The Lost South African Game Developer Interviews Part 5: Damien Classen

Last year I wrote an article for videogame industry trade site Gamasutra entitled ‘The South African Game Development Scene: Past Present and Future,’ which attempted to look at the history of game development in the country and surmise how an industry may rise and move forward here.

The article was based on interviews conducted with a diverse, influential and talented group of developers both from and based in South Africa, but a lot of the responses were unfortunately not included due to the nature of the piece, so in an effort to share this potential goldmine of knowledge with aspiring game developers and gaming enthusiasts, I decided to start posting the interviews here on El33tonline, in full, continuing today with part five, and an interview with Damien Classen (you can read part one, part two, part three and part four at your leisure).

Damien Classen is (primarily) a graphics programmer currently working at ThoroughTec Simulation in Durban, South Africa, after having spent a year at Digital Extremes (co-developers of the Unreal franchise) in Canada working on Bioshock 2: specifically, Classen was a graphics programmer at the company working with the in-house Evolution Engine, while working with the part of the engine that handles rendering on the PlayStation 3.

In order to be working in the realm of graphics technology, Classen studied Computer Science in South Africa and received a Masters Degree specialising in graphics programming, and while tinkering with his own graphics engines and projects (like the brain-teasing puzzle game, Lyntheria), he entered into stints at Durban-based software developers Derivco and ThoroughTec, which lead to an opportunity at Digital Extremes in 2008.

Classen left Digital Extremes towards the end of 2009 and moved back to South Africa to be closer to family and friends, and has returned to work at ThoroughTec.

You can check out Classen’s impressive portfolio of personal work at his website.

Let’s begin the interview:

Q: Could you please state your name and current position

Damien Classen: Damien Classen, Graphics Programmer [currently working at ThoroughTec]

Q: What first got you interested and excited about games and game development?

DC: Back in 1990 I got my first console - the Sega Master System. Although I had briefly flirted with Space Invaders and Dig Dug prior to that, this marked the true start of the affair. I’ve had a slight obsession ever since. Being that sort of chap, when entering university, majoring in Computer Science seemed like a logical choice.

Somebody once told me that not everybody who chooses the CompSci route does so because they want to make games – that boggled my mind! For me, working as a game developer was always the Holy Grail, although I never really expected it to become a reality until a few years ago.

Q: What initial steps did you take in order to be working in the field of game and graphics programming? Was your education path influenced by the availability of specialised courses in South Africa at the time?

DC: Getting a solid education was the first step. I started off by getting my Bachelors degree – one of my majors was Computer Science. After graduating I went on to the post-graduate level, and I acquired an Honours degree in Computer Science. I figured I was on a roll, so I decided to continue with my studies, and I pursued my Masters degree. This entailed spending two years working on various 3D tech demos and a small game, and writing my thesis on the various programming techniques used in the game-dev and simulations industry.

Those 2 years were where I really started to learn what I needed to know. The demos I put together during that time were vital to getting into the industry.

DC: I worked at a company called Derivco for a while. They are a Durban-based online gaming company that focus primarily on casino-based games and online poker. While at Derivco, one of the things I worked on was an internal proof-of-concept game project called RollerBeetles Racing.

During that period I also spent a lot of my free time working on my own code – I was using the Ogre graphics engine at the time, and putting together a nature-oriented scene framework (focusing on procedural foliage generation, dynamic skies etc).

Derivco is a really solid company with some great perks, but I started to miss working with 3D technology, and so I decided to move on to a company called ThoroughTec, which does mining and military simulations. We had a contract for a military driving simulation set in a vast 3rd world environment, featuring large tracts of both urban and rural areas.

The requirements for this simulation were beyond what their engine was capable of at the time, and so we worked on extending the capabilities of the engine. My primary involvement was in developing the AI framework (to control the behaviour of the vehicles and pedestrians).

During that period I spent most of my free time coding, and I started work on my own 3D graphics / game engine, Valhalla, which is an ongoing project. [Currently known as ‘Verilmord’]

Q For what reason/s did you decide to immigrate to Canada with regards to your desired career path in the game development industry? What time period was this? For what reasons, if any, was this a difficult decision to make? Did you feel that there existed a lack of opportunities in South Africa to use your skills?

DC: Regarding [the] decision to leave the country and seek employment abroad – there was a pull factor and a push factor.

Being able to work in the games industry was very appealing to me. There were definitely opportunities for me to use my skills in SA (ThoroughTec being a prime example), but perhaps to a lesser extent than [in Canada].

