(For reference, PAX East is an annual festival for gaming held in Boston, MA. Studios – big or small – from around the world set up booths to showcase their latest games, while vendors selling merchandise related to gaming offer a huge selection to visitors.)

We started planning our booth as soon as we knew what our size would be: 10×20. Because Tribes of Midgard is a multiplayer game, the plan was to have four connected stations that would allow players to be in the same village and play together. Internet was a concern, as we had issues at prior events connecting to the server and being able to show the true multiplayer experience, but managed to figure out a way to run the game offline in time for PAX.

As a way for our booth to stand out among the crowd, we decided to make Viking-inspired capes for us to wear during the event. The fake fur was an absolute mess to work with, but they turned out to be a great decision; not many other developers at booths were dressing up in more than a branded t-shirt, and it was a great conversation starter with visitors in costume too! Another idea was to build a real-life version of the Seed of Yggdrasil, a sacred glowing tree and a major feature of our game. It turned out to be far smaller than we originally planned, but it provided nice ambiance to our booth and was fun to hear players comment on it.

We knew that we wanted something to give out to players, and pretty early on decided on enamel pins. There were a couple designs to pick between, but ultimately chose the face of an enemy that players can find in Tribes of Midgard; the Unsunken Vikings. A bulk order from a manufacturer can take some time to produce, so we made sure to place it far in advance so that our pins would arrive to our studio in time. When the package came in, we were thrilled with how they turned out!

Other studios from Montreal who had been to PAX East before advised us to look into border crossing regulations, specifically, obtaining a carnet. This document allows individuals and companies to temporarily import commercial equipment into the United States, for the purpose of events and trade shows. (The idea is that we’re proving that we aren’t entering the country just to sell a bunch of computers for profit and then go home.) You’ll need to file a list of all the technical and booth-related merchandise with descriptions, serial numbers, approximate costs and weights to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. This part can be tedious, but the turnaround time can be quick if you have all the details ready. We ended up needing to claim a lot of equipment – because of our four playable stations, plus backup devices – which meant we spent a lot of time organizing and making an inventory of our items weeks in advance of the event itself.

Before you go to an event of this scale, building buzz and letting the world know about your attendance is pretty important. One of our marketing strategies was to spend time on social media searching for people who were also going to PAX East for their first time, and reaching out to them! Using the hashtag, #PAXEast or #PAXEast2019, we found lots of future visitors on Twitter and Instagram who were asking the internet for recommendations on what to see while there… and why not be one of them? People were pretty receptive to hearing about our game during this time, and we ended up having lots of visitors come to our booth who mentioned talking with us on social media! It was a surprisingly good strategy, and we didn’t see many other studios doing the same.

Time flies when you’re packing up a booth, and before we knew it, we were on the way to Boston. Because of the proximity between Montreal and Boston, (not to mention all the stuff we were bringing with us) we decided to rent a car and drive there, as opposed to flying and shipping our materials to the convention centre. Luckily for us, arrival and set-up at the convention centre went by quickly, and we were able to spend some time walking around Boston and enjoying the city before a busy few days!

Our booth was located close to the front entrance of the conference centre and right by the Square-Enix booth. We had applied for the Indie MEGABOOTH a few months prior and were not accepted, but this turned out to be just fine in the end. There was a ton of traffic in our area, and we always had players asking us questions and waiting to play the game!

One of the best parts of our time at PAX East was hearing feedback from the players. At the time, Tribes of Midgard was in Alpha, and it ended up being the right choice to show our game at an early stage. Players were excited to hear about where the game was going, and could easily imagine sharing the game with their friends or streaming it for viewers. It was interesting to watch people playing the game and see what they wanted to do first and where they chose to explore, and how that matched up with our expectations. Many of the suggestions that players made happened to be things that we were already planned to add in future versions, which reaffirmed to us that we were on the right track toward making a game players will love.

A great perk to attending an event like PAX East is getting to meet other awesome developers and hear about some great games being made. We got to know our neighbours quite well (hey there Eleventh Hour Games and Champlain College!) and enjoyed the mixer night that the organizers put together for all the devs at the end of the first day. We tried our best to visit other booths when we could and particularly loved the set-ups of Church in the Darkness, Afterparty and Hello Neighbour.

