Meet Aubrey Rugroden!
Aubrey Rugroden is a soon-to-be graduate of the highly esteemed DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. She's well-versed in game design principles and excels at viewing problems through multiple lenses (players, devs, biz) to find the best solution. The intense coursework at DigiPen has given her a ton of hands-on experience and she knocked us out with her amazing level design capabilities!
How did you get into GameDev?
I remember getting Uncharted 2 in 2009, and that game had loads of behind-the-scenes extras -- we're talking mocap suit footage, scene whiteboxes, cutscene rough drafts, the works. I think I spent as much time in the Extras menu for that game as I did actually enjoying the content, and I think that's where it really clicked for me that games are a massive undertaking, and a group effort. I knew very early that I wanted to be a part of that.
It took a lot of soul-searching to figure out exactly WHERE in that puzzle I wanted to be, and I was really fascinated with the relationship the players have with the medium, so I decided on "game design" before I really had a good grasp on what that meant.
After going through a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design program at DigiPen Institute of Technology, 4 team games and 19 solo games later, I really KNOW that my place is in game design.
What do you love most about games or what you do?
How we consume art is how we interact with it -- for most media (paintings, theatre, TV shows) that's primarily how we process the information presented to us. In games, however, we can present information TO the medium, and that's incredibly interesting to me.
To create something that is, in essence, a small "reality bubble" is an absolutely beautiful expression of creativity, both for the artist (us, the developers!) and the art user (you guys, the players!) I love expressing my creativity and expanding my knowledge in as many dimensions as I can, and games have so many dimensions to them that I'm really flourishing in the holistic development process.
Designing an experience FOR someone, the player, is such a cathartic way to make art.
Favorite hobbies?
Oh goodness, let's see…
Video games! I'll try everything once, my Steam library is over 500 titles strong!
Speed cubing! My PB on the 5x5 cube is 4:18.76, and getting faster! (Let me know if you can beat it!)
Science! I read academic journals for fun!
Music! I can just about tune instruments by ear, which is half the battle.
Art! Self-taught and going strong!
Fun facts about you
I almost became a biologist. Some permutation of the multiverse has me writing astrobiology papers for NASA.
I went to high school in a class of 86 people. It was the only school in the entire county, too!
I almost always have at least one personal project going at any given time, which I love to gush about with just about anyone who'll listen.
Sharks are by far my favorite animals.
I've been to Africa twice! (Yes, I saw a lot of really cool flora and fauna. Yes, my inner biologist was overjoyed.)
Aubrey in a Nutshell
Eats hyperdense documentation for breakfast
Plays a wicked ukulele
Don't feed after midnight
