CHENNAI : When Glen Joshua saw the small characters shoot fire and ice at their opponent in an intricately-detailed Medieval setting, he felt an instant pull to Dota 2. Having gone to an intra-school competition in 2014 to play Counter-Strike 1.6, the then-14-year-old fell in love with the gameplay and mechanics of the game.
Having taken up competitive gaming when he was in class 8, Glen started out his gaming journey with tycoon games on the PC. “I like the top-down gameplay and the style of the game. The learning curve for the game is around two to three years. There’s always something new in the game to keep you learning,” said the 23-year-old.
After completing his schooling in SBOA School and Junior College in Chennai, Glen took three years to focus on playing Dota 2 competitively. He took part in several competitions held across campuses in and around the city. “Back then, the scene in Chennai was booming. But now, it’s decreased for some reason,” said Glen. He took part in college cultural events held in SRM, IIT and Anna University.
“When you play competitively, you’re set up against someone in that room. The energy of the audience is infectious. I also made a lot of friends by playing against them, and soon competitive matches turned into playing with friends. I then decided that I want to get into game development and design,” said Glen. He graduated from ICAT Chennai this year.
What fascinates Glen about games are the game mechanics, who dictate how everything works in a game such as walking, graphics, physics elements, shooting and more. “One thing I learned from ICAT was that it’s not just one game developer who works on a game. Each department for a game has around 20-30 people working together. That made me respect indie game developers, who usually work on everything by themselves,” said Glen.
Three years of playing competitively allowed Glen to explore various genres of games, and understand the mechanics of the game. Some of the games he loves are Apex Legends for it’s rendition of Battle Royale gameplay, Stardew Valley for it’s simple yet complex gameplay, Witcher 3 for it’s open world and RPG elements, as well as GTA V for its single-player gameplay. He hopes to join a studio soon and work on a game of his own.