She earned dual bachelor's degrees in computer science and visual arts from UMBC by combining her animation skills with an aptitude for math.
BreakAway hired her as an artist in 2005, but she has since moved to the programming side. She has worked on a range of games, notably Rise of the Witch King, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings epic, and an expansion pack for Command & Conquer, a popular military strategy game. She teaches at UMBC on the side.
During the class at which Eric Jordan was the guest instructor, she assigned the students -- 12 men and 5 women -- their final projects. They would team up to create three styles of games: a single-combat fighting game, a strategic battle game and a dragon-hunting role-playing game.
Maria Aliprando, 21, of Ellicott City, led the group working on the fighting game. She entered UMBC hoping to focus on film animation but has since decided to work on electronic games. "I've been playing games for as long as I can remember and I've always been good at art," she said, during a break.
As team leader, she had to bridge the geek-artist cultural divide separating the programmers and animators. Trying to find common ground, they discussed the relative merits of various titles, including Tekken, Guilty Gear, and Brawl, a game in the Smash Brother's series designed for the Nintendo Wii.
"Are we going to do instant kills like Smash Brothers?" Aliprando asked the group.
"That's a hard animation," replied Megan Zlock, another animator.
"Is there anything on the programming side that you think is going to be mind-boggling?" Aliprando asked the two computer science majors in the group.
"The camera is going to be hard," said David Thornabene.
That's where guest lecturer Eric Jordan stepped in. The UMBC graduate had volunteered to teach the class about "game cameras," a concept used to describe what players see on-screen during a game.
Fighting games, for example, often display combat from the side, the way a boxing match might be viewed.
Role-playing games typically follow players' avatars from above or behind as they explore the digital landscape.
Newer games often provide a variety of perspectives.
Justin Boswell, another developer at BreakAway, was also on hand to provide insight. When design software the instructors were hoping to demonstrate refused to boot up, he took a tip from fantasy role-playing and suggested the computer gods needed to be appeased.
"Anybody have a goat?" he asked. "We need a sacrifice."
"Or a freshman," Jordan added coolly, scanning the room for a volunteer. "We could use one of those, too."
chris.emery@baltsun.com
