This is the place where I will pierce the video game industry.

Hi my name is Justin Rycaj (Ritz-eye) yes that's how you pronounce it. I should probably consider getting it phonetically printed on my business cards once I get them made. But that's neither here nor there.

So I guess I should preface by stating the two reasons why I came to the Art Institute of Vancouver for Video Game Design after hearing how highly it ranked:

1. To make my dreams come true.

2. To achieve Greatness!  

It all started back on my fourth birthday, my first real memory of video games. I received a Nintendo entertainment system with Super Mario World 3 and Final Fantasy (oooo ahhhhh). Although most kids at that age would have probably drawn to Super Mario, The Box art for Final Fantasy probably imprinted on to me much more, and invoked what could quite possibly be my first ever desire for Adventure.

Sure I didn’t really understand the combat mechanics, nor did I get very far, but if you had lined up the entire Mario Cast and Final Fantasy side by side; I’d always pick the Final Fantasy characters are being cooler and more interesting. That original box art from Final Fantasy still flickers in my mind any time I feel like playing Dark Souls or Bloodborne.

Oddly enough I didn’t get another home console until the PlayStation One. Sure I had a Game Boy, Game Gear, and a home computer, it’s just up until the time the PS1 came out, nothing really lit that fire of adventure like Metal Gear Solid (Been a PlayStation fanboy ever since).

Metal Gear was the first time where I felt like “video games are growing up with me.” If you look over the course of the Past 28 years, the Metal Gear franchise has shown the most evolution out of any other series which is why I respect Hideo Kojima so much. This is also probably one of the reasons why I don’t like Nintendo games anymore, they stay the same and their mascots seem more like crutches than anything these days. But I’m not here to slander.

Getting back on topic. It’s very hard to argue that Hideo Kojima isn’t one of the hardest working, and best creators/producers we have in the industry. It’s a shame that Konami’s Gag order prevented him for accepting his award at the 2015 VGAs. It was a really dumb move by Konami and has pretty much painted him as a folk hero now. 

This is also evident by all the love he’s been getting since it happened, and the recently announced partnership with Sony to Open the New Kojima Productions.

If you had to ask me who my favorite producers were based on their bodies of work would have to be (in no particular order):

Hideo Kojima – Metal Gear Series

Neil Druckman – The Last of Us, Uncharted Series

Hidetaka Miyazaki – The Dark Souls Series

Ultimately my goal would to be a Creative Director/ Producer half as good as them. Hopefully my diploma will give me a jump start to reaching that goal.