America's Next Top Model finalist turns to game design
by Randy Nelson 
{ Feb 4th 2009 at 8:24PM }
Heather Kuzmich, a top-five finalist from Cycle 9 of America's Next Top Model, will soon be modeling something other than clothes: video game characters. Kuzmich, who overcame the social hurdles of Asperger's Syndrome (a mild form of Autism) to appear on the show, has enrolled in a video game art design program at the Illinois Institute of Art.
Interviewed on the blog of Voodoo PC founder, Rahul Sood, Kuzmich said, "To be honest, I always wanted to do something that included art and creating stuff with my hands. At first I wanted to get into costume design, but that soon changed to game design, especially since I frigging love games and love doing weird designs for characters."
Kuzmich is a gaming fangirl, but she's decidedly platform agnostic. She plays on PS3, Wii, DS and PC, citing the Resident Evil series, Final Fantasy VII, Prince of Persia and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as some of her all-time faves. In other words: she's a model gamer.
[Via GameCulture]
Interviewed on the blog of Voodoo PC founder, Rahul Sood, Kuzmich said, "To be honest, I always wanted to do something that included art and creating stuff with my hands. At first I wanted to get into costume design, but that soon changed to game design, especially since I frigging love games and love doing weird designs for characters."
Kuzmich is a gaming fangirl, but she's decidedly platform agnostic. She plays on PS3, Wii, DS and PC, citing the Resident Evil series, Final Fantasy VII, Prince of Persia and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as some of her all-time faves. In other words: she's a model gamer.
[Via GameCulture]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
syrik zero @ Feb 4th 2009 8:28PM
She was weird on the show. I swear my girlfriend made me watch it!
That is awesome that she plays and frigging loves video games!
Night Elve @ Feb 4th 2009 8:49PM
My girlfriend made me watch it too! What I coincidence! =P
Hyams @ Feb 4th 2009 8:54PM
Maybe the two of you are dating the same girl without knowing it?
Moptimus Slime (Leader of the Ryan Scott Defense Force, Ultrastiq Revolutionary) @ Feb 4th 2009 9:13PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TovV0qq5tI
Markez (Rubberband Banjo till Death) @ Feb 4th 2009 9:54PM
Oh good lawd. Hep me. My gal watches it as well, although admittedly I get an odd enjoyment out of it.
What you've just reminded me of, and the ensuing imagery that just popped into my head, is when they made them wear meat clothes for one stupid photo shoot.
Meat pants, anyone?
Markez (Rubberband Banjo till Death) @ Feb 4th 2009 9:56PM
Oh, and I'll just throw in there thought I thought this girl looked awful the whole stupid show.
But such is the modeling industry apparently, where heinous women are somehow the more desirable.
Saria the Cat @ Feb 5th 2009 12:50AM
I didn't watch it nor did I make anyone else watch it...am I a bad girlfriend? D:
xGeneral DEATHx @ Feb 5th 2009 8:49AM
...of the worst kind, Saria. :)
Brittany @ Feb 5th 2009 9:32AM
Yes the worst kind of GF Saria, the kind that is an attention whore on the internet...
Haggard @ Feb 5th 2009 11:35AM
Markez: "although admittedly I get an odd enjoyment out of it"
That's called a boner ;D
Markez (Rubberband Banjo till Death) @ Feb 5th 2009 1:19PM
Please don't wink at my boner.
deaftly @ Feb 4th 2009 8:29PM
Ass Burgers om nom nom nom
Markez (Rubberband Banjo till Death) @ Feb 4th 2009 9:52PM
lol, glad to see ya back thurr, pal. How's the job market treating ya? Seem to recall not too long ago you'd mentioned you'd been laid off :(
PSN: slycooper_rocker (The Agent of Orange) @ Feb 5th 2009 12:22AM
lol it took me a minute to get that. that was just great. i didn't know you got laid off though. :/ good luck out there. you'll need it.
takemyhand84 @ Feb 6th 2009 5:08PM
HAHA!
...Jan... @ Feb 4th 2009 8:30PM
Well, when the hundreds of layoffs happen at the company she wants to work at, I think she'll somehow keep her job. Somehow...
Ridgecity @ Feb 5th 2009 1:33AM
She's a pretty nice girl, and was a favorite even is she didn't make it to the final. It would surprise me if this isn't the last time we'll be seeing here.
And got her priorities correct:
1.family
2.modelling
3.video games
jorojoserojas @ Feb 4th 2009 8:31PM
That's pretty cool.
I'm liking the way that games (with a little help from the internet) have been breaking through all these common misconceptions lately. To see girls who would have normally been classified as all beauty, no brains delve into game design truly warms my heart.
