Ricardo Jabbour

I am a graduate with a BA of Interior Design from Notre Dame University – Louaize, Lebanon. Post-graduation, I joined an architect firm, Engineering Cycle, and Fantoni Lebanon, a reseller of office furniture, to this day.

It has always been an interest of mine to design video games. To understand how certain software and programs are applied and interact with the design of the video game is very intriguing. I have had this desire ever since I was a child, drawing and sketching creatures and landscapes, it was a passion out of nowhere; it could be genetic since both my parents are and were artists. I have also found great value in design and details for such games. Throughout the years, video games have been developed intensely by mechanics and visuals, accordingly, my enthusiasm and my innovation have also developed.

Due to circumstances, I had to divert my creativity from Game Design to Interior Design yet I have kept my artistry and have noticed that there could still be a place for me even if I have not started my journey in a Bachelor's of Game Design. After years of not pursuing my dream, I have found an interest in Interior Design that linked me to Environmental Design. The environment differs between the simplest of things, for instance, like colors or light intensity, to the far more detailed environment like the layout of objects that oblige the user in the game to change his direction to reach the goal or objective. The time spent on computers for general construction and even visual rendering programs like Lumion and 3d-Max built me a character of patience and commitment. This also made me realize that I still have the passion for visual finishing, so much that I spent extra hours refining projects that have been labeled as ready to submit. Furthermore, I have reached a point where I started freelancing 3D rendering for senior students and made side money, and the best part was that I enjoyed every minute of it.

In the past seven years of learning Interior Design at school and university, I have realized that the subject truly helped me to deal with my daily life, not only to have patience but to have committed to my work even under pressure, The subject taught me that everyone has their point of view in everything in life where grades don’t matter, it is more relevant to the client’s interest and final goal. Us as human beings, change starts within ourselves, not from others, we grow every day depending on the environmental space and expertise we live through.

People may struggle from getting from point one to five quickly but he or she has to start from one and gradually reach five methodically. We always grow no matter what age we are at in terms of creativity; which links me back to Interior Design and Video Game Design. Design is similar to a plant; it is a long and growing process to evolve into a better plant it was before.
No matter the work in our fields, it is an ongoing process for us to learn, grow, and adapt in our environment for us to survive.
Design is associated with all our lives no matter where you look, everything we have around us is designed to match our discrepancy, from simply a pencil that fits only our hands to skyscrapers that we have built for our daily workspaces and homes, this explains how everything is connected to video game design since we try our best to improve video games to compare to reality. Most of our environment is derived from nature since we extract raw material from nature, but what is also derived from nature is the inspiration, it is what relaxes us and drives our creativity. Going back to the subject of video game design, most of the designers in this field are inspired by nature, whether it is environmental or even biological studies, like human movement. Starting with the most detailed aspects like skin, to the finished product, like the human face with all the facial focus and even finished product.

I believe that an Interior Design/Game Designer has a great advantage in the field of video game designing since we have great attention to detail that concerns furniture history, finishing, detailing, light, and darkness of the area. These are only the surface of details that signify a fine game visually. There are always new things to learn and improve in this life and I seek to be among the best to reach the satisfaction and spark the creativity of the future young clients that would dream to be video game designers just like my dream would be. This is why I seek to improve my future dream of becoming a Gaming Designer since the side of Interior Design is already set with experience to aid the gaming designer side of me.

After an extensive search for a Master’s Degree to reach my dream, I have seen hundreds of Master’s Degrees that are related to Interior Design, but none have caught my eye until I have found Game Design Degree or Master’s. It was by far the brightest sign I have stumbled upon in my life, I just had to find the proper university or College that would strive to help me meet my goal and my full potential while growing and learning as a person. I do believe the experience of an Interior Designer and the proper business experience with a Degree in Gaming Design would be a great asset for future game companies, game offices, and projects.

My country has not been supportive in the past year. Since October 17th, 2019, we have been struggling to live while a revolution proceeds to this day. The corrupt government has halted all transactions that carry outside of the country, this implies no money sent to Lebanese students abroad. The Lebanese lira currency fluctuated within the country only from 1515 to 9500 compared to USD currency, this is going to send the economy to famine. I will be needing scholarships and financial aid to self-fund myself during my studies.

Thank you for your time to read my summary.

Sincerely,
Ricardo Jabbour
[email protected]