HELLO RENAN, LET’S START WITH HOW DID YOU GET YOUR JOB IN GAMES?
I’ve always had a love for games since the PS1 days and knew from a very young age that I wanted to develop games professionally. There are many different roles in game development, and as someone who enjoys maths and geometry, game programming just made sense. So I studied computer science in college, got my first job in the industry in 2016 as an intern, and since then I’ve had the chance to work on games across mobile, PC, PS5, and even moved to a different continent.
WHAT DO YOU DO DAY-TO-DAY?
I implement a mix of game mechanics, features and levels in our game. Sometimes I also fix bugs and develop tools to help the team. Most of my work is done in C++, but for animation-related features I often have to use Unreal’s Blueprints for visual scripting, which I also really enjoy.
WHAT MOST EXCITES YOU ABOUT YOUR ROLE?
I like game programming because it gives me the power to bring a game to life, joining all the pieces created by the other teams, and adding my own touch to the game in the process.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE ASPIRING TO BE A GAMEPLAY ENGINEER?
You could be the world’s best game programmer, but it’ll be difficult for you to get noticed if you don’t put your work out there, especially at the start of your career. Having a portfolio project that people can download or play in a browser helps prove your skills, and also gives you something interesting to talk about during interviews. It doesn’t have to be a full game, as that would take too long to make. It could just be a short demo, plus a video of it so people know what to expect before trying it.
Nowadays there are so many incredible free tools and resources available, that getting into game programming is something that anyone with a decent computer and the resolve to learn it can do. If you already know programming, then you’re halfway there and should start learning a game engine (or even making your own if you fancy). And if you’re new to programming in general, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to learn programming and a game engine at the same time. I would even argue that some programming concepts like object orientation and inheritance are a lot easier to grasp in the context of a game. My first introduction to programming was through GameMaker, which is very beginner-friendly, and used by a lot of 2D indie game developers.
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT WORKING AT BALLISTIC MOON?
I like that we are at the cutting edge of technology. Using Unreal Engine 5 to develop a PlayStation 5 game is literally a dream come true to me, as a huge fan of both Unreal and PlayStation. So it’s pretty awesome that I get to do that every day. There’s also free juice in the kitchen!
ANY FUN FACTS OR HOBBIES?
Outside of work I like to play video games – lately I’ve been really into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – and watch anime with my cat Dusty. I’m also really into music, so I watch live orchestras quite frequently (most of them featuring video game music), and last year I started sharing my own piano covers on my YouTube channel as Agent Ottsel.
I also have a huge collection of emojis of my favourite characters, and have added more than 800 of them to the Ballistic Moon Slack server so far!
THANKS RENAN!