Any creative industry in SA (be it film, music or games) seems to suffer from the country’s geographic isolation from the rest of the world, which is why I think people in these industries often feel the need to migrate in order to achieve the kind of success they want. Because these industries are virtually non-existent in SA, there seems to be less competition and less motivation to excel than there is in the first world where opportunities are more readily available.

The problems currently plaguing South Africa also contributed to my decision to seek employment abroad.

DC: Well, I guess it would be stating the obvious to say it’s safer [in Canada]. Living in the 1st world is definitely pleasant – fast internet, clean cities, things are efficient etc. The cold takes some getting used to.

The cost of living [in Canada] is pretty outrageous, but of course you’re getting paid more so it’s not too bad. Food and entertainment cost a lot, even relative to local salaries. But electronics (PCs, consoles etc) cost pretty much the same as back in SA, so they’re much more affordable when you’re earning dollars.

I [did] miss South Africa though. Most expats experience some feelings of isolation, especially during the initial months, and we’re no exception.

In terms of work environment, I guess it really depends on where you work. There is going to be a wide range of working conditions environments wherever you go. [Digital Extremes’] work environment is excellent, but I also had awesome work environments in SA.

Q: Are you aware of the South African grassroots game development scene (SAGameDev, Game.Dev, Dev.Mag and GameDevSA), as well as the variety of companies such as Luma Arcade or I-Imagine that are growing from community and overseas talent? If so, did you look locally for further employment opportunities before taking your job at Digital Extremes? Did you ever participate in (the predominantly) online game development communities, South African or otherwise?

DC: I occasionally browsed the forums, but did not really participate as much as I should have. With regard to South African game-dev companies, there did not seem to be many opportunities locally, so I focused on opportunities abroad instead. I was aware of I-Imagine (but am not sure how active they are at the moment?). I was not aware of Luma Arcade.

Q: Is your current career and career path accepted by friends and family, or are they still hustling you to get ‘a real job’? What about when you were still pursuing this career path? Do you think a negative mindset regarding game development is a predominantly South African problem of awareness regarding career availability in the games industry, or a universal problem?

DC: That was never really a problem with my family. But people in general do tend to misunderstand game development – it’s a serious industry comprised of many talented, highly intelligent people.

[While] working at ThoroughTec, people ask what kind of work we [do], and are very impressed when I describe what a simulation is and the kind of technology driving it. Yet tell those same people that you work in the games industry, and they adopt a more dismissive stance (despite the fact that the technology and day-to-day work tasks are essentially identical).

Q: Digital Extremes works specifically with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as their primary development platforms. Is there a need to work on smaller projects (perhaps to release on PSN or XNA) to make up for longer stretches of development on the main game?

DC: This is not an easy industry to get by in, especially for newer / smaller companies. Digital Extremes is fortunate in that regard (there is no need to work on smaller intermediate projects to get by). But it is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller developers to directly compete with the megaliths, and I can see why smaller, more frequent projects would be a better business model for many.

On a side note, [Digital Extremes] actually supports PC as well (we build for PC, Xbox360 and PS3 simultaneously). The decision to release only on the consoles is more of a marketing decision by the publishers (many developers / publishers want to abandon the PC altogether due to rampant piracy).

Q: What in the way of game development, if anything, would lure you back to South Africa (besides a significant paycheque increase and taking for granted that you’re more than satisfied where you are).

DC: Skipping this one, can’t really think of anything.

Q: Do you have any advice, specifically for South African wannabe game developers, for what path to take and what to focus on in order to work in the games industry?

DC: Your portfolio (for artists) / demos (for programmers) are your most important assets. Getting into the game-dev industry requires a certain degree of obsession – mediocre doesn’t cut it, your work needs to be really good, and the only way to do that is to devote a lot of time to it. The ability to show an impressive portfolio / set of demos shows prospective employers two things: firstly that you’re capable of doing the job, and secondly that you possess sufficient determination.

I’ve spoken to many people who claim to want to work in the games industry, and they fall into two categories: those who claim to want to do so (99%) and those that actually do (1%). The difference? Those in the former category don’t understand what it takes, and don’t make the effort.

Many thanks go to Damien Classen for answering these questions!

The full listing of interviews that comprise ‘The Lost South African Game Developer Interviews’ follows below:

- Part 1: An Interview With Travis Bulford
- Part 2: An Interview With Luke Lamothe
- Part 3: An Interview With Danny Day
- Part 4: An Interview With Jacques Krige
- Part 5: An Interview With Damien Classen
- Part 6: An Interview With Judd Simantov