1. Status: Where are you currently working and what projects are you currently working on (if you can share)?

BM: I’m currently working at Meta. I’m working on AR/VR and AI-focused Horizon projects as well.

2. Noob: Tell us what you did before your time at FIEA. What inspired you to attend FIEA?

BM: Before FIEA, I was at UCF’s Visual Language track, now known as SVAD, the School of Visual Arts and Design (“upstairs”). I had always wanted to work in games and used to speak to Brian Salisbury, a FIEA instructor, during drawing class. and as I learned about FIEA downstairs, I wanted to go there after graduating. Since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to work in games in some capacity and was especially inspired by a behind-the-scenes Naughty Dog documentary that I saw when I was 10.

“I hadn’t fully decided on FIEA until, as part of the application process, I had an interview with one of the professors (Hi, Ron!), and it spun out into an exciting and varied chat for almost an hour.” — Barak Moshe ’10 ’11MS

3. PvE: How did FIEA prepare you for the industry?

BM: FIEA was very comprehensive. I learned a bunch of technical skills, especially in tech art, built a portfolio, learned how to work in a team environment and a project-based environment. I also met professionals while I was in FIEA through alumni, which ultimately opened the door for me to get an internship at EA after graduating in 2011. I continued to work there for about three years and applied to Lucasfilm to join the Advanced Development Group. I moved to San Francisco to work at Lucasfilm on various Star Wars projects for VR, the parks and films. I later worked briefly at Autodesk before moving to Microsoft to work with the Holocapture team. From there I joined Google and spent years working on AR and VR products at Daydream. I eventually transitioned to working on hardware products, creating 3D effects and eventually tying all my experiences together to work on the release of the Galaxy XR headset and Android XR last year. I joined Meta last year to return to full-time Tech Art and have been working on the Meta Horizon Engine ever since.

4. PvP: Please share any advice you have for current FIEAns as they enter the game development industry.

BM: Get as much out of the program as you can. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Embrace working with teams and use your time there to explore your interests within your track and even outside of your track until you land on your focus area. Get as good as you can on the area of focus you choose and make sure you have a body of work that you can proudly show and speak to when interviewing for jobs.

I remember when I was at FIEA, the first RPP my team worked on was for fun factor. We made a game called Chunky Monkey. The first week started rough to say the least but the game came together in the second week and ended up being incredibly fun. It was a roller coaster for us but, Ron Weaver ended up giving us the stuffed monkey trophy that semester which I still keep with me to this day.

5. AFK: Do you have any recent, interesting personal successes, new hobbies, family updates or activities you would like to share?

BM: I’ve been volunteering at the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland (AKA Oakland’s video game museum) for years and focused on child education in game design to inspire kids in the community to potentially pursue a career in games and digital entertainment. It’s been very rewarding and my time at FIEA prepared me for it.