Tariq Rakha

M.F.A. – 2nd Year

Game Design | Storrs

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Hometown: Providence, RI
UConn location: 119 Bishop Center

Email: tariq.rakha@uconn.edu

M.F.A. – 2nd Year

Assistantship: ENG 1007  TA 

Education: M.S. in Interactive Media and Game Development Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA

B.F.A. in Creative Technologies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 

Language(s) Spoken: Arabic عربي

Area of Research / Artistic Focus: Game Design, Humanities

Tariq has had a love for video games ever since he was a child.  They represented an escape from reality and a means to explore a world that might otherwise not exist.  At the same time, every game must always come to an end and thus the real world could never be forgotten.  

This dichotomy has become a point of interest for Tariq as he creates games that transport players to new worlds while still being rooted in social commentary and reality.  Inequity, failure, competition, empathy, and success are all things which occur simultaneously in both the real and virtual worlds.  Tariq explores this mirrored reality in the games he makes with the hope of creating real social change.

Recent Achievements:

• NOLS Wilderness Leadership Award (Wyoming, 2022)
• Nominated for Best TA of the Year Award (WPI, 2021)
• Thesis Project of the Year Award (VT, 2019)

Industry Experience:
Indie Game Developer since 2021
Instructor for iDTech (Providence, 2022)
Developer for Microsoft Hololens (Worcester, 2021)
 

Fun Fact: I once ate so many carrots that I turned orange.