About James Piper Goth:

I was born and raised on Bowen Island, a 20 minuet ferry ride from West Vancouver. From a early age I was fascinated by video games, starting with Super Mario Bros. on the NES and then moving to computer games on my old 486. Some of the early games that had a real impact on me were Kings Quest IV and Mechwarrior 2. Later I would move on to first person shooters like Half life, Quake 3 and No One Lives for Ever.

For secondary school I started commuting to West Vancouver, first to Rock Ridge and then to West Van High. Because I am not much of a artist but I am good at math I decided to try my hand at programming. Both Schools had good computer classes that allowed me to start developing my skills. In grade 12 I even started taking a advanced computer course that started before school hours, which was hell on my commute. It was around this time that I decided I wanted to bring my love of video games and love of programming together by pursuing a career in programming computer games.

After graduating grade 12 I enrolled in the British Columbia Institute of Technology. I took the Computer Systems and technology course, a 2 year program that looked at everything from programming, math and e-business. For the second year we were allowed to chose a option to better direct are studies. I chose the Digital Processing option, it was the closest to game programming. The Option looked at sound and image processing as well as 3d graphics. The option also had to project courses where we, in a small group of 4 to 5, were to make a computer game. The first game we made was Scorched Earth, a 3d game where you have a turret that must be aimed and fired at your opponent across the map. The second game we made was a 3d space combat game call The Alan Parson Project. This game was never finished because the rest of my team never put the effort in and I ended up doing most of the work.

During My time at BCIT I learned many skills that have helped me become a better game programmer. I have learned to programme in Ada, Pascal, C, C++, C#, and java. I have worked with Open GL, Direct X and the Windows .Net Framework. I learned how to work in a group though setting milestones and UML modeling. I even had an Accounting and a Law course. After the 2 years I graduated and received a Diploma of Computer Systems Technology.

After School I went to work for my dad at Bowen Freight doing courier work. But that did not stop me from perusing a job in gamming. I have been working on my own game as a hobby. It stated with a basic level editor and now I am well in to developing my own game engine. I call the game Project Refusal after the refusal war that takes place in Mechwarrior 2. The game serves 3 purposes, one it is a great way to further my education, two I hope to use it as a way to get a job in the game industry and three for my own enjoyment.