Gaming culture should grow, and I'm glad that it is. Everybody games, and people are finally starting to realize that.
Rozagy @ Feb 4th 2009 9:47PM
She's no ORDINARY pretty girl - she's autistic! All us autistic girls have brains and some are also lucky to be beautiful (I am :-)
come on ppl! don't you know ANYTHING about Asperger's?
who do you think invented computers and the internet? who do you think made it possible? 'normal' people? Ha-ha-ha-ha... :-)))
sam @ Feb 5th 2009 8:11AM
Well, if you want individuals, Charles Babbage probably has the best theoretical claim to invent computers. Ada Lovelace* is reputed to have written the first computer programme. Alan Turing* was responsible for some of the key parts of computer-science theory. I don't know who invented the Internet (can't be bothered to look it up - is it even the type of thing you really invent? More like 'well we have networks, let's link some of them together' and you eventually end up with the internet by default). But Tim Berners-Lee (sp?) invented the Web.
Those marked with * were quite weird people for sure. (I don't know much about Babbage; Berners-Lee seems relatively normal.) However, I don't know whether any of them were/are technically autistic.
And yes, while this story is maybe quite a positive one, I was a little bit disappointed to see another story that (at least in its essence) boils down to 'pretty girl plays video games'. Ah well...
ice~ @ Feb 4th 2009 8:32PM
If i could get her to play Viva Pinata with me i would so hit it!
ice~ @ Feb 4th 2009 8:35PM
oh my god...I shouldn't have said that seeing she has an unfortunate disease. I apologize that was really insulting and wrong :(
Hyams @ Feb 4th 2009 8:41PM
Well, one could argue that treating her differently from Normal People is a little condescending. ;)
Besides, I know a few people with Aspergers. It's not all that noticeable; in my experience, they just come off as being shy and socially awkward.
And at any rate, she's a freakin' model. You're kidding yourself if you think she hasn't jumped everyone she's wanted to.
...Jan... @ Feb 4th 2009 8:49PM
Yeah, I really wouldn't call it an unfortunate disease. One of my friends and I have Aspergers. Other than a little quirkyness, I think we live relatively normal lives. And yeah, she's a model. And a smart fun one too.
And apparently the guy who made Pokémon has Asperger's.
ice~ @ Feb 4th 2009 8:59PM
Alright I did my research and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Besides, any girl that will play Viva Pinata is beautiful in my book lol
zuburi @ Feb 5th 2009 1:21AM
Please tell me you didn't do your "research" via the link that Joystiq posted. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw a wikipedia link for a medical condition.
I hate that site so much. Well, not the site, but I hate the internet's reliance on it so much.
Ridgecity @ Feb 5th 2009 1:43AM
"Besides, I know a few people with Aspergers. It's not all that noticeable; in my experience, they just come off as being shy and socially awkward."
She's going to feel real comfortable amongst gamers, we tend to develop that same behavior pattern.
ice~ @ Feb 5th 2009 2:15AM
A behavior pattern which i despise with a passions but suffer from as well :/
TinyTim121 @ Feb 4th 2009 8:32PM
Fantastic to hear; anybody who overcomes mental disabilities to better themselves (espicially in area they enjoy) deserves credit!!
Dansk @ Feb 4th 2009 8:38PM
Don't people with such social anxieties tend to like videogames, since they are an alternative to being social?
Having tried this alternative, they just realize that games are awesome.
Also, i reckon it's a psychological "disability", not a mental one.
Hyams @ Feb 4th 2009 8:42PM
Aspergers is very much a mental thing. Their minds work slightly different to other people's, and they percieve the world in a slightly different way.
HyperNexus @ Feb 4th 2009 8:47PM
Wow, I would have never thought that someone on America's Next Top Model would be a gamer. Extra kudos to her for not letting her disability hinder her.
Just goes to show, video games really are for everyone.
JWC @ Feb 4th 2009 8:50PM
She should play Eve Online; the socially-awkward or anyone with Tourette's fits right in there.
Deck @ Feb 4th 2009 8:54PM
A model and she loves Knights of the Old Republic? WOW! Way to go! Not to mention her overcoming her disability.
A gaming model, that's pretty awesome!
Vilhelm @ Feb 4th 2009 9:49PM
XI good? Hello no! Poor character creation, poor storyline, WTF ending. Music and settings were good, though, just not enough to call the game good.
I'd pick FFVIII over FFVII any time, though.