Yet all good things must come to an end, and the weekend went by in a flash. We packed up our booth, got a good night’s sleep, and hit the road back to Montreal. Our carnet allowed us to travel swiftly through the border, and we were back to the studio before we knew it. The week was long and tiring, but incredibly successful; we met so many people who were excited for our game and eagerly waiting to hear more about it.

If you’re thinking about showing your game at PAX East, or any kind of large trade show or festival, we definitely have a few things we’d recommend considering beforehand:

• Bring a trolley to carry your items to and from the convention centre, or at least, keep your things in bins with wheels.
• The minimum number of people for your booth should be: number of stations + 1. Four of us went to manage four stations and it worked out okay, but it made it hard to talk to press and visitors for very long, as well as take breaks and enjoy the show floor.
• If you are driving to Boston, take some time to look up driving laws in the US that might be different from your country. Best to avoid some surprises on the road.
• Bring your own food to be able to eat while at your booth. Sometimes you can’t slip away for a snack, and it helps to have small things on hand you can eat while supervising a station (granola bars, apples, clementines, cookies, licorice, etc).
• A tablet to sign up for a newsletter and a TV screen to show gameplay footage are essential. You can’t talk to everyone who walks by, but many will be happy to sign up to learn more about something that looks awesome at a later time.
• Rent what you can from Boston companies instead of buying and transporting items yourself. This is ideal for bigger, heavier or more expensive things, such as a television stand.
• Take time to go to restaurants to enjoy food and ambiance. Some buffer time between the show floor and going back to your hotel or AirBnb can be extremely restorative.
• Be sure to make a plan in advance with your team about breaks, based around when your booth will be the busiest.
• Have different cards for players, press and business contacts. Not all of them are interested in the same information!
• If you have something portable with you, such as a laptop or tablet, lock it up at your booth or take it home with you at the end of the day.

PAX East is a fun way to meet players and learn more about your own game. It was hard work, but we had a great time taking Tribes of Midgard out of the studio and into the world, getting to talk to players directly and hearing what they had to say about the plans for our game. If you’re looking to build your community and get early feedback on your project, we’d definitely recommend going to PAX East and start connecting with other developers who have done so to hear what they have to say. Remember: being organized and having a plan helps to get you there, and then you can have fun! That’s what a festival for games is all about, right?

Sign up for our mailing list to receive news and access to Tribes of Midgard, in Beta this spring and Early Access this summer! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to see what we’re working on, and join our Discord to hear more about it.

The post Tribes of Midgard at PAX East 2019! appeared first on Quickhuber.

After our team decided to make a game about Vikings, Giants and Norse myths, it became clear that we needed to pick a visual style that helped convey these ideas with imagery alone. Our Art Director wanted players to feel as though they were entering an old fantasy world, like picking up a book with ancient legends inside; players would know to expect some kind of epic journey with an almost ‘fairytale’ arc to the action. Tribes of Midgard doesn’t try to imitate any particular style, but rather seeks to capture the mood of diving into a tale of adventure from the past. When myths and legends are shown in photo-realistic ways, it becomes easy for our brains to start comparing it to what ‘feels real’, whereas stylized illustrations can help to spark the imagination and enter into a world where the rules and expectations are malleable. As game developers, it is far easier to draw players into a game when they are open to the possibilities of what may exist.

Another point of inspiration for us is the classic comic-book style of the 20th and 21st century. We liked how comic illustrations capture intensity and suggest scenes of drama, tension and high-stakes action. To convey this feeling, our 3D Artist and Art Director researched and developed a custom post-process shader that produced a hand-drawn effect without taking attention away from the mythological feel that we were also seeking to achieve. We knew we could maintain a soft mood through the use of a lighter colour palette and cel-shading that gives the impression of a game or comic you might have read as a kid. These techniques have helped to emphasize the fantasy and ‘heroic’ elements of our game while still striking the right balance of expectations for a Viking game.

