About

Hi. I’m Dean Rands (he/him), a game designer and developer from Maidstone, England, and I love video games. After graduating from BA Games Design & Art at Winchester School of Art in 2019 (technically the University of Southampton…?), I briefly interned as a “Junior Creative Technologist” at Moving Brands, contributed to UI programming for Flock by Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg, and have otherwise been working on various personal projects.

For my current personal projects, I’m working with Godot and programming in C#, but I have previously programmed in C++ for Unreal Engine 4 and in C# for Unity. While I have a Playdate and an interest in developing for it in C, I haven’t yet taken the plunge. I also have experience with a couple of source control managers, having used Plastic SCM while working on Flock and GitKraken while at university. Of course, I’m always seeking to learn and improve, and I’ve a long way to go.

I’m thankful that my love for the medium continues to grow, and I largely spend my free time trying to broaden my tastes and knowledge, catching-up on the games I missed and keeping an eye out for those I don’t want to. Within the infinite backlog are countless experiences and lessons, and there’s nothing quite like learning a game’s unique systems. I love discussing thoughts and findings, too.I’m generally open about my struggles with depression, which certainly affects all areas of my life. I don’t want to spread the gloom, but I’m an advocate for stamping-out the stigma surrounding mental health problems. I’m also constantly miffed by malevolent scumbaggery, such as the ongoing attacks on Gaza and Ukraine, the rise of socially regressive movements, the growing disrespect for human effort, and this ever-looming money-minded lizardry. Games are great, but I want the world to be better.