From UIC engineering student to game creator

Long before he launched his own mobile game, UIC alum Justin Taylor was building worlds.

While working as a consultant for a tech company, Taylor created a gaming studio from which he built a world threatened by dangerous creatures, including a powerful black dragon.

Growing up in Gurnee, Taylor developed an early passion for creating things with technology. As a teenager, he taught himself web design and built online role-playing games, blending storytelling, design and programming long before he knew where those interests would lead.

That creative drive eventually brought him to the University of Illinois Chicago, where he found the perfect outlet for his curiosity in the College of Engineering.

"I really enjoyed engineering, the challenges. And the problem solving that I naturally applied up to that point just kind of got scaled up from there," Taylor said.

UIC sets the stage

After initially studying art and game design, Taylor realized he wanted a more technical foundation. He attended community college before enrolling at UIC, where he earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering in 2011.

At UIC, Taylor immersed himself in academic and extracurricular opportunities. He joined the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a worldwide organization of computer science, engineering and other technical professionals and students, and participated in sustainability-focused engineering projects, including research on renewable energy solutions for campus facilities.

In his senior year, he and a project partner earned recognition at the College of Engineering's Senior Design Expo for a kitchen-automation idea. As part of their project, they created a website and an app that tied a kitchen's ingredient inventory to specific recipes. In their project, they tackled issues related to web development, chip design and leveraging mobile app development.

At UIC, his professors encouraged him to explore emerging technologies and engage with real-world engineering challenges beyond the classroom, Taylor said. And that unlocked his career trajectory.

"The ability to see the depth and scope of what an engineering degree could offer me allowed me to chart the next 15 years of my career," he said. "I really, really enjoyed my time there."

Career built on innovation

After graduating, Taylor partnered with his senior design teammate from college to launch a startup focused on mobile point-of-sale technology. Although the venture ultimately was eclipsed by larger competitors, the experience reinforced his entrepreneurial mindset.

From there, his career took him to Washington, D.C., where he worked on large-scale technology initiatives for government agencies. Back in the private sector, he helped build U.S. operations for an international technology startup, contributed to advanced software development projects and worked in technology leadership roles in the defense industry.

His connection to the military stems from both his grandfathers' military service and watching friends enlist after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Over the years, Taylor led engineering teams, helped organizations adopt emerging technologies and worked on projects that required both technical expertise and strategic leadership. Yet throughout his career, he continued nurturing a passion that stretched back to his teen years as a self-taught game designer.

Bringing a game to life

Because much of his career has been in the defense sector, there's a lot he can't discuss. To share his creative side with others, Taylor had developed stories, characters and game concepts in his spare time for many years. A lifelong fan of role-playing and strategy games, he wanted to create a game of his own.

That vision recently became reality with the launch of Eternal Sigil, a fantasy strategy game available on mobile platforms.

Set in a world threatened by dangerous creatures and a looming conflict with a powerful black dragon, the game invites players to forge tools and explore a growing fantasy universe. The game combines strategy, role-playing and social gameplay.

For Taylor, creating Eternal Sigil was about more than launching a product.

"I'd really like to just make something and be able to tell my kids, 'Hey, you know that dad made that," Taylor said.

For the father of four, building the game was an enormous undertaking that took over eight years. Taylor drew on lessons from his engineering education and years of professional experience leading technology projects. Advances in technological tools helped him transform his long-held idea into a reality.

The game launched this summer and has already attracted a community of players. With support for 22 languages, he hopes to welcome players from around the world into the universe he created and continues to expand.

Taylor sees a direct connection between the student who explored new ideas in UIC engineering classrooms and the entrepreneur who launched his own game.

"I learned the depth of understanding that prepared me for a diverse career in web development, data engineering, data science and artificial intelligence," Taylor said. "UIC gave me the opportunity for a world of different cultures, different viewpoints and a world of possibilities."