Selecting a visual style for a video game must be done carefully, as it informs the player about the game and gives them expectations for the action and how they should expect to feel while playing it. We’ve been inspired by old fantasy illustrations and dramatic comic book covers, but are maintaining a fresh take on these styles that best suits the game we are making. Taking careful consideration of how you want your players to feel and think when seeing your game for the first time is the first step to developing a visual style and identity. Who knows – one day someone may be inspired by Tribes of Midgard to create some art of their own!

Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter, hop on our Discord, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to see the latest news and sneak peeks into Tribes of Midgard! We’ll have more to share in the coming weeks!

The post Behind-the-Scenes: Art Direction in Tribes of Midgard appeared first on Quickhuber.

That’s a big statement that can mean a lot of different things, so in this blog post we’ll be talking about how and why we’re crafting our majestic Midgard in this particular way. Procedural generation allows game makers to program an entire world out of algorithms, patterns and predetermined probabilities. We’ll outline what we’ve discovered so far, what we’ve learned along the way, and what we’re looking to do next.

The Natural World
The world of Tribes is cut into different regions, which are further categorized into biomes. These are the various lands players can explore that each have a different look, array of attributes and stash of resources to harvest. We build each biome individually, then specify conditions and settings, such as the frequency of plants, minerals and enemy creatures. Or, sometimes the absence of props and collectable items is better at conveying the mood of that biome, and presents a more interesting challenge for the people playing the game. Furthermore, our biomes also change in relation to distance from the village; a forest close by will be less-threatening than one much further away, which could have more hidden dangers and higher-level enemies.

If we make each biome separately, how do players move from one to the next? In our case, we use a combination of blending borders and curated pathways to create transition zones between biomes. Tribes has rocky paths to get across rivers and terrain that blends from one type into the other, meaning that there is always a route to get you where you want to go. Our transition areas are quite small compared to some other games, as we don’t need a large area of mixed forest and beach, for example. Otherwise, these spots will become their own biomes and you’ll have to spend extra time on adjusting the settings in these low-impact areas.

Having variety in biome transition is important, as it increases the legitimacy and ‘natural’ quality of Midgard. If you were in a real forest and wanted to cross a stream to go to a meadow on the other side, there would likely be many ways of doing so: going across the water, finding where the stream ends, etc. Realism can be a tricky thing to strive for in video games, but in order to make sure that biome transitions don’t stand out, we need to make them feel realistic.

Making it Special
Tribes of Midgard has a top-down point of view, meaning that you never see the horizon. This perspective changes how we build our world, as some factors suddenly become more or less important that others. For example, elevation becomes difficult to show when the camera is high above the world, yet a flat earth can get pretty dull for players to explore. How do we resolve this?

For Tribes, we decided to introduce extremely defined elevation in the form of plateaus and cliffs. There is a sharp separation between terrain and elevation, with ramps that allow the player to move from one height to another. Not only does this make exploration more interesting, it also opens up options for co-operative combat with enemies. If you can organize your tribe to have some players attacking from below while others attack from above, you can take a unique offensive strategy toward oncoming enemies.

You might be wondering: how do we procedurally generate cliffs and plateaus to fit together every time? Won’t they all be duplicates placed on top of the map? Luckily for us, our generation system extends to elevated attributes.

Our world is formed as a grid, with each piece like part of a puzzle that fits together. Some pieces only have one spot where they can go, while others are far more flexible and not only can have multiple partners, but can be turned around in many directions. These tiles are programmed with rules so that when the game begins to generate a map, it knows which pieces can go together in order to have a certain result. Early bugs will show cliffs with flat edges or trees growing through a rock wall, as we learn which rules have not yet been set! If you are continuously adding content into the game, which we plan to, you’ll especially need to keep an eye on the world and make sure everything is behaving as it should.

An Interesting Point
Spawning cliffs and trees all over the place is fine, but sometimes procedurally generated worlds can start to feel a little repetitive, especially if you’ve been playing the game for awhile. Therefore, we knew the entirety of Midgard could not be randomized, and that some added handcrafted elements would help to make it feel more special.

Of course, there is the Viking village that all players will have as their home. It makes sense for this aspect of the game to be stationary: in the village is where you will find shops, craft weapons, receive news and instructions, and defend the sacred Seed of Yggdrasil. Plus, you can meet the other Vikings who live in your village and interact with them to hear more about the state of the world and the various threats that lurk in the wilderness.

