My husband, 
Nate and I just signed up for the Global Game Jam. As I was starting to blog about the Game Jam, I realized I’ve never introduced my most important partner in life, Nate!
Nathan and I met at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2001 where we were both Computer Engineering Technology students. As I arrived at Electronics Lab on the first day of class, I was faced with a bunch of options on where to sit. Each workbench sat two people and was equipped with a single set of lab equipment. Whoever I sat next to would become my lab partner. Naturally, I chose to sit next to the cutest boy!
After the last lab session, and as the student body was preparing for final exams, I came back to my room with a message on my instant messenger. It was Nate from Electronics class!!! He said he had misplaced his electronics breadboard and was wondering if I had seen it. Awwwwww!! Of course I hadn’t seen it, there was no missing breadboard!
Soon our classmates started referring to us as Krystanate – we were inseparable then and 11 years later we still are.
Nate and I worked together on a couple of small game projects in classes at RIT – an maze generating game and a 20 Questions-like Simpsons trivia game. Those were tons of fun! Nate and I even worked together on his interview assignment for his application at Three Rings. He was given the option to code an already existing game like checkers, but Nate wanted to do something original!
Together, we came up with a brand new multiplayer puzzle mechanic, prototyped it with paper and then Nate programmed “Locksmith.” After Nate was hired, he developed the game further by working with an artist to add sweet graphics and renaming it “Astrologic.”
Signing up for the Global Game Jam with Nate sparked this wonderful trip down memory lane. I look forward to this unique opportunity to build something awesome with my most special partner!
