Gamedev Camp's Founder Olle Pridiuksson has told us about the school's history, spoke about the courses the school offers, and discussed the business side of things.
Introduction
80.lv: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where did you study? How did you get the skills you have?
Olle Pridiuksson, Founder of Gamedev Camp: I have never worked outside of the games industry since I finished my computer science studies. And that was more than 13 years ago. I was lucky to join a small-small team that had headquarters in a hut in Copenhagen back in 2008, I think. We worked on a game engine for Mac OS and then made a version for Windows and then also added iPhone support. You’re probably using this game engine today.
So yeah, I am an early Unity employee and have worked the biggest part of my professional life on democratizing game development.
Then I joined King in Stockholm. The company wanted to prove to the world that it has more to offer than Candy Crush but the initiative was toned down along with the Activision Blizzard acquisition and I left to explore how else I can contribute to making the games industry a better place. Eventually, I started working with Lera, who at the time had just finished her gamedev studies in Korea and we ended up co-founding Gamedev Camp. All art and design ideas that you see on the website or in our communications are hers, by the way.
Gamedev Camp
80.lv: Please tell us about your company, how and when was the school founded? What is your mission?
Olle Pridiuksson: When the war in Ukraine started Lera and I found sense in life by helping Ukrainian refugees to find gamedev jobs in Europe. We reviewed CVs and portfolios, connected people to HRs of friendly companies and it grew into a Telegram chat and eventually a full-fledged online camp for game developers that we’re launching in September.
At Gamedev Camp, we have a strong focus on Ukraine and Eastern Europe since there are so many skilled game developers of all kinds here. We feel that local talent is worth being recognized on the global stage.
The Mentors
80.lv: Could you tell us about your fantastic mentors, who are they? What are their backgrounds? How did you get them on board?
Olle Pridiuksson: As Lera and I got more and more portfolios and CVs to review, we understood that we lacked some specific experience, and also we needed more hands on this. So I asked around my work friends if someone would want to donate 2-3 hours of their time. Almost all said yes. This is how we got our first 10 mentors.
Now, we have a formal procedure of how to apply. We invite all Mid and Senior-level producers, artists, programmers, and designers who love the idea of giving feedback to game developers from Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Lera is working on a nice page with bios and links and mentor photos, but in the meantime, you can see some of our mentors listed here.
Gamedev Camp September Courses
80.lv: Now, let's discuss Gamedev Camp which starts this September, what courses do you offer? What is the learning process? What are the requirements?
Olle Pridiuksson: We expect people to have experience making games and to know what they can bring to the table - I can program game logic, I can animate, I can do UX, I can model, etc. We match qualifying applicants into teams of 4 people - a designer, an artist, a programmer, and a jack-of-all-trades.
Then teams have to agree on what kind of game they want to make so mentors can help, align, give feedback and inspire everyone to ship games they’d be proud to have in their portfolios and eventually get noticed individually by recruiters and hiring managers from our partner studios.
So in a way, the camp is about developing soft skills more than anything else – how do you work in a new team, how do you perceive feedback and how do you overcome the cultural differences to ship the product in time.
Business Side of Things
80.lv: Please tell us about your collaboration with various companies, how do you get them on board? How do you work with them?
Olle Pridiuksson: Games studios work with us to be able to headhunt some of our best people. Game conferences, game developer associations, and other initiatives that want to talk to game developers partner with us because we’re able to attract the right people. But, frankly, we focus on companies and organizations that we like: good vibe, strong values, and a solid position against the war.
80.lv: How do you promote the school? How is the project monetized? How do you work with the audience and attract new clients?
Olle Pridiuksson: It costs money to participate in the program – 150 EUR a month (or 100 EUR if you bring a friend), so people have the motivation to ship the game earlier and get noticed by our partners. Games studios can support us monetarily too if they choose to. They get some additional perks, but we feel game studios should support our good cause instead of buying those perks.
Future Plans
80.lv: What are the school's future plans? What should your students wait for? Do you plan to organize some new courses?
Olle Pridiuksson: The more we talk to game studios, the less we believe that there’d be a lot of opportunities for junior talent in Europe for quite some time. This is very sad to admit. So for the next 12 months, Gamedev Camp will focus on attracting mid-level game developers since they’re in demand, we can promise that their skills are in-demand at our partner studios.
In the meantime, Lera and I are working on something that we call "a minimal hireable game developer" – a 2D Artist, an Unreal Engine programmer, an animator, etc. who doesn’t have years of experience but is still useful in production.
We’re talking to universities, participating in various conferences, and organizing discussion panels with HRs and hiring managers to paint a profile of a junior professional that games companies would like to hire today.