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The GGJ Podcast brings the spirit of Global Game Jam to your headphones, with people from around the world sharing how they found their way into game development. Each week, Susan Gold talks with developers, studio founders, and festival organizers about the twists, risks, and side doors that shaped their paths and communities. You will hear honest stories about creativity, collaboration, failure, and the messy, beautiful reality of making games.
Reinventing Yourself : NicoCastez
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Intro
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[00:00:00] Susan Gold: This is the GGJ Podcast, a show about the games industry, the people who make them, and the communities that grow up around them. I'm Susan Gold, a game Education Trailblazer and one of the founders of the Global Game Jam. Each week we will be sitting down with a new guest. Highlighting their own path and journey.
[00:00:26] This is a space for honest conversation from makers about creativity, collaboration, failure, and the messy, the beautiful reality of making games. So whether you're a young dev or seasoned an educator, a student, or someone who just loves games and the people behind them, welcome to the GGJ Podcast. Take a breath, settle in, and let's hear directly from the makers themselves.
[00:00:49] Shirley McPhaul: This episode is made possible in partnership with the Global Game Jam, the world's largest game creation event, bringing together creators from around the globe. A big thank you as well to the Global Game Jam's. Headline [00:01:00] sponsors, epic Games, games for Change, and Ex Sola for helping make this creative community a reality.
[00:01:06] To learn more and to get involved in the upcoming jams, visit global game jam.org. This episode is brought to you in part through the support of the University of Miami School of Communication, and the John s and James L. Knight Foundation.
Meet Nico Castez
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[00:01:28] Susan Gold: I am so happy to welcome Nico Castes to the podcast today. Nico is a video game designer, musician, and photographer based in La Plata Argentina, whose work stretches across studios, classrooms, festivals, and community events. He's spent a decade running a small studio creating games, and today we're going to talk about his journey and the way making games has helped him define who he is and what he wants to do in the world.
[00:01:58] What I love about [00:02:00] Nico is how honestly he talks about beginnings, endings, and starting again, and how he finds new ways to live from video games without losing his curiosity or his heart.
[00:02:12] Welcome Nico.
[00:02:14] Nico Castez: Hi, Susan. Thank you for that amazing introduction. it's very moving. also, I'm so, humbly happy to be here andUm. So, yes, I'm here to, to share a little bit about my story with Avix and how that story, got to an end.
[00:02:31] Susan Gold: All right, but for now, when you meet people, how are you introducing yourself? What are you telling people when they meet you for the first time now?
[00:02:42] Nico Castez: I think I embraced, full random mode and sometimes it depends on the context. I, I share what I think it's more, relevant, because I'm, I'm someone who's very curious and I have many hobbies and, and some are more professional than [00:03:00] others. but depending on the context, I say that I'm a photographer, maybe an a music enthusiast, or a producer or a game designer or a game developer.
[00:03:10] I think I'm, In essence, a very, in English, I don't know the, the, but very, lu ludic,
[00:03:16] like, I like to play with things, you know, with technologies, with rules, with, with expectations from, social codes, whatever. It's like improvising or making jokes. It's all part of the same, desire to surprise someone with something different, to, to invite them to think about the world in a different way.
[00:03:35] It's like we, we always repeat the same things most of the time. And when something or someone invites you to do something different, we learn about ourselves and we, loosen a bit.
The Road to Avix
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[00:03:47] Susan Gold: I just think of you as a creator, I'm so always sad when people like to just put themselves in one box, but I love the fact that you've always been exploring all these [00:04:00] aspects of yourself and, I really am impressed by the fact that your start early on was kind of one of those experiences that, really set a tone for, for your life, you know, about, wanting to make games for a living, but living from video games.
[00:04:22] What does that mean for you personally right now in your life and career?
[00:04:27] Nico Castez: I think,up to closing. Avix, was, first was like a challenge, was something that, like in survival mode, we, it's, it was something that we had to achieve and we did. And we lived from video games for nine years, and I think that's one of the things that I, I'm most proud of from the Avix years because most of the people we met, they had on other jobs, they had other things. They had other, boring, professional task to, to solve. so they have money to make games and for most of the time we, we [00:05:00] achieve to live from our games. And nowadays I still have some passive income and I think that's something that I, it's worth mentioning. It's not enough for me to live, but it's a help, and I think it's it's thanks to those, decisions we made as Avix that took us to create our own IPs and our own games, and not just making games for a client. we did both things and both paid off. so nowadays I still, I am still working on how to make games in my new, context.
