EDGAR Parente – DP CHALLENGE #1 & #2 COMPLETE!

Edgar Parente has completed DP Challenge #1 & #2.
This gets him a personal recommendation from me in his resume, and a graphical stamp of approval.
It also makes him the first person to enter DP Challenge #3. (The toughest challenge of all!)
To understand the challenges check our FORUMS.
Want to see what he’s done? (Links are to Microsoft Word Documents.)
EDGAR PARENTE – DP CHALLENGE #1
EDGAR PARENTE – DP CHALLENGE #2
EDGAR PARENTE – IDEAL GAME
EDGAR PARENTE – IDEAL MARKETING
Congratulations Edgar!

Here’s a little bit more info on Edgar…
Games have been a major part of my life from my early days with a CoCo2 and old 8088s. My love for computer games grew from there. I dabbled a little into BASIC and typed some of those games that came in magazines. I decided to get a career in the video game industry. I always wanted to be in design.
I started my studies in programming since I also enjoy it. Somewhere down the line I started collecting videogames as well. As hindsight this provides me with a good background of tried and true designs to fiddle in my brain.
I’ve known about Shiny since Earthworm Jim, and was always interested in their products, but I didn’t think David Perry would be doing the industry such a great service. I learned about http://www.dperry.com through the XGS website, which I had been frequenting concerning their system. Then I saw David Perry was coming to the IGDA meeting in Montreal. I also saw the challenge David Perry was giving.
I instantly thought this would be an excellent way to acquire design experience. I asked a few questions to David Perry when I saw him and went ahead and did it. I asked friends and colleagues for the games I needed, I went to the store and purchased them used, or rented them. At first I would play the game for a few hours, then sit down at my computer and write everything up. This created problems since I would sometimes forget something I noticed at the beginning of my playtime.
I made myself a template and photocopied it 100 times. Then I would sit down with the paper and pen and start playing the game. Every time I noticed something I would jot it down. As I did more and more games I would see the patterns emerge in every facet of the game. Then I would transfer all my notes on the computer. I decided to add a collection of thoughts on the subject to help provide an analysis and how I would do things.
I worked a little differently on the second challenge since most of it was research. During my breaks at work I’d go looking through several websites for the necessary material, once again taking notes instantly. At home I would play the game.
It was hard sometimes to get motivated to play all those games, but this is something that I wanted, and when I went into this manic state I would play 3 games in one day: One session in the morning, one after lunch and one at night. 3 to 4 hours straight.
When I think about it just working on these challenges shows something about you, and my girlfriend says it all the time: I’m crazy! Well it’s that craziness and passion that helped me get through these challenges.
Edgar, you have already demonstrated one key skill, that’s when given a task, no matter how big, or how repetitive it is, YOU keep your focus and deliver. Great stuff!

– David Perry.