WHO AM I?
My name is Juan Carlos and I am passionate about games. I’ve been playing board games and video games since I was a child, but also, I discovered wargames at an early age. It could be said I’ve been connected to games my whole life.
Fortunately, I could transform my passion into my job, as a Game and Level Designer.
I really enjoy discovering and exploring various games, experiences, and mechanics. My approach is driven by curiosity and attention to detail, which have become defining traits of my work. While I appreciate simple, minimalist designs, I’m especially drawn to creating systems that are complex but easy to understand.
I’m not curious just about games, and I like many different activities, such as sports, reading, movies, science, or painting. I also enjoy seeing experienced people doing something that I don’t know, there is always something new to learn.
MY APPROACH TO GAMES
As a user, my approach to video games was when I was very young. I remember to be playing with an old Commodore, cassette games, and cardboard memory discs on a computer.
Two games blew my mind when I was a kid, “The Secret of Monkey Island” and “ The Prince of Persia”. I remember I played them again and again. After that, I used to spend some time creating my own puzzles and labyrinths.
I liked to play on the computer and also with consoles, like GameBoy, N64, PS2, PS3, and PSP, last one makes me remember “Patapon”, what a great game.
Apart from video games I also loved, and still do, playing board games, some classics like “Monopoly” and “Trivial Pursuit” and different or newer titles like “Catan”, “Scythe”, “Through the Ages” or “Twilight Imperium”.
In addition, I played Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K since I was eleven, and today my armies gather more than 2000 miniatures.
As a professional, I decided to study for a degree in Game Design, which allowed me to develop many different skills, like game analysis, prototyping, mechanics, and user experience, among many others.
Usually, I prefer to work on a project or game I would like to play, however, there are many things to learn when you leave your comfort zone, so, from time to time I like to work on a different game or genre I’m used to playing.
GAMES ARE MY PASSION
In my opinion, games are a great cultural value. There are games since thousands of years ago, and they gather many different aspects of our everyday life, history, feelings, or fantasies.
Due to that, I like to see how games have an impact on our lives, and vice versa. Seeing how games can make someone learn faster, work better or recover from injury is very interesting to me.
I also like how every year there are more academic studies, articles, and conferences which help us to make better games or develop more enjoyable and deeper experiences for our players.
As soon as I can play a new game with something I think is interesting, I do it. I enjoy discovering new mechanics, stories, and experiences, however, I also like to look at them as a designer, deconstruct them and try to find out how everything works in the complex gears of a game.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
In addition to games, I like to do many other activities when I have some free time. I love reading, not only books or articles to improve as a professional, but also just for fun. My favorite genres are Fantasy, Historical Novels, and Science Fiction. I like Comics too but I prefer regular literature.
Mens sana in corpore sano. Another of my favorite activities is to work out or to play some sports. I like Biking, Running, Swimming, and if there are people to play with, I like to play basketball. Lately, I find Cross Training quite motivating and interesting.
As I said I’ve been playing Warhammer for more than 20 years, and due to that I’ve painted many miniatures, in fact, nowadays, I like painting my soldiers more than playing with them. I also like to paint with watercolors or acrylic, but I’m still just a beginner.
Movies, TV series, Dancing or Travelling are activities I like to do as well, but I usually don’t have enough time to spend on them