As graduation approaches, Aidan Strong’s educational journey fuels his game design.

The fourth-year mathematics student’s ventures into game design date back to his high school days when he said he started coding in the game engine Unity. Before becoming a mathematics student, he said he spent the first two years of college pursuing computer science. During his second fall quarter, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Strong took a leave of absence, which he said he spent making games for hackathons known as game jams. When he was taking upper division computer science courses, Strong said he felt a loss of creativity as his education focused on the discipline itself instead of its use as a tool.

“I see computer science more as a brush rather than a technique to do other things,” Strong said. “Whenever I would program it was a means to an end to get my art through. I didn’t enjoy, actually, the act of programming.”

With his new identity as a mathematics student, Strong said he found more time to create games and absorb gaming-related content in the form of books as he immersed himself in the medium’s culture. Design media arts graduate student Vincent Roca met Strong through the UCLA Game Lab and said he admires Strong’s openness about his transformation from a computer science student working in the technology industry to a game designer who questions the morals and ethics of these companies through his creations.

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Strong said his game, “Corporate Software Simulator,” was inspired in part by his time working at Tesla. He recalled the technology industry’s perks such as free food and high salaries and began to wonder if they were distractions to keep workers from questioning their tasks, he said. With the game, he said he challenges what it means to succeed in the tech industry and explores whether securing a job is actually the focus. Roca said the techniques Strong utilized in the creation of this game were subversive, which supports the game’s commentary.

“He could go and make a simple shooter game, or he could make something that has no political message or desires to be apolitical, but he really is trying to see what games can do, what can they say and really asking the question if games can be art in some sense,” Roca said.

As a resident of the Game Lab, Strong said the community has challenged him to apply more critical thinking to the art he is creating. Past collaborator of Strong and third-year computer science student Ray Hsiao said discussions about design are important for finding better ways of conveying a message through games. For Strong, the space has given him the opportunity to interact with other experimental creatives interested in advancing the definition of what games can be. Drawing on the examples of “Fortnite” and “Call of Duty,” Strong said that although games have a reputation as violent and competitive, this is not all they can be. This revelation, he added, was an eye-opening moment.

“When we talk about fine art or fine music, we point to Mozart or literature like Shakespeare,” Strong said. “Most people don’t have the same amount of respect necessarily for games, and they can include all of that. … There are things that can be done in games that can’t be done in movies or other mediums. So that’s what excites me about games – that we’re still kind of finding ways to truly utilize what a game can be.”

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One of the contributing factors to this discovery was noting patterns within genres, like first-person shooters, and questioning the fulfillment of performing mindless actions, Strong said. Though he played video games growing up, he said he encountered a stigma surrounding making and engaging with them, which made him feel as if his aspirations were unproductive. In spite of this, Strong said he continued to return to gaming with a new perspective as he spent more time playing and maturing.

Education is another interest of Strong’s, who said he worked on a mathematical virtual reality game for kids. This interest has also sparked questions revolving around the accessibility of VR as an educational tool, he added. Going forward, Strong said he wants to attend graduate school for game design, and the idea of teaching it excites him. In the meantime, he said he plans to keep making games.

“I would love to see the art that future generations make and help them develop their ideas,” Strong said. “I’ve learned that everything matters with art and everything should be working towards your central idea … and to help other people see that in the future with teaching is what interests me.”