Hello!

tafaar

aaron

not "a-a-ron"

in PDX

tafaar aaron not "a-a-ron" in PDX

I’m…

majored in software engineering

🎓

worked at nasa

🚀

did some advocacy

👨‍⚖️

was a pro gamer

🕹️

was a game trailer producer

🎥

majored in software engineering 🎓 worked at nasa 🚀 did some advocacy 👨‍⚖️ was a pro gamer 🕹️ was a game trailer producer 🎥

Before, I…

Before, I…

programming

art

animation

video production

graphic design

social media

game dev

programming art animation video production graphic design social media game dev

Now, I do…

aaron@tafaar.com

The logo of Impound Rumble. The logo is jagged and bold and features a chain wrapping around the design with a towing truck hook and a skidding tire.

My Game:

v - more about me - v

tafaar with glasses and shoulder-length curly hair holding a medal for placing 4th in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 at Genesis X. He is outside standing next to Rivals of Aether player Zeebee.
tafaar cosplaying as a red Pikmin taking a pointing soyjak selfie at PAX West 2025. tafaar is pointing at a simulation of the Orion spacecraft developed by NASA, a project that he contributed to as an intern.
tafaar standing inside of a training module of the Orion spacecraft at the NASA Johnson Space Center. He is smiling, wearing a NASA sweatshirt and red hardhat.
tafaar crouching on a wooden floor in front of a wall of fake hedges with colorful flowers pointing at a sign that says 'LIVE MAS LOUNGE'. This photo was taken at the Taco Bell Foundation's Summer of Connection 2025.
A cartoon-style two-story building with graffiti art on the upper walls. The scene shows an animated explosion with colorful sparks and smoke near the bottom left, and characters from Impound Rumble in combat.
tafaar with his cat Poncho. Poncho is on tafaar's lap, looking at the camera while tafaar looks off to the side.
tafaar's unpaid intern's cat Tofu, and technically his third cat. He appears to be taking a selfie, in which he looks very ugly. He has one tooth (not pictured).
tafaar's cat Mickey. His ears are pulled back and his face is lit up by the camera's flash. He has a funny face, but he's relaxed and happy.
tafaar with shoulder-length hair and glasses smiling while holding an orange spice GameCube controller. He is sitting on-stage at Genesis 8 before a set against ThundeRzReiGN in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
tafaar as a child dressed as a Boomerang Bro from Super Mario Bros for Halloween. He is in a battle-ready stance with the boomerang over his shoulder like a baseball bat. The room has hardwood flooring and beige walls.
A screenshot of Impound Rumble with Ollie panicking while being grabbed by Shrimpman. They are in front of McCaw's Boxing Gym, and they are mid-flight during a brutal overhead throw. On the wall is a stylized graffiti tag that spells out "BAD."
tafaar with shoulder-length hair glasses, and a beard, throwing up a peace sign while sitting in a gaming chair with the Luminosity logo. He is wearing a denim jacket over a sweater at the event Luminosity Makes Big Moves in New York, 2024.

me asf

background

i grew up on the internet, for better or for worse. flash games, club penguin, pokemon, and a bit of vsauce kept my brain tickled and locked me on to a very specific path:

game dev, do or die.

it took a long time and a lot of specific events including maybe some near-death reflection (allergy related) that finally got me to pursue game development directly. passively, i’ve always kept my foot in the door with art and animation in case i’d need it as a game dev, but i let my skillset plateau in high school once i started losing sight of that dream. the biggest thing holding me back was that i didn’t know how to program, my high school’s computer science education was nonexistent, and i felt like i needed a mentor.

it would take way too much writing to fit everything that happened after high school that lead to me becoming a game dev onto this page, so here’s the abridged version starting after i graduated in 2020:

  1. started community college then dropped out (twice)

  2. became a pro gamer

  3. applied my pro-gamer grindset to become a programmer

  4. taught myself how to code by making games in unity

  5. started going to a 4-year university to study software engineering

  6. won a bunch of scholarships

  7. became student president

  8. interned at nasa

  9. got sponsored by taco bell

  10. rejected the job market (it didn’t reject me)

  11. started working on Impound Rumble

  12. won some awards and graduated top of my class debt-free

  13. living my dream 🌈

other factoids

i’m native hawaiian, chinese, filipino, portuguese, and some other stuff

(i just say i’m hawaiian or mixed)

livin in portland, oregon

i got 3 cats