Roger Hicks

The other day I heard someone say "who is RekcahDam?" Well I am RekcahDam, Roger Hicks of course. But, it's more than that. RekcahDam is a combination of several different things that I represent.

--MUSIC--

Me Playing the Drums at Guitar Center earlier this year:


Music is one of the only things that can change the way I feel the second I listen to it. Whether its progressive rock, hip-hop , electronica, dance, film scored or for video games.... it doesn't matter I love music. I don't discriminate at all! All of these styles are reflected in the music that I create. You can listen to my music @ http://rekcahdam.bandcamp.com , http://soundcloud.com/rekcahdam and http://8bitcollective.com/members/rekcahdam/ .

Some of my most memorable moments are of me watching an old cartoons or playing a video games. But the music is what really sticks out in my mind as clear as if it was just yesterday!

--HACKING--

This video was part of a series of hacking videos called "Weekend Warriors" I started back in 2007 (WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS LONG AND DRAWN OUT.... AND ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEARN HOW TO REVERSE ENGINEER SOFTWARE ... IT ALSO SHOWS MY COUNTRY ACCENT...):


In high school I was apart of an "engineering" program where our learning was geared towards computer and mechanical engineering. I was never as smart as the other kids in my class. I always got lost when the teacher would try to explain something from beginning to end. But, some how, I was able to figure out my own solutions by working backwards from the end result. Many of my friends were talented when it came to programming but I started out on a different path. I learned how to reverse engineer software before I even knew how to develop it! Later on ,when I started to understand Computer Science Theory, it felt as if I had a bit of an advantage over the rest.

I've even contributed to "The Scene" and I'm waiting for someone to figure how. But maybe they never will....


--VIDEO GAMES--

My most popular game thus far, rComplex!:

rComplex - The Facts from R.J. H. on Vimeo.


The last few years of college I met up with an artist named Naomi Baker via myspace around the same time I started working on the Weekend Warriors series. We both studied at the same university and became good friends. Naomi and I were both huge video game nerds and one day she randomly said " we should make a game ourselves!". I didn't know much about the indie game scene at that time. I didn't even know where to start, but I decided to go for it anyway! The next thing I knew, I was developing my first game from scratch. I met another artist by the name of Brian Terwilliger on the gametrailers.com forums. The 3 of us went on to blog our whole progress of developing Wings of Apocalypse. Apparently we loved it so much that we've been working on game projects no-stop ever since!

Through this industry I've also met other awesome people; Marco Nelor and Rich Vreeland. Check them out!


-- VISUAL ART--

Me drawing a friend, Martina:

Martina The Guitarist from R.J. H. on Vimeo.


I've always loved to draw. I don't want to say that I was ever extremely good at it though. I'm only average. But, art is the one thing that I never really turned into a "job". Art is more like therapy for me. I draw when I feel like it. At one time I did art for the the Farmers' Market near to where I lived. And, some of my artwork even ended up in the Richmond Times Dispatch. But, I'm sort of glad I didn't continue with that. I was starting to dislike it.


--CONCLUSION--

I'm trying to become a modern day "renaissance" man! I do a little bit of everything. I hate to call myself a jack of all trades since, if you're one of them, you tend to have reputation of not being particularly skilled at any of your trades. I genuinely think that it's possible to be talented and skilled at several things at once. As long as I have the ability to learn more I'll continue to do more become skilled at those things.

You'll see some huge projects from me in the future! Look forward to seeing more from me in 2011!