Hi, my name is Carolyne Hess (pronounced Caroline). I love stories and interactive media, especially games. I grew up as the second youngest in a large family and spent a lot of my childhood surrounded by games and storytelling. At every turn, someone was playing video games or telling me about a movie that they had saw and quickly, I developed a love for both games and narratives. Having younger cousins was wonderful for me because I could create a new and elaborate game every time my family gathered. I was always the one to host charades or create a scavenger hunt. I've also been lucky enough to be in a family that loves to go on adventures and try new experiences. It seems we are always finding new adventures to go on, whether its a mountain trek, a day at the zoo or an evening at Medieval Times (Yes, I did make all of our costumes).

 

A few years ago, my family even let me take charge of the regatta at our lake when it came our turn to host. This was one of my favourite experiences, as I got to direct the entire event. I made all the costumes from scratch (my dress was originally a few doilies and a tablecloth), all the decorations, I created all the games and hosted the event as Alice Liddell, choosing Wonderland as my theme. Needless to say, that when it came time to select my University major, I wanted to use my creativity and fun-loving side to my advantage. Going to University for Creative Writing and Visual Arts changed my entire perspective. I began to see the details in story lines and in the design of games in an entirely new way that really made me appreciate the craft. I spent my entire University career pushing myself to learn more in order to better understand the many facets of writing, art and design.

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Throughout this time, I also worked part-time in retail at various retail stores, even going so far as becoming the creative director for a small secondhand shop who's mission was to give affordable and/or free clothing to new Canadians, especially those with young children. During this, I grew to appreciate not only fashion, but also costume design, which carried over into character creation. Anytime I created a new character for a short story or saw a character for a video game, I would think about the costuming choice and what that meant for the story. This even led me to become part of the costumers scene in Toronto with CAFTCAD, where I would volunteer for various events and attend exhibits and workshops to learn more about the theory behind costuming and how it has the power to transform a project when done well.

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After University, I wanted to learn more about what goes into making various forms of media and found myself taking a post-graduate for Children's Media where I learned the ins-and-outs of a very unique industry which encompassed TV, Film, Games, and Toys among other things, for a specific audience. Not only did I enjoy visiting various studios and speaking with top industry professionals, I also loved learning about the considerations that had to be made for various target audiences. In particular, I really enjoyed learning about how to design in an accessible way. Having taken American Sign Language classes in the past and having worked with new Canadian's with varying levels of fluency in English, I could immediately see the benefits to learning more about designing in an accessible way for a more general audience.

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For a while, I couldn't really figure out what to do with myself professionally, knowing what I liked and disliked didn't immediately translate into a career path for me and it wasn't until my internship at Stitch Media, a small interactive company in Toronto, that I started learning more about UI/UX design and how it could affect a game or app or website. During my internship, I had a lot of research and writing tasks, where I helped develop the world of their Indie game by taking detailed, high-level science and translating it into a whimsical world that the team could work with to create the game. I also got to paint a 3D model that ended up being used and shown at E3! It felt like I was getting closer and closer to what would put all my strengths to use.

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For now, I'm finishing up my User Interface design specialization, which incorporates many aspects of what I've learned and what I enjoy, not only by creating the visual design, but also by considering accessibility and by building a logical world within each app or game that I work on.

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On the more personal side of things, I'm an avid gamer and reader. I enjoy both Young Adult fiction and Science-y non-fiction and for games I play a wide varity, everything from Overwatch to The Sims to Little Nightmares and all that good stuff in between. I've recently began to write about video games on a blog hosted by Medium, and I've been enjoying using my critical thinking skills (thank you University degree) to deconstruct and critique games while using my unique position as a female gamer who is horrible at games to drive my brand and opinions and make me stand out.

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I also enjoy gardening and cooking and food. I love food. I literally went all the way to Japan for the food.

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Oh, and I'll also mention, I'm writing a novel. I started and finished the first draft in November for NanoWrimo, winning on my first attempt with just over 50,000 words. I hope to finish the second draft in 2019 when I can find time. Part Fantasy, part Mystery and partly a new take on Romance, Village Under the Water is a Young Adult novel that tells the story of Lars, a junior in High School as he struggles to maintain his carefree life when his best friend, Kyla, turns his world upside down. She swears to him that she's seen it, the village at the bottom of their lake. As he faces pressure to decide his future and find a 'normal' romantic relationship, Lars tries desperately to figure out who he is, all while trying to uncover the mystery of what happens in the village under the water.