A game development degree doesn’t just gain you a foothold in the video game industry. It also opens doors to unlimited career opportunities and fields that make use of immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented, and mixed realities. International game development student turned extended reality developer, Mody Ibrahim, spills the beans on what it takes to build and launch a video game from scratch, how to succeed in this multi-billion dollar industry, and how his education could lead to more diverse tech careers than you’d think.
Maryam: Hey guys, welcome back to the extra credit podcast. To those tuning in for the first time, this is a series where we talk to interesting international students, graduates and professors from around the world. I'm your host, Maryam.
Gamer, guys and gals, if you dream of creating your own video games, we have a special guest today who can give us some insight on what to expect. Mody Ibrahim began his journey as a game development student at the University of Wollongong, Malaysia, back in 2013.
Then, in 2017, he moved to Canada to pursue a Diploma in Internet Applications at Algonquin College, and he's been in the country ever since as an extended reality developer. It's been a long journey with many milestones, but this all began with his passion for video games. Welcome, Mody, we're so glad to have you here with us. How are you?
Mody: Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Oh, I'm doing very well.
Maryam: All right, okay. So, let's go back to the beginning. And by that, I mean how your personal journey started. Back home in Egypt, way before you booked your first flight to Malaysia, all right? Tell us, growing up, what was your childhood like, and how did video games play a part in your life?
Mody: Oh, I certainly remember playing a lot of video games with my siblings, growing up like late night during summer vacation, when you know me and my siblings would play video games together, and I think that was something that initially launched me in that direction.
Maryam: That’s great. So how did this interest or hobby turn from just playing games into creating and developing them?
Mody: Well, I actually sort of stopped, or rather started playing video games less in my early teens. But I remember distinctly when I was once on the internet and found this software called Game Maker. And it was this visual scripting game engine, essentially where you didn't need to code, and you just drag and drop blocks to form your logic. And I just downloaded it out of curiosity.
And I remember I really wanted to move this square with the keyboard, to have it, like, stop moving when it touches another square. And I remember struggling with that a bit. And when that actually happened, I got this, like, huge dopamine rush, and I was like, I really want to learn more about this, and want to do this more.
So while, like, I had an interest in gaming, I think it was more so the curiosity over, like, how video games are made, and how that process works, and all the nuances that go into it that actually got me really interested in the field.
Maryam: That's so cool. Did you join any clubs or societies that sort of cater to that passion of creating for you?
Mody: I certainly knew friends back then were likely interested in that thing, but I think there was a lack of kind of community specifically around that where I grew up, so I spent a lot of time on Internet communities making video games.
Maryam: Well, really cool. Did you create any video games or any sort of, like, software or projects before you actually pursued a degree in game development?
Mody: Yeah, yeah, I did. But it was very, very simple, kind of like, if you've ever been on NewGrounds as a kid, it was, you know, there were a lot of flash games and, like, really small stuff. And, yeah, I certainly have some projects from back then, but they were very simple.
Maryam: So cool. Okay, so now, usually, for students who want to pursue game development or game design, the popular destinations to study overseas would be the US, UK, Canada or Japan. Why did you choose to study in Malaysia?
Mody: Well, that's a very interesting question. Well, there were multiple factors at play here. First, I kind of knew I wanted to eventually move to Canada, as I have family here. So the second was, I knew, from the people I talked to and from what I read about the industry, that it's not an industry where what degree you have even matters. In fact, I don't know if this statistic is still true, but a few years ago, I read that 50% of those working, like, tech jobs in North America don't even have degrees in a related field. Like over 50%.
And I don't know if that's still true, but, so I was more so focused on getting into a course that has a practical application – more hands on. So I emailed a couple of universities, and honestly, kind of felt the best about the Wollongong course. And yeah, it was awesome in that aspect. And there was also the added interest in Malaysian culture, because I heard a lot about Malaysian culture as well. And I've wanted to explore that as an experience, you know, as a stop in my life.
Maryam: Okay, so many people don't know what it takes to become a game developer. They don't even know what a degree in game development would look like. At a glance, if you were to create video games like Fortnite, Overwatch or The Last of Us, a lot of planning goes into bringing them to life.
This includes brainstorming, ideas, storytelling, coming up with the game mechanics, character design and many, many rounds of testing before you even launch it onto the market. So as a former game development student, can you walk us through what your coursework was like. What was your favourite part about this course?
Mody: Of course. So an important thing to really understand about game development is that if you're going into a game studio, there are three specialisations, and you essentially need to pick a domain. There is development, there is game design and there is art. So if you pick development, for example, you mostly won't be making the decisions on the story or writing the design documentation. Maybe you can, you know, participate in the design discussions and stuff.
