Derek Larson

As a young kid I had many hobbies, but throughtout the years there were always two that stuck as the most consuming and obsessive: drawing and video gaming. I had a bin full of Atari games that vastly outnumbered the toys that sat in my closet. Instead of stealing bases outside at the park, I was trying to keep my best friend from stealing my extra lives in the original Contra (the 30-lives code has been permanently imbedded in my subconscious). Rather than an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, my pinnacle of all Christma gifts will forever be the first-generation Nintendo Game Boy. The obsession only grew as I got older, and from console to next-gen console it became clear I would never get enough.

My path to Raven began several years ago, while working in a building next to Raven's former offices. One day a handful of fellow co-workers and I were looking over at the Raven building and saying. "They actually make video game right there!" We sat eating our lunch, enviously imagining how awesome it would be to work there. But I wanted to do more than just imagine; a few years later I got my Bachelor of Science in Computer Animation at Full Sail University, and after working at the EA Sports - Tiburon studio on "Tiger Woods PGA Tours 10" there was no more need for speculation. I came to the very place I set out to be and discovered that, yes, it is truly awesome to be working at Raven.

It was hard to imagine my traditional art skills would ever serve to make any money, let alone be a basis for a career. As it turned out, those skills would allow me to combine two of my greatest passions in life into one amazing career path. And there's no better place to have come than here, right where it all began. The dream became my reality, and I'm ecstatic to continue to be a part of the many amazing games made here at Raven Software.