Moptimus Slime (Leader of the Ryan Scott Defense Force, Ultrastiq Revolutionary) @ Feb 4th 2009 9:03PM
Hate to be "Mr. Hardcore Gamer Snob", but can we all admit that Final Fantasy VII wasn't all that great? Especially for the XBAWKS HUEG hype train it gathered. Give me IV, IX or VIII any day.
zuburi @ Feb 4th 2009 9:06PM
IX, yes. I thought VIII was shit, though I liked equipping materia to weapons.
HyperNexus @ Feb 4th 2009 9:13PM
Let's not start a debate over this, please.
Here's the thing: people can (and likely will) debate whether or not Final Fantasy VII is good until the end of space and time, but whether it's good or not is relative.
What is undeniable about Final Fantasy VII, whether you like it or not, is that it was important.
Personally, Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorite games of all time, and it's the reason I really got hooked on video gaming, but that's my experience with it and my opinion of it -- you're entitled to your opinion that it wasn't that great. Let's leave it at that before something less civil erupts.
Levi @ Feb 4th 2009 10:00PM
I played half of 6, 7,9,10, and half of 12, and 7 was by far the most memorble. I loved the story to death, I loved Cloud, Shinra, Sephiroth, Midgar, the whole Shinra tower sequence was sooo good. It wasn't perfect. I didn't care for Red XIII's hometown, and parts of ... What's it called, Clouds hometown, were boring, but the sequences that showed Sephiroth descending into insanity when he realizes the truth... Truly memorable.
I liked the rest of them, but the stories in the others just didn't hit me like 7's. Considering the FF's are all about the stories, it's easy to argue about which is better, because not everyone likes the same stories.
It's also easy to hate on games that ride the super hype train. They are easier to judge much more harshly. I'm guilty of it, having judged many popular games in the past. So it's cool dude, I understand. :)
Markez (Rubberband Banjo till Death) @ Feb 4th 2009 10:15PM
Too late, HyperNexus.
DEFINITELY IX!!!!
Noshino @ Feb 4th 2009 10:24PM
I don't care what many say, I still prefer X above all others....
It is the only one that I thought had a memorable story with likable characters, graphics/animations that have aged alright (and before someone brings up the laughing scene, its supposed to be fake), and the grid system that I still find one of the best skill systems out there
Zephiel @ Feb 4th 2009 11:58PM
IV is clearly best
Sarge @ Feb 5th 2009 11:51AM
No one mentions FFVI yet? Wow.
Not that this hasn't been covered a million times, but FFVII is good, but not perfect. None of the Final Fantasy games are, and while they are excellent, I never thought any of them were the best of their respective generation. The closest any one of them got for me was FFVI, and in my mind, it takes a close second to Chrono Trigger.
Anyway, there's enjoyment to be had from most of them. But FFV and FFIX didn't sit well with me. Not sure why. I even enjoyed FFII, at least after the rebalance in Dawn of Souls. But even the original was a striking game, considering the platform it was on. And the NES FFIII was pure awesome. I seriously need to make a custom cart with that on it. The remake is awesome, too. :)
WiredKnight @ Feb 4th 2009 9:36PM
Just because she's taking a class doesn't mean she's going to be any good at it.
Liking games isn't enough to get a job working on them.
You can't just up and decide you want to be an artist.
I'm not saying her work is going to automatically be terrible, but let's wait and see if it speaks for itself.
Dave @ Feb 4th 2009 9:39PM
Awww, no love for the 360?
Noshino @ Feb 4th 2009 10:13PM
Holy shit, something I do agree with you.
and no, my at-the-time girlfriend didn't make me watch it, man up people and accept that you watch this show as well! >:C
Cena @ Feb 4th 2009 10:20PM
I know it's been mentioned before, but I think it's nice that gaming has been breaking the common misconception that we're all a bunch of miserable shut-ins with nothing more than a semblance of knowledge of how a social life works. People like her are inspirations.
Also, it's nice to see that these girls do more than just strut their stuff then puke a lung out.
...yes, I went there, and I'm the first one that did.
michael @ Feb 4th 2009 10:50PM
first it was this article on Kotaku:
http://kotaku.com/5131652/this-japanese-adult-video-game-actress-knows-her-western-games
Now I found out this model is a big fangirl on video games. Wow, Maybe Kotaku should borrow this article to Kotaku reader. But this is interesting, what's next?
-a model will work on a OEL manga and reveal that she's a anime/manga fangirl.
Josh @ Feb 4th 2009 11:14PM
Wow, I know who we're talking about here, because my sister watched this show.
Autopsy15 @ Feb 4th 2009 11:17PM
Only women watched that show (guys who watched that show included).