POTSDAM — Plattsburgh native and Clarkson University alumnus Andrew Zaferakis said he didn't have a choice in his career path.
"I had two math teacher parents — one taught computers — and I'm Greek, so it's pretty much in the blood," he said.
Zaferakis, who attended Plattsburgh High School before obtaining his computer-science degree from Clarkson, will return from San Diego, where he lives now, to speak at his alma mater about his programming experience.
TRANSFORMATION
The presentation, "Transforming a Franchise: The Making of 'Transformers: War for Cybertron,'" will take place at 5:30 p.m. April 5 in CAMP Building room 176. It is free and open to the public.
Zaferakis will describe the start-to-finish process of creating this acclaimed video game, work he did with High Moon Studios in San Diego.
While sharing the struggles and joys of working on a project over a couple of years as opposed to a couple of months, he will emphasize the artistic components of his primarily scientific occupation.
"It's really intellectually stimulating, and it's a real creative process," he said. "You don't work just as programmers; you work with artists and designers and people that draw. You work with this big team to create this interactive experience for the player, and every day is a new challenge."
Zaferakis also hopes to give his student listeners something he didn't have when he was in college: advice from an industry professional.
"The gaming industry was pretty young at that point," he said. "I want to let them know what we're looking for as far as hiring people out of school."
But Dave Beck, director of Clarkson's digital arts and sciences program, stresses that the presentation will be beneficial to wider audiences than those from within the university. Community members are encouraged to attend.
"This is kind of the equivalent to someone working next to Steven Spielberg coming to tell them how 'Jurassic Park' was made or how 'E.T.' was made — how something big was made," Beck said.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Zaferakis began his professional work with video-game programming during an internship he completed while attending graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But his love for programming began with childhood.
Zaferakis's "two math teacher parents" were Al and Mary Lou Zaferakis, who taught at then-Plattsburgh Middle School and Peru High School, respectively.
His mother taught him computer programming.
"I was really good at it at a young age, and I always played video games so it made sense," he said.
FAMILY SUPPORT
He was looking forward to spending time with his mother during this trip but, unfortunately, she died in December after a long illness.
Zaferakis had already lost his father at 9 years old, but looked to his friends' parents for paternal support — including Rod Sherman, his former teacher at PHS.
"Rod was definitely a father figure for me and still is," he said.
Sherman, who still teaches math at the high school, said the feeling of knowing he contributed to a student's success is indescribable.
"You have no idea what that's like," he said. "Things like that, as a teacher, really do it all. You can have a few students say something to you about how you changed their life in one way or another, and that goes for a long time. That gives you energy; it really does.
"I really feel proud for Andrew's accomplishments," he continued.
NEW APPROACHES
Sherman said Zaferakis was creative and talented even in his high-school computer-programming courses.
"Andrew would like to try to solve programs differently, investigate ways to do something differently," Sherman said. "It's nice to approach programming from as many ways as you can."
Zaferakis is grateful that his interests have blossomed into a successful career.
"I'm pretty lucky that one of my natural skills is something that I actually enjoy and that I can make money doing," he said.
To that, Sherman added a final thought: "Go Andrew!"
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