02 Jul Meet Chan Grant, Developer at Futurus
Ever since Chan joined the team, he’s really hit the ground sprinting as our Developer. He was able to take a breather for a moment to share a little bit about himself.
What’s your background and how did you get started in development?
Well, I am originally from South Carolina and moved to Atlanta when I was 12. The first video game I played was Mortal Kombat 3 in the arcades. I remember this because it was also my earliest memory. I remember my mother (who I was playing with at the time), uppercut me into a spike pit. Being 3 years old at the time, it naturally scared the living crap out of me. My mother comforted me and said in her most motherly voice, “Don’t worry, Chan. That won’t happen to you if you aren’t bad!”
I was always good with my academics and I would naturally try to help my friends and classmates during high school. My favorite class was History and I scored the highest in the class. One day, I found that one of my friends scored higher than I did. This surprised me, mostly because my friend really hated History. After confronting him, he revealed that he had an easier time with the test because the subject matter was the Renaissance and he spent over a hundred hours playing Assassin’s Creed 2. This astounded me and taught me two important lessons. One: Technology has the capabilities to teach someone any subject they could want to learn. Two: Even the smartest person in the world won’t learn something if they are bored by the subject and anyone can and will learn if they are interested. These lessons drove me forward and would push me to pursue a degree in Computer Game Design and Development with a focus in Serious and Educational Game Design.
What about the VR/AR industry excites you the most?
While I am excited by the video game side of VR/AR, I am actually most excited about the educational aspects of the tool. VR, in particular, has the capability to put students into situations where the lessons they learn are immediately applicable. They can gain some real experience going through a simulation and making them better prepared in the real world. The applications for language learning is also astounding to me. One of the biggest things in language learning is to immerse yourself in a language you are trying to learn, and surround yourself with it. VR can put people in a safe environment where they can learn languages at their own pace. I can imagine the tagline: Learn French without the French!
We love dogs at Futurus. Tell us about yours!
So I have a dog by the name of Logan. He’s about a year and some change old now and is a white and black Lab mix. Mixed with what? Who knows! I like to imagine he’s mixed with strawberries and kiwis. He’s a good, sweet dog most of the time, but he can be both clever and dumb. For example, I caught him on a chair near the door, trying to use his mouth to turn the knob! If the door wasn’t locked, he would have succeeded! At the same time, this is the type of dog would spend hours trying to get a toy from under the couch. I will get the toy, give it to him and five minutes later, the toy is back under the couch! Sometimes, I wonder, is he a genius and I’m the one who’s being played.
Why did you decide to learn Japanese?
Growing up, anime was everything. If you didn’t watch Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, or Digimon you were banished from the playground. I was impatient and I couldn’t stand waiting for people to dub the anime. So I began to try to learn the language myself. What started as an expedient became an obsession and I have been working to master the Japanese language ever since. My studies would go off and on depending on the situations in my life or what I was focusing on, but learning Japanese became a life goal of mine.
Tell us about your comic book collection.
One of my hobbies is collecting comic books. It was something I was always interested and doing as a kid but never had the money to do so until I became an adult. My collection can be considered small at only 1000 or so individual comics but I’m working on it!
What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?
Right now in my free time, I am working on developing a game. I’m a fan of this comic series known as the Legion of Super-Heroes and they have been around for a long time but never had an accompanying video game. As a loyal fan, I can’t allow for this injustice to go on!
