Member Spotlight – Square0112

2D artist Square0112, from Kazakhstan, is the latest to complete our Member Spotlight and the first to have their Q&A tie in with a stint as our Featured Creator, with an accompanying bundle. Read on below to find out more about them and check out their full asset collection here.

 

GDM Username: Square0112

 

Name or Nickname: Paul

 

Age: 25

 

Country: Kazakhstan

 

Developer, Asset Creator or are you a bit of both?:   

 

Currently, more asset maker than developer.

 

Full Time, Part Time or Hobby?: 

 

So far, part-time, but in the future I would like to switch to full-time

 

How long have you been doing this?: 

 

Just over 7 years

 

 

When I was 12 I came across a collection of old games. There was a text quest editor, with a dialog branching tree and event transitions. Later, a friend of mine showed me the Warcraft 3 map editor and it was a big revelation for me! Around then, not yet knowing how, I decided that I wanted to connect my life with game dev.

Around the same time, I was presented with my first graphic tablet for my birthday. It was very small, created by fake firm, and did not work so good, I tried to draw manga on it 😀

While in college, a like-minded person and I made the first game. And we even managed to catch the time of Steam Greenlight (“like” if you remember that times 🙂 )

In any case, now I am working on my project, along the way trying to do what I can best, I hope my efforts will help other developers not to step on the same rake that I stepped on.

 

Favourite software/tools to use?:  

 

Photoshop, Dragon Bones, good old Construct (because it allows you to quickly implement an idea)
I look closely at Godot, Spine, in the future I plan to try Unity and UnrealEngine.

I have also been creating music and sound Fx in Fl for several years, maybe one day I will start uploading

 

What’s one tip you would give to someone starting out?:   

 

About gamedev:

Do not listen to anyone, and go to your goal!

I know a lot of people personally who have not been able to complete their project, due to the fact that there was a strong pressure from outside. The confidence and support of loved ones is very important, but they may disappear at some point. Have a pillow of financial security, and do your project without wasting time! Don’t stop and don’t postpone it.

Plan ahead carefully. As the saying goes “measure seven times, cut once”

Look for like-minded people, be inspired by everyone around you, and don’t forget to enjoy your creation!

About the art: 

At the moment, the Internet is full of lessons in free access, when we studied, and those who before us (those who now work in the AAA industry), all knowledge was very weak and in smaller quantities. I assure you that in 1-2 years you can raise your level of drawing from scratch to “cool guys from ArtStation”, do it! (nothing is impossible, make you dream com true :))

About creating assets:

DO NOT DO THAT! Just kidding, but it takes up your time pretty much, analyze the dev industry, try to cover already existing solutions, try to come up with more, better, more interesting! Be original!

 

How do you promote your work (games or assets)?:  

 

At the moment, only Twitter (by the way, subscribe :3). Over time, I plan to start running a YouTube channel, with little lessons, maybe I’ll try to run Reddit.

I also tried to promote assets on itch.io, but then decided to cancel, tk. It’s easier to promote finished games there. Perhaps I will soon release a couple of projects there. Follow if interested!

 

What project are you working on now?:  

 

It so happened that I am working on several unannounced projects at the same time, but soon, I hope, I will be able to launch one of them!

about assets:

I plan to release a series of sets in cyberpunk style, and other various sets
 

Unfortunately, so far I have nothing to show, except for a few crude prototypes, but if you subscribe to itch, and people will be interested, I will soon post something interesting

And finally, favourite game ever & why?:   

There are too many of them to list them all and why. XD

Probably my favourites are: Fallout New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Evoland, Lands of Lore, Mass Effect series, The Witcher series, Kotor series, and many many others, but these left the greatest impressions and inspired me to create something new.