[00:05:34] Susan Gold: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:05:36] let's go back to those early years and, how you went from studying to making a game and deciding that that was what you were gonna do for a living.
[00:05:46] Nico Castez: Mine is, like a, a story of, let's say evolution. I went to high school. I repeat, repeated you say in English. I, I had to do a year again. And, that's also like,[00:06:00] oh, you repeat, it's something bad. But it gave me time to think about what I wanted to do. And that time led me to make, my first startup that it was not very professional or very serious, but, but I did something of my own that people saw value and,put money into that.
[00:06:16] And that was the high school saw something I was doing that was related to photography. And I did like a flash launcher on a CD you know, So, I was doing something be out of curiosity, mixing photography and development and design in high school and the school paid to copy those, you know?
[00:06:36] And, that was my first, let's say, company. And, it was just two years. Then I moved to Buenos Aires. I started working doing flash presentations. And my story has a lot of,pages, you know, like I, I, I was working as a designer there, I started a video game company with a very good friend of mine, Marcelo Aberman. and we did some video games for this, How do [00:07:00] you call the saloons? You, you, you hire to celebrate your kids' birthday party,
[00:07:05] we did,video games for, for a place like this, using, customized hardware because my friend Marcelo was studying Electric Engineering, And, after that I had different startups with different,partners and I had to, to decide to move on like four or five times before Avix so the previous page before Avix I had a studio, a graphic design studio. We did branding, we did websites, we did, we started doing some video games . Mostly supporting some small flash video games in 2005, and that, that's the moment when I said, okay, there are opportunities in video games. So I decided to close a very healthy graphic design studio and start with a new name that was Avix. and for me it was so natural, it was like, okay, I, I need to move on.
[00:07:56] Intiva, that was the name of my previous studio, was [00:08:00] not representative of where I wanted to get. So, I mo moved on and I quit, a couple of very, secure jobs. I don't know how to say, but you know, I'm, I remember my mother being like, afraid. Are you sure you're gonna quit that job?
[00:08:15] That pays you will for
[00:08:16] Susan Gold: 21
[00:08:17] then, right? You're 21, 22 years old.
[00:08:20] Nico Castez: that part of, let's say not failed, but, previous, startups was from 21 years old to 26, I think, something like that.
[00:08:33] Susan Gold: But you just kept trying. That's another thing that, people neglect to mention is, yeah, I tried, but then, I got knocked down, but then I went, got back up and I tried again. and it's interesting that you went through, versions of yourself, what you thought you wanted to do, and then you finally came up with Avix and then.
[00:08:59] You were able to [00:09:00] attract the people that you needed to to make this come true. How did that happen?
[00:09:06] Nico Castez: first of all, you, you did, I think, mention that I'm from La Plata, LA Plata. It's, one hour south, Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires city. It's where most of these kind of things happen, where most of the companies are in Argentina. But at that moment, I didn't know that I, I was from the Plata. I did know, a video game studio here, but barely, I, I, I did some animations for them, but I didn't know about the industry. I didn't know about anything else. So, when we went to an event in Buenos Aires, we met Alejandro Paraguirre, also big friend of mine. He was, such a big part of, of my professional career, big shootout to him.
[00:09:46] Um, he was organizing through the national, culture, government position. He had, a Game Jam inside this event. and we participated on this Game Jam. That was two days. the theme was,human rights, [00:10:00] but also a few, the topics around that.
[00:10:03] And we decided to do a game about a kid that has to learn how to use a wheelchair. and we met that way. I showed you that game, and I remember you, resonating with this game because you had to, to to learn how to use a wheelchair or something like that,
[00:10:18] because you had
[00:10:19] Susan Gold: I had broken my leg and I, I was in San Francisco at GDC in a wheelchair on those hills, you know,
[00:10:27] Nico Castez: Yeah, no, it's crazy. But for me, it was amazing to see how a video game could impact so much more than the previous job I was doing as a graphic designer. I loved making, branding, but video games have this potential of becoming part of you. Like the games I played when I was a child, I, I'm never gonna forget about like the monkey island jokes, you know?
