Maryam: Hey guys, welcome back to the extra credit podcast. To those tuning in for the first time, this is a series where we talk to interesting international students, graduates and professors from around the world. I'm your host, Maryam.Gamer, guys and gals, if you dream of creating your own video games, we have a special guest today who can give us some insight on what to expect. Mody Ibrahim began his journey as a game development student at the University of Wollongong, Malaysia, back in 2013.Then, in 2017, he moved to Canada to pursue a Diploma in Internet Applications at Algonquin College, and he's been in the country ever since as an extended reality developer. It's been a long journey with many milestones, but this all began with his passion for video games. Welcome, Mody, we're so glad to have you here with us. How are you?Mody: Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Oh, I'm doing very well.Maryam: All right, okay. So, let's go back to the beginning. And by that, I mean how your personal journey started. Back home in Egypt, way before you booked your first flight to Malaysia, all right? Tell us, growing up, what was your childhood like, and how did video games play a part in your life?Mody: Oh, I certainly remember playing a lot of video games with my siblings, growing up like late night during summer vacation, when you know me and my siblings would play video games together, and I think that was something that initially launched me in that direction. Maryam: That’s great. So how did this interest or hobby turn from just playing games into creating and developing them?Mody: Well, I actually sort of stopped, or rather started playing video games less in my early teens. But I remember distinctly when I was once on the internet and found this software called Game Maker. And it was this visual scripting game engine, essentially where you didn't need to code, and you just drag and drop blocks to form your logic. And I just downloaded it out of curiosity.And I remember I really wanted to move this square with the keyboard, to have it, like, stop moving when it touches another square. And I remember struggling with that a bit. And when that actually happened, I got this, like, huge dopamine rush, and I was like, I really want to learn more about this, and want to do this more.So while, like, I had an interest in gaming, I think it was more so the curiosity over, like, how video games are made, and how that process works, and all the nuances that go into it that actually got me really interested in the field.Maryam: That's so cool. Did you join any clubs or societies that sort of cater to that passion of creating for you?Mody: I certainly knew friends back then were likely interested in that thing, but I think there was a lack of kind of community specifically around that where I grew up, so I spent a lot of time on Internet communities making video games.Maryam: Well, really cool. Did you create any video games or any sort of, like, software or projects before you actually pursued a degree in game development?Mody: Yeah, yeah, I did. But it was very, very simple, kind of like, if you've ever been on NewGrounds as a kid, it was, you know, there were a lot of flash games and, like, really small stuff. And, yeah, I certainly have some projects from back then, but they were very simple.Maryam: So cool. Okay, so now, usually, for students who want to pursue game development or game design, the popular destinations to study overseas would be the US, UK, Canada or Japan. Why did you choose to study in Malaysia?Mody: Well, that's a very interesting question. Well, there were multiple factors at play here. First, I kind of knew I wanted to eventually move to Canada, as I have family here. So the second was, I knew, from the people I talked to and from what I read about the industry, that it's not an industry where what degree you have even matters. In fact, I don't know if this statistic is still true, but a few years ago, I read that 50% of those working, like, tech jobs in North America don't even have degrees in a related field. Like over 50%.And I don't know if that's still true, but, so I was more so focused on getting into a course that has a practical application – more hands on. So I emailed a couple of universities, and honestly, kind of felt the best about the Wollongong course. And yeah, it was awesome in that aspect. And there was also the added interest in Malaysian culture, because I heard a lot about Malaysian culture as well. And I've wanted to explore that as an experience, you know, as a stop in my life. Maryam: Okay, so many people don't know what it takes to become a game developer. They don't even know what a degree in game development would look like. At a glance, if you were to create video games like Fortnite, Overwatch or The Last of Us, a lot of planning goes into bringing them to life.This includes brainstorming, ideas, storytelling, coming up with the game mechanics, character ...
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