One of our favourite fixed points of interest is the Dark Elf Camp. Aside from some interesting visual effects we’ve included, the camp offers an opportunity for cooperative gameplay and rewards for resisting an attack of Dark Elves. Because the mythology states that the Dark Elves live underground, we gave their camp nests that allow them refuge from the brightness of Midgard. Torches, smokers and spears are littered around the base, and a large pyre of the witch they now worship, Gullveig, stands above it all.

The whole camp acts as its own piece of the world grid, and is layered onto the map once the elevation has been created, but before props such as trees are placed. The rules of the system are programmed to know that many Dark Elves should exist near the camps, so that it feels populated when a player arrives there.

What’s great about these handcrafted sites of interaction is that we can share more detailed and specific environmental narrative here; about Midgard, about the Ragnarok, and about the characters that inhabit it. While procedurally generated storytelling can be very exciting and will be used in our game in some ways, we need reliable places where players can go for information and context about the world, especially since Tribes of Midgard is a multiplayer game.

Coming Attractions
We’ve learned a lot while building Midgard and from growing a game that has something new to offer each time you arrive in your village. We’re at a point in the development process now that our systems are becoming increasingly stable and soon we’ll be adding in more content, more animations, and more things to do. Both of these aspects are important, as both contribute to making a world that feels legitimate and also inviting to players, as procedural generation can sometimes feel empty, repetitive and glitchy.

Our main goal is to ensure that everyone has a unique experience when playing Tribes of Midgard, and procedural generation is just one part of that. Multiplayer games have the ability to allow players to determine outcomes and how to achieve certain objectives in ways that single-player games cannot. We’re interested further investigating how we can use our generation systems to affect the world, such as through narrative, combat, or player actions, and will be sure to keep you updated on what’s coming next!

Sign up for our newsletter, join us on Discord or keep an eye on our Facebook for more news about Tribes of Midgard.

The post Behind-the-Scenes: Procedural Generation in Tribes of Midgard appeared first on Quickhuber.

Bryan’s initial academic interest in architecture led to his eventual decision to register in 3D Video Game Art at Haute École Albert Jacquard, only deciding to enroll two months before starting the program! He always liked playing video games, and was amazed to learn that specialized programs existed, not to mention the valuable classes and lessons that applied directly to game development. “School teaches you how to learn quickly and get the basics. Once you know these basics really well, your lifetime job is to learn and build on top of  that.” Bryan says, “Be curious; it will lead you to new techniques and more knowledge.”

All that knowledge certainly helps when working on our team at Quickhuber, as Bryan credits a fundamental understanding in game development as being an important part of teamwork in a game studio. For example, knowing basics in Unreal: “Even if it isn’t my domain, knowing a bit about how the development part works helps me give our devs better work,” he says, “It adds more fluidity to the game development and means that we can better talk about how the different elements will fit together.”

Another key part of working in an art department in a small studio like Quickhuber is working with others on the same piece of the puzzle. “Communication is the number one thing,” Bryan advises, “I need to understand how they think, what they can do, what is possible, what is time consuming. And when people know you better, they know what you can do in return.” Frequent conversations are important when it comes to turning concept art into a 3D object, as information can be missing about angles, movement or the in-game purpose. Character modelling, for example, means that physics and motion must be accounted for as well. “Everything you do as a 3D artist will pass through a series of questions”, he explains, which is why clear and open communication with game designers is necessary for his role too. “Sometimes you don’t get a list of requirements, and then it’s important to ask questions to make sure it fits the game.”

Challenges in 3D art often take the form of such open-ended designs. As long as the mechanical and visual requirements are met, there is “lots of liberty as to what the concept feels and looks like, and where to add more detail. You can open your mind and really get creative, get specific.” Bryan explains that this is often the point in the game development process where game worlds and characters start to feel real: “What’s so enjoyable about it is being able to put story on something that doesn’t move or talk yet via the details. When you’re creating something in 3D, you’re the one giving it life.”

