About me

Leo Vansteenkiste

Hi, I'm a game developer working on the upcoming games, Star Citizen and Squadron 42, at Cloud Imperium Games, as well as doing some freelance work. Before I started out as a game developer, I finished a master in industrial design. In both game dev and industrial design I learned and still am learning how to create products and services. While the physical aspect of industrial design in the end wasn't my strongest skill, creating 'things' was something I still wanted to do. That's why I chose to learn how to program, something I previously enjoyed as a hobby. When I accidentally ended up following an introduction tour in a game development degree instead of the computer sciences degree, I immediately fell in love with the combination of programming, design and graphics.

Gameplay programming spans a lot of different aspects within the game development process, for example it includes creating the code with which the player interacts the most. Since it will strongly affect their playing experience and because of the versatile skills required, this is the part I enjoy most. While I'm mainly interested in gameplay programming, both of my degrees have given me basic skills in design and graphics as well. These skills are a great fit for working in multi-disciplinary teams where I can follow what other members are talking about.

Want to do what I do?

A few years ago, during my studies industrial design, I wouldn't have been able to imagine myself creating games. But due to a series of coincidences I ended up studying game development. Now I feel like I have found an amazing line of work.

If you're interested, have a look at Digital Arts and Entertainment or search your local university for similar courses.