But if you're picking development, my course was mostly coding classes, so you're essentially doing more or less software development, but now you're also learning about the game engines and in my course, at Wollongong, good thing about having the other streams also taking their own classes is that there were many opportunities for us to collaborate on group projects, where in the second year, we actually in one. In the fourth semester, we had to make, for example, a 2D game project together, and in the fifth semester, we had to do a 3D game project together. We split into groups. And so that practical experience and learning how to work and communicate with the other streams was very valuable. And of course, usually in game development courses, you have classes that teach you other things about game development, like other areas, like marketing, for example, game marketing. But most of the classes, if you pick development, will be about coding. But some of the classes are more so the general framework to be able to ship a game, or, like, an idea of that.
Maryam: So when you were there, were there any projects that you were really proud of?
Mody: Oh yeah, certainly. I think for my final project, you know, we made like a pixel art site scroller, or that was, that had a bit of, like, action in there too, and it was really fun to work on. And we're exploring this concept, which is something I really wanted to make. Also, the collaboration project from one of the semesters, where we made a mobile party game that can be played by four players on one tablet with one button each. And that was really fun, because seeing, you know, people testing the game and having fun with it and laughing and so, yeah, probably these two were my two proudest projects.
Maryam: I would have been proud of them too, because those sound really amazing. So, being a uni student, of course, with all the responsibilities that we have to shoulder independently, there will also be times of struggle. Were there any challenges you went through throughout your degree?
Mody: Certainly, it was never the coding classes. It was always, like, the other classes, like the, as I mentioned, that there was a marketing class, and it was absolutely necessary, but it certainly was not an easy class for me, because it was my first time doing like, trying to do like, market research and getting a proposal ready and just going back and forth trying to, like, really understand how to do that. Those were definitely more of the challenging areas. But I've learned so much and I really appreciate the class.
Maryam: So if I were to join a game development course like you, what are the major skills I would need to succeed in this course?
Mody: So it's, and I've heard this many times before, and I fully believe in it. The most important skill, I think, in development is to be able to research a problem or Google. And, so let's say, for example, you have a requirement where you need to support 40 online players at the same time. A lot of developers won't walk into a problem like this, knowing the solution, right? In the end, your ability to really research how to do something like that and then take that and apply it to your own context is important.
So, usually the best way to learn anything in development, really, is to have a project that you have no idea how to do, and then, sort of like, researching and piecing things together. And that's getting easier these days with, like, large language models, who will, you know, give you a strategy to tackle different problems, you know, like ChatGPT and, yeah, this, this really seems to be the case.
Maryam: Those are really great tips Mody, thank you for sharing. Okay, so, being an international student in Malaysia, how did that experience go? Did you find it easy or challenging to adapt to a new country when you first arrived?
Mody: Yeah, I think my experience in Malaysia was really great. Malaysia is a very, like, beautiful and rich country, and I was charmed very quickly with the culture, the food, the people. It's always going to be challenging to get used to being in a new place, but I think, you know, these challenges help you grow and mature a lot faster and become more self dependent. Certainly a lot of the culture cues you have to learn in a new place, but it was, overall, a very positive experience, I think. And I'd love to visit Malaysia again.
Maryam: Glad to hear that, you can come back. So in 2017, four years later, you took the plunge and did a course in Internet Applications at Algonquin College all the way in Canada. What inspired you to make that switch from game development to internet applications?
Mody: A lot of people after, I think, like, studying game development, would choose to continue their education. Some choose to go into areas like graphics programming nowadays, like, you know, machine learning and physics. There's a lot of areas you can go to. The path I took there was not very typical, but I realised that I have a really big gap in my knowledge there, and I sort of, like, researched the market a little bit in Canada, and I knew there were a lot of mobile game studios as well, so I wanted to learn about like web infrastructures and stuff like that. And it actually did help me align my first job in Canada afterwards, because that was a niche they were looking for. So being able to communicate with a web infrastructure and contribute a little bit and understand the security protocols and stuff like that was very helpful, and I actually still use it in my career. In fact, I think like half of my tasks have been related to something like that. So, yeah, it was also, like, out of interest, right, realising this gap I had and in this area, and wanting to learn about it.
Maryam: That's super insightful. You've studied and lived in two countries, Malaysia and Canada, that are so far apart from each other, not just in distance, but in terms of culture, weather and environment too. Can you tell us what that was like, especially as a foreign student?
Mody: Oh, stepping from Malaysia to Canada certainly felt like being transported into a completely different world. Again, it's always going to be challenging, getting used to being in a new place. Here, the weather is very different in Canada. After a while, in any new country, people can adapt and get used to the challenges and get used to the cultural cues, to the weather, to everything.
So like, if that is usually a concern for someone, I've seen so many people coming from all across the world, where the weather and culture is very different, but people here are very kind, and the country is full with opportunity, especially in my field. And so although it was challenging, I think it's always like a positive experience to move somewhere when it makes sense and works out for your favour.
Maryam: Now in Canada, you have landed various jobs in game development, from a mobile gaming company like WGAMES to making video games for Netflix at Snowman. What was that experience like?
Mody: I think I was very fortunate to have these two experiences, and I think a big part of it is the fact that Toronto, where I chose to move to, has a big presence of really interesting game studios. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is thinking about moving to Canada for work and game development.