Bryan’s advice to those interested in pursuing 3D art and game development is pretty straightforward: “Everything is way easier if you have passion. All your school and training time, all thoses hours spent on learning and practicing new things won’t feel like labour, it will be fun to do.” He also recommends learning about games, even if you aren’t a big gamer yourself. “Knowing video games will help you understand art and do your work well. It’s important to know something about the basics of video games – the biggest titles in the last 10 years – without needing to play all of them.” Watching streamers and game clips can help an artist get a good sense of various ‘styles’ of video games, so that you can understand references to these classics.

What does he like best about Quickhuber? The sense of community that comes with working closely together. “Everyone takes care of each other… you know the people beside you really well, and creating bonds helps the communication to open up a lot. We’re happy for each other to succeed.” While working at a small company is rewarding for the relationships it builds, it also means that individuals might take on a wide breadth of tasks and end up growing in new ways. “I have a lot to do as the only 3D artist, but it is very valuable because I am learning so many things so quickly,” he adds, “It’s a magical place to work.”

One of Bryan’s former teachers gave him a piece of advice that he’s never forgotten and uses in his work to this day. “Be lazy. It’s kind of silly and it took me some time to understand it, but it means that it’s good to take the time to think about what the shortest and easiest route to getting to your end goal is, without compromising the art.” He credits this problem-solving technique as being the best way to work independently and efficiently, especially when on a small team. “That’s the best thing you can do if you want to be a good 3D artist,” he smiles, “get good at being lazy.”

The post Illustrious Interview: Bryan appeared first on Quickhuber.

As one might expect, video game characters are often born from a great idea! We like to start out with a brainstorming session combining our art and design teams, with one key ingredient: a good understanding of gameplay. Knowing what the core game loop is, what the player is going to do, and how they will progress is crucial to creating characters that fit well in the world and are exciting to play. Once the team is together, we start with thinking about the type of game we’re making and the genre that it is a part of: what are the common personalities that exist in these kinds of games? What does the player expect and want to see?

Luckily for us, the answers to these came pretty quickly. Having already decided to make a mobile strategy builder, inspired by military and sci-fi imagery, some standard archetypes began to emerge that are commonly found in these types of games. For example, Bearzukov is a tank character: this is someone who will soak damage, have a big output, and typically move slowly. Furthermore, having other characters that contrast with these characteristics – like speedy Leopoleon or healing Shamaya – makes it more satisfying for the player to create a squad with different traits that they can strategically switch between during battles.

As these ideas get discussed, our artist will sketch some options out for how the character might look. But don’t forget about gameplay! If a character uses a weapon or engages in any kind of combat, that needs to be drawn and designed too! In the case of All-Star Troopers, long-range weapons are the way to go, so Bearzukov needed to be equipped with something that caused a lot of damage from a distance. Below are some of the variations of our favourite military bear… you can see the evolution quite a bit!

(Check out our interview with our illustrator, Mari, to learn more about her role at Quickhuber.)

After the concept art is drawn and approved by our art director, then comes modelling. Not every game needs this step, but we knew we wanted our Troopers in 3D! Our 3D artist works off of the concept drawing to create a standing ‘rest pose’ for the character, while still keeping gameplay in mind. In this case, this means considering how the characters will move and interact in the world, while being aware of requirements and limitations. At this stage, the 3D model may be returned to our artist for further texturing and detail. The rest pose is then rigged, creating a skeletal and muscular system that not only designates joints, but also how movement in one part of the body affects the rest. This creates a puppet that can then be animated! The animations that we needed for All-Star Troopers are pretty standard – stationary pose, run, combat, etc – but a well-rigged model has all kinds of possibilities! The last step is integrating the character in the game and assigning the correct conditions to each animation. This ensures that Bearzukov will shoot when in range of an enemy, instead of just running in place.

Once the character is in the game, we can start testing it! We’ll try everything from running around to interacting in the world, just to see if the design plans hold up. At this point, balancing comes into play as our economic game designer will determine how strong a character is or how much damage they can handle. This step generally requires playing the game and testing out different values and combinations, and is the best way to know if our Bearzukov is overpowering all the other characters and needs to be scaled back, for example. It will also highlight if other aspects of the design need to be reviewed, such as a turret that is too strong or which characters should be harder to acquire than others!

