SLU Launched Path for Meta VR Game Designer
02/20/2024
Travis Hoffstetter (A&S 鈥�05) started his college career at 抖阴pro unsure of what major or career path most interested him until a study abroad experience in Beijing helped him reflect on what he wanted to do in life.
鈥淭hat opportunity to go out and explore the world and get away from everybody and everything I鈥檝e known, to get back to what鈥檚 important and come back focused 鈥� that was really rad,鈥� Hoffstetter said. 鈥淚 met my wife the second semester of that trip. It was a big journey for me.鈥�
Now a lead designer for Meta in the San Francisco Bay area, Hoffstetter uses game design to help build the tools needed to create the Metaverse.
Starting at SLU
Becoming a Billiken was a natural step for Hoffstetter, whose parents met in high school and attended SLU together. His mother worked as a professor in the School of Medicine, and his younger brother, Barret, also attended.
鈥淚 came into SLU with really wide eyes,鈥� said Hoffstetter, who earned a master鈥檚 degree in interactive technology with a level design specialization at Southern Methodist University after earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at SLU. 鈥淚 started off as computer science and premed at the same time. So I was taking all these computer science classes and biology classes and I was pledging a fraternity. Then it crashed on me, and I had to make a decision about which way I wanted to go.鈥�
His computer courses spoke to him more, leading him to drop his premed classes. He joined Phi Kappa Theta and focused on enjoying being a college student. Then, he studied in Beijing for 10 months.
The resources were there at SLU to help me get this going. There wasn鈥檛 a predefined path for me to go down, but I was able to work with professors. I certainly didn鈥檛 take a straight path to get here.鈥�
Travis Hoffstetter (A&S 鈥�05)
He had always been good at video games and, after reflection, decided to explore that as a career path. Around the time he returned from study abroad, his father heard a radio ad for the master's program in level design, a subset of video game design, at Southern Methodist University. Hoffstetter made that his goal. To prepare, he took art classes at SLU and developed a portfolio site with a video game pitch.
鈥淭he resources were there at SLU to help me get this going,鈥� Hoffstetter said. 鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 a predefined path for me to go down, but I was able to work with professors. I certainly didn鈥檛 take a straight path to get here.鈥�
Milestones to Meta
He considers his role at Meta to be his latest career milestone, but the first was The Bourne Conspiracy, the first game he worked on. He was living in San Deigo near the beach, surfing before work most mornings and using the skills he had been building for so long.鈥�
The next step along his path was his first critically acclaimed game: a 2013 Tomb Raider reboot that was well-received by the gaming community.
鈥淚t was the first time I had just destroyed myself at work, working until 5 in the morning. I was totally 100 percent invested in that game,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t opened a lot of doors for me, as well.鈥�
He leveraged that background into his current role at Meta, allowing him to do something a little different.
From their home base in California, Hoffstetter, his wife, three children and the family goldendoodle spend a lot of time enjoying the state鈥檚 beaches, mountains and vineyards. And, of course, they enjoy playing board games and video games.
Hoffstetter said that shifting to social VR has been exciting but also a little scary,
allowing him to go places where game design hasn鈥檛 been before. He鈥檚 working on game
content for headsets and mobile devices. In past roles, Hoffstetter had an impact
on one game. Now, his work impacts a wide variety of games and a platform.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to get anywhere unless you put yourself out there and let it roll,鈥�
he said. 鈥淵ou only have one shot at it. If you really want it, you need to go out
and get it with everything you鈥檝e got. You don鈥檛 know when it鈥檚 going to happen, but
it can happen for you.鈥�
Alumni Advice for Billikens
Meta VR Game Designer Travis Hoffstetter (A&S 鈥�05)
What advice do you have for current students interested in game design?鈥�
"You鈥檝e got to be hungry and don鈥檛 give up. You have to go out there and you have to try. You鈥檝e got to go and network with the game-developer community in your area.
There is a group called the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). They connect professional and aspiring game developers through local chapters in cities worldwide. If you join your IGDA local chapter you can start to meet up with people. Or you can blast people and say. 'Hey, I鈥檓 hungry, I want to do this awesome thing, I'm not sure exactly how to do it. Can you give me some advice?' And people like me, who struggled and didn't know, nine times out of 10 will respond because we can smell somebody who's hungry and wants it."
What advice do you have for game design hopefuls about to graduate?鈥�
"If you鈥檙e close to graduating, I would say look where your skillset is right now. If you鈥檙e an engineer, you might be close. If you can do 3D math, then, alright, you might be able to get in. If you are more of a designer or an artist, then you're going to have to demonstrate your skill set. I would think about what is the shortest path for me to demonstrate that.
For example, Fortnight has an island-creator tool right now. So you can make your own Fortnight island. You can make a racing game, a fighting game or anything within the Fortnight universe. You can make something like that and show it off to people. When you go to get a video game job they want to see the goods, they want to be able to play it for themselves. So how can you demonstrate that or demonstrate that you have a specific skill that will let you grow into that role?"