Finding Your Own Path

Surprising journeys into a gaming career

Finding Your Own Path

Surprising journeys into a gaming career 

Hello!

This week we explore some of the unique ways our team members made their way into the games industry. Then we jump on the AI hype train and ask what it thinks about our game.

How Folks at Ascendant Studios got Started in the Games Industry

We asked a few folks at our studio to share how they got started in games. What was their “big break” getting into the industry, or was it more like a slow crawl? Did they have a lifelong dream to make games, or did they happen upon their field by surprise? For Engineer, Sahil Khanna, the prospect of making another big career change was terrifying, but they knew it was what they wanted to do:

“Making games was something I kind of fell into; it was unexpected and wonderful and not something I ever thought would happen. I've always loved games... from the start they were both my escape and my passion. Eventually I gave up gaming for the sake of my studies. I graduated with a degree in biochemistry and went further into medicine, all the while feeling like I was missing something.

I learned that there could be a place for me in the [games industry], but I worried about stability… game dev life seemed fraught! But honestly, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I realized that no matter how scary it was, I just had to try or I'd always be left wondering.”

Sahil Khanna - Engineer at Ascendant Studios

In contrast, Community Content Manager, Tess, took a roundabout way into gaming where her hobby helped propel her skills for a career in the games industry.

“I found myself in the video game industry in a very roundabout way. An amazing friend in college introduced me to video games by letting me borrow her PS2 and Kingdom Hearts 1. I was in love. I did think about pursuing a career in games back then, but life had other plans.

I kept playing games for fun, primarily EVE Online, and when I eventually moved cities and was looking for ways to make new friends, my EVE friends recommended streaming on Twitch. I ended up becoming a full time streamer for 8+ years. Eventually, the content I developed and relationships I built through streaming led to an opportunity to create content full time at Ascendant, which is an absolute dream opportunity.”

Tess, Community Content Manager at Ascendant Studios

Our team took many different paths to join the games industry, some straight out of school, others making the jump after decades in completely different industries. Get inspired by their individual career stories in this blog post, and share your own journey by replying to this newsletter.

What do AI programs think about our game, Immortals of Aveum?

The internet has been buzzing with conversation regarding AI generated images and text, so we decided to ask AI to generate an image of what it thought our game would look like. There’s not much information out about Immortals of Aveum™ yet, but we have to say the AI generated a surprising similarity to one of our game’s characters (despite the extra AI fingers).