"Life is good because I choose it to be..."

Hi, my name is Won Choi and welcome to my site.  It’s been a long time since my last update and I hope you guys dig my new look.  I tried to keep things very simple and easy to navigate.

So, here’s a little bit about myself.  I was born in Seoul, Korea and moved to States when I was 13.  Our family lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for a few months than moved to a small town in Texas called Killen.  We lived there for a short period of time then moved to Dallas.  As a teenager, I was a little confused and felt intimidated by the new surroundings.  I remember after school, I would come home and spend time with my brothers and cousins rather than school friends. I guess I was a little afraid to approach and accept the new culture.  It took me awhile to break down the barrier and allow myself to accept and be accepted. 

Okay, moving on.  I didn’t know when I was young that I would be working as a video game artist.  I was just simply into drawings and playing video games.  I thought of people in the gaming industry like the people at NASA.  When I was in junior high, I would spend many hours doodling before I went to bed, which became a routine habit throughout my college years.  I think those hours helped me to be where I am right now.  I still do my routine drawings before bed but not as often as I used to.

I got my first break into the gaming industry right before I graduated from college.  I was hired as a Concept Artist working for a company named Rogue Entertainment.  The first project I did was an expansion pack for “Quake 2” called “Quake 2 Ground Zero”.   I was very excited to have my first game shipped out.  After working for a few years at Rogue Entertainment, I was offered a position by a small company called Raster Productions.  This company only made console video games which caught my attention so much that I went and jumped on aboard.  I got a chance to work on “Quake 3 Arena” for Dreamcast and “Return to Castle Wolfenstine” for Playstation 2 at Raster Productions.  After “Quake 3 Arena” shipped out, the company moved to Seattle, Washington.  I really enjoyed living in Seattle.  It was my first time away from the family and living on my own.  After “Return to Castle Wolfenstine” was released, I decided to move on, wanting to do something challenging—and that was when I got my job at Monolith Productions as a Character Modeler.  I learned a lot of new things working at Monolith, such as modeling in Maya, Lith tech engine, and so on.  I worked on “Condemned” and helped with “Matrix Online” before moving back to Dallas a few years later.  In Dallas, I got hired at Gearbox Software as Lead Character Artist where I was the only Character Artist on the project.  It was a great opportunity and good experience, working at a company like Gearbox software.

Currently, I’m working for Ensemble Studios on the project “Halo Wars”.  It is very exciting to work on a game I enjoy not only making, but playing as well.  I mainly do concepts for the game and recently, I started working on terrain textures.  Learning new aspects of RTS game development is very fascinating and fun.  It’s also challenging time to time, but that’s what drives me to improve as a video game artist. 

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in the gaming industry for almost ten years now.  Time passes by so fast and the gaming industry has grown so much.  I cannot forget the time I shared office with 10+ people at my first job.  It was one of the most exciting times I can remember.   I am very happy and excited to be a part of the game developer team in this era.   I have absolute passion for making great games with talented individuals all over the world.