We often mention our team in terms of "Amplidudes and Amplidudettes", but we decided we should give you folks an idea of who we mean. You've guessed it, it's time for another instalment of our (semi-)regular feature, Meet the Team! If you want to know more about us, or your nephew wants to learn more about the career path of a game developer, or if you're just curious, read on.
Cool guys don't look at explosions, but he does it all day, meet Julien aka ech_ooff!
Who are you and what do you do at Amplitude?
I am Julien, I'm 21 and Senior 3D artist. I mostly work with Office Santa Tim who was on the blog earlier, with whom I make special effects for ES2. I am from the South of France, where I spent my childhood in the Pyrenees. I came to Paris to study, and that's where I learned to draw and to become an artist; I later studied 3D with 3DSmax. I liked that a lot so I decided to either work in the movies industry to make CGI, or in video games. Games won thanks to Mathias (also on the blog already), our amazing Lead artist, who introduced me to the fancy world of video games creation! I'm actually 34, but that got you thinking for a bit, didn't it?
What were you doing before you joined Amplitude?
Before joining the Amplitude team I was part of Dontnod Entertainment, where I worked on Remember Me.
I spent over a year in their FX team where I learned a lot on special effects creation, since I was rather junior at the time.
When did you join the studio?
Three years ago, in April 2013. That was shortly before the Disharmony expansion pack for Endless Space.
I worked on modelization of the Harmony faction, as well as a several other things (donut-shaped galaxies an easter egg, that's me!)
What feature have you worked on that you're super proud of?
I'm proud to have worked on FX for Dungeon of the Endless, which I consider a little gem of a game. Doing bitmap FX as opposed to pixelmap graphics was super cool! As for the rest, there are many other things I am proud of, but you'll have to wait a bit before we can talk about them [nospoilers].
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on battle FX for Endless Space 2, and without getting into the nitty-gritty, my days are full of KABOOM!!!
What's your favorite game of all time?
Whoa really? Just one? Alright I'll keep it simple, the very first game I've played, and which after thinking about it could explain my current situation on the ES2 battlefield: Defender 2 on Atari 2600 (their lasers and explosions are a great source of inspiration
) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp6flUvuueY
Is there anywhere on the Internet where I can see more of your stuff?
I used to keep a website updated with my work, but it unfortunately doesn't exist anymore, I couldn't muster the courage to keep it up to date.
(But you can still see projects I worked on:
Remember Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaVc9nOoY9Y
Endless Space: Disharmony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NRtgqkzCBQ
Dungeon of the Endless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qplvDyEQr1M
Endless Legend
http://store.steampowered.com/app/289130/ )
What's your favorite faction or character in our games?
The Drakken for sure, I am passionate about paleontology! On top of that they're really classy.
Is there a funny story that happened to you at Amplitude?
Nah, here at Amplitude we are serious people, hard-working and exemplary employees; fun times are strictly prohibited.
What's your favorite book ?
I have lots of good books to recommend. However, my choice would be on a sci-fi book, most probably something from Orson Scott Card or a good old Asimov; maybe a Dan Simmons like Ilium/Olympos.
What's your favorite quote?
"C'est amer comme chicotin"
"It's bitter as [aloeverasapthatdoesn'ttranslateatallinEnglish.Ihadneverheardthiseither-NDE]"
What's the next place you want to travel to?
Africa, to see Mali and meet the Dogon people, a culture I'm really curious about. In India to climb the Himalaya... and China to climb down on the other side.
That's it for Julien! We hope you found this interesting. Comments or additional questions, feel free to comment!
If there's a question you would like us to ask the interviewees, let us know!
