Florence from Mountains is nominated for Independent Game and Australian Developed Game of the Year at the Australian Games Awards (AGAs). Florence is set in Melbourne, Australia and is the story of a woman's first love. Gamers Classified spoke with Producer, Kamina Vincent about her reaction to the nominations and about her personal story with video games.
GC: What was your reaction to being nominated?
KV: It’s a great honour to be nominated in two categories by the Australian Games Awards! It's awesome to see an event like this being hosted in Australia. Being recognised by a local event means a lot to us, especially as we’re based in Melbourne and made a game set in Melbourne!
GC: What are your tips for aspiring local developers?
KV: We have an amazing community of game developers here in Australia. Everyone is welcoming and happy to help each other. Get to know, and learn, from everyone! You never know which conversation you have will spark that great idea.
Learn how to run a business. It’s not just about making games when you start. Know what it takes to make a company and a game. It’s a lot of hard work but it is a lot of fun!
GC: What did it take to get here? Was game development always your passion?
KV: I didn’t start playing games until I was in my early twenties! I’d always had an interest in computers but I didn’t really play games. I really started playing games when I started working in games retail and had access to all the games there.
I moved from Canberra to Melbourne to study game development and started volunteering at local game development conferences and events. It was through this that I helped Tin Man Games with their booth at both PAX East in Boston and then again at PAXAUS, here in Melbourne. Tin Man Games offered me a job from my volunteering experience and while working with them I moved through several roles and then became a producer. From this, I was hired by Mountains as producer and I also run operations.
While games was not always my passion, I’ve found a career I really love and enjoy in game development!
GC: Is there anything you would like to add?
KV: A huge thanks goes to our publisher, Annapurna Interactive. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to make Florence the way we did.
The game development community has also been a huge help with all their support, playtesting, giving advice, and supporting Mountains.
The AGAs will be held on December 19th 2018 in Sydney. Visit the AGA website to purchase ticks to access the live stream from the event.
