22: WGE MAG
WGE MAG: 23
Starting Out!
Interview: Laura Volpato
Games Student at Image Campus
L
aura, please tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Laura Volpato, I’m 21 years old, I went to an art and communication high school because I wanted to be an artist. My first 3D animation career was at “Da Vinci” school, but later I found out that it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. So, I dropped out and ended up studying Video Game Development at Image Campus.
When did you realize you wanted to study game development?
On the list of things I like to do, playing video games and watching anime are my favorite. So, I wanted to study something related. Sincerely, I didn’t see myself doing anything else, so I decided to try video games and I loved it.
The career at Image Campus was mostly focused on programming, and I definitely don’t regret that because I liked it very much. I began my career having absolutely zero knowledge about programming. It was like speaking Chinese for me, but as soon as I began to understand it, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
So you’re also a gamer! What games do you actually play and how did you end up in the gaming movement? Yes, I’m a hardcore gamer! I have to thank my high school friends for showing me different games. I joined them on LAN parties and started playing Counter-Strike and Age of Empires 2, so I started playing with them. A few years later, a friend of mine showed me Lineage 2. That’s a game I’ve played for over two or three years. I love MMO’s. I’m playing WoW and expecting Guild Wars 2, but I also like FPS and RPG games.
What’s your opinion about the present state of the gaming industry in Argentina? I really don’t have much experience in the industry yet, but for what I’ve heard on Image Campus and ADVA (Argentinian Game Developers Association), you can tell that our industry is growing really fast. There are lots of companies working on game development right now and I really hope that it keeps growing because we have many talented developers that can create many good things. Vostu, for example, the company I’m working for right now, grows every day.
“I think it’s great for the industry to have both opinions, from men and women. I don’t think that being a girl limits me in anyway in working in this industry as long as I know how to do my job; but I know most of the guys are surprised to find gamer girls working in this industry.”
What are your expectations and goals in this industry? I’d love to develop my own RPG or MMO in the future, or be part of a development team that works on any type of game (that are my favorites).
Do you think that being a woman affects your career in this industry in any way? No, I haven’t felt any differences. Since I was in college I used to get along with my classmates. Our teachers had the same treatment for all of us and I feel the same way at work.
I think it’s great for the industry to have both opinions, from men and women. I don’t think that being a girl limits me in anyway in working in this industry as long as I know how to do my job; but I know most of the guys are surprised to find gamer girls working in this industry.
Are you working on any game project right now? I am, we’re developing a game for our last University project. It’s a game that looks like the famous ‘Diner Dash’.
Any advice you can give to other girls that are considering studying and/or working in the game industry? If it’s what you like, then go for it and work hard. Work on new stuff everyday and learn because there’s always a new algorithm, program or technology to apply.
We want to thank Laura Volpato for taking the time to do this interview with us.
Laura was interviewed by PMSClan Gamer and Journalist Julieta “Lucita PMS” Martino
S
o tell us a bit about your personal journey into video games? Where did it start? My brother Jeff and I have been interested in video games our whole lives. We have been thinking of video game concepts since we were little kids. Every time we thought about what we wanted to do with our lives everything came back to video games. We found out that Full Sail had video game degree programs and we decided it was a good fit. We do have a strong business sense and entrepreneurial drive, so we enrolled in the Entertainment Business program. With all these factors in place we expect to both manage our game studio’s operations and be the creative drivers behind the games.
Have you created any games to date? Not exactly, but we have begun in earnest the process of defining and testing our game studio venture. The Full Sail schedule is intense, and prospective team members are also busy with their studies, making it challenging to assemble our “dream team.” However, we continuously scout Full Sail for potential talent to partner with, and we have several great concepts planned and ready for graduation day to launch development.
What games did you play growing up? Jeff and I played a lot of games growing up, every Super Mario Bros. game, Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda games, Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Sonic, Pokemon, Mortal Kombat, Gauntlet Legends - we’ve played a lot of games and these are just some of the games that inspired us to get into the video game industry.
You’ve been studying at Full Sail. How’s that been? Full Sail has been a great opportunity to network and meet people, however, the schedule is so full that we have focused on developing plans for our studio, networking with other creative individuals that may play a role in developing our game titles, and exploring game concepts we will pursue in earnest as soon as we graduate. Full Sail has been very helpful and we have received great insights and support from our instructors. Full Sail might be the best school for all things entertainment. We feel it has helped us get ready for the real world and the launch of our game studio.
Any tutors deserving of a mention here? Our parents, Rob and Maria Agosh, have been very supportive during our time at school and we couldn’t have made it this far without them. Also, a few of our teachers have been helping us throughout our time at Full Sail helping with the business. Also, we’d like to give thanks to Rob Burrows, Rolando Ramos, Ana Reina, Kip Roddenberry and Linda Rohrbaugh.
Does Full Sail have a mentoring program? Full Sail doesn’t really have a mentor program that we know of.
Michael & Jeff Agosh Gamedev Students at Full Sail - USA
You and your brother are both into game
development.Is there competition between you or do you work together? What are you working on at the moment? Any screenshots to share? Jeff and I make a great team and we normally work together, but we can get pretty competitive when developing ideas and even playing video games. We are not working on anything at the moment; we have several ideas though. All we need is a team to put them together. We really wish we had some screenshots to share with you. Our most ready games for development are a survival horror game, which would essentially be our first “AAA” title, our second is an action-RPG game, which will be launched on XBLA and the PSN. We assure you they are both far more unique than the genre implies.
And so to the future. What’s your ambition? Do you intend to create your own studio? Why? What would benefits be? My brother and I are very eager to start our own studio after graduation; it has many benefits, among the most important is creative freedom for the video games we will make, another benefit is that we can pick the team who fits best with the games for which we are going to develop. In terms of our ambition, we want to become the top third party developer with our deep stories for games as well as the unique yet familiar gameplay.
If you could work with any other Studio or Publisher who would it be? We would be very interested to work with Epic Games, and the EA Partners program has us very interested. EA is doing a great thing for growing developers.
If you could shout out to everyone on WGE what would you ask?
Contact information of developers and publishers. And guidance from start-up companies on how to reach maturity. If the WGE community could connect us to relatively young development teams that would be appreciated.
What’s the best piece of advice you have been offered? Don’t get discouraged in getting your business started. We’d like to thank Rob Burrows for that piece of advice.
What advice do you most need? We need advice on how to attract video game programmers and designers to our company to help us make video games and gain a reputation in the industry. Also we would like advice on how to gain the interest of investors to get the company off the ground.
“In terms of our ambition, we want to become the top third party developer with our deep stories for games as well as the unique yet familiar gameplay.”
Interview:
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