Sometimes when games are designed, developers think of the characters first and then build the world around the people in them. Others (and what we tend to do!) will start with gameplay and mechanics, and then choose a theme and characters that fit within it. The pipeline detailed in this post is quite common in game development studios, and truly shows how many people it takes to create just one character! While this is only one part of the game design process, interesting and well-designed characters are an important part of creating a memorable and fun gaming experience.

If you’d like to see more of Bearzukov and our other Troopers, check out All-Star Troopers (coming soon to Android and iOS!) and follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

The post Creating Characters in All-Star Troopers! appeared first on Quickhuber.

It can be a little intimidating to showcase a game that is still a work in progress, especially if you are almost at the end of the development cycle and happy with your work. But there are a lot of benefits to running playtesting sessions – whether hosting your own or participating in a fun event alongside other studios – and these are just a few that keep us going back:

To get immediate feedback. There’s nothing that compares to catching a player’s emotional reaction in person. When players can talk through their experience in real-time, it’s easier to understand their full impression of a game. It also gives them a chance to speak up about things that they might otherwise forget about by the time they are filling out a survey.

To get thought-out feedback. Of course, first impressions aren’t always what we’re looking for. By the time a player is fifteen minutes into a game, they will have a very different perspective of it than they did at minute one. Some elements that were confusing at the beginning may be explained by a tutorial or through gameplay further on. In this case, giving playtesters time to think through and reflect on their gaming experience can be useful for learning about what players find most memorable and what stands out the most.

To get non-verbal feedback. As a game developer, it’s easy to make assumptions about how our game will be received, especially when it comes to learning how to play the game. Being able to watch testers spend five minutes looking for the battle button or figure out how to switch characters tells us a lot about how we can improve our design! Even subtle frustrations like having to tap several times to get a character to do something is useful to know about, as something even as small as this could be the difference between a lifelong player and a bad review.

To see what’s working. Sometimes all you need to confirm a design change is to see your game in the hands of a new player. Seeing a player’s responses to your gameplay may make what was once a tough decision all the more clear, such as a new map being too long or too short. You may even come up with new ideas based what you see in the playthrough!

To learn what other players think. Developers generally have a target demographic in mind when they start making a game. When you open up playtesting to those who are not in your target demographic, however, you have an opportunity to learn how people unfamiliar with your genre respond to your game. They may be able to point out some ways your game might be closing itself off to new players, or make out-of-the-box suggestions that wouldn’t have occurred to your team until now.

Many of our most recent changes to All-Star Troopers (now available in the UK, Philippines and Australia, coming soon to iOS and Android all over the world!) came from playtesting feedback, and we are very thankful to our awesome testers who take the time to try it out. While it can be a little nerve-wracking to show off an unfinished project to a new player, the benefit of receiving useful feedback while the game is still in development makes it worth it. If you’re in the Montreal area and want to check out a playtesting session and give feedback on our latest projects, keep an eye on our Facebook page for upcoming events!

The post Why Do We Do Playtests? appeared first on Quickhuber.

Alt.Ctrl.GDC: A showcase of unique games that find new ways to use controls. Games featured included alternative options for directing the action within the game, rather than simply using a keyboard or a controller, resulting in some very creative work! One of our favourites was Yo, Bartender!, a game that let GDC visitors pour physical drinks, while trackers allowed the game to detect how much and which drink you made.

Games from the North: For the first time, our beloved city of Montreal had its own showcase area for games and developers from the area! We were proud to have Pogo Chick included as part of the Canadian installation, alongside other amazing homegrown games. It was great to see old friends and new showing off their hard work to international devs and players alike.

Party Time!: On most nights, our two representatives attended some of the many parties that GDC is notorious for. Aside from being a venue to socialize and grab a bite to eat after a big day of meetings, parties are always a great chance to talk business with other game devs and learn more about projects happening around the world! Some of our most memorable events were those hosted by Kongregate and Nordic Game.

San Francisco: How could we forget to mention the great city that played host all week? A major highlight, of course, was the sleeping sea lions found on the piers, who don’t seem to mind busy tourists stopping by to watch them. Despite the mostly rainy week, there were a few clear moments to snap some pretty pics of the city.

