Hey guys and gals!
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.
You've seen him during our Halloween stream, meet amateur composer and enthusiast napper Simon, aka Isaac89!
Who are you and what do you do at Amplitude?
Hey there, I am Simon Darras, Junior game designer. I am rather nomadic and have dabbled in several projects at a time, not all of which have been announced. :X
I worked quite a bit on Dungeon of the Endless, especially on implementation and balancing of all extra content since the Team Fortress 2 characters joined the cast.
What were you doing before you joined Amplitude?
I have a rather atypical background. I started music conservatory at age 6, and since I was playing a lot of music in bands, as a drummer from age 16, and later still at the drums in a symphonic orchestra, I felt predisposed to studying music at a post-secondary level. I earned a diploma in Sound engineering from Marne-la-Vallée university – in which you work as much on musicology as on technical and material aspects of the job. The farther I got down that path the less I saw myself in this line of work, so I decided to take a sabbatical year to pick a new direction for my professional life. I saw all my student friends from that time becoming either Sound designers in the gaming industry, which was both frustrating and motivating, since video games interested me as well and had always been my second passion. So this is during this sabbatical that I discovered the job of Game designer! At the time I thought that games making was reserved to a maths or artistic elite and that there was no in-between. I learned Game & Level Design first at the Bobigny IUT in licence professionnelle then I joined the ranks of ENJMIN to get a Master's degree.
When did you join the studio?
I joined the team over a year ago now, on April 7th 2015, for my end-of-grade internship. How could one forget the date they are starting work on Dungeon of the Endless...
What feature have you worked on that you're super proud of?
Doing balancing on DotE was a great experience (even if it's not a "feature"), in which I was very involved despite it being pretty hard! I am pretty proud of being able to convince the team, while I was transitioning to another project, to stay on DotE for a few more days to do som more rebalancing on features such as minor attack modules & healing skills, on which our more involved players were awaiting an intervention. They also helped me thanks to their feedback, so thanks guys! ;)
What are you currently working on?
I am working on new content for Endless Legend.
What's your favorite game of all time?
It is known that Game designers know how to circumvent constraints... so I am going to use my special power and name my favorite game per genre! 3:)
Beat-em-all: Ninja Gaiden on Xbox for its gameplay precision and its flow.
RPG: Final Fantasy VII for its emotional impact, storyline, characters, music…
Survival Horror: Resident Evil Rebirth on Game Cube for its level design and its atmosphere.
Action-Adventure: Zelda Majora’s Mask for its “end of the world”, “race against time” feeling, and because it’s more original than just saying “Ocarina of Time”.
FPS: Perfect Dark for its music, its cooperative mode, its “Fifth Element” universe.
Plateformer: Mario 64 for its level design, its semi-open world.
Is there anywhere on the Internet where I can see more of your stuff?
You can listen to some of my musical compositions on my Youtube channel, they sound a lot like game and movie soundtracks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS8TV1J7Ca997dFQB9z7o7Q
The more dedicated gamers among you will be able to spot a theme remix for the watch in Goldeneye 64: ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onQc01Eq4qA
You can also take a look at the videos for I was a Child, our Master's final project, which was recently nominated for the Yourope Game Challenge, by clicking this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJMcXB90lTM&list=PLt3t4yfh2p2ksVkaxC3AAFDWfHeWWwufz
I'm also on Twitter.
What's your favorite faction or character in our games?
Cultists! They are so strange and fascinating! They are not the most charistmatic but for me they are the most different ones, regarding both their customs and their gameplay.
Is there a funny story that happened to you at Amplitude?
Me smiling alone in front of a closed fridge (and nearly everywhere). [NDE:Simonisalsorenownedfornappingateverylunchtime]
What obscure movie would you recommend watching?
Watch Stalker! It's a gem of contemplative cinema, made by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1979. The game Stalker itself is inspired from it. The movie follows a group of volunteers ready to visit "The Zone", a forbidden area where anyone trying to get closer is shot on sight. What are the treasures hidden in the Zone?
You'll love it or hate it, but it won't leave you indifferent, its atmosphere and depth are out of this world.
What's the most played song in your music library?
If I ever feel better - Phoenix
That's it for Simon! 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!