Thanks for joining us today in our team highlight series! Today we'll be chatting with Jose Beltran, our Art Director on the team!
This interview is conducted by Steven Seidman, a Narrative Designer at Captilight.
Steven: Jose, you finally made it! Are you ready to get started?
Jose: As ready as I’ll ever be!
Steven: That’s the spirit! Jose, tell us who you are?
Jose: For starters I’m a 3D artist from Colombia, mainly focused on environments and props and I have the pleasure of being the Art Director for Path of Kami. I’m also a hobbyist drummer, passionate for video games, metal music, and Japan.
Steven: And how did you get started with Captilight?
Jose: It was a while ago… I met our war chief (Deana) at the Orlando Game Space, she told me about the project and I immediately loved it, since then we’ve been working on it.
Steven: Yes, I believe we met sometime after that with the war chief in the sacred room of get-togethers.
Jose: Yes, we did.
Steven: What’s an inspiration for you to make games?
Jose: Creating worlds that transmit strong feelings and work as an escape for people, of all different kinds of moods. I love to have the power! The power to make people feeling something you intend to make them feel.
Steven: And how do you go about your thought process working on a new title?
Jose: I believe that good pre-production is always the key to smooth development, so I like to dedicate a good amount of time to that, making sure everything is clear and then you can easily move onwards from that point. Within the pre-production is of course the decision of what do you want to express or make the player feel and what would be the best way to do it.
Steven: I agree pre-production is incredibly important and gives a proper plan to the rest of the development cycle. What excites you about Path of Kami?
Jose: Honestly… Everything! I really like the mechanics, the music and the sounds of the game are coming out in an amazing way thank to our audio team, we have a beautiful story, the graphic style of course, the way you can have a nice time exploring the environments and enjoying the small things we are putting there for the players to discover.
Steven: And with Path of Kami where do you draw your inspiration from?
Jose: Mostly I find my inspiration within real-life elements… I try to stylize and shape them. PoK (Path of Kami) is inspired in the Edo period, with Japanese environments and some aspects of Shinto religion. I think there’s already plenty of beautiful places and they have a very unique esthetic. Of course, a few games and movies are inspiring to me but mostly just my fascination for Edo Japan esthetic.
Steven: From what we’ve all seen the game does look beautiful and we know it’s going to be even better in a few months.
Steven: What are the games you enjoy then Jose?
Jose: The ones where I can feel progression. The ones where the environment is the main character where I can feel immersed and where I can find something interesting anywhere, I look!
Steven: I always like to end with advice. What advice do you have for someone wanting to work in the games industry?
Jose: Have a good portfolio that expresses who you are and what you like, and don’t forget to work on your social skills as well, they’re as important or sometimes even more.
Steven: There you have it! We are looking forward to sharing with everyone the amazing game we are looking on.
Please stay tuned our blogposts for future updates and future announcements and don’t be afraid to comment and lets us know what you think!