Grid Snaps Podcast

[rohoGames]

Ok all- I've been SUPER LAZY about posting podcasts.. YIKES!

There's been a bunch, but the latest is here:

https://rohogames.podbean.com/e/gspc-ep ... ee-review/

This is about Death Stranding, which we loved, but its different, that's for sure!

Since y'all have been so nice and gracious about being interested in my video game industry career-
Last July I moved on from Cold Iron Studios in California- this was my choice- they are doing great and all that. I am now a professor of practice at Purdue University in Indiana, teaching game design, level design, and so on. I'm almost done with my first semester and it is a BLAST. I loooove working with the kids. They’re amazing.

Part of the cool thing about a big elite university like Purdue is you still get a lot of opportunity to interface with the private industry. We got lots of cool stuff going on, albeit the end results may not be in a commercial game as such!

[ActRaiser]

Good for you, Rob, that's awesome. Congrats on the move!

[VideoGameCritic]

Rob, you are a freaking legend.

It's fascinating to hear how your career is progressing!

[Matchstick]

I am now a professor of practice at Purdue University in Indiana, teaching game design, level design, and so on. I'm almost done with my first semester and it is a BLAST. I loooove working with the kids. They've amazing.

WHUUUUUT?? Man, does that take me back.

We've never met, rohoGames, but we do have one thing in common with Purdue University. I met my now ex-wife while she was a student at Purdue and I was a student at Indiana University. Odd combo, but I spent several years hanging around the West Lafayette campus (more than Bloomington, usually, as my grades would attest to) and struggling to stay warm in the winters. I'd imagine it's quite the departure from California!

One winter night she was there, they had 9 feet of snow and a wind chill of -42 degrees. It was 2008, I believe, maybe 2007. Class was canceled for the first time in 40 some-odd years and a state of emergency was declared, as the roads were too hazardous to drive on. Thankfully, Purdue, like a lot of northern schools, has that massive network of heated tunnels that runs underground between most buildings. My lady had an apartment right next to Ross Ade stadium with killer radiator heat, and we'd bookit from her apartment to get to the nearest campus building before we froze to death.

Such good memories. The cafeterias ran out of food trays because the students were stealing them to go sledding. Nearly every outdoor concrete staircase was packed over with snow creating makeshift snowboard ramps, and the campus was just buzzing for a few days with no class. What a great time.

My favorite everlasting memory of that era? The bowling alley in the basement of the student union building had a few arcade games, including the original Marvel vs Capcom. While I was killing time waiting for Rachel to finish her classes for the day, I probably spent enough money on that machine to straight up buy the thing outright. Filled up every slot on the high score list. I'd check on it every few weeks, and when someone came along and beat my high score, I'd jump back in and reclaim my title. There was also a small arcade upstairs from the bowling alley that had a ton of fighting games (Street Fighter III, Killer Instinct, Ultimate MK3) as well as a Neo-Geo, and there were the usual "shouldn't you be in class?" arcade rats hanging around there every day. Myself included, of course.

I'm glad you're having a great time there, fella. Thanks for letting me reminisce a bit!

[rohoGames]

Hah that’s great! Those tunnels are gonna come in handy that’s for sure. I spend most of my time in KNOY hall which isn’t too far from the union, which is getting renovated btw.