Europe 2016Video Coverage

Hernan Lopez: A Hunger to Create Games | Casual Connect Video

April 7, 2016 — by Catherine Quinton

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Europe 2016Video Coverage

Hernan Lopez: A Hunger to Create Games | Casual Connect Video

April 7, 2016 — by Catherine Quinton

'With a bit of imagination, everything can be turned into a video game.' - Hernan LopezClick To Tweet

“Make the story a treat, not a penance or a tax for the player to suffer,” advised Hernan Lopez, founder of Epic Llama Games during Casual Connect Europe. Writing appealing characters and keeping a good narrative flow can become very difficult if you don’t have the right tools. Join Hernan in a recent talk about the good practices that can enable you to overcome the plethera challenges that come with game development. Hernan “Characters must have moral consistency and believable motivation to drive game actions.”

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In 2008, Hernan Lopez attempted to be hired as a graphic designer with a large company. When they did not succeed, Hernan thought, “You know what? You don’t hire me? I don’t care! I will make my own game company and you will be sorry you didn’t hire me.” And after a few months of research, Hernan founded Epic Llama Games where the focus is on the casual games market.

Prior to founding Epic Llama Games, Hernan edited a print magazine about video games, and was constantly in touch with developments in the games industry, experience which was a definite assist when founding their own company. They had also spent a year working in a call center in customer support, which, Hernan realizes, was valuable for learning to deal with difficult situations, not to mention teaching them to focus on constantly rising productivity.

An Impossible Dream

As a child Hernan loved playing video games and their biggest dream was to create them, but in Argentina in 1992 that seemed an impossibility. Hernan remembers thinking, “I would love to make games, but they are made so far away and in such strange languages.” (At the time Hernan was playing Captain Tsubasa on the Japanese Famicom). Hernan was also interested in art at a very early age. By age five Hernan was already creating their own “Maziger Z-like comics” and this passion for drawing continued throughout their school years.

A Passion for Creating Games

Hernan’s hunger for making video games was shown in creating games out of paper, cardboard, even apple crates. As Hernan says, “With a bit of imagination, everything can be turned into a video game.” Any video game that had a level editor became material for Hernan to create their own game with its own levels. And they learned English by playing Final Fantasy. Later the internet drew Hernan even further into the gaming world; an interest in coding developed at the age of eighteen through the desire to edit more complicated events on World of Warcraft world editor.

It was still a very long road to Hernan’s own game company, but this passion for creating games remains just as strong today. Hernan says, “I am really in love with the industry. Everything about making games is so awesome.” Hernan enjoys so many things about their work, entertaining people through creating worlds and characters, making them interact and shaping their stories. Hernan appreciates the opportunity to influence players in the same positive way they were influenced by game developers as a child. “I love to meet the awesome and very special people that work in the industry too.”

“I am really in love with the industry. Everything about making games is so awesome.”

Hernan finds inspiration for games from many sources; certainly from games they have played, but also from books Hernan read as a child, anime, comics, TV series, movies, and even pop culture icons such as Billy Idol or Joey Tempest. The creative process begins with watching what is happening in the game industry and market. From there they define their audience while considering what type of game would suit the audience’s needs.

Stop Thinking and Start Doing

If you are someone interested in a career in game development, Hernan insists, “Stop thinking about it and start doing it.” It only requires a computer, an internet connection, Google and, of course, the dedication and strong will that will keep you from giving up during the rough times.

Hernan recommends handling the inevitable blocks in the creative process with brute force, insisting, “Keep going; don’t stop. If you are writing dialogue and you are blocked, write whatever is going through your mind. No matter if it sucks, you keep going. After a while the block will go away and you will have time to go back and correct the mess you wrote while blocked. But getting in motion is what will start the ideas rolling.”

With any painful experience that occurs, Hernan suggests checking what went wrong and what can be done to prevent it occurring again. And again “Keep going; don’t stop!”

The most challenging aspect of game development, according to Hernan, are the boring and tedious things like reading long, complicated contracts and doing data entry for the projects. But Hernan also recognizes that however tedious, these things are also essential.

Dedication to the Game Industry

For Hernan, the rewards are so many that it is hard to decide what brings the most joy. “I really love almost everything. I love writing; I love designing puzzle; I love giving my artistic vision. I also love the producer part, interacting with other people of the industry, from giving direction to voice actors to negotiating with publishers.”

Hernan’s past eight years in the industry have been filled with game development, passion for games and dedication to the game industry. These years have resulted in awards, fan mail, and invitations to lecture at conferences, all things that fill Hernan with pride in the work. Hernan expects to keep right on designing great games, writing entertaining stories and meeting awesome people.

Inspiring Developers to Follow Their Dreams

In addition to entertaining an audience, Hernan’s goal is to inspire potential developers to follow their dreams and become involved in the industry. They would like to see more young talents showing their games, but Hernan has discovered, “There are many people out there with great games, hiding them because they fear rejection or they think that if they show them they will get stolen somehow. Beginners should lose their fears and start showcasing their games.”

“Beginners should lose their fears and start showcasing their games.”

In addition Hernan hopes to assist developers to improve their games by sharing Hernan’s experience in specific topics, such as narration, and to demonstrate the tricks in developing appealing characters.

Hernan’s latest project is the one they always wanted to create. Hernan admits, “I’m not sure if I love it because I’m making it or if I’m making it because I love it.” It is a tribute to the classic games like Monkey Island and it is looking just the way they hoped.

Epic Llama’s game, Darkestville Castle, was a part of the Casual Connect Europe 2016 Indie Prize contest.

Hernan Lopez on stage at Indie Prize ceremony at Casual Connect Europe
Hernan Lopez on stage at Indie Prize ceremony at Casual Connect Europe

 

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Catherine Quinton

Catherine Quinton

Catherine Quinton is a staff writer for www.gamesauce.org. Catherine loves her hobby farm, long walks in the country and reading great novels.

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