{"id":24926,"date":"2024-07-30T10:26:47","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=24926"},"modified":"2024-07-30T11:33:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T18:33:30","slug":"ramon-zarate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/ramon-zarate\/","title":{"rendered":"Ram\u00f3n Z\u00e1rate: a proudly Mexican video game programmer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ram\u00f3n
For Ram\u00f3n Z\u00e1rate, a gameplay engineer at Los Angeles-based Uncapped Games, the path that led him to developing video games was also difficult, as he shares with us in an interview for P360.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of us who enjoy video games as a favorite pastime have been interested at some point in working in this industry. I cannot deny that it was also a personal dream when I was younger to be able to participate in the creation of the worlds that I enjoyed so much. Unfortunately, for many young people (and not so young) in Latin America, this is nothing more than an unattainable dream.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Ram\u00f3n Z\u00e1rate, a gameplay engineer at Los Angeles-based Uncapped Games, the path that led him to developing video games was also difficult, as he shares with us in an interview with P360.<\/span><\/p>\n

Battle Aces is a real-time strategy title influenced by classics such as Starcraft, and the Uncapped Games team is made up of veterans from Blizzard, Relic, among others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still without a release date, they can <\/span>add it to your wishlist on Steam<\/span><\/a> and find more information at <\/span>its official Battle Aces page<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What we know so far is that it will be a free-to-play title in which we will unlock units the more we play against other people in multiplayer. Personally, I'm excited about the release of a game that features the experience of the people responsible for real-time strategy gems like Company of Heroes (a title very close to my heart), Starcraft or the Dawn of War series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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From Cuernavaca to the world<\/b><\/p>\n

Originally from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, Ram\u00f3n Z\u00e1rate spent his childhood in the state of Tabasco, where he remembers reading articles about Mexican developers in the magazine \u201cClub Nintendo.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have always liked video games\u2026 they have been very important in my life, but the perception I had was that it was not realistic (to work in video games) in Mexico, so I did not seriously consider it,\u201d Z\u00e1rate shared with Pen\u00ednsula 360 Press.<\/span><\/p>\n

He decided to study mathematics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and as he himself admits, \u201ccuriously, the subjects I took made me believe that I didn\u2019t want to be a programmer.\u201d By the time he finished his university degree, he had realized that what he really wanted was to make video games, although he admits that he felt it was a risk. An academic career was \u201ca guaranteed future,\u201d but it was not what he was passionate about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of prejudice, like you are abandoning (the mathematics degree) and taking the easy way out.\u201d Ram\u00f3n says that although it was not openly stated, there was disdain among his peers towards video games, which even led him not to express his interest in working in the industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With a lot of dedication and perseverance, she won a scholarship to study for a doctorate in Vancouver, Canada, and thus began her journey across the American continent. With many uncertainties, but with only one goal in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI started with very small jobs, my first job was literally minimum wage, and I didn\u2019t even program,\u201d he recalled. Ram\u00f3n soon realized that studying to specialize in video game development in Canada would have meant taking on a huge debt that would have changed his life. He had to take a leap of faith into the workforce and let his work speak for him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How to start making video games?<\/b><\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n told Pen\u00ednsula 360 Press that the biggest contrast between working in the video game industry and academia is diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cYou work with people from all over the world, from all kinds of careers and non-careers, all kinds of education, with people who have done everything and that\u2019s amazing\u2026 it\u2019s my favorite part of the job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Creating a video game is a collaborative effort of many people: artists, designers, writers, programmers, voice actors, animators; even our interviewee tells us: \u201cI have worked with people who were in film or commercials and were hired for certain projects in very specific parts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is one path to the industry, the most important thing is the interest in doing it,\u201d Ram\u00f3n stressed. \u201cOf course, programming requires skills in the field, but the video game industry is so big that that is not the only path. You can pursue a career as an artist, designer, actor, or many other adjacent things. But, above all, the interest in doing it, the courage to venture and seek to participate in the creation of video games is the most important thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For Ram\u00f3n, Mexico is in a very good position to enter the video game development industry because \u201cthere is a lot of potential.\u201d Unfortunately, what is lacking are companies and financing, because making video games costs money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part of making a game is getting a group of talented people together and giving them the resources they need,\u201d said the Mexican programmer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Migrating to achieve a dream<\/b><\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n Z\u00e1rate also acknowledged that he has had many privileges on his journey to the north of our continent: \u201cBeing able to migrate, for me, meant studying, being admitted to a university, having a scholarship, although there are still many challenges.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Arriving in a place where people don't speak your language, being far from family and fighting for a visa to work, among many other things, are obstacles that he had to overcome. For him, having a plan, appreciating the situation you are in before taking hasty steps, is essential to tackle the challenges of migrating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After living in Canada for 18 years, he admits that he still feels like a foreigner; even though his children were born in the northern country, he still feels \u201cneither from here nor from there.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this regard, he said that he feels a \u201cstrange guilt\u201d because sometimes he feels like an outsider. Faced with this, he repeats to himself: \u201cI live here, I\u2019m from here, I have an accent, I like different things and there\u2019s no problem, it\u2019s cool.\u201d At the same time, when he visits the Uncapped Games headquarters in Los Angeles, California, he feels at home: \u201cEveryone is Mexican, everyone speaks Spanish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n, like many other Latinos, understands that migration is normal for humans, it is part of our history as societies and will never cease to exist. As he says in his own words: \u201cas humans, no one is from anywhere, everyone has migrated, everyone came from somewhere else.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n's story is like that of many Latin immigrants who travel across the continent in search of a dream that drives them to fight against all odds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay tuned for the release of Battle Aces, you can be sure we'll have more news about this game in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Peninsula 360 (@peninsula360press)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n