Who the heck do you think you are?
Good question. I keep asking myself that too.
Much like all of us, I started playing games as a child. I remember playing Atari 2600 games and the Moldvay Dungeons & Dragons with my brothers. As a teen, I worked on the weekends at a Games Workshop retail store in Hammersmith, London. Back in the day, there were no university programs for game design, so I got a BA in Art History here in Portland. After college, I worked in the emerging field of multimedia, creating artwork for CD-ROMs. I lucked into a job at a game development field, and started making art for PlayStation 1 and 2 — and it was my first exposure to coding.
I started teaching game development and animation at the Art Institute of Portland in 2008. The faculty at the time were a really great team, and we created a program that rivalled the best game development schools in the US for graduate success. During this time I also completed an MFA in Visual Studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, earning the Thesis Award for my year.
In 2016 I was asked to head down to Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, to be the Programme Lead for a new degree at Massey University. I helped grow a new degree in Creative Media Production, encompassing game development, animation, visual effects, film, and creative technology. I also was a board member on the New Zealand Game Developer Association, working on interfacing with government and industry.
Now I’m back in Portland, and eager to meet the new game makers in the area. Get in touch — let’s make cool stuff!
I would be happy to answer any questions at lucas@powerup.institute. If you like, you can also reach out via LinkedIn.