[00:10:48] Or the first time I played Pump it Up and danced on this machine that I ended up buying on COVID. But that's other story.
[00:10:57] so after these three [00:11:00] years running the, the graphic design studio Intiva and I deciding to focus only on video games, and going to this Game Jam, I was amazed by, by this thing that I just had participated. so I came back to La Plata and I decided to organize the first Game Jam here, that was on 2013,13 years ago. I still have the t-shirt around there, and it's. It should be thrown away, but I'm not going to. but that was the first Game Jam and I've met so many people, in that Game Jam that ended up being, my, my business partner or, or people we worked with or people who started a different company. And that was the, the, the beginning of our local community. and it was, it was a blast. and I, I'm still a fan of Game Jam as a format to, to know people, to explore ideas without, the, the concern of, committing to it for a long, [00:12:00] a long time.
[00:12:01] And it's amazing. so after two Game Jams, we started talking with Leandro Camugli. My, my co-founder with Avix. I, I already started Avix as a brand and I was already, toying around some ideas and some context, that I had. and, and a year later, Leandro joined me and that's when the Power Couple started, you know. We were very complimentary. We, we both have some, very different skills, but some of the skills and, and, and the way we understood other people and challenges we had a very,compatible, language between each other.
[00:12:37] Susan Gold: and there was an excitement and a energy about it as well because when you meet someone that's like things like you and, and understands things like you, it's so rare. And then you're like, oh, I don't have to explain. 50% of what I usually have to tell is someone else, they're already thinking it.
[00:12:59] when [00:13:00] you started the studio? how many people did you bring in with you?
Making Games with Friends
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[00:13:04] Nico Castez: At first it was just us for the first. Not sure, year, maybe. because both of us were able to make a game by, by ourselves. like a small interesting, cool concept we can bring to life.
[00:13:20] And so the first games, it was mostly us and maybe Tomás Batista, a musician from Argentina that is, also, a good friend. or, or maybe we partner for a, for a project with someone. But, but it was mostly us. and then after a couple of years we started growing as a team, with a, a very good artist from here, from Argentina and, I think that was the great triangle. Also, I almost forgot about mentioning my sister. she's an artist. Lucia Castez everyone here into this podcast should look and find my sister. She's, amazing, very talented.
[00:13:58] And we [00:14:00] started making games, with, with Marcelo my friend from high school, but also with Lucia. My, my sister. We made games, Since before Avix even. so it started growing as a kind of family, sounds like a cliche, but truly we were like a family. I mean, my sister
[00:14:16] was living next door and the hallway where both apartments are, we're like the hub in, in our city, we were like the mafia of video games.and it was amazing. It was super cool to, to grow in that organic way because we never asked for money, we never, receive investment or, or. have debt or, I dunno. We never had any kind of funding. We were paying our next, challenges with the previous, successes. Even though they were small. we had the privilege of being able to do that, and grow slowly.
[00:14:53] Susan Gold: And did you as a, a family of choice, did you continue to bring [00:15:00] on people over the course of the nine years or did that become your static? This is us as a nugget.
[00:15:07] Nico Castez: No, no, absolutely not. the entire nine years most of the team stayed, but there, there was some movement, new people coming, some people leaving. But most of the people, the core team, were with us for the longest time.
[00:15:22] but when, when we saw developers that were talented, sometimes we offered, some role, in some project, but also sometimes we try to help them in their projects.
[00:15:32] and we did that, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but every time it was, a learning and it was, working on our relationships with, with other developers. And also,Avix was not just a video game development company, we also did a lot of events and, and websites trying to help the community here in Argentina. We did a website that was called Juegos Argentinos that is, is not there anymore, but we [00:16:00] still have the database of all the studios in Argentina at that moment in time. and we were trying all the time to help,
[00:16:07] Susan Gold: I, I,
[00:16:08] when you ran Avix and when it was at its best, what was your life like in the studio? What you know, because you make games and you were the boss, so how did life go?
