Developer Spotlight - Alfonso del Cerro, Pentadimensional Games!
Megaton Rainfall lets you step into the shoes of a powerful superhero; you get the strength, the flight, and all the responsibility of that power. Accelerate from zero to Mach 10 in 5 seconds, shoot around a full-sized Earth, and stave off an alien invasion but make sure not to miss!
You might just accidentally level the entire city, if you’re not careful.
Madrid-based programmer Alfonso del Cerro has been working on Megaton Rainfall for four years now but the game should be heading to PlayStation VR later this year as announced during Paris Games Week.
What does your work with Pentadimensional Games entail?
It entails working a lot because I’ve been a one-man-band for almost four years. I’ve made all the design, programming, and sound. Recently, I got some funding and there are five more people working on the game but I still work increasingly hard polishing every little detail… until midnight and beyond. It also entails managing my company, doing marketing stuff, travelling to events to showcase the game, and learning about many different aspects of game development.
What was it that drove you to game development?
I remember that when I was a child I wanted to be an astronomer. One day, my parents screwed up: they gave me a MSX Computer (instead of a telescope) and I started to play games and learn programming in BASIC. A few years later, I studied computer science because I already knew that I wanted to program games.
The last year of my studies, I developed a small game that approximately 25 people played. It was a third-person action-adventure game with a lot of advanced rendering techniques which is what I like to do most. Unity & Unreal Engine didn’t exist at the time and making a 3D game all by yourself was a challenge, but I sent it to several companies and I entered the games industry thanks to it.
What hardware/software do you usually use?
I use a high-end PC and Visual Studio 99% of the time. Megaton Rainfall is made with a C++ based custom engine as opposed to Unity or Unreal Engine. Also, I use the PlayStation 4 and PSVR development kits. Sometimes, I use more exotic hardware like when I made motion-capture of my own hands using the Leap Motion device.
What misconceptions do people have about your job?
Most people think that making games is easier than it really is. A lot of people ask, “are you still developing the same game?”. They have no idea that creating a game with commercial quality these days is a titanic task, and sometimes it can be very stressful.
What do you love most about your work?
I love the feeling of satisfaction when — after a lot of work — a feature starts to look really cool. And then, when a tester plays it and I confirm that this feeling is conveyed to them.
I think that other forms of art are more direct; you start painting a picture and instantly anybody can see what you are trying to convey, but games are interactive experiences and complex programmes. It only works after weeks of polishing, debugging, fine-tuning… but when it does work, it’s magical!
Do you have any advice for budding game developers?
Make games. It’s now a lot easier to make games than it was 13 years ago… but entering the industry and making games for a living is still just as difficult. Make several small games, and then spend 500+ hours making an excellent games, and put it in front of the recruiters. At least, it worked for me.
(This interview has been edited for clarity with the permission of the developer)
