BioWare Austin Interview

BioWare Austin senior environment artist Lou Talamo was on hand at a recent “Gamerz Videogame Exchange” event, so Bitmob cornered him for a Q&A about his responsibilities, the Austin video game job market, how to become a Star Wars: The Old Republic tester, and more.

Do you think indie developers still stand a chance in Austin or is it all about hoping to be bought out by a bigger company?

I think they are all trying to be bought out by bigger companies. Red Fly, for example, aren’t necessarily looking to be bought out, they are guys who really have a lot of experience making quality content–its not what they are looking for. But a lot of studios I know, that is there intent. Austin has become a very strong gaming community and you see these indie developers and I don’t know how they can even last today. You look back ten years ago and you can come up with a concept, get a bunch of guys together, and make a really good demo, sell that and go somewhere. Today that’s not the case. It’s tough, you need a lot of money backing you and the lead guys need to have a lot of experience, because these publishers are putting out a lot of money on these games.