Maryam: Do you think your degree from University of Wollongong helped you during the application process?
Mody: Absolutely. I think the headstart that the practical coursework and the degree and also the resulting portfolio from working all of these projects; these two things absolutely helped me get a headstart and sort of showcase my skill set. But it's also important to know that, like, a lot of what you learn in game development, you'll learn directly on the job. So that was a whole different challenge.
Maryam: I'm sure that made things a little easier for you right? In July 2022, you swerved to a career in software development at Meta's Reality Labs. To the listeners, this is Meta platform's research unit that produces virtual and augmented reality software and hardware, such as the Oculus headsets. So, Mody, was this a different experience to what you did as a game developer at WGAMES and Snowman?
Mody: Absolutely. So it was my first time actually working in a research environment. It's very different than in a production environment. But at the same time, it was a role where a lot of my previous experience came in handy. Essentially, what my role was, was to help human computer interaction researchers build the test that they would collect the data with to prove whether their thesis is correct or not, and that goes towards building cutting-edge technology. And so, it was probably one of the most interesting roles I had, although it was very different than, say, the work you would do in a production environment where you're kind of working on the same project for two years or three years.
Maryam: Did any of the skills that you picked up from your university days help you in any way during this process? I know that game studios care more about your portfolio than your qualifications, but if you could share with us if there was anything that you learned back then at University of Wollongong and Algonquin College that helped you with getting through to the next round in the interviews.
Mody: Absolutely. For XR, generally, when you make an XR application, the most popular way to do it is to use a game engine like Unity and Unreal Engine. So having to learn or understand how to make an application like that for XR is a matter of researching how to deploy a game for XR. A lot of development is like that, because essentially this is just another problem for you to solve, whether that problem is researching how to do networking or how to deploy a game to a VR headset. So it wasn't very different from game development, actually. It still uses the same technology and same skill sets.
Maryam: Fast forward to 2023, you dove further into virtual reality at a software development company, LogicalDox. Now, you've evolved into an XR or extended reality developer, where you create industrial training simulations instead. Can you tell us a bit more about what you're doing at LogicalDox?
Mody: I think at one point in my career, after working with Snowman, I felt like I had that part of me that wanted to make video games fulfilled. And at the end of the day, when you're working on video games, it's a fantastic field, but you're making, like, entertainment software. I've had friends who, you know, web developers and app developers who make very meaningful applications that help people in their lives, to help cancer patients or mental health applications, or even, like, applications to organise day to day tasks. So I think I was craving at that point in my career, like more meaningful applications, and that sort of the pitch to join LogicalDox sold me right away. Because essentially, when people, like, are training to fix elevators, for example, apparently there is more injury and at least one death a year and that these two numbers should be zero.
What we do is, we develop training simulations, right now, mostly for the trades, with focus on the safety training. So you put them in a virtual environment first, where they can learn, for example, how to fix an elevator with, really big focus on doing the safety steps. So that when you put them in a real life situation where they have to train in the real world, they don't make the mistakes that would cost them, you know, their lives, before even getting to the job. So I felt that was very meaningful. And, you know, it was an easy sell. It's really genuine. You know, we're getting statistics back and, like, people are getting injured less during training, because it's so common. It's actually crazy how much injury happens in trades training.
Maryam: I just think it's so inspiring that you grew up dreaming of creating something for leisure, and now you're doing something that would actually help and save lives.
Mody: Yeah.
Maryam: You've shown us how a degree in game development or a diploma in internet applications can lead to many different career paths. Do you have any tips for our listeners on what we should do or what to expect for thinking of making a switch like that in our careers?
Mody: My first advice would be to start from the job postings and work your way back. So look for the city, for example, that you're planning to move in. Look for the jobs you're thinking about, and sort of go through the job descriptions and what the requirements are and see if, like, the path you're choosing would make sense. What's your opportunity like? I think the place matters, but also the connections, the connections you make along the way, help you, and can help you in unexpected ways, but also like being very prepared for when you get, like, an opportunity.
One thing that I think professional software engineers do is that they train on coding problems even when they have job security. So that helps you when, when you get, like, a very technically demanding role or opportunity, for example, and they are testing you on a niche of problems, then you know, you don't, like, fail at the interview because you're not prepared.
Maryam: Last but not least. What exciting projects are you currently working on? What's next for Mody Ibrahim?
Mody: Oh, I'm currently leading the development team at LogicalDox. But besides that, I really enjoy teaching how to write production game code. I'm currently writing a book about game production code and sort of teaching on the side. I've been, also in my free time, I make small, silly games, and yeah, that's what I'm currently working on, and what makes me feel fulfilled.
Maryam: Alright, that sounds really exciting to us too. We can't wait to see what you put out. Thank you so much Mody, it was really great talking to you. For more stories of the highs, lows, and in-betweens of studying abroad, don't forget to check us out at www.studyinternational.com. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. We can be found across these platforms under the username, Study International. Bye.