Introductions

Hello once again! Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Tobias Hall Jr., and I am from Long Island, New York. I am an aspiring video game developer, software developer/engineer, and creative writer. I've been particularly interested in games and storytelling ever since I was a kid, which is why I'd like to work in those fields. My dream is to one day create games, craft worlds, and tell stories that people can love and be inspired by, just like the ones I experienced my whole life!

Additionally, I have always had a fondness for mathematics, and I eventually developed an interest in computer science as well. In my college years, I've become quite competent in programming, particularly in C# and C++, and became interested in studying general software engineering. While I do hope to carry what I learn in the software development field into game development, I'm still very much committed to working hard in whatever endeavors I enter as a software engineer!

About Me

My Interests in Video Games

Like most aspiring game developers, I enjoy playing and talking about video games! I particularly enjoy games with a stylized art style and fantastic settings, especially when they have a unique style or feel and go all-in on it. My favorite aspect of games is their narratives and world-building; I love it when a game allows me to look into a fantastic world, meet some interesting characters, and take me through an intriguing story. I especially love fighting games, as not only can they be interesting in a game design sense with their gameplay mechanics and the nuances of combat, but they can also be interesting in a more narrative sense, as they often have a whole cast of unique characters, each with their own personality. These characters, combined with the worlds that fighting games often take place in, can potentially lead to all kinds of enjoyable stories to be invested in!

Some of my personal favorite games include:

Kirby's Epic Yarn
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Celeste
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Skullgirls
Pokémon (particularly the Generation V games, including Pokémon Black and White)
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
Spark the Electric Jester 3
Deltarune
- I love Undertale, too, but I never actually played the game itself, haha!

My Interests in Other Forms of Storytelling

Games aren't the only forms of storytelling that I enjoy! Ever since I was a kid, all kinds of media inspired me, and all kinds of media can tell stories, display characters, and build worlds. I particularly like comedic stories and character explorations. While I can enjoy a dramatic story that has a sense of humor but wasn't afraid to touch darker or serious themes -- especially in my older years -- I can still very much have fun with a story that simply wants to be goofy with its characters!

I love animated works, from movies to TV shows to even online animations made by independent teams. I appreciate the craft of animation, and I usually prefer visual works that lean toward that stylized animated look, though I can still appreciate the occasional live-action and realistic-look works, so long as they tell a story I enjoy.

I also like to read, as I have for just about my whole life! Plenty of books, from graphic novels to text novels to even short story and poem collections, have inspired me throughout the years. What I like about books is how they can allow you to imagine the story playing out as you read them, like a show you get to watch in your own head. Graphic novels allow you to incision that story in a particular art style, so they can really have that subtle "animated" feel to them. Meanwhile, text novels can allow you to envision the story in any particular art style you imagine, which can allow for a more personal feel to the story experience -- especially with how words can express things that pictures can't as easily.

When it comes to books, I'm usually picky. For graphic novels, if it was published by First Second, it's likely to pique my interest! Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl series and Dave Roman's Astronaut Academy were particular favorites from my childhood. I also read some manga on occasion -- Gosho Aoyama's Case Closed! series (known as Detective Conan in Japan) is my favorite series to follow and what helped ignite my fondness for mystery stories. As for other novels, I'd be interested so long as they had an element of comedy, a premise that dipped into fantasy, and potentially a twang of mystery. Some text novels I've enjoyed include The Grimm Conclusion by Adam Gidwitz, Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic by Brendan Blaber, and Louis Sachar's Wayside School series, the latter of which being a particular favorite that I've been heavily inspired by ever since grade school!

Miscellaneous Facts!

I'm actually a bit of a hobbyist pixel artist! I drew a number of works in Aseprite in my own cartoony style. I'm still trying to gradually improve as a 2D artist, but I think the works I've done thus far look pretty good for what they are! You can check some of them out on the Portfolio page!
In high school, I created some comics for the school newspaper for a few years! The series was called Sticks, and it was an episodic comedy series involving a recurring cast of stick figures. People enjoyed it!
I love music! I especially like jazz and classical music, but I'm usually down with nearly any genre so long as it's executed in a way I enjoy. I really love it when music is made for contextual meaning, as it allows for the music to play a part in the narrative in a way, and it can be really nice when executed well! This is why I particularly enjoy video game music and musicals.