We’re thrilled to introduce [Konstantinos Dimopoulos]> (https://www.linkedin.com/in/konstantinos-dimopoulos-42b62b4/) who will be judging the Game Writing SIG Arcjam!
Konstantinos Dimopoulos is a game designer, game urbanist, lecturer and author, who was once into the planning of real cities. He has worked on games like Lake, ARMA Reforger and The Sinking City, is the author of the Virtual Cities atlas of video game cities, has co-designed the Ex Novo tabletop city-builder, and is currently teaching game design & game urbanism at the D6 Learning online school. We asked Konstantinos some burning questions regarding his background in the game industry, his advice to our game jammers, what he would look for in a portfolio piece, and more! Take a look at his answers below.
Let’s get to know you! How did you originally get into game development?
“It all began with a personal gaming blog I started back in 2006 (or was that 2005?), which eventually led to a few game-related writing gigs here and there, as well as to the opportunity to meet several, mostly indie, game developers. I also dabbled in small games of my own, and only seriously moved past the hobby stage in 2010 by joining the now defunct Kyttaro Games studio as a game designer. A few years later, I suddenly realised that combining my former day job (city planning and geography) with video games, might be a good idea, and this is how my game urbanism career began.”
We’ve been going through incredibly tough times in the industry. What keeps you going?
“Despite everything, and even after all these years, video games actually remain exciting to make and study. It’s as simple as that, really. As for the difficulties, well, they are not exclusive to the games industry, and it will require a collective struggle to fix things.”
We shared some basic advice for our jammers in this blog post. What’s your #1 tip for our game jammers?
“Video games are experiences, and experiences that matter need to be memorable, and, to achieve that, they also need to be intriguing and, probably, novel too. So, try and quickly decide what it is that will make your entry stand out and feel fresh. Answer the question of “why will people care?” before committing to any idea.”
Learning new tech can be quite daunting, but is vital to a career in game narrative. How do you approach learning new technical skills?
“I set aside a few hours every week to keep up with things, but cannot always avoid the need to spend days on learning how to work with new tools or tech. Not falling out of touch is a good idea.”
Finally — What do you like to see in a game narrative portfolio piece?
“Quality writing, an understanding of the video game medium and what it can and cannot do, and crucially references that go beyond the obvious and the banal.”
Check out our other judge spotlights below:
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