About Me:
Hello there! My name is Carmen Kennedy, but I prefer to go by Chris. I am a video game designer and a full-time college student. My current endeavor is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. Before that, I earned an Associate’s Degree in Game Design & Development and created 3 games with teams of 8-11 people. Two were video games and one was a board game.
My history with gaming started when I was a kid and received my first game, Pokémon Diamond for the Nintendo DS. It was truly magical. Throughout my life I would get to experience tons of different gaming experiences, ranging from Minecraft on the Xbox 360 to Rainbow Six Siege on the PS4, to Destiny 2 on PC, and everywhere in-between. Video games were, and continue to be, a core pillar throughout my entire life.
Why Project Management?
The reason behind why management roles seem to speak to me the loudest when it comes to game development is probably the feeling of wonder. I feel that whenever I have the opportunity to coordinate all these extremely talented people from all different disciplines into crafting a piece of art. The culmination of all that effort creates a wholly unique experience via the medium of a video game. Playable orchestras of art. All the different types of arts, ranging from visuals to music to design to storytelling and much more, come together to create a symphony that outlasts its composers. Every time I’m lucky enough to be tasked as the conductor, I’m euphoric to be able to lead such talented groups of people towards a common goal. Everyone playing their different instruments in harmony results in the most beautiful pieces of video game history being created. I firmly believe that video games are the ultimate expression and culmination of art itself.
Why Game Design?
As for how I approach my game design tasks, I am the type of game designer who thinks carefully about every single painstaking detail and how every decision ripple effects towards shaping the player experience. I really enjoy pitching my creative visions to the people I work with and often found myself doing things like physically acting out combat moves or narrative sequences in meetings for Edge of Hell. I’m no stranger to 8-hour-long late-night meetings trying to get a build done in time for the deadline, or manning booths at in-person events to market game demos to strangers-turned-playtesters. I dedicate my all to whatever game I’m working on.
Why Game Development?
My passion has led me to wear multiple different hats, such as Game Designer, Level Designer, and multiple different positions under the umbrella of Project Management. Games are complex pieces of art that take many pairs of hands and many skilled people to complete them, and whenever a game I’ve worked on needed me to fill in for a role I wasn’t assigned, I never hesitated to jump in and do my best.
My favorite part of game development is, without a doubt, creating stories for people to enjoy. That can take shape through designing mechanics that foster emergent gameplay, using environmental storytelling throughout my levels to tell quiet but strong narratives, or directly immersing the player through fun gameplay moments. Designing fun and memorable experiences is what drives my game development process. In the future, I also want to focus on the development of social and multiplayer design because I think that video games are the best way for people to connect and make new lifelong friends. Things like Destiny 2’s social features and Rainbow Six Siege’s in-game communication options helped me to meet some really awesome people throughout the years. I hope to design more ways for people to bond through the video games I’m a part of.
How I Spend My Free Time:
In my free time, I enjoy creating custom maps to hone my level design skills with various different game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine 5. Currently, Super Mario Maker and Battlefield 6 are my top contenders for my next level design projects. However, I also have ideas for creating a Destiny-style dungeon within Halo Infinite, as well as intentions to do a level remaster within the game Ready or Not. On my back burner is the slow and steady chipping away at developing a Tactical First-Person Combat Game with Multiplayer Functionality in UE5. Taking long walks to clear my mind, learning more about game design on YouTube, studying Japanese, and playing games like Rainbow Six Siege or Pokémon fill out the rest of my free time! Games with thought-provoking components and collecting mechanics often grab my interest. Recently, I’ve been getting into the world of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2! Their blacksmithing mechanics are out of this world!
Thanks for reading!
Make sure to check out the rest of my portfolio while you’re here, and if you have any questions you’d like to ask me, feel free to reach out!
