There are three games that will forever be close to my heart: Final Fantasy VI, Dungeons and Dragons (the pen and paper game), and Ghostbusters: the Video Game.

For Final Fantasy VI, this was the game that made me a gamer, this was the game that inspired me to write, and this was the game that made me want to be a game developer.  I could rant about this game all day about how it moved and inspired me, but I'll just keep it short.  This game will always be special to me and I generally play it at least once a year.

My next game, Dungeons and Dragons, while not a video game, is still important to me.  Above I mentioned that FFVI made me start writing.  I started writing a book and realized I can tell a good story, I just can't actually write it (like Tolkien!).  After finding Dungeons and Dragons, I found a great way to tell my story and share it with others, it couldn't be more perfect.  Furthermore, Dungeons and Dragons is the game that let me take my first step into game development.  When applying to The Guildhall at SMU, I hadn't really worked with 3D editors like most of the other people.  When I had to submit a portfolio I only had hand drawn DnD maps.  Long story short, what I thought was going to be a huge disadvantage turned out to be a great strength.  The lessons I learned from planning and using those hand drawn maps I still use today and one of the things that got me into grad school.  I'm so proud of my DnD experience that I put it on my resume.

My final game, Ghostbusters: the Video Game, will always be special because 1) I love Ghostbusters, and 2) it was my first real game I made.  I graduated from the Guildhall thinking I knew a lot and working on Ghostbusters showed me how little I knew.  I learned a lot from that game and I still have much more to learn, but that will always be the first game I made (a dream project even, how lucky is that?!) and I'll always remember it and the experience.  You never forget your first.