I'm sure that Halo 3 reference alerted you...I hope haha. Warning you now...this is a block of text. Hopefully I don't bore you. Sorry if I do.
Hey! I'm Matthew. I've been in college since 2011 (at Portland Community College) but I took most of my fifth year off to change majors and degrees. Starting my second year in the fall at Portland State University and moving out for the first time next month. I started college studying Computer Science and math courses. That was a big, over four and a half year struggle before I changed to Creative Writing. Anyway, I have dreamed of being a game developer since I was 18. I wanted to do gameplay programming, but now I'm geared towards narrative and writing. I LOOOOVVVEE games. I've played Xbox for a long while...around 12-13 years or so. Forget when I actually started. With that I'm a MAAAASSIIVVE fan of Halo. Its whats gotten me into gaming, into Xbox. And I've played Halo for about 13 years as well...give or take haha. It my favorite game series. I grew up with Master Chief's stories. And I've read 17 Halo novels. Check my Halo Waypoint profile for more: HD Simplicityy (my Xbox gamertag)
Moving on. I now play both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (HDSimplicityy). I've played PlayStation in years past, but not much. Until I watched Youtube playthroughs years ago for this little game developed by Naughty Dog called The Last of Us. That game, in my opinion, is an undisputed masterpiece of game writing and character development. Plus its fun to play; my #4 all time favorite game. I bought my PS 4 Slim on February 25th, first playing TLOU. Lately gotten into a handful of other PS games to make up for the lack of quality AAA exclusives Xbox One has currently - Uncharted 1-4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. So while I really enjoy certain PlayStation offerings, my love is always on Xbox. For that reason I want to write Xbox games. Maybe games for both Xbox and PlayStation eventually. I love the heroes journey in games and experimenting with non linear narratives. I'm more inclined to linear narratives with semi-open world level design.
My philosophy for games today this: I love single and multiplayer (certain multiplayer at that). However, when a game has great writing and memorable character(s) combined with addicting, perhaps challenging gameplay that enables replayability, then you have something golden.
For your interest, here are my Top Ten All Time Favorite games. #'s 8-10 are in there because I ran out of games to add; my library isn't vast. So a few are open for change. I have this in more detail on my Twitch channel: HDSimplicityy. Disclaimer: I don't stream much. Dont have an audience.
1) Halo 3 - 10/10
2) Halo 2/Anniversary - 10/10
3) Halo: Combat Evolved/Anniversary - 9.5/10
4) The Last of Us/Remastered -10/10
5) Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - 9.5/10
6) Horizon Zero Dawn and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 9.5/10 and 9/10, respectively
7) Life is Strange - 9/10
8) Assassins Creed: Syndicate - 8.75/10
9) Rise of the Tomb Raider - 8.5/10
10) A toss up between Tomb Raider (2013) or The Walking Dead Season 2 - 8.25/10 and 8.75/10, respectively
Well thanks for bearing with me! I want to learn as much as I can here about the ins and outs of game development, but more on the narrative and combining that with gameplay fronts. Have anything to ask throw it at me!
