{"id":757,"date":"2023-04-10T16:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noblesteed.games\/blog\/?p=757"},"modified":"2023-07-03T11:02:14","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T00:02:14","slug":"the-painters-eye-an-interview-with-pat-naoum-the-masters-pupil-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noblesteedgames.com\/blog\/the-painters-eye-an-interview-with-pat-naoum-the-masters-pupil-developer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Painter\u2019s Eye: An Interview with Pat Naoum, The Master\u2019s Pupil Developer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Master\u2019s Pupil<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is a hand painted puzzle-adventure story set in the eye of 19th century impressionist painter Claude Monet. You journey through the many challenges and difficulties he faced in his life through surreal landscapes and sights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were recently fortunate enough to be working with Pat to port the game to Switch<\/a>, in addition to sitting down to chat about it more! Hear more about his own journey into game development, as well as some interesting insights into the game. Enjoy! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot
The Master\u2019s Pupil is set in Monet\u2019s eyeball.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Could you share how you got into solo game development? What were some highlights you experienced?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I came from a fairly unusual path, because I came out of high school wanting to do visual art. I studied a Bachelor of Visual Art and majored in painting, minoring in Media Arts. This was an elective where I tried to do some programming and failed miserably<\/em>. Well, my whole class failed miserably and they had to have us redo our final exams so we would not. It was a bunch of artists doing programming and the majority of the class still failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was where I made my First Game. It was a text based game that spat words at you, letting players experience something like a strange little book, with decisions you could make. It was the most basic point and click adventure game you could ever experience, yet it was such a struggle for me to make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, I went into film school (Australian Film Television Radio School), because I wanted to experience film industry roles and try to become a director making my own shorts. In addition to this, I also fell into graphic design. So, I was doing graphic design freelancing whilst also working in the film industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point however, I was bumping my head against the idea of working in the film industry. Because, if you want to be a director, the path to being a director is having to do a bunch of short films or ads or music videos. Your first year or two is mostly crossing your fingers, writing something, and then trying to get stuff made once or twice a year, actually filmmaking for a weekend<\/em>. If it rains, then your short film is stuffed up. Or, if an actor gets sick, your music video can\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I realised was that I was after something that was much more like daily practice\u2026 like making a game or artwork slowly and doing it every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Another
One of the colour puzzles in The Master\u2019s Pupil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Part of what was exciting about game development was that I could just boot up my computer, open up Unity and start fiddling. I could do that everyday for half an hour or 8 hours, with nothing stopping me. I didn\u2019t have to hire equipment to be able to shoot something or rely on other people and their timelines to be able to make a short film or music video. I could make a story and plot away at it really slowly. That <\/em>was exciting, and also convenient! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Games also include everything from writing to music to art to 3D sculpture, to sound design and acting\u2014 they could be a mashup of all these different types of mediums that create a whole. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, unlike film, someone can play <\/em>it. Every other artform is mostly people looking at it and going: \u201cMmm. Great. Thank you.\u201d For games, you deep dive<\/em> into it. So, yeah, it\u2019s a fun medium to be in really!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being the only person in charge of all of that, surely there were some difficulties that you experienced. What were some of them?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, well. Painting a game is tough<\/em>. Plus, solo gamedev means everything is on your shoulders, including if you\u2019re making the right game or whether what you\u2019re doing is right. You have to talk yourself into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I started hand painting a video game 7 years ago! A lot has changed, not just the hair.

But I got there, so help a dev on #wishlistwednesday<\/a> and hit this link:https:\/\/t.co\/cojSkcbtlm<\/a>#TheMastersPupil<\/a> #indiedev<\/a> #indieGame<\/a> #gamedev<\/a> #gamedevelopment<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/fJq3m4zpLz<\/a><\/p>— The Master's Pupil – Pat Naoum Games (@patnaoumgames) February 7, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>