Paradox interactive

Paradox Interactive is a publishing company that has offices in several countries. With several great games in their portfolio they are a force to be reckoned with.

A while back our game students got a lecture from Daniel Grigorov at Paradox Interactive about publishing companies in gaming. It was a very interesting lecture and useful for our students that are interested in publishing their own games or work with publishing others games.

I got the opportunity to ask Daniel a few questions and they go as follow:

Why did you decide to work in publishing?

I began to gravitate towards the games industry at the very end of my University years. My educational background was in law and economics and I didn’t know how to code, so all the jobs I potentially could qualify for were on the publishing side. But I’m really happy how it turned out.

What sets your company apart from other publishers?

At Paradox we don’t make or publish all types of games. Although we are a fairly big company we are also quite niche in the sense that we focus on deep and endless games; games that revolve around systems rather than characters and narratives. 

What are the benefits for a game creator to choose a publishing company verses trying to push it within a company?

A publisher can help you with funding, but will also free-up time so that you can concentrate on making the game. Signing with a publisher also gives you access to their ecosystem and partnerships.

Can anyone bring a game to a publisher or do you have certain criteria?

We don’t close the door on anyone. But if you haven’t made a game before, it helps if you have a playable demo that we can test.

A big thank you to Daniel for giving our students the opportunity to get insight in to the exciting world of publishing!

Guest lecture from Starbreeze

Recently our students got a great guest lecture in Game animation. We welcomed Johan that works as a technical animator and Joakim that works as a 3D animator at Starbreeze studios. The lecture was very informative and we were shown different ways of animating and different programs that can be used. After the lecture they also answered our students’ questions. 

After the lecture I got the chance to ask them a few more questions and they went as follows.

Why is it important for students to see different kinds of animators work at lectures?

Johan: A general piece of advice I got a long time ago is to listen to a lot of different teachers because they will explain things in different ways. Even if its a topic you know about its highly likely that you pick up on new details.

Joakim: It enhances their knowledge about different roles in the company and can help them find the role that suits them the best.

How did you choose your focus?

Johan: I became a Technical Animator because after getting an education as a game artist but didn’t get a job, later I got an offer to further educate myself to a Tech Artist since it is very good for someone at that position to know both the graphic and the technical and since I already knew how to work as a game artist and what can go wrong when you create a game it was a very good base for Tech Art. Then I chose to focus on animation since I already had a knack for it and a general interest. I have continued as a Tech Animator because it is a fun and varied role where you need knowledge and move between different areas. Sometimes you work with characters, other times with animation or write code for new tools for the artists. 

Joakim: I liked to draw, and was interested in animation from my studies in film science which made me choose that direction. My focus was Motion Capture which is commonly used now.   

What is your best advice for students on their way in to work?

Johan: Don’t give up! As I said I didn’t get a job directly after my first education and that stings but making games is the only job I ever wanted so I put my mind to it happening in some way and finally it did, but it took a lot of hard work on the road to getting there.
If you want to focus on Tech Art specifically I would say a broad knowledge in game development and knowledge in scripting is a must. Every Tech Artist worth anything needs to know scripting, but luckily there are a lot of sources to learn from online and programs like Maya and Blender gives you the code being run from their Scripting window.
You don’t need to be the best at anything but if you understand what happens when you model, animate or program you have a solid foundation to start from. 

So, keep working in whatever program you are using now and try to understand what the tools do, think about how you work and if there is any way to make it more effective.

Joakim: Make sure you get an internship, thats where you learn the most and get a foot in the door. A part from that it is important to like what you do and to constantly challenge yourself to learn new things in your field.

How to find an internship in the Games Industry

Tim Browne, Creative Director at Avalanche Studios

December 7 2021, several classes at Forsbergs Skola had the pleasure to get advice about how to find an internship in the games industry. This was during a guest lecture with Tim Browne, Creative Director at Avalanche Studios. He has been working in the games industry for 23 years and is on the Advisory Board for our gaming educations.

When Brown himself has been employing people, he has seen that cover letters and a cv:s which have been flashy have not been a good way to gain the interest of him and his coworkers.
-Quite the contrary. Instead content is king, when it comes to applications in our industry, says Tim Browne.

Do careful research
Over and over, Tim has experienced the importance of the applicants doing carefull research before sending their applications. His advice is to take a lot of time to do research on Linkedin about the company and the people at the company.
̶ To some people this might sound like being creapy or behaving as a stalker. But that is not how I see it. Knowing much about what you are applying to is key to success, according to Browne.
He himself has used Linkedin since the early 2 000 and has hade lot of help by it, when he has done research to apply for jobbs trought the years. Twitter is another tool he suggests for doing research about companies and people in the business.

Don’t take a bad interview personal
Since the games industry is growing fast, many companies have problems allocating time for interviewing students applying for internships.
̶ Not too seldom, the people in our industry doing interviews with students applying for internships, are not well trained to do interviews well, Browne told the students.
HIs advice was not to take a bad interview personal, since it might quite often be due to this problem.

Tests are common
Browne sees that tests are more and more common during recruiting. His advice is to be prepared for doing a presentation and to be honest. The final advice from Tim Browne that aplies to recruitement tests and everyting else in the recruiting process is this:
̶ Honesty wins over perfection.

Forsbergselever storvinnare i 48H!

GULD + BÄSTA FORM

Charlie Asplund (Forsbergs skola)

Julia Åkerblom (Forsbergs skola)

Alhagi Njie (Forsbergs skola)

Audrey Odion (Yrgo)

SILVER

Agnes Dulande (Forsbergs skola)

Sofia Persson (Forsbergs skola)

Fanny Belaieff (Forsbergs skola)

Sofia Seveklint (Yrgo)

Forsbergs examensutställning 2021 – Progression

Forsbergs skolas avgångselever ställer ut om progression

Välkommen till årets utställning där progression möter moderna uttryck. Skolan lämnade en öppen brief till eleverna i vintras. Temat skulle handla om “progression ” och fick tolkas fritt.

Eleverna har sedan i oktober i fjol haft undervisning hemifrån. En tuff övergång och oviss tid att vara kreativ i. Rådande pandemi har samtidigt gett skolan tekniska fördelar och flexibilitet som uppskattats av eleverna. En försmak på den kommande karriären där mediebruset konstant förutsätter nya former av kreativ rymd.

Studenter på Forsbergs Skola har tagit fram identitet och formspråk för utställningen.

“Utställningen fångar tillståndet av progression, kreativitet och tid och rum genom att understryka de element vi tenderar att glömma”, säger Oskar Huberhoff, designansvarig.

Den 27 maj öppnar utställningen – Progression. En utställning där varje form, process, tanke och individ har sin egna berättelse. En berättelse som är i konstant förändring.

Utställningen går att ta del av i Kungsträdgården och digitalt:

www.progression.gallery