By Trish Daly > Senior > Boston College

Just about every person of our generation has gone through at least one phase of obsession with video games, and can relate to the way a player gets wrapped up in that interactive experience. And how many kids dream of making these games, only to “grow out of it”? Well, in a time when video games are more popular than ever, among kids, college students and even elderly people (Nintendo Wii has hit retirement homes, believe it or not), there’s more opportunity than ever to pursue a career in video game development—which is exactly what two Chicago-area students are doing.

Justin C. Moore and Joshua Hernandez are recent graduates of the Flashpoint Academy in Chicago, IL, where they met and collaborated on designing a game that can now be found on Xbox Live Marketplace and soon on the iPhone. Moore, who studied game design, says he heard of Flashpoint Academy at just the right time. “I got a flier in the mail; it was really fortuitous, as I was unemployed for the summer of 2007 and didn’t know what I was gonna be doing in the fall,” says Moore. After completing his undergraduate degree at MIT a few years ago, Moore knew he wanted to pursue his hobby of programming, and Flashpoint was the perfect place to learn his trade.

What kind of school is Flashpoint Academy? Well, forget everything you know about most colleges; Flashpoint is a visual arts school with two-year programs in film/broadcast media, recording arts, visual effects/animation and game development. Students are at the forefront of digital arts, learning from professionals in their fields and also learning to collaborate with fellow students on projects. Moore noted that at Flashpoint, the emphasis is on communication and collaboration, not just technical detail, which was a complete departure from his undergrad education; “MIT’s mantra is that they teach you how to learn, and I would say the Flash Point mantra is to teach how to collaborate.” It was this ethos that brought Moore and Hernandez together.

The two students met when Moore was working on a game he had designed. He had the idea, wrote it down, and started programming for it, making sure to keep it simple: “I try to get something really simple—the simpler they are to make, the more I can make of them.” He created a prototype in spring 2008 and showed it to some classmates, and after seeing it Hernandez jumped on board. He was attracted to the game because “it was a toy that was fun to play around with . . . if we develop something people wanna play with, we’re halfway there.” Hernandez had the art background to be able to contribute to the game, as well as expertise with sound and programming.

They developed the game, percussONE, into a simple puzzle game with a great multiplayer experience, and went through a process of several iterations of the game with biweekly testing sessions, finally entering it into Microsoft’s Dream Build Play game development competition. The game wasn’t a finalist, but a team was born—and as Hernandez advises, “the industry succeeds best when it has skilled teams.” After the team worked on the game further, it was featured on Xbox Live starting in March 2009.

But the team didn’t stop there. Before even graduating, they founded a studio called Metamoorephosis in Chicago to start up a game development company. They’re currently working on four other games on different platforms, primarily for Xbox and iPhone. Their goal is to make new and interesting games, including educational games. “I want to create games that more subversively teach people a lesson, for example we’re working on one right now for mathematics,” says Moore. He got the idea for the math game from tutoring one of his neighbors for the GMAT, which sparked his theory that games can be a fun learning tool for people of all ages.

Moore’s advice for aspiring game developers? “If you can finish an entire project, that shows you have what it takes to make it in the industry,” says Moore. Hernandez emphasizes the importance of networking and maintaining contacts in the industry to draw attention to your games, as well as practicing your skills and experimenting.

For now, the duo and the rest of their team are focusing on running their business, which doesn’t just mean playing games. Moore recalls that his passion for games began around the age of 9 or 10. He grew out of it in high school because he didn’t think it was a viable career path, but his interest reemerged in college. It’s not all fun and games, though; “Game development does not equate playing games, it’s a lot of grueling work that goes into it. There’s a bit of a learning curve . . . it’s difficult at times to turn something you love into work, but you have to.” Hernandez agrees, since right now much of their time is spent figuring out the business side of things, but for him too it all comes back to passion. “I’m an artist by trade, and to me [a video game] is the closest to a religious experience that any art medium will ever get to: sound, visuals, human interaction, the possibilities are pretty much endless,” he says. And with all the hard work the two students have put into their trade, the possibilities are endless for Moore and Hernandez too.