Things I’ve Done
Art?
Rajinikanth <3 Games, a game dev workshop and game jam at my parent’s hometown
Roti Delivery, a short film about a roti delivery man
Doodle Tangle, a multiplayer iPad game prototype that explores the physical problems (pardon the terrible video)
Pinkies Up, a multiplayer iPad game with a quirky dude named Harold
RGBRGBRGB, a minimalist real-time strategy game prototype
– 2D Terrain Generator, neato
Rollem Gollem, an iterative puzzle platformer game prototype
Babycastles at the AMNH, a web page to promote an upcoming exhibition
Troll Kit, a program that transforms a PC into an independent arcade game machine
Poorly Designed Upgrades, a game prototype with two ideas: the player’s drawings affect gameplay and too many upgrades can lead to negative results
Can You Imagine Yourself as a Verbal Assassin?, a game prototype in which the player must talk to input actions
The Real Ninja, a silly runner/slicer hybrid game prototype
The Jack of All Trades, a game prototype about choosing your own path in life
Iron Element, Man, a t-shirt concept for threadless
Important Feed, a Facebook application that allows users to mark their post as important
Splyce, a cross-platform HTML editor/previewer with FTP
CrossCalc, a cross-platform calculator similar to Microsoft’s Power Calculator
Source Code from College, have fun rummaging through that
On other sites you may creep at me
Facebook, peep my interests
GitHub, I don’t git it
CouchSurfing, I’m trying to avoid the lava
Work and Life
September 2011 – Present
Independent Game Developer at My Apartment in Brooklyn and San Francisco and North India
After my last professional job I began making stuff. I prototyped several games for contests, attended local events (game-related events [game jams], film-related events, fine art events), and voluntarily worked for local organizations and people. I plan to complete some games after travelling, then crawl back to the loving gaming community in New York, praying they take me in again.
February 2013 – April 2013
Living in India
The idea was to be a hermit independent game developer in India, rent-free and worry-free. The idea was thrown out after adjusting to the surrounding selfless people of Gujarat.
A friend from New York came for a month. We were slated to make a game. He ended up travelling more than expected. We both came to the conclusion that making a game in India did not make sense in value for our time and instead created a game development workshop and game jam at a nearby university.
I then spent some time travelling in Nepal and northeast India with a childhood friend.
August 2011 – February 2012
Travel in Taiwan and Indochina
An unhealthy amount of overconsumption in sights, food, and life. After volunteering at the school in Taiwan, I travelled around the island that is Taiwan (some via CouchSurfing), made a short film in Malaysia (see Roti Delivery), and pondered in Bangkok, deciding to give up “work” and begin travelling. I left my crap at a hostel and made a short motorcycle trip in northwest Thailand. Wanting to further distance myself from development, I seeked indigenous people in Laos, staying in their villages.
An overall psychologically menacing trip for a introverted personality who enjoys late night brainy work and despises conspicuous consumption. I constantly struggled to find value for my time. The language barrier of Southeast Asia undeniably blocked my desire to closely connect with lower class people on many occasions. But as usual, I don’t regret it.
August – September 2012
Volunteer at 達達美語補習班 (Dada School) in 中壢 (ZhongLi), 台湾 (Taiwan)
This was my first gig during travel. One of the things I wanted to do while travelling was to try things that I value more than private sector work, in this case, teaching. Perhaps it’s why I avoided to take a job at a psychologically abusive social game startup and instead chose to travel and ultimately live and work independently in India.
It was a work exchange at an independent school run by a fantastic couple: John and Ching. I assisted in teaching kids English by creating activities for younger students and having conversation with elder students. I also did general work: house chores, cooking, and babysitting. It felt like living with a great family rather than working. I wish I did more. Perhaps it was the heat (and lack of a/c), or the mosquitoes at night, or Ching’s delicious food that hindered me. I stayed until my visa nearly ran out.
January – February 2012
Volunteer at Babycastles in Brooklyn, NY
Ahhh my first love. Amazing people doing amazing things. It was specifically what I was interested in, but had no idea a community for it existed. It was what I was looking for all along. At the time I was just beginning to create things myself (game prototypes), figuring out what games are, what it means to be an artist, and really delve into fine arts. The things these people accomplished on a daily basis was unbelievable. I merely helped setup and facilitate art game installations, and helped (or worsened) with organizational development. I regret leaving New York because of these people, and I will come back, despite disliking the city.
January – February 2012
Intern at zdLLdz in Brooklyn, NY
Interning with Zack. Woo! I assisted with a film shoot in the freezing cold and researched stereoscopy in film and games (read: ate pizza and watched dope movies). Still, it was inspiring to just be around Zack. Zack is the future, and the other interns are equally futuristic.
February – May 2011
QA and Release Engineer at Perfect World Entertainment in Foster City, CA
From suburb to city, I picked up a new job too quickly, perhaps afraid of financial risk. I oversaw day-to-day tasks for the engineering department. The department creates and manages websites and web servers for a bunch of shitty Asian MMORPGs. It was a cumbersome process in a large company. Unrealistic goals, overtime, hasty testing, shoving out “milestones”; The stereotyped horrifically inefficient software company. I knew and warned that I was going to leave within the first week, but I stuck to the job because I was still absorbing the experience, mainly related to living in San Francisco. I came to the conclusion that there was no way to radically change a company that profits, and my desire for something more meaningful, or at least more meaningful than managing websites for terribly bland MMORPGs, made me leave.
February – October 2010
Software Developer at Segin Systems in Virginia Beach, VA
My first “professional” job. I developed code for their flagship web based real estate software. Most of the time was spent implementing interfaces to scrape data from ancient third party title software databases to be sent via web services. The rest of the time was spent extending the superbly coded web site, written by the lead developer who made fine use of the .NET framework. An amazing first programming job as there were only two other developers, and most of the time was spent programming. I knew I was going to leave my hometown, but I thought it was best to have a little “experience” before doing so.
August 2005 – May 2009
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA
I wasted a lot of time. Only one class was okay, the one where we were told to build a web forum with few restrictions. I did, however, value the time I watched artsy movies and played games with friends.
Summer 2008
Assistant of the Manager at LaQuinta Inn & Suites in Norfolk, VA
A new hotel. Dad is doing it big.
2003 – Death
Temporary Manager at Village Motel in Chesapeake, VA
This is my Dad’s motel. Yep, I’m the second generation of the stereotype Indian immigrant hospitality-business owning family. It’s what paid for my raising, including college. A stable business to raise a family. It takes a surprising amount of civil engineering and hackery to maintain motels.
Childhood
Playing games with friends, biking, exploring neighborhoods, eating, family vacations, family events (Indian marriages), fixing computers, fixing other things, staying up late, waking up late, always doing something.