John Roderick Cervantes Jr.
Levittown, NY
Advisor: James Coltrain
Artist Bio
John Roderick Cervantes Jr. is an Honors Digital Media and Design student at UConn with a concentration in game design and a minor in computer science. He has a passion for coding, art and animation, and 3D modeling, taking root in his childhood playing Nintendo titles. Raised in New York by parents who immigrated to the US from the Philippines, his works are also influenced by his religious upbringing and Asian heritage. Inspired by fantasy and science fiction, Cervantes loves to weave creative experiences through technical mediums. Cervantes has developed a variety of games including Rock Souls: Defeat the Stain Princess, which ranked #1 overall out of 65 game entries in HoloJam #5. In addition, Cervantes has worked as a graphic designer for the UConn CEE Department and a digital producer for The Daily Campus. He looks forward to employing his wide range of skills in the video game industry.
Artist Statement
Scrap Mechanica is a 3D action combat game set in the distant future, where corrupted robots have taken over a cargo spaceship. The lone survivor of their incursion must fight back using a most archaic weapon: A rusty, broken-down construction mech. The player must brave deadly traps and defeat menacing machines to escape with their life. With gameplay based on the Dark Souls series, this game stacks the odds against the player through tough combat encounters. This cements them as an underdog capable of toppling titans through the power of human perseverance and adaptation, and emphasizes the narrative that failure is food for growth. With the rise of generative AI and the controversies surrounding its place in the world of art and design, this game is a commentary on how technology is best used as a tool to enhance, not replace, our ability to create and communicate.
3D-Printed Statues
These 3D-printed statues of the characters in Scrap Mechanica were hand-painted by John Cervantes, and allow exhibition-goers to take a closer look at his work in 3D modeling.
