Pridiuk outlined recent success stories and explained what Unity had to offer for mobile AAA titles at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.
Oleg Pridiuk, Technical Evangelist at Unity Technologies, is somewhat unusual in coming to game development from a background in mobile, but not in gaming. At the beginning of the iPhone era, when Nokia and Symbian were strong players in the industry, he was a technical journalist who became interested in mobile.
Unity at the Start
When he began with Unity, it was a startup, with a team of twenty. At that time, every team member had multiple responsibilities; rather than having a single job description, all team members did their best using all their skills. Pridiuk manned the camera, blogged, wrote copy, translated, fixed hardware and even reinstalled windows. He emphasizes, “The important thing is to dare to own the task. The skills needed to deliver come along, whether it is programming or wood cutting.”
Eastern European Evangelism
He became Unity’s mobile specialist, working mainly with developer relations and quality assurance. Since becoming Technical Evangelist in April 2012, his focus has mainly been on Eastern Europe, including Russia, Ukraine and Poland for sales, tech support and publishing. In Russia and the Ukraine, he established himself as a technical and business representative for Unity, and he established business relations between Unity Games China and the top Russian games development houses.
At Casual Connect Kyiv, Pridiuk announced that Unity is becoming more and more suitable for large cross-platform titles.
In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding, biking, and listening to a variety of music genres from Black Metal to Rachmaninov or Tchaikowsky. He believes, “Music is an instrument, a tool. It serves certain purposes, and those differ.”
Mmmmm…Whiskey.
Before joining Unity, Pridiuk considered that downshilfting and starting a whiskey distillery in Scotland might be an enjoyable way to live. But he claims, “You cannot escape gamedev. It catches you wherever you are.” So he stays in the games industry because games make people happy, and that is a trend he can totally support.
A career in the games industry is filled with challenges, and Pridiuk’s is no exception. He points out that the biggest challenge for every fast-growing company is to grow along with it. This is difficult when change is happening so quickly. The rules, the environment, the people around you, and the product itself are all evolving in multiple dimensions. Suddenly, your company is not the same one you joined.
But there are also moments that bring great satisfaction. Pridiuk says his proudest moment was when the Unity startup was first mentioned in Engadget.
Ressurection of the Indie
Looking ahead to what is coming next is his favorite topic. Over the next few years, he foresees that video will become the new photo. He also expects to see sensors, wearable computers, and quality multi-layer 3D printing using different materials. And he believes we will see small startups taking over bigger industries, those owned by mammoth corporations today. And mandatory classes in programming and design (preferably in Unity!) will be in schools and even kindergartens. He is already beginning to see these classes today.
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