Alex Iveroth didn't come to UT looking for game design. In fact, he says he stumbled upon it by accident.
Before transferring into the School of Design and Creative Technologies (SDCT), Iveroth was a Studio Art major. But after taking Michael Baker's Intro to Game Development course, it "clicked" for him. That summer, he began learning how to create 3D art for video games. He attributes much of his early growth to Baker, who pushed him to hone his skills outside the classroom.
Later that year, submissions opened for Blizzard Entertainment's 2019 Student Art Contest. After spending the fall semester brainstorming, Iveroth created a 3D environment to enter into the competition. Out of thousands of entries from universities all over the United States, he was selected as a finalist and offered one of only a few dozen internships at Blizzard Entertainment.
Iveroth had always wanted to work in gaming, but he didn't know it was possible.
"This has been a dream since I was nine," he says, "but I thought it was an 'astronaut' type of thing."
After coming away from Blizzard with many great connections, Iveroth plans to continue working hard during his senior year at SDCT. He is currently contracting and working on his independent study, and he is looking forward to continuing his career in game design after graduation.
He credits the classes and faculty at SDCT for empowering him to pursue his dream.
"My professors, like Michael [Baker], David [Cohen] and Neal [Daugherty], really encouraged me to go 110% on each project. They knew it was something I really wanted without me knowing it yet. If it weren't for them, I don't know where I'd be."
You can see more of Alex Iveroth's work at artstation.com/alexiveroth. Assets were made in Maya, textured in 3DCoat and Photoshop, then compiled in Unity.