Julian Maroda, the Minister of Creation at Norsfell Games and Internationale Provocateur at Re5et Co., graced me with his presence long enough to get a bit of Q&A going before he receded back into the Montreal nightlife scene.
First off, Norsfell is a company located in Montreal, QC. His fancy title means that he's responsible for all matter of vision, design and business for the company. Their game Winterforts is definitely something to watch out for.
Me: Kick it, Jules!
Julian: We're currently part of the Execution Labs, a unique platform helping independent game developers produce the games they want to make and bringing those games to market, and currently working on Winterforts, a mobile war strategy game coming in August 2014. Oh, and I’ve just launched a gaming clothing line as well called RE5ET Co. And I’m originally from Brussels, Belgium. Hi Belgium!
Me: Nice. I don't think I have the cojones to give a shout out to the entirety of a country.
Please, continue.
Julian: I grew up in Brussels, Belgium. A city of about 1 million people clouded by grey rain. I had a great childhood! (no, really!) I received my first video game console when I was 5, it was a Sega Genesis (or Megadrive as we call it in Europe) with Sonic The Hedgehog. It was a revelation for me, and being an only child, I quickly grew very fond of the system and games in general.
Growing up with consoles (PC came much later into our house), I’ve always had an attraction for pick-up & play games where the control of an avatar and the feel associated to it are of the utmost importance. Now I tend to try a bit of everything on nearly every platform possible.
Me: What lead to your jump into the gaming scene?
Julian: My teammates and I always wanted to work on our own stuff, to create our games, to be the masters of our own vision. So naturally, even while working for other companies, we started building games on the side in addition to our full time jobs.
I started as a game designer in the industry because I wanted to craft new interactive experiences for the players. I LOVE writing game design documents! I love to put my hands right into it and design every low level systems possible. I’m a very design focus person at the core.
Now that we have our own company, I also do the PR and business side of things, which is also fun. The part I find most exciting during the creation of a project is the beta phase, when everything is roughly set up and polish comes in. First playable is always the toughest.
Me: Being so entrenched in the Industry, as you are, what type of Idol worship do you do?
Julian: As for persons of inspiration go ... I can clearly name a few: Miyamoto, Bleszinski and Suda 51 are my favorite creators because they each have their own style and because I’ve learned so much game design by playing their games. On the business side, Gabe Newell (Valve), Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), Alex Thabet (Ludia) and more recently Rami Ismail (Vlambeer, I met him last week) have been really good sources of inspiration.
Me: Hmm. For extra points, what time period you would choose to live over our current time period? Go!
Julian: Ah! Good question! Probably during the great expeditions to the new world. I find it fascinating to think of those men jumping on rudimentary ships to sail to the unknown in hopes of finding a better future. It’s a bit sad that we know about every piece of land on Earth today, it kills the mystery (let’s go to spaaaace instead!).
Me: What type of crazy shenanigans do you get into during your down time?
Julian: I love hanging out with friends. And partying.
Me: Sweet. I love being invited to parties with new friends. I'm just throwing out there. We'll table that for later. Tell me how to pick up Magic Man Julian. What's the secret to know? For Science!
Julian: I’m a big eighties fan!
Me: Cue picture of an over-sized fan built in the 1980's. God, that joke made me feel old some how. I'm not going to link anything now.
Where were we? If you had stayed in the position you were at before jumping into game design, would you still be creating games today?
Julian: I could be. Before switching to game design, I was programmed to be a marketing specialist of some kind. Even then I wanted to work in the game industry, but at one point I asked myself: do I really want to be on this side of the fence? The answer was clear and I moved to Montreal to study game design at the Ubisoft Campus. The rest is history.
Me: That's a Cinderella story right there. I can just end the interview now and we can all go home. Actually, I have a few more questions. So...
Coming off of Pixel Molotov's FromPulse's great release (Which was awesome. I played the hell out of it on my 360. *humblebrag), creating Norsfell, and going into such a beautiful build as Winterforts, do you feel you've hit a stride into your own Indie success story?
Julian: We haven’t encountered any big successes yet, so I wouldn’t say we’ve succeeded already, but we’re moving forward. I think one of our most important strengths is that we are a bunch of friends that know each other very well. Rami Ismail would disagree with that being a strength (lol), but I believe it does make a difference. It’s also that all four of us are really complementary: we have one artist who is also an integrator, one front-end dev that is also a back-end dev, one producer who is also a front-end dev, and one designer (myself) who is also a marketer. This helps a lot in defining the roles of each one of us in the company. It also helps that we’ve worked for several years in the industry before making the big jump.
Me: After a hard days grind, what do you do to relax?
Julian: I tend to relativize a lot, so I don’t often feel too stressed. Also, I absolutely love to take hot baths, I couldn’t live without them! They give me the opportunity to take a break, think things through and decide what steps to take next with Norsfell and RE5ET Co.
Me: At what point in your life did you decide to get into the gaming business?
Julian: I’d say when I was a teen, but I have to admit that I started doubting I’d be able to make it at one point. Thing is, the video game industry is not really developed in Belgium. So I had to look abroad. When I found an opportunity in Montreal I decided to try my luck and left friends and family to start a new life. I don’t regret it at all. The lesson here is: if you want something badly, believe in yourself and you’ll have it!