What it was like
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[00:16:23] Nico Castez: yes, something that I was always proud of I is that we were not that many people and we were working on maybe four projects at the same time. but we were working six hours a day. we were not crunching, we were not doing, extra hours. we were, I don't know, we were very, productive in the sometimes chaotic way of working, but it was like everyone knew what we were doing and it worked for us. we did so many games and sometimes we had like one or two Cartoon Network games and a couple of games of our [00:17:00] own and a Game Jam, internal game jam that we did, and. I think one of those moments where we were doing all of this was before COVID that we were invited by Google to,to a accelerator program in Singapore. And
[00:17:16] it was like a dream because, I don't know, we were doing the, the games we wanted to do in the scale and with the, with a small team, but we were there. We were along, so many bigger, much bigger studios. and it was, it was so cool. And I remember at that point after COVID, that changed quite a lot for everyone.
[00:17:38] we were nominated in the Big Brazilian games festival, in the same category with two games. So good news is that we won, but also bad news we lost to ourselves. And that for me, was amazing. I mean, a small studio from Argentina being there like, it was so crazy to, to see ourselves [00:18:00] being twice nominated
[00:18:01] Uh, super crazy.
[00:18:03] Susan Gold: Well, you should be very proud. So there you are, the, this is Avix at its best.
[00:18:11] what was it like to survive as a small team in Argentina?
[00:18:15] Nico Castez: At Avix we were, as, as we already mentioned, a, a, a small team. I had many different, suits. Usually I was the one talking to clients or talking to, like the connection between the, the more technical part and the, the team, and the client and the expectations and the, the schedule and the budget. And also with talking with the accountant and also doing all that kind of stuff.
[00:18:42] But also I was part of the, ideation of, of games when we had something new to, to solve. So it was like moving around. and some other, people in the team were more focused on, on art, only on music, but they were like very,[00:19:00] jack of all traits. Professionals, so we could trust each other a lot.
[00:19:04] And regarding, Argentina, uh, the, the kind of games we made in Avix were simple games where small games that had a, a catchy concept like Thumb Fighters, a fighting game between two thumbs, and it's super easy to recognize and super, uh, easy to play because it's just, uh, one button fighting game. For me maybe, we were super lucky to, to have a couple of games that were, like viral. By themselves. And obviously there were games that didn't do that. But because we did so many games, I think we had, opportunity to aim better the next time, or learn, or at least finish this project.
[00:19:49] And I see a lot of that not happening in Argentina. I see many studios and professionals trying to make bigger. Games like that are like [00:20:00] working on two years on something that they don't really know if it's gonna work. And I'm not saying that our way was the only one, absolutely not. but I still to till today see projects and teams failing because of bigger scopes that than they needed.
[00:20:18] Maybe. I, I was thinking about what's the smallest game you can make? What's the smallest game you can make? And you can polish and you can deliver and you can put out there, you know, I think that's a challenge that I would invite everyone to, to, to face.
[00:20:37] And as an exercise, not as your main product maybe, but for us, it, it has worked.
COVID Times
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[00:20:43] Susan Gold: Now one of the big changes in everybody's life was the pandemic and COVID seems to be a turning point for you and the company. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that time?
[00:20:57] Nico Castez: Yeah.yes, I can talk about that. We, [00:21:00] we were going to an office, I remember, we've heard, there's this thing, there's this COVID thing. We never went back to that office after that day. And it was super crazy. We as technology people, we could get used to discord, pretty quickly. It was not the same. I think everyone started to feel included myself, to feel more near their lives. Because you work in your home, working with your pets, working. Yes. Gandalf is there. so. I think everyone started to want to balanced better. at, at first we, we continued with this, let's say, virtual office.
[00:21:43] We were there connected and talking as if it were like a real space. And it was cool at first, but then slowly it, it, it was not the same. No one had the same,desire to, to interact all the time with [00:22:00] anyone else because you had to concentrate and focus on, on whatever you are you want to, to do.
[00:22:05] And for me as, as an owner, I started, slowly to feel that after eight years having a company, it's fair to, to feel that you need some space and some time for your own stuff, right?
