Game studios have gone global. The same is true for Creat Studios. Creat, a premier publisher of next-gen online, console and handheld games was founded in 1990 in St. Petersburg—then in 2005 expanded out of cold-wintered Russia into cold-wintered Massachusetts, where their current world headquarters is.
Perhaps the cold-weathered climates Creat chose were a perfect choice for a company that works as tirelessly as it does, undoubtedly shutting in its animators and designers. The successful gaming studio has created numerous games across multiple consoles; including Sony PSP, PLAYSTATION 3, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSiWare, Wii and XBOX 360. Their long-list of successful games includes American Chopper and American Chopper 2, Wakeboarding HD, Tony Hawk's Motion and Bratz: Super Babyz.
The world-wide studio found their niche in remaining client-centered, focusing on transparency and reasonable budgets. By combining resources, talent and pipelines in both offices they are able to provide their clients 'in-sourcing' by leveraging the advantages of a domestic studio with the benefits and financial rewards of high-quality, overseas production.
We recently pried some time out of Creat's busy Art Director, Anastasia Vasilieva, who offers up advice for aspiring game developers and gaming entrepreneurs:
Fill in the blank: The future of gaming is _________.
It's something that you can't even imagine now, but will be so normalized in the future.
What are the best and worst aspects about working in the the gaming field?
The best aspect for me is the creation of a small world while working on a game. It's so nice to know that you are a part of this small universe and you took part in its creation. And the worst aspect ... it can be so difficult to create a universe :)
Among your firm's achievements, which one(s) are you the most proud of?
I'm very proud of the fact that we don’t stop and rest on our laurels. We try something new, we change.
What skills/qualities does your firm seek out when hiring new employees?
- Good drawing skills
- Communicability
- Positive mood and sense of humor
- Desire for new knowledge
What particular schools, if any, does your firm recruit new hires from? If none, where do you recruit new hires?
The school is not important; the most important thing is how they apply their knowledge. We prefer to hire people with a portfolio.
Just as we prefer to take on people who already have a portfolio of projects that meet our requirements, we also like young talent, people with a small portfolio but great potential.
What advice would you give to aspiring animators and game developers?
To read good books, watch good films and communicate with interesting people. Also it's necessary to be interested in the activity of other companies, study different methods of work, styles of drawing, then try them out. You should also be aware of the world around you!
What were your most challenging projects, and why?
Mushroom Wars - a PS3 title. It's is a fast-paced and accessible RTS, with a quaint, anime-inspired visual style in which players send their cute armies into battle, upgrade their mushroom bases, improve their weaponry and fight skirmishes in close-quarter maps. I'd just started working at Creat Studios and it was a completely new area for me. It was so interesting to learn on the job.
What kind of education did it take to get you where you are today?
I drew a lot in my childhood, at first in a children’s art school, then later at the Institute of Poligraphy in the book design department, in St. Petersburg. I was also interested in drawing comic books and I studied French and Japanese comics, I even took part in a comic book festival. I also always watched a lot of cartoons, and each one I watched made me aware of something new in the animation world, that I would like to study. I gained extensive experience independently developing the background for a pilot episode of a private series, and then I worked on an animated series about one of the country’s largest animation studios. In general, I try to learn from any work that I do:)
What software packages does your firm prefer to use? Which one would you recommend to beginners?
Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, whichever one is the best suited to the project. Then of course pencils, paper and imagination :) they, perhaps, are the most important tools.
Could you share with us your best story about working in the gaming industry.
My best story is about how I dreamed about an art-style game, TerRover, which we later made. I simply saw the screen of the game in my sleep. And after I dreamt it, I sketched it. Similar to when Mendeleev saw his table in a dream.
Do you think that there is an increasing or decreasing demand for people in the gaming and animation industries overall? Why?
Nothing stands still, everything changes. However, talented people with imagination are always needed, and work finds them!
Check out more interviews at Animation Career Review's Interview Series.