so much is just a few short weeks and I am exited for what is coming up next for me. I have always had a thirst for knowledge and learning and I feel that this is the right place for me to accomplish my dreams of being a game designer. Although every aspiring game designers dream is to work at a triple AAA company I know I would be just as exited to work in an Indie game company or in mobile games. I just want to make games is that simple. I love playing them and now I want to learn all the effort and hard work it takes to make them. I think that by doing this I will not only appreciate video games more but it also will help me use my knowledge and creativity and express it in a way that I have not been able to do before. I love reading and watching movies and basically game design in a way is the same. The game designers are trying to tell a story using all the mediums they have at their disposal and creating a product that people can buy and play and enjoy. I know It will be a hard road full of obstacles and hardships but now I will persevere and pull through because when I have been faced with a challenge I have never given up. While other people are out there living the same monotonous life I am here living the dream now studying and doing what I love most which is video games.

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Thanks for reading,

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