[00:22:18] and I think the COVID and the remote work, invited us to balance more that, and communities. I, I think COVID mostly for communities was a big change because before COVID communities in video games, or may maybe in everything, were a local thing, were something that you relate to people that are close to you.
[00:22:39] Susan Gold: And after COVID that stopped, stopped happening. people were relating to, I don't know, people from other provinces because they now, they have a job from Cordova and, and they don't interact with you anymore that much because they are not part of this community anymore. They're part of the community. in the virtual world. Well, [00:23:00] you know, the reality is, um, there is something about the connection of working with people I know now, working from home, I really miss having someone to share, experiences with, and so I get that.
[00:23:19] so the company is eight, nine years old at this time, and you've run it for almost a decade. what happened was there, the meeting, a phone call, a particular day, a series of events that made you think, This has to change,
The End of Avix
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[00:23:37] Nico Castez: I can think about a few things that for me were, were very decisive. but the thing was that the last year of Avix, our visions were split, were different. and we were a small, a small company. We were the infrastructure. And maybe a company with two partners [00:24:00] can't follow two different visions, because who pays the bills, right?
[00:24:04] so I think when I saw that. That there was this intention of, not trying to find a common ground. and that communication that we had, at first, was gone. I decided to move on, and I think it was for the best. It's, it's not easy. It was not easy at all. but it's obviously a good thing to move on if you're not happy with something, if you are struggling with, your day to day relationships and you have to remember that you are part of something you've created and if that thing you created, it's not following you and your life goals or your lifestyle or whatever you have to, or try trying to change it. Often it's very hard. and if you can't change it, you have to move on and adapt your way of working or your [00:25:00] relationships or your projects to the way you want to live. And, and for me, that was more important than than the history of, of the company.
[00:25:10] Susan Gold: And was it a decision that just you solely made or was it a, both of you looked at each other and were like, I don't see how he can move forward.
[00:25:23] Nico Castez: I think, I, I was the one saying like in every couple, it doesn't mean that, that both of us didn't know that things were not working, But I, I remember the day he asked me if I wanted to keep working with him, and I said, no. And that was it. that was the conclusion of a, a longer story.
[00:25:42] but it's, it's hard because along those last six years when we had different conversations, we always had a very good conversation about Avix. We were always happy about our scope of successes, but always [00:26:00] when we had, any conversations about future or something we had this option of, or we can close, we had mentioned that in, in the last three years, after many, many different, conversations. But when it came the time to take that decision, it was not taken the best way. I, like in a, I know it's hard to ask because I was the one asking to, to see the elephant in the room and say, okay, let's move on. This is over. In, in a, in a good way. I mean,it's, it's, such a big thing to create a company that it's a hypothesis, an experiment, and it did so good that it lasted more than 10 years and it shouldn't end in an awkward way. but you can't control how something that you decide,impacts in everyone else. but I think,everyone else around abs do not know the entire story, because it's not the same to be an [00:27:00] owner than to be an employee, and I think I had to take that decision because my intuition, my intuition was saying, this is a good time because. There were all the things happening. we were finishing the bigger game project we had, we were, understanding that Cartoon network was not going to be around anymore.
[00:27:20] We were seeing a couple of other partners also struggling, and, I remember having this, like v visual idea of me playing poker and say, okay, this is enough.
[00:27:31] I want to,
[00:27:33] to cash out and stop, betting, you know, because at the same time there were more personal things happening. Maybe middle life crisis. I was. Almost getting to forty years old. but at the same time,I should mention, for example, a couple of colleagues from Argentina that, passed away in those years, like Jeremias Babini, and, Pablo Navajas some people that were very loved in our community, in our industry, and they, they [00:28:00] left us. And those kind of things make you think, how long do I want to keep betting? when I'm gonna stop for a moment and enjoy what I have achieved?
[00:28:11] not talking like about money, I'm talking about I'm 40 years old. I have family that might not be here in the future. I have friends that might not be here in the future. I have, you know, many, many things that could happen and, there's this famous quote about if you die and you have money left, you did bad calculations. I don't know in English how it is, but I did a bad translation. But,and so I, I had that feeling that I, I wanted to stop betting and take some time to see what to do and not feeling the way I was feeling that Avix was feeling closer to, a constraint than to,a, an empowered thing. And, and at the time we won, something that was amazing. We won, [00:29:00] I, I guess it was, 2023. we started the year knowing that we won, a indie fan prize from Google, and we won a, a, a really, really huge, prize that helped us to, to start like really up energies. but it didn't change it, it was not about money. It was not about that. It was about visions, where we wanted to, to go.
