Biography
Julian McNeill received his Bachelor of Arts in Digital Arts and Sciences from the University of Florida in 2016. His degree track was in Systems Design, which focused on programming fundamentals and behind-the-scenes technical work for 3D Animation, video editing, and web design. His dream is to work for an industry-leading video game studio, one that makes a variety of different games and captures a worldwide audience.
Julian has had a love and passion for video games since he was two-years-old. The first game he ever completed was Donkey Kong Country on his family’s Super Nintendo. He has also always been interested in entertainment, performing in plays since kindergarten and imagining new episodes of his favorite shows using his toys. It was the GameCube games Tales of Symphonia and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door that inspired him to want to make video games as a career. Until then, he hadn’t realized just how much storytelling could be packed into a game, from the narrative to the presentation to the very gameplay. He believed from that moment on that video games could be the ultimate entertainment medium.
From there, Julian started taking Computer Science in high school, while at home he was teaching himself GameMaker Studio. This continued on into college, where he took more Computer Science classes. He was originally pursuing a BS in Computer Science, but upon learning of his school’s Digital Arts and Sciences program, felt that would be a better fit for him. Although Julian’s chief passion is in game design and programming, he also enjoys other aspects of creative work. He has dabbled in drawing, animation, music production, singing, photography, and video editing at various points in his life.
One of Julian’s biggest passions outside of gaming is comedy and the performing arts. Since middle school and until his last day of college, he has participated in his school’s comedy and drama productions either on-stage or behind the scenes. It is his hope that he can infuse the games he will make with the same kind of humor that made those shows so endearing to himself and the audience.
Some of the biggest influences in his life are George Lucas, Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiichiro Oda, J. K. Rowling, and Stan Lee. They are the ones who showed him that fantasy and reality are closely entwined with each other, and the best aspects of each help elevate the other. He’s drawn courage, wisdom, and sincerity from the actions of his favorite characters, which brings them into a plane of existence that’s both real and imaginary. Just some of the games and series that have shaped him are Pokemon, Grand Theft Auto IV, Uncharted, inFamous, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Spore, Animal Crossing, and Advance Wars. Those games have not only entertained him, but also improved him in other aspects of his life. Those are the kind of games he wants to make for future generations of gamers and developers. He has dedicated the rest of his life in pursuit of that goal.