So you want to know more about me, eh? How does one sum-up a person's entire existence in a single web page? I guess I better try. My name is Benjamin Jacob Dawson. I was born May 10, 1986 in Huntsville, Alabama. I am a red fox, both online and in spirit. I consider myself to be a programer, a writer, a game designer, a photographer, an introvert, a homosexual, a therian, and a furry. Don't worry if you don't know what all of those are, each one is only a part of who I am.
I spent my life dabbling in a lot of different things. I learned how to program at Tennessee Technological University, where I got a bachelors degree in Computer Science. All of my other skills have been self taught. You might consider me a jack of all trades, as I will work on any project that peeks my interest. This website could be considered a reflection of that. However, my primary interest has always been in video game design.
Ever since I was six, I wanted to make my own video games. I would draw out new levels for Super Mario Brothers using colored pencils and graph paper, long before ROM-hacking or Mario Maker was a thing. Later on, I would collect any game that had a level editor packaged with it. I also took a special interest in simulation games, particularly of the Maxis lineup. Once I learned how to program, I fell in love with the elegance of the code, and the fact I could use it to craft entire new worlds, simulated on my computer. I felt like a god.
Perhaps my two greatest passions in life are programing and story-telling. Even as a child I would come up with fanciful characters and places and tell stories about them. As an adult I have written erotic short stories that were well received. I even tried writing a novel a few times, but I would rather focus my efforts on designing video games.
As for programing, I can't describe the joy I feel at writing a truly elegant piece of code. It's like I am able to construct whole new worlds, simulated on my computer, described in the language of mathematics. Game design, as I see it, is a culmination of both programing and writing. You won't see me developing games that have high graphic fidelity, but they do have a lot of heart!
I am a strong supporter of the open source movement. That's why all of my creations are licensed under a permissive license (like CC-BY or MIT) wherever I am able. I know how difficult it is being a derivative artist, trying to find artwork for your games, or movies, or whatever. That's why I want to try and spread awareness, and convince creators to be more open and willing to share their so-called intellectual property. I believe the world can be a much better place when we all cooperate, and we will see much better and more beautiful art because of it.
Currently, I live in Germany with my loving husband, Daniel. I am able to speak enough German to be able to get by, but perhaps my mastery of the language is not a good as I would like. We don't have any plans to have children, although I do hope to keep a fox as an animal companion one day.
I think that covers most of the important stuff...