[00:29:27] And I think it makes sense that when you grow your context changes and what was good when you are younger, maybe it's not enough when you have some, economic, stability. So now I don't want to make a game that I don't really want to do because I, I want to do it because of something else, and. Something I remember also is that when we started working together, something that we, we mentioned as a difference between us, with Leandro is that some of the games we [00:30:00] liked were similar, but some other games were very different. So we didn't like, or we didn't play the same games. So at first I remember it was not a problem. But I think it became a problem when we grew 10 years because we wanted to go different ways.
[00:30:18] Susan Gold: So just a quick maybe. If we could you know, look under a slide really quickly,
[00:30:27] your sense of identity. I mean there you were successful, you had one recognition, you had a lot of people who knew your name, knew the studio, and then all of a sudden it's over. What emotions came up for you that you didn't expect? because it was your decision to make the move. Did you still suffer through the loss?
[00:30:56] Nico Castez: I mean, we are humans. Of course. It was not an easy call [00:31:00] to, to close Avix at first. It was a feeling of relief because we were building this, card castle, each decision was building and that was, something we had in the back of our minds, this castle can fall apart in at any time. You never know what can happen. Um, and for me the first thing was, yes relief, but then it turned a little bit of awkwardness on the conversations we had to, to have,you know, uh, closing a company is not just throw closing a door and throw out the key.
[00:31:36] It's like a lot of steps with the accountant and people. we had to, let go and do everything, as we should do. and it takes time. And we still have to finish things of almost two years later.
[00:31:51] So, I hopefully will we'll be able to say to my grandchildren that I closed Avix entirely.
Moving On
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[00:31:59] Nico Castez: how do you [00:32:00] process this emotionally and put it in a frame of context that allows you to feel comfortable about it, Takes time. Takes time. And a lot of, internal processes I mean, it depends on your brain structure. I'm more, what's it neurotic? So I, I tend to talk to myself about things that happened and repeat some conversations and, you know, I think about other outcomes or other things I could have said, uh, but, What helped me a lot was to take some distance, As I said, I have many other interests. Uh, and I went, for example to, uh, an a circus convention and there were so many, workshops about juggling, about playing with fire, about, and the community there is so awesome, you know, and, it was fantastic for me to go to a new place and see these similar communities [00:33:00] in a very different world with people that are also sharing, something that they love. and I think I did that kind of, exploration and knowing that there are many other communities that I can feel, comfortable in.
[00:33:14] I, I think it's part of my process and also something I, I, I sometimes struggle with because it's,like having many interests. It's, sometimes a pain in the back because you can't do everything. You have to choose. And when you are choosing, you are leaving something out.
[00:33:34] And and that's something I still juggle with. That's why I go to circus conventions. I want to juggle my, my life and my, my interests. And sometimes I, I am able to do that. Something that I like a lot also, that it's, it's related to everything I do. It's, I'm a very sociable person.
[00:33:53] I love meeting people. I love talking to new people. And, and that's why I think I'm very interested in, [00:34:00] in getting to these other. bubbles or worlds, you know.I started also doing a musical, uh, like, like a tiny desk kind of thing in, in my house, and it's amazing.
[00:34:13] I can get to meet new musicians and each time it's gets bigger and I have 30 people here in my home, enjoying. And I, I record
[00:34:22] that and I upload it. I don't know, it's, it's like starting over in the best way possible. using all the knowledge I had from my previous experiences as a designer, as a photographer, and, exploring and bringing something different to these places because, maybe video games, it's an industry that we are used to. To see people from different,backgrounds. It's an industry where you have programmers, musicians, artists, and there's this mix. It's a normal thing for us. But in other, industries, it's not that way. I mean, I come from a graphic design and in that, [00:35:00] community, it's everyone. It's a drummer, you know, maybe you have more, now you have more UX or more, more this thing or more that thing.
