The best kinds of people are the ones who can match your sarcasm and silliness point for point, but who can also sit down and talk about serious life issues. Anthony Delgado is one of those awesome people. He is a fourth year Computer Science major here at Cal Poly and has done some pretty cool things in his life, including being an extra on TV shows like iCarly:
HCCP: How did you discover your major?
AD: “I started in mechanical engineering, but in my intro class I figured out I really didn’t like it; I couldn’t get the hands on stuff. But in a mechatronics lab we had to program a robot (that spelled out the word mom, which I sent to her for birthday, by the way) and that was the most fun thing to me. Everyone else liked the other stuff and I liked the robots.”
“Then I went to biology and that was more hands on that I didn’t like, so I took some time and thought for a while about what I loved to do like video games, especially seeing how they functioned and how the game works. It started as fun, but I think I want to work with video games in the future maybe, because I really love working with software. I put a lot of thought into computer science as compared to the other majors I was in.”
HCCP: What is the computer science program like?
AD: “The department starts you off coding, then goes to industry workings, and then technical electives like Artificial Intelligence and Game Design. It’s not as streamlined as other majors- computer science gives you a bunch of options, which is both a good and bad thing, because it’s all interconnected so it’s good to learn some of everything, but it’s a lot and it’s harder to get classes.”
HCCP: What’s your favorite part of computer science?
AD: “Just solving problems. It’s kind of like a game in itself, because you have all these problems and you have to figure out how to make something happen out of nothing, and you end up making this cool thing from pushing buttons, which is what our society is based off of now. But you also have to think about the efficiency of what you’re making, so you can do the cool things, but you have to make them run fast. It’s a lot of problem solving but people think you’re cool for figuring the thing out and it’s great to have that feeling of finally solving it because it can be frustrating during the process.”
HCCP: What do you do in your spare time?
AD: “I play video games, like a lot, and I swing and blues dance. I’m also hoping to get back into playing music; I play guitar because I’m a college male (*finger guns*). I like thinking about ideas for games. Oh, and also Majora’s Mask is the best Zelda game ever, FIGHT ME.”
HCCP: Tell me about the video game you’re designing?
AD: “The idea came from a conversation between my girlfriend and her friend, who were looking at horoscopes jokingly, so I thought it would be funny to make a game based off the signs. Then it evolved into a more thematic approach; the game right now is narratively focused on diverse perspectives. I say that because I see a lot of people shouting at each other what they think is right and not listening to other opinions, which is a big problem in our society, especially right now.”
“I want to explore ideas of a person that’s trying to be a good guy vs another person who is also just trying to be a good guy as compared to good guy vs bad guy. No one wants to be the bad guy, and I just want people to look from different perspectives. There are a couple of people helping with it; a big help has been the concept artist for it. We have a nice back and forth on ideas, and it’s nice to speak with somebody about those ideas because it’s good to know I’m not alone in wanting people to cooperate with each other.”
HCCP: Anything else you want to share with us?
AD: “I actually used to act on TV as a background actor. It’s funny because no one ever thinks about it but because I was a background actor, I always look at the background characters in shows and you can tell if they’re faking it or doing something dumb.”
HCCP: Wow that’s so interesting! What shows have you worked on?
AD: “I’ve been on iCarly, Victorious, and a Bank of America commercial. I turned down an Adam Sandler movie—Bedtime Stories actually—because I just wasn’t feeling it. The only downside is you still have to do homework on set while you’re working at the same time. I was a background school kid on the ABC Family show No Ordinary Family, but it didn’t get good ratings so they cancelled it. In one scene though there’s a full shot of my face of me trying to get something out of my teeth so I’m making a dumb face and, of course, they used that shot because why not.”
So there you have it! A super cool actor, dancer and game designer who is always ready with a joke or pun and will change the world one video game at a time. Not only can Anthony bust a move, but he can also problem solve for any odd software goings-on. Anthony is a fun, interesting and intelligent person that anyone would be proud to call their friend.