My name is Darren Arquette, I’m a student at the University of Teesside studying Creative Digital Media.

When I was growing up I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, which path to take so to speak, with no real role models it was a very hard choice for me to make.

This was however until I reached the age of twelve and decided what I wanted to be after playing two great games for the Playstation 1, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII. Now before this it’s true I was a bit of a gamer but I would more casual, I previously had a few gaming consoles, such as the Commodore 64, SEGA Mega Drive and a SEGA Saturn, and always wondered how they make games but I only played on them from time to time, like a rainy day for example. But after playing those two games, I was hooked for life.
Those two games were like nothing I ever played before, which opened my eyes to gaming and their connection to the player, in an attempt to break the forth wall, with MGS telling the player what buttons to press, [with MGS2 going all the way by telling the gamer to turn off the console, which some people did] and of course the fight with Psycho mantis whom can read your memory card, and FF7 with it’s massive world and deep, flawed, brilliant characters that made you feel for them and of course many gamers to cry (I didn’t, shocked but didn’t cry [cried at Kingdom Hearts though / almost cried in MGS4 with Raiden almost dying heroically like three times]).
Which all in turn, lead me to the path I wished to take, I wanted to get into the video game industry as a Game Director.

And since that day I’ve been working my butt off through School, College and now University to grasp even a slither an understanding on how to make games, which wasn’t easy for me, I wasn’t one of the most intelligent guys in school, heck I had to fight tooth and claw for every single grade I got, barely making it into College, barely making it onto my second year at College. But each time I was just saying to myself, “this is my dream I’m not going to give up without a fight”, and when I do make it into the industry, I hope to inspire someone else the same way, even if they want a totally different career, have them stand up and say “this is my dream” and they’re not going to allow anyone to get in the way, no matter who the nay sayers are.

I also enjoy writing: I’ve recently finished writing a Sci-fi/fantasy novel, one of a possible five of them now (three of the main arc and two side stories.)
I hope to start in the industry as a level designer and work my way up to being a Creative Director.

——————————————-

Click here to see my CV or follow the links on the right.