Meet the Tricoman Team #3 - Luka Budimir (The Swiss Army Developer)
Game Dev Building Blocks
At the beginning, something that I could connect to what I'm currently doing definitely would include an interest in Lego. Since I was little, I was obsessed with building my own things out of Lego bricks, creating my own playground and then adding some rules and life to that world, playing their "story". While it entertained me and I enjoyed building those worlds, I enjoyed destroying them and rebuilding everything into a new world, I guess that's very connected with my creative flow, I want to try as much as I can before I figure out what FEELS right.
Sometime in 2011, Minecraft was still a new thing, and with my obsession with Lego, I was really into Minecraft as a concept. As I was mining, building, and repeating the cycle endlessly, I realized I really enjoyed building things in Minecraft. Soon after, I started creating worlds with my friends. When we discovered mods, we began organizing events like "Fellowship Goes to Moria" and similar scenarios which really expanded what I thought was possible in games.
Besides that what i really enjoyed, apart from gaming, was photography. I really enjoy capturing interesting moments in life, probably most of all i enjoy shooting nature and landscapes, which again connects to environment art that i enjoy working on.
What are you currently working on in the game?
In this game, I have narrowed down my roles a bit; currently, I am working on Game / Level design, Environment Art, Tech Art, and VFX. Depending on the current segment of development, I switch roles like Mystique from the Marvel Universe.
Essentially I make sure the entire team stays connected, assist where I can, as well as push myself to do what I love most which is Level and Game design. Creating something out of seemingly nothing brings me too much joy not to pursue.
What is your earlist gaming memory?
[Source]
My introduction to gaming was through the PlayStation 1 console. My father got me a second-hand PS1 in the year 2000. The games I loved the most on that console were Colin McRae Rally 2.0, which I played for thousands of hours, racing against my father and his friends on various tracks. Besides that game, I also enjoyed Medal of Honor—I was amazed by the graphics and still think it has one of the best main menus to this day—as well as Spyro the Dragon, Emperor's New Groove, Tomb Raider, and Lego Racers to spice things up.
On the PC side, I initially really enjoyed shooter games like Wolfenstein: Return to Castle, Battlefield Vietnam, and of course, the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. Among racing games, Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) stands out as the best for me; no racing game has captivated me like that one, especially with the amazing soundtrack.
When it comes to RPGs, World of Warcraft blew my mind. I remember the first time I saw the game in 2006 when I was visiting one of my fathers close friends who was really into gaming. He was on a gryphon ride flying above Azeroth, and it was literally love at first sight. As soon as I got home, I installed WoW right away with that 30-day trial, and the rest is history.
What motivated you to pursue a career in game dev?
Feeling limited by the blocks in Minecraft, I discovered a 3D software called Maya 2014 while I was in high school. After unlocking some modeling skills, I wanted to bring my models to life, so my next stop on the journey was Unity 3D. It had a very user-friendly interface and was popular at the time for being beginner-friendly, which it was. Soon after, I created some shooter prototypes by watching YouTube videos. Not much has changed these days; I switched from Maya to Blender and focused more on visuals rather than programming.
What are some highlights from your career?
The biggest leap in my game dev career was when "me and the bois" started working on our first RPG game that we wanted to publish on mobile. We applied for a Nordeus mentorship and accelerator program called Booster, where we had the task to build a prototype in 4 months. Challenge accepted, we said. The first step was to move in together, and luckily, a close friend lived alone and had a perfect home office that fit four desktop setups. Check.
Next, we needed to come up with a general idea. We wanted something simpler graphically, so we decided on a top-down perspective to avoid worrying about distance drawing and other complexities. We looked at the available mentors through the program and started having meetups right away while simultaneously developing our game. We finished something you could call a prototype. It was a cool project—nothing special—but we gained huge knowledge during the process, which has led me to where I am now. And that project coincidentally, was the inception of what would become Godforged: Origins of Ozgalor!
And a big thanks to you!
If you've reached this far, we would like to extend a thank you from everyone at Tricoman Studios! Consider joining our Discord and supporting us in our journey to be a part of our story!