USC
University of Southern California
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MFA Student - 1st Year

Michael Lin (lin)




Graduated from MIT with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering and Comparative Media Studies. Primary background in prototyping and design. I also like short walks on the beach followed by long periods of cleaning sand out of my shoes.








  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 2 weeks ago · View

    You mean that game about the alien that clings to your skin and takes over your brain wasn’t about Scientology?

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 2 weeks ago · View

    I can definitely see there being AR ski goggles. You could combine it with that mechanic in Demons’ Souls where you can see how other people did on previous runs. Probably wouldn’t implement it as blood stains, though…

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 2 weeks ago · View

    Aviators. Always go with the Aviators.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 2 weeks ago · View

    Ooh, very cool. Side note, those commercials were liars, my K’Nex *never* snapped together that easily.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 3 weeks ago · View

    Actually, it totally looks like Black Manta’s helmet.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 3 weeks ago · View

    Thankfully, it’s a still image, so we can’t tell if the black plastic is pulsating.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 3 weeks ago · View

    Uhhh…theories on how to make orange audio? Lots and lots of spray tan on the microphone?

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 3 weeks ago · View

    I’m also curious, which should we prioritize – realistic audio, well-designed audio, or a combination of the two? Many games that I think have well-designed audio use it to direct and prompt the players, even though it doesn’t always contribute to realism.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month, 3 weeks ago · View

    Audio does matter. I just played a multiplayer game where the game announcer got really glitchy. She was laying down some phat beats when the game ended.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   2 months ago · View

    Oooh – a graduate counterpart to Reality sounds nice.

  • Late Friday morning at GDC, I attended a session cleverly titled “Killer Portfolio or Portfolio Killer.”  As a hopeful professional who was carrying a portfolio of design work and was very interested in knowing about any potential involvement in homicide, I felt compelled to attend, only to find that the “portfolio” to which the title [...]

  • Michael Lin unlocked Lady LovelaceLady Lovelace   2 months, 1 week ago · View

  • Michael Lin wrote a new blog post: My GDC, Presented as a Series of Belabored Metaphors   2 months, 1 week ago · View

    Good grief, networking is scary. I went to the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco last week.  It (meaning GDC, not San Francisco) is a magical place where industry professionals go to talk shop, and where the occasional teenager hangs out in a Pikachu costume, looking confusedly at all of the people in game developer [...]

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 months, 2 weeks ago · View

    ”Skynet.”

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   4 months, 1 week ago · View

    We need masks and hats. Lots of both.

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   4 months, 1 week ago · View

    Luckily, the Reality Game Mafia remain safely under the rada-BANG! …arghh…

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   4 months, 1 week ago · View

    What will he do now that he’s exhausted his ”Shia Labeauf” person card?

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   4 months, 1 week ago · View

    Perfect for montages of people engaging with complex mathematics and self-examination!

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   4 months, 1 week ago · View

    Umm…for no particular reason, what’s the name of the paint shade on the walls in the hallway, and is it readily available at local hardware stores?

  • Michael Lin posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   4 months, 2 weeks ago · View

    ”I ordered a pizza” is drastically underused as a line in horror stories.

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