GDC is an exciting but exhausting week for game devs, and our delegates were no exception. They had a short time to rest, and then quickly back to Quickhuber to help prepare for the upcoming release of our next game! And of course, their return was most happily received by the team – especially after the enormous bag of swag was revealed.

Until next year!

The post Quickhuber at GDC: Our Recap! appeared first on Quickhuber.

What first interested Terence in working in game development is the ‘artistic side’ to making software products. “When you are a developer, you usually work with other developers. You don’t get to work with artists and see that side of things. And that’s what I really wanted to learn more about”, he explains. Not to mention the difference between making software for business and making software for fun. “A lot of software is made for businesses and people to do work better. But games are made for joy.”

He also notes his preference for working with a small game development company like Quickhuber: “It’s really easy to communicate with everyone, even the CEO! Everyone works together, and it feels more like a group of people working together in the same direction, to the same goal, instead of a traditional business”.

A few structures in place really help the team stay organized and connected to each other, “like our weekly sprint meetings. We review what everyone did last week and plan to do this week. This is also our time to share ideas at an open table and can make suggestions for the games no matter what your role is.” Terence points out the benefits of these meetings, even in smaller increments. “I have found from working here that it is very useful to take five minutes every day and check in with each other. We catch so many little issues before they turn into big problems, and it helps us stay on track.” The open communication and teamwork makes complex challenges and quick changes easy to address and fix in a timely manner.

There is also the active game development community in Montreal, which surprised Terence when he first moved to the city from France. “Game companies here share knowledge together and talk about their experiences. Yes, they are competing in the same markets, but they want to help each other. And everyone wants to help new people be a part of the community.” With companies working closely together and people excited to share their love of games, it seems natural that the industry in Montreal is open and welcoming. “I think this is also the mindset of Canadians”, Terence adds. He isn’t wrong about that either.

For newcomers interested in becoming game developers, Terence recommends spending some time evaluating your intentions. “Making games is different than playing games. It is incredibly technical; first you have to learn everything about software development, then you have to learn everything about game development.” He continues, “But if you are passionate, do not hesitate to get started. It is an amazing feeling, to do work that you love.” Terence also suggests working on your own projects outside of work and school: “Portfolios are really important, you have to show that you want to make games. It requires a lot of energy to make a game. It’s hard, but you keep working, finding solutions and discovering things on your own. That’s what companies want to see.”

It can feel difficult to get started, but he explains that being a part of the right team makes all the hard work worth it in the end. “Never give up. I sent out 200 applications to find an internship; the 201st was Quickhuber, and I love it here.”

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She takes on everything from character design to loading screens to marketing materials. After working for almost two years with Quickhuber, and over seven years in the games industry, Mari understands the unique challenges that separate game artistry from other types of illustration.

“There are constraints, especially in mobile games”, Mari explains, one of which being that characters need to be animated so that they can walk, run and fight. “It can be tough to design small, moving characters, but it means you get to be creative.” This often results in less detail, but more specific choices of character attitude, behaviour and movement. The limitation in detail can also occur as a result of the smaller screen sizes for mobile games. However, more stationary images, such as in character portraits and loading screens, “…let you show off the personality of the characters, of the game”.

The key to being a successful artist in games? Being able to let go of your work. “You have to care about what do you, but not be so in love with an idea that it hurts if it doesn’t make it to the end.” Having an understanding of the priorities that other people might have – functional, technical, commercial, etc – helps to ease the process of criticism. “That’s hard for people”, she explains, “but it’s important.” Making games is a team effort, and the more sharing and collaborating that can occur, the better it will be.

One of the perks of working with Quickhuber, she explains, is that small companies can often make things happen quicker. “There are less people to go through when it comes to sharing ideas”, Mari notes, “and there are always opportunities to learn new things, which doesn’t always happen at a big company. But in a small team, you have your own voice.”

Mari also shares her advice for those who are interested in pursuing a career in game illustration and design, but aren’t sure where to begin: “Practice a lot, but also do what you feel like doing. Don’t restrict yourself to what is expected.” Having a portfolio of work is a great tool for newcomers, but following your own interests and ideas will set you apart. “Be sure to watch what other people are doing, but add a new layer on it and make it something of your own.”

Her favourite part of the job?

“Drawing all day”, she smiles.

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