Creative Technologist
With a background in engineering and art, Maria Deslis joined the Creative Industries track of the Creative Technology and Design MS program to pursue her calling: to develop games that help players connect, heal and feel empowered鈥攁 departure from mainstream games, where "destruction,听fighting and competition" are dominant themes. As part of a culminating project, she developed Eternal Eclipse, a game with positive messaging that rewards empathy. She is currently a senior developer for a Meow Wolf project.
Backstory
After earning a BS in mathematics and computer science from the Colorado School of Mines, Maria worked for several years as a software developer. Maria felt the听job was repetitive and uninspiring, and that her creative dreams were slipping away. In spring 2017听she was laid off along with half of her department. It was not easy, said听Maria, but it was the prompt she needed to re-evaluate her life. Traveling to Wyoming to witness the August 2017 solar eclipse, she was moved to tears by the experience. Turning to a friend, she said, "I鈥檓 going to pursue my dreams and not waste any more of my life." She decided to return听to graduate school, and her research led her to the CTD program. "Everything about ATLAS听resonated deep within my core," said Maria, who met with students and professors and attended the Fall 2017 ATLAS Expo. "Seeing the work students were making, awakened something deep inside me. It propelled me to get back on track and pursue my calling. Joining this program and this school was one of the best decisions of my life.鈥�
During her time at ATLAS, Maria听taught code classes for听the Colorado School of Mines and design classes for听CU Boulder.
Coursework
听颁辞谤别:听
- Creative Industries Professional Seminar: The听Business of Creativity
- Creative Technologies
- Design Methods
- Design Studio
Electives:听
- Game Design
- User-Experience Design
- Game Development
- Master's Independent Study x 2
- Self-teaching Unity development:听听My First 3D Level听 听
- Video games and typography:听听The Typography of Undertale
- K-12 computer science education research:听听Pre-College Experiences that Influence Women in Computing, by Kayla Jernigan and Maria Deslis
Projects
: A "light" puzzle game where users try to climb to the top of a mountain in order to see an eclipse in entirety.
Maria's culminating Thesis project is a puzzle game built around positive messaging and rewards empathy.听
The sun and moon represent different parts within听the player, and the eclipse represents new beginnings and transformations, from a difficult听or depressing experience听to听a reminder to use the light within听to grow and heal.
: A short protoype game of Eternal Eclipse.
Maria felt听inspired to create a game where players听walk across a treacherous mountain terrain as a representation of enduring听hard times in life. In this听prototype game of Eternal Eclipse, players climb听a mountain in a blizzard while listening to their character's negative inner, self-pitying monologue, that asks questions such as, "What did I do to deserve this?" As their characters approach听the summit, the inner monologue听becomes more positive, exclaiming motivational phrases such as, 鈥淚'm almost there!鈥� or 鈥淚 can do this."
Battleship: IN SPACE: A twist on the classic Battleship game.
In Maria's Battleship: IN SPACE, players command a fleet of seven听ships and find and destroy their enemies' spaceships. During each turn, players take听four听tokens with a torpedo on one side and blank on the other and they throw a four-sided die to see how many space torpedoes to听fire. How many torpedoes the player can听fire听is based on the number of tokens available. The player who finds and destroys the mothership and the medic ship first听wins the game.听
ME-LLENIALS: A millienial life-path board game.
Millennials have been labeled as the "lazy, entitled, job-hopping generation," indulging on avocado toast and killing the Applebee鈥檚 restaurant chain. In this board game, players听will be able to听prove to their friends that they听can live a more self-sufficent life than other听Millennials, including balancing听their听student debt and听searching for jobs, all while trying to achieve their听dreams.
: A prototype action-adventure game.
Maria's ChromaBlade is hack-and-slash action-adventure game that puts the player's mastery of color to the test. Weilding a powerful chromatic sword, players听must switch between the different colors of the rainbow tactically in order to defeat their foes. Each color has its own unique mechanic, each being crucial in the defeat of the variety of enemies players face as they progress through the game.
: A physical walk-in immersive adult-sized kaleidoscope.
In this physical installation, users climb听a ladder and turn听one of the many cranks to interact with the projections, images and shapes that appear in the viewing area. The听goal was to听create a space that recalled childhood whimsy and excitement, a听place for adults to feel small and young, as they experience a giant version of the kaleidoscopes they used as children. Gabe Chapel, Maria Deslis, Grace Kroeger, Chris Vecchio
Career Goals
- Design games that empower players, build empathy, enrich lives and enhance confidence.听
- Use technical, design听and creative skills to create new products and experiences.
- Use knowledge and background to make the world a better place.