First off, Norsfell is a company located in Montreal, QC. His fancy title means that he's responsible for all matter of vision, design and business for the company. Their game Winterforts is definitely something to watch out for.
Me: Kick it, Jules!
Julian: We're currently part of the Execution Labs, a unique platform helping independent game developers produce the games they want to make and bringing those games to market, and currently working on Winterforts, a mobile war strategy game coming in August 2014. Oh, and I’ve just launched a gaming clothing line as well called RE5ET Co. And I’m originally from Brussels, Belgium. Hi Belgium!
Me: Nice. I don't think I have the cojones to give a shout out to the entirety of a country.
Please, continue.
Julian: I grew up in Brussels, Belgium. A city of about 1 million people clouded by grey rain. I had a great childhood! (no, really!) I received my first video game console when I was 5, it was a Sega Genesis (or Megadrive as we call it in Europe) with Sonic The Hedgehog. It was a revelation for me, and being an only child, I quickly grew very fond of the system and games in general.
Growing up with consoles (PC came much later into our house), I’ve always had an attraction for pick-up & play games where the control of an avatar and the feel associated to it are of the utmost importance. Now I tend to try a bit of everything on nearly every platform possible.
Me: What lead to your jump into the gaming scene?
Julian: My teammates and I always wanted to work on our own stuff, to create our games, to be the masters of our own vision. So naturally, even while working for other companies, we started building games on the side in addition to our full time jobs.
I started as a game designer in the industry because I wanted to craft new interactive experiences for the players. I LOVE writing game design documents! I love to put my hands right into it and design every low level systems possible. I’m a very design focus person at the core.
Now that we have our own company, I also do the PR and business side of things, which is also fun. The part I find most exciting during the creation of a project is the beta phase, when everything is roughly set up and polish comes in. First playable is always the toughest.
Me: Being so entrenched in the Industry, as you are, what type of Idol worship do you do?
Julian: As for persons of inspiration go ... I can clearly name a few: Miyamoto, Bleszinski and Suda 51 are my favorite creators because they each have their own style and because I’ve learned so much game design by playing their games. On the business side, Gabe Newell (Valve), Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), Alex Thabet (Ludia) and more recently Rami Ismail (Vlambeer, I met him last week) have been really good sources of inspiration.
Me: Hmm. For extra points, what time period you would choose to live over our current time period? Go!
Julian: Ah! Good question! Probably during the great expeditions to the new world. I find it fascinating to think of those men jumping on rudimentary ships to sail to the unknown in hopes of finding a better future. It’s a bit sad that we know about every piece of land on Earth today, it kills the mystery (let’s go to spaaaace instead!).
Me: What type of crazy shenanigans do you get into during your down time?
Julian: I love hanging out with friends. And partying.
Me: Sweet. I love being invited to parties with new friends. I'm just throwing out there. We'll table that for later. Tell me how to pick up Magic Man Julian. What's the secret to know? For Science!
Julian: I’m a big eighties fan!
Me: Cue picture of an over-sized fan built in the 1980's. God, that joke made me feel old some how. I'm not going to link anything now.
Where were we? If you had stayed in the position you were at before jumping into game design, would you still be creating games today?
Julian: I could be. Before switching to game design, I was programmed to be a marketing specialist of some kind. Even then I wanted to work in the game industry, but at one point I asked myself: do I really want to be on this side of the fence? The answer was clear and I moved to Montreal to study game design at the Ubisoft Campus. The rest is history.
Me: That's a Cinderella story right there. I can just end the interview now and we can all go home. Actually, I have a few more questions. So...
Coming off of Pixel Molotov's FromPulse's great release (Which was awesome. I played the hell out of it on my 360. *humblebrag), creating Norsfell, and going into such a beautiful build as Winterforts, do you feel you've hit a stride into your own Indie success story?
Julian: We haven’t encountered any big successes yet, so I wouldn’t say we’ve succeeded already, but we’re moving forward. I think one of our most important strengths is that we are a bunch of friends that know each other very well. Rami Ismail would disagree with that being a strength (lol), but I believe it does make a difference. It’s also that all four of us are really complementary: we have one artist who is also an integrator, one front-end dev that is also a back-end dev, one producer who is also a front-end dev, and one designer (myself) who is also a marketer. This helps a lot in defining the roles of each one of us in the company. It also helps that we’ve worked for several years in the industry before making the big jump.
Me: After a hard days grind, what do you do to relax?
Julian: I tend to relativize a lot, so I don’t often feel too stressed. Also, I absolutely love to take hot baths, I couldn’t live without them! They give me the opportunity to take a break, think things through and decide what steps to take next with Norsfell and RE5ET Co.
Me: At what point in your life did you decide to get into the gaming business?
Julian: I’d say when I was a teen, but I have to admit that I started doubting I’d be able to make it at one point. Thing is, the video game industry is not really developed in Belgium. So I had to look abroad. When I found an opportunity in Montreal I decided to try my luck and left friends and family to start a new life. I don’t regret it at all. The lesson here is: if you want something badly, believe in yourself and you’ll have it!