EMRE FINDIK

I am a game developer, and currently a student at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing a Master’s degree in Entertainment Technology. My main areas of interest are gameplay programming, game design and musical composition. My background is primarily in programming and music; I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Cornell University and I studied piano performance and music theory at the Istanbul University Public Conservatory for nine years as a part-time student.

 

I have two years of experience in game development through various academic and personal projects in design, programming and audio roles. Some of these projects brought achievements; Clone Combat was featured on the homepage of the online media platform Newgrounds as one of the best Flash game releases during November 2015, Havoc was selected for and showcased at the 2016 ETC Festival at Carnegie Mellon, and Lovers’ Lake won the Innovation Award at the Pittsburgh site in Global Game Jam 2017.

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My passion for game design has its roots in maps of imaginary cities and countries I drew back in my childhood. This general interest in virtual worlds manifested itself later in middle and high school when I started creating custom levels for games I played at the time such as Stronghold Crusader, Far Cry 2 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis. Combining my passion for games and programming during my time as an undergraduate student at Cornell, I took an interest in gameplay programming. I worked with fellow students to create three 2D games in semester-long projects while at Cornell: Troll Stomp, Clone Combat and Shade.

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I got involved in music from very early on, taking my first piano and solmization lessons at the age of four. I started writing my own short tunes when I was five. Later on, I enrolled at the Istanbul University Public Conservatory at the age of eight and studied there for nine years as mentioned above. I picked up a couple of stringed instruments and the drum kit during my teenage years, and performed with various bands in a variety of instrumental and singing roles. When I was thirteen, I learned how to use the digital audio workstation Cubase and composed, recorded and edited many fully orchestrated songs from then on. As my interest in game development grew, I started composing for games as well. My recent musical works mostly consist of music for games and I continue to take on musicianship roles alongside design and programming work in my projects at Carnegie Mellon.