Hi, I’m Trent Polack and I totally make video games. I make them as a game designer and I’m currently employed as such at LightBox Interactive in Austin, Texas. I have a degree in English (with a focus on Creative Writing and Secondary Education) from the University of Michigan. I’m a self-taught programmer of nine years and I dig game design, level design, and writing. This site is for me to talk about popular games from a more design-focus perspective and attempt to add what I can do the public discourse of game design and criticism. Also other neat stuff.
In the past, I was a game developer at Stardock Entertainment and there I worked on Galactic Civilizations 2: Twilight of the Arnor, The Political Machine 2008, and Demigod. I was also involved with a large amount of the development of Elemental: War of Magic. I’ve also worked as a programmer involving stuff in space, a game journalist, an author, a door-to-door salesman, a PR dude, and a grocery bag boy.
In my spare time I have worked on side-projects for the PC/Xbox 360 using Microsoft’s XNA platform, one project of which was Asplode!. I am currently working with various level editors in games such as Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3 (I have a level design page!). I am also working on small, experimental games using Unity; one of which is Magnetic Butterfly; check out my games page for more games. I make them! It’s fun.
I write a whole bunch about bunches of things. In the past, I have been known to write entire books such as Focus on 3D Terrain Programming. I also coauthored Graphics Programming Methods and Game Programming: Tricks of the Trade.
I can also be found at several other Internet locales where I clog up open sockets with my unnecessarily-verbose nature. I do various things at GameDev.net such as moderation, editorial review, and manage a daily industry news post that I started called “The Daily GameDev.net” (which I write once a week). There’s also Twitter, which I adore (internet friends!). Finally: Audioscrobbler page (music!).
Things That I Like
Movies/serial shows, words, beer, puns, Roman & Greek history, literary criticism, reading, noir, westerns, flip-flops, vodka, creative writing, screenwriting, education, generational studies, sarcasm, game design, game criticism, punk, [good] hip-hop, running, basketball, irony, etc.
Bestest Games
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Far Cry 2, Half-Life, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Final Fantasy Tactics, Warcraft 3 (The Frozen Throne & Defense of the Ancients), Forza Motorsport 3, Resident Evil 4, Diablo 2, The Sims
Rad Movies
Sweet Smell of Success, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, O Brother Where Art Thou, Glengarry Glen Ross, Mulholland Dr., Minority Report, Slither, Die Hard, Sunshine, Chinatown, Lost in Translation.
Fantastic Books
The Fall (bestest), Fight Club, IT, 1984, Ubik, Catcher in the Rye, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, High Fidelity, The Martian Chronicles, Heart of Darkness, Fahrenheit 451, Harry Potter, The Great Gatsby, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Studs Lonigan, Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, Flow My Tears (The Policeman Said), Middlesex, Savage Night, The Known World
Sweet Music
Sister Hazel, 311, Anberlin, Joshua Radin, SR-71, The All-American Rejects, Ben Folds, New Found Glory, Travis, Tool, The John Butler Trio, Bad Religion, Johnny Cash, Set Your Goals, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sugarcult, The Offspring, Felt, Trapt, The Who, Calexico, Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine, Elliott Smith, Bowling For Soup, Jump (Little Children), Andrew Bird, lostprophets, The Decemberists, The Format, Live, American Hi-Fi, Jonathon Coulton, Damien Rice, Coheed & Cambria, All Time Low, Houston Calls, Atmosphere, Hellogoodbye, Motion City Soundtrack, Cobra Starship, Belle & Sebastian, Paramore, The Hush Sound, Flyleaf, The Vincent Black Shadow, Aesop Rock, Bloc Party, Rise Against