Game Designer and Developer
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Making games about Culture,
Mental health, and Social issues
Who is this guy?
Ambition might as well be my middle name if you ask me.
My name is Rogelio Lara, but I also go by Roy for short. I’m a recent 2023 graduate of CSU Eastbay who majored in Game Design with a minor in Latine studies. The plan is to pursue a career in both Game and Audio Design because my vision goal in life, like my school’s motto, is to become a pioneer, but more specifically, in inventing a completely new genre of video games yet to be explored.
With my studies, I’ve been combining Mexican culture and gamification into the games industry in hopes of building a long-standing legacy and inspiring other Latine to do the same. The reason behind this is so that video games can diversify themselves in a perspective people never thought of before thus creating a new creative approach to topics, mechanics, and storytelling.
I hope to be able to create every game idea that has been eating at my soul and I hope you will be interested in seeing what I can do. Since starting my career, I'm happy to say I been doing well for myself and you can read all about it below.
Interviews I have been part of
The link to each article is linked to the title of each section. Feel free to read them for your curiosity!
Published on Dec 6, 2016
This was my first ever interview which talks about my amazing experience of being part of the Gameheads program. One of the things I talked about is how grateful I am to have been taught the value of being Latino and how my culture can play a role in the future of game design and development.
One must be a paid subscriber to read this article and see the attached video made alongside it. I do have access to the full article if you wish to read it.
Published on Nov 14, 2018
Colin Campbell did a series of interviews on students in the Gameheads program developing video games that tackle social issues that aren't ordinarily in video games. I was fortunate enough to have been selected for this interview because of a unique game concept I helped develop.
The game that is talked about is "Here's Your Change" which tackles gentrification in the eyes of a cashier and how they navigate through these changes.
Published on Oct 25, 2022
This video interview describes the latest game project I worked on "Confronting the Inside" and how creating a game about mental health was an interesting challenge to overcome. We also talked about other interesting topics such as using video games as a teaching tool for classroom topics.
The interviewer is Damon Packwood, co-founder of the Gameheads program. He has been a major influence on my growth as a game designer and as a person.
KQED Marketplace
Published on July 3rd, 2023
David Brancaccio and his team did a three-part series of interviews with Gameheads staff and students on how we tackle video game development differently from all other programs and tech companies.
The game I talked about is, once again, "Here's your Change". Further details about this project and many others can be seen in the "Game Trailers" nav bar or read about in my resume.
Examples of my Game Reviews
Here are the three most recent reviews I have written on some old games I played.
Game Review #11
The Last of Us Remastered PS4
In my most detailed review to date, I challenged myself to concisely summarize and describe the content of this game while highlighting aspects that I felt they did very well (and spoilers! I really recommend the game). This review does not include any suggestion improvements.
Game Review #10
Super Mario 64 DS
A classic video game that I felt I needed to write about how they balanced referencing the original game while modernizing some other aspects of the game. Three valid suggestions were provided on how I would improve the game's awesome experience than it already is.
Game Review #9
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 DS
A game that I played a lot during childhood that I wanted to write about for the many hours of enjoyment it brought me. Despite you believing there is clear bias here, I heavily criticized it on a lot of different aspects that it could have improved on. Two major suggestions provided.