Narrative essay:

My name is Noah Coplon. I grew up in Burke, VA, and I am looking to be a game designer. 

From a young age, I had a love and passion for video games and game-style storytelling. My mother and I used to sneak into the basement after dinner and play “Skylanders" and other wonderful games on the Nintendo Wii. My passion for video games picked up more and more as I got older. “Skylanders” turned into LEGO games, which became storytelling games, not just puzzle games. I was playing “Legend of Zelda” on the Wii at the ripe old age of eight. When I got to that point, I was watching my brother, who was 12 years older than me, play games like “Call of Duty Zombies”. This was a turning point in my childhood. We soon upgraded from a Wii to an Xbox One. I was playing games like “Halo”, “Portal 2”, “Overwatch”, and many other types of games. I then moved to computer games like “Slime Rancher”, “Subnautica”, and most importantly, “Minecraft”. This was the game that got me into game design and development. Minecraft opened my eyes to how video games work and play so well. 

My mother is a big computer game person. She played the first video games to come out and loved them. When my mother learned of my love for Minecraft, she decided that she had to get in on the action. She realized that it was a fun game and started hosting a server so that all of my elementary school friends could play together. I got good enough at playing that I was learning about mods. When I took an interest in learning about how to mod Minecraft, she was jumping with joy. Growing up with dyslexia, I was not the happiest person when I had to learn something new. My mother was super happy when I was excited about learning something new, she immediately started me in online classes. I made a mod that I never published that eventually got lost to the void when the computer we were working on broke, but nonetheless I can say that I, NOAH COPLON, made a mod for Minecraft at the age of 12. I was happy with learning how to make a new ore, new tools, mobs, and all the cool things that went with a mod. My mother was so happy with me while I was typing away at my JavaScript and trying to figure out what was wrong with my script. All good things came to an end when I went to high school and got different hobbies. 

Through high school, I learned a lot of new skills. I learned 3D design with AutoCAD and Inventor, I learned how to do so many styles of art. I never lost my passion for video games, but I did start wanting to be an artist. While I was in a ceramics class in high school, I met a teacher who literally changed my life. Mr. C was the nicest teacher I have ever had, and he holds a fond place in my heart. I wanted to take his job. I told him as much, and he said that when he retired, I could come back and teach. I learned all of the tricks of running a studio and maintaining a teaching persona. I was trying so hard to get all of the skills down so that when I went to college, I could be ready to do everything. He taught me to do what I loved and what I was good at. I was good with the 3D design program and was good at understanding how to solve problems. I learned in that ceramic studio how to work as a team and keep things working. I also learned how to keep information moving. I learned so much. Then I came to college and learned more. I learned more about running a studio and how to make a product. I eventually came back to find game design as a major, I learned more styles of coding and more interesting ideas on what works in games. I've spent 3 years in college learning what makes games fun and interesting. I hope to share that with the world, and maybe one day I can go show Mr. C what he has done for me.