Michael Lavallies - Houston, TX

  

 Who are you?

- My name is Michael Lavallies. I once thought I knew who I was, but as I travel down life's road of pursuit I figured that it’s all about the journey. I don’t know who I am but I do know what I am at the moment. And as life creates opportunities I will continue to explore their possibilities.

What's in your bag?

- In my rugged brown skull candy bag resides: 1 echo smart pen so I may record the spur of the moment ideas and occasional lectures for future, My adequate laptop, A pair of head phones for those secret conversations or the moments you can’t help but drown out the world, the accessories required for powering said laptop, Eleanor's Sketchbook which houses her old works and some of my ideas, loose change, my dying portable hard-drive, my wallet(empty), leaflets, un-discarded food wrappings, and can’t forget the Dust Bunnies.

Favorite game(s) of all time?

- One game I can’t help to have at the top of my list would have to be Perfect Dark for N64, although Golden Eye N64 dragged me in to the world, because I kept me in.

What are you playing right now?

- While writing this I couldn't have been playing anything but I understand the question and my answer would have to be Minecraft. Simply it’s Minecraft, the crazy randomly generated building block survival game with all its unlimited possibilities. The bar is continually raised each time someone builds something new.

Who, or what, is your biggest inspiration?

- My biggest "who" inspiration has to be Markus Persson. Until he came into the scene, it was the Houser Brothers. All of them proved roughly the same thing that it can be done even with people as close as your brother. IT can be done. Something I will live with forever. If you can think it then one way or another it can be done. My biggest "what" inspiration would have to be Friendship and the never ending joy of sharing the wealth of success with those who helped you get there.

What made you want to study game design?

- The cliché' as old as time, is the wanting to know how things worked; Games being no different. Something a creative as a game has to have a process and it’s something I really wanted to know how to do. I thank Richard Garcia for leading me to DGS and Dustin Price for increasing my interest in the Game design process at a young age and Reni for her welcoming Fold she let me in to, and to my BFF Adriana for answering the call. The Game design world isn’t that really scary anymore.

Favorite piece of video game memorabilia (t-shirts, props, etc) that you may or may not own?

- It would have to be my still working N64. It wasn’t my first system but it was the system that set everything in motion.

Guilty pleasure of the moment?

- Although it’s old my guilty pleasure is My Gameboy and Pokémon. I can play it but once I start I feel guilty about it and even knowing that I enjoy it none the less.

Any last words?

- I may not know exactly where my life is going right now but I can tell you this, no matter how many bumps I hit, no matter how many plans go wrong and no matter how long it takes my life will end up where I want it. We guide our future based on the moves we make. I will make mistakes, but I’m only human.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

- In 5 years I hope to be a part of something that has the potential to be big. I have my goals and all I need to do is layout the plans to reach them. I am starting over from scratch. It will be different this time.