On Wednesday, September 15th, myself and about 14 students studying here in Montreal got to take a tour through the offices of a local game development company called Ludia. Ludia works in the social gaming market, taking popular brands such as The Price is Right, How to Train Your Dragon, and Jurassic Park and making games out of them, usually on mobile platforms alongside Facebook. As we stepped out of the elevators we were greeted by the women at the front desk, and we waited in the lobby until our tour guide, a woman from Ludia’s HR department, arrived to take us off on our tour.
The first stop was a conference room, but along the way we got to take a look at the many cool meeting rooms in the administration area of the office, each with its own theme and unique setup. We ended up in a room themed around Where’s Waldo, and all took a seat around a huge conference table. There our guide gave us an overview of Ludia as a company, and the games that they had been working on. She discussed how they ended up in the social market, and talked to us about the advantages of working on a widespread mobile platform like the iOS or Android. She also introduced us to Wesley and Margaret, two Champlain College alumni who have been working at Ludia as artists for some time now. Wesley told us he had been working at Ludia for about 5 years, and he told us about what he does as an art lead. I can’t talk about any details about the project, but he showed us examples of his team’s work and talked about what it’s like working on a small team at Ludia. The thing they stressed the most was the importance of having a wide variety of skills, telling us that at Ludia they regularly hopped from job to job, often having to work in many different artistic disciplines.
After we talked with Wesley and Margaret, we began our tour of the studio work space, where Ludia’s many different teams were busy at work on their respective games. We got to see huge office rooms filled with islands of computers, each representing a game team. In the middle of each room was a series of scrum boards, showcasing each team’s progress and goals that still needed work. It was really cool to be able to see people working in our own field, whether it be art, programming, or design, and actively creating games. Finally, we stopped at Ludia’s fantastic lounge area. With long comfy couches, reclining chairs, and plenty of space to relax and have a chat, you could feel that the lounge was the place to go when your team is having trouble coming up with an idea. One of the amazing things about the game industry is how different a game company’s office will be from some corporate business. Things like the lounge at Ludia show that game developers recognize the importance of relaxation and creativity in our industry.
We had a blast exploring Ludia’s unique office, and it’s definitely a place to keep in mind when it comes time to start searching for jobs. Between the small teams, social oriented games, and laid back atmosphere, Ludia seems like a really cool place to work.
