When veteran Ethan McKinnon was laid off, he took a unique approach to finding a new job and building a portfolio: live streaming.

McKinnon has 25 years under his belt in the creative design and digital art industry, much of that time making games and military simulators. The former Army soldier served with 27th Infantry Regiment, the 1/27 “Wolfhounds,” in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. In 1999, he separated from the Army, where he had learned design software like Photoshop and 3D Studio.

He was able to enhance those software skills with independent learning enough to land a job creating special effects for film. In 2003, he discovered that his favorite game, Rainbow Six (Red Storm Entertainment), was developed in 3D Studio Max. As part of the modding (game modification) community, he started creating maps for Rainbow Six and became friends with Drew Baye who made skins (modified in-game items). Together they created a mod allowing players to enter Afghanistan and hunt Osama bin Ladin.

His unique open world map got the attention of people in the industry, and he began his career working for military contractors to create simulations, training games and other digital media.

Last year, after being laid off, McKinnon turned to live streaming his creative ventures as a way into a new position. He explained: “I thought, I’m going to start just creating something live on Twitch. [It] started out as a living portfolio. Just something to show off my skillset to people, to the world.”

This creative, live portfolio turned into a passion. With a growing community of viewers encouraging him, McKinnon realized he had the makings of a new game.

“I’m very open with the community. I want to show them what I’m working on: This is what’s going in the game. Do you like it? If you don’t like it, tell me, because I’m going to change it.”

— Ethan McKinnon

Using video and connecting via the internet isn’t new for McKinnon. During the 2010s, his family created a community and YouTube following as the Luclin Family, primarily producing videos of their Minecraft adventures.

His current project is different, though; he is the solo developer on a massive sci-fi bounty hunter RPG. That portfolio evolved into “Riftwalker.” McKinnon has supporters via his social media, streaming and Patreon accounts and his handle LuclinFTW.

An open-world, cinematic RPG, “Riftwalker” is also very story-driven. Set across seven different worlds, gamers play as a bounty hunter finding fugitives and earning money. Gameplay includes combat scenes, weapons usages and mission tactics. All those details have been hashed out and created by McKinnon on his own, but while using feedback from his online community.

To him, building that community and being open with his work, ideas and difficulties has been an incredible opportunity as an artist. He stated how getting feedback from others is extremely helpful for himself, and he hopes its also rewarding for his gaming community.

“I’ve always been about community building, I’ve always asked them stuff… it makes them emotionally invested in everything that you’re doing, and, to me, on an emotional level, that’s where everything really counts. Not just in them helping out, but in a human sense. My creativity only gets larger from people helping me and figuring things out.”

— Ethan McKinnon

In order to purposefully and thoughtfully expand that community to include military veterans, McKinnon recently partnered with REGIMENT, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing U.S. service members and veterans together in a community of gaming. Their initiatives include a Discord community, in-person events as well as free equipment and games in an effort to “enhance mental health, foster community, and provide a therapeutic escape so every Veteran and Service Member can enjoy gaming as a way to unwind, heal, and thrive.”

“Riftwalker” will be the first game REGIMENT uses to navigate their community members into the development world. Testing groups made of veterans will be integral in assessing the game as McKinnon develops parts.

This includes gameplay, of course, but the groups will begin by testing unique and detailed game systems such as sounds, character navigation and traversal, storylines, design and more in “a bare bones world.”  

McKinnon describes the collaboration as “something that’s going to heavily involve the veterans in, basically, helping create the game…A lot of veterans play games. And, to me, what’s not better than live feedback from a live testing group?”

The game has thoughtful worldbuilding that includes small details connecting the game with the military community. One example is McKinnon’s inclusion of memorial gardens where members of his Patreon can create commemorative grave markers. Each garden also includes a special section for fallen soldiers which will have the names of real-world fallen military service members. Each month there will be a dedication ceremony for those memorials.

McKinnon said, “You know, with all these veterans and what they’ve went through and what they’ve done, this is a way I can give back.”

It is obvious that McKinnon approaches his development from a place of positivity, with a desire to build a community and continue to support military service members and veterans. His advice to those interested in gaming development is to take the initiative to learn the software on their own.

“There is so much information that is out there at your fingertips. Unreal [Engine] is really good about this. They provide so many free resources. They provide so many games that you can dissect, reverse engineer and build your own things from. Unity is the same way.”

McKinnon is planning to publish “Riftwalker” out on Steam for early access next year.

Gaming

Veterans