All About Joey
I could tell you all about the rigorous amounts of time I invest into making cel-shaded anime characters in Maya (because I grew up on JRPGs and my mom’s esoteric taste in less popular 90s anime). I could also tell you about the amount of copies I have purchased of Guilty Gear just to get people to play my favorite video game with me and subsequently kickstarting an entire splinter cell esports community as a result (oops!) - The point is that all aspects of my life are forever intertwined by my resolve that if we are not having fun, then we have a problem.
As a natural-bred Bostonian finding himself in the city next door, my close-in-age parents raised me on games and computers (say hello to Dreamcast and Napster in the 2000s). This holy input-output lifestyle resulted in a fast ascertaining of technical wizardry and an even faster ascertaining of The Fun Factor: that mythical je ne sais quoi that decides what keeps a game in someone’s shelf versus the bargain bin at the brick-and-mortar down the block. It was a natural progression for me to pick up 3D art to render inventive new worlds, to craft unique and creative solutions to optimize art in a way a simple canvas wouldn’t—or frankly couldn’t—explore.
When I’m not working in the technical fields of digital 3D, I’m continuing my role as a tournament organizer and community manager for Guilt-a-Gear Workshop (the premier East Coast online community for Guilty Gear Xrd REV2), as well as affiliating with my constituents at Tiamat Syndicate, our homegrown Bronx-based FGC/Esports organization. As a competitor in the local fighting game scene, I quickly fell into the role of creating, sustaining, and providing high-profile tournament brackets for a variety of fighting games. All so that I can supply the emergent collegiate scene with a service that connects them with the games they want to play and the talent they want to capitalize on.
My sociable nature means every time I sit at a computer or commentary booth it is a team endeavor. Whether I’m connecting people with others that share their interests, or I’m plowing away at another technical solution to my next big 3D gig; we will laugh, we will cry, and god damn it, we will have fun.