This past Thursday, Full Sail University’s Game Development program Graduate, Josh Hamrick the Sandbox Designer form Bungie studios, gave his Alma Mater and its current students a presentation about his life leading up to and becoming a Game Dev in the industry. His presentation was thought provoking, inspiring, humorous, and most of all… driven. To give you a taste of his humor, below is the titled theme image from his presentation…

Memoirs, yes. Josh Hamrick gave us a riveting tale of his life as a gamer. He went through each generation of console/platform as he acquired them, telling us his favorite games that he had for them, and his thoughts on each one. The timeline had a few holes in it, but I can’t blame him…so did mine. I would have to say, though, he does have good taste in games.

Josh tells us when he first decided to go into gaming, while admiring his current indulgence he realizes, “Someone makes these!” He set out on his path from there. He goes through his trials and tribulations from his personal life and professional, giving advice to the future industry professionals sitting in front of him. He also shared with us his ideas and projects he’s worked on in his career; including a game he helped create for his team’s final project- Samurai Colossus, BlackSite Area 51 and of course, his latest baby- Halo: Reach.

As mentioned above, Josh Hamrick is a “Sandbox” Designer for Bungie. That means that he deals with everything you or anything else you interact with in the game. From the way each weapon feels and acts (shotgun has been greatly improved IMO), to what each vehicle and artifact does when you mess with it. He’s also personally responsible for the Grenade Launcher and how it ingeniously works. Yes, thank you JH. See below….

Hamrick makes public speaking look easy; from the random jokes to ease his own nerves, to pointing out philosophy behind work ethics and the companies behind gaming. He even gave great advice all around. I’m sorry I don’t have any pieces to show you. I believe Full Sail may have recorded it, but I am not privy to that media.

Just like he did with the weapons in his games, he makes everything enjoyable and feel goooooood. I have been to many presentations on Full Sail’s Campus, but Hamrick’s was by far the most enjoyable and inspiring. Thank you, Josh.