About Us

About

My name is Casey Rozell, I’m 30-years-old and, as of right now, I live in Detroit, Michigan, USA. I started playing video games when I was just 5-years-old. I’d say that’s where my journey in life truly began. Before then, I was just a kid going to Kindergarten and watching Blue’s Clues on TV. My first gaming experience was when my mom bought an original PlayStation with games like Tomb Raider 3, Asteroids, and even Spyro the Dragon. My mom let me play Spyro, initially, but it then expanded to games that were for my age, such as “A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story 2”.

On top of playing those games on the PlayStation, I also started playing Pokémon Red and Blue on Gameboy Color. It was the start of my love for mobile gaming on top of console gaming. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to play PC games until a few years later. But before I was finally able to play on PC, I got my hands on a PlayStation 2 and was introduced to just how graphics can be upgraded when compared to older titles. While there are many PlayStation 1 games with different styles, they are all very pixelated. The PlayStation 2 opened my views to just how far video games can advance in just a few years.

When I was 9-years-old, we were able to get our very first PC to play games on. The first PC game I played was “The Sims”. That’s where the games I played shifted from more of an “Adventure” style to a more “Creative” style. Being able to create my own characters, homes and relationships sparked my imagination on top of my growing love for gaming. Little did I know, in the same year, I would start playing a game that would provide me with the experience and motivation to set up my goals for the rest of my life. That game is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

Toward the end of 2003, not long after the Game of the Year Edition released, I was playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on my PS2 when my mom came down and showed me the large box that the Game of the Year edition of Morrowind came in. She told me, “I found this at Target, I thought it looked cool!”. I thought she was right, but I didn’t know just how right she was. I had never played an actual RPG or even a Fantasy game before and looking at the pictures on the box of, not just the really cool fantasy elements, but with how state-of-the-art the graphics were, I was instantly curious.

After installing, creating my class and leaving the tutorial level in Seyda Neen, I realized that, for the first time in my life, I was playing a game where I could go wherever I want and do whatever I want straight from the get-go. The closest I got was with the Grand Theft Auto series up to this point, but even in that case, you’re unable to travel to every single island in the game right away. Where Morrowind set itself apart was the freedom to go where I wanted. For example, in Ald-ruhn, there’s a giant dead crab called “Skar”. I saw it on the physical map that came with the game. I thought, “Wow! That’s so cool!”, and travelled to Ald-ruhn to see it for myself.

On top of the freedom to go see the world whenever I wanted to, Morrowind has a level of sophistication and lore that felt unrivaled at that time. No matter how long I played the game, it felt like I always ran into something new. Morrowind was the first game to genuinely make me excited for a future game in the series when I heard Bethesda was making “Oblivion”. I played Morrowind for over two years before I delved deep into the beautiful world of Oblivion.

I was 11-years-old and my introduction to Oblivion was a little humorous. I can’t confirm 100% for sure, but I believe I was late to the party for Oblivion. When I asked for Oblivion, my mom, instead, got me the strategy guide for Oblivion, claiming “It hasn’t come out yet.” I must’ve read that guide numerous times before I was finally able to get my hands on the game itself. It was the Friday before Spring Break. I got home from school, went into the office to play some Morrowind, but up on the screen? The character creation screen for Oblivion. My mother had surprised me with the game right before being out of school for an entire week! I was so thankful for that, and you better believe I spent my whole week playing it!

I won’t go into detail on every game I started playing from then until now, but I just wanted to explain just how much the Elder Scrolls, and eventually Fallout, mean to me now after experiencing them at a much younger age. I graduated from high school in 2012 and joined the military. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to college for Game Design like I wanted but that didn’t stop me from continuing to play Bethesda games like Skyrim in 2011 and Fallout 4 in 2015.

From the time I graduated to, I’d say, 2018, I did my time in the military and worked at a call center to come home and live-stream the games I played on Twitch. But I wasn’t happy. At the beginning of 2018, I realized I needed to get myself back on track. I needed to start working toward a better future for myself and to work toward the goal of being happy with my career. So, I moved to Michigan so I could stay with family and go back to school where they had a Game Design program. I took classes, had the best GPA I had ever had in my life, and finally felt the motivation to fulfill my dream of being a designer at Bethesda Game Studios. When I saw the trailer for The Elder Scrolls VI at E3 2018, I told myself, “I’m going to have my name in the credits of an Elder Scrolls game someday.”

Unfortunately, in 2019, another setback would cripple my progress for another three and a half years. As soon as the Winter Semester had concluded, I noticed myself getting sick with a recurring issue that I had been dealing with since I was a Junior in High School. For years, I had been jaundiced and dealt with liver issues, had numerous tests done but with no official diagnosis. Most of the time, I would get better, then a few years I’d get worse again. This time, I was left with no choice but to go to the Emergency Room. I had to decide that my life and health were the most important thing right now. So, I stayed for over a week in the hospital to officially get the diagnosis I was looking for. While I can now keep myself healthy with the medication I need, I couldn’t afford to continue going to school. So, once again, my dreams were placed on hold.

I found myself in a new field of work. I started working Automotive after I had to stop going to college. I enjoy the field and if I hadn’t been motivated to be a designer, the automotive field is where I feel I would have the most success. But, again, it’s not what I wanted to do and it isn’t where I want to be. In 2022, after moving in with my girlfriend, I started toying around with the idea of switching career fields again. After telling my girlfriend about it, she gave me the motivation and support I needed to kickstart my love for Game Creation once again. On top of that, her family also helped me realize that no matter how old I am or how old I get, it’ll never be too late to pursue the dream career I want.

So, starting in January 2023, I started modding Bethesda’s games once again. I had made a mod in Morrowind a couple years ago called “Goran Manor” and started work on a Skyrim mod called “The Tomb of Hircine”, which is a quest, before I got a new computer and, unfortunately, lost all my progress on that mod. I started with modding Morrowind and have decided to restart and finally finish my “Tomb of Hircine” Skyrim Quest mod. After that, I have many level design ideas for Fallout 4 and possibly future Bethesda titles.

In the beginning of 2024, I had the idea to create a small Indie Game Dev Studio with my talented friends to not only expand on creating Bethesda Game Studios mods, but Indie Games developed in Godot Game Engine! All of this was inspired by Pirate Software who made his own Indie Game Studio and live-streams his Game Creation in addition to playing many different games.

So, be on the lookout! I’m excited to continue creating levels and designs for games and would love for you all to come on the journey with me!