[00:35:08] But there's less, diversity. And when, when I go to this, I don't know, circus convention, I, I can connect so many things with my background that probably many of them can't because they have other backgrounds. But at the same time, it's like, what if I do a video game about juggling with fire?
[00:35:27] And
[00:35:27] it's great to be able to face yourself to new people.
Goraku Club
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[00:35:31] Susan Gold: When you started thinking about making games again, what did you know had to be different this time? I know you didn't want to rebuild the same studio with a new name, so what makes you new venture different?
[00:35:47] Nico Castez: It is, again, projects and companies or studios or everything, it's, an experiment. And my new experiments that, it's called Goraku Club, it's something that I, I want to [00:36:00] build closer to a co-operative,like horizontal way of working together and not having like a business partner forever or for every game, but a way to get together with people and and be partners just for a game. And it's, it's maybe too early in, in, in this project, but it's happening. We are building a, a couple of games and something I I've learned as well from my time in at Avix is that I, I enjoy a lot helping people, to, to live from video games or to grow in the video games industry.
[00:36:37] So I, I enjoy a lot working with people that are starting and helping them not to get frustrated on their first game because they decided to make something huge or they chose a technology that is too hard or whatever. And, I hope to be able to help from, from Goraku to do that.
[00:36:57] Susan Gold: I like that, but I also like the [00:37:00] idea of having these short collaborations that create new kinds of games and new ways to play. And, I really like that idea of having. a lot of people to choose from. I, I really like the co-op, approach that they do in Argentina is very new to me, but it allows for people who do not have the means or the team to actually be able to create.
Buenos Aires vs La Plata
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[00:37:31] Susan Gold: I wanted to ask you, you decided to stay in La Plata, which isn't Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is a Paris of South America. It's, this enormous place and everything goes on there. but yet you're quite comfortable being outside of that main throng of. Developers, is there a reason why you're not relocating [00:38:00] to Buenos Aires or another major city?
[00:38:03] Nico Castez: I, I think I haven't been offered, to move for any opportunity because I always created my own opportunities. I always created my own things, and people from La Plata. La Plata means Silver City. It's a very, it's smaller than Buenos Aires, but it's, we, we are very proud of our city and we like it. I, I think that, I think there's no reason to move to other place and nowadays that remote. Work is so common, and it's what I think most of the people prefer. and even the even more thinking about this kind of, collaboration projects, I was talking about with Goraku, that I didn't mention, but also something I want from Goraku is that you can. balance your, your life with that. like when you build a company with a constant rate of work and, and you can't take, time off and, and I hope to, to [00:39:00] be able to build something that if you make a game and you do well and you want to take couple of months, you can do that because it, it doesn't depend on, only on you,but La Plata, it's a, it's the place where I have all my friends, family, and, I will go to Buenos Aires after this call because there's this Mundolingo like language exchange thing. I love to go. It's just an hour. and for me, there's no reason. Maybe if I decide to. To embrace, like a traveling lifestyle, that it's something that is deep, deep down in my bucket list. maybe I will do
The Future & Take Aways
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[00:39:34] Susan Gold: Alright, as we start to wrap this up, I wanna talk a little bit about the future. You've done a lot of talks and you've really been working on doing workshops all over the country and mentoring young developers. You've done GGJ, you've participated in the local clubs,
[00:39:50] What do you want people to know about forging a path, about finding their way to [00:40:00] become a creator, to put their stuff out there? Are there recommendations and things that you would say to people, especially in south America, or is it just in game development in general?
[00:40:14] Nico Castez: I think one of the advices I could share is that they are not alone. they are not alone to solve problems. They're not alone to grow, to explore I mean, communities nowadays are things that are, are created, around something. Before it was. Your location now, it's maybe the tool or maybe the gen genre of game you're making or maybe whatever you choose, you can create communities of people who are named Nicolás, I don't know. But it's important that you're not, alone and you can, have someone to, to talk with about what you're doing or helping someone else is a very excellent way of, of growing and learning, because every game [00:41:00] teaches you something different. And if you are working on one game, your lessons are going to be very monotonous. But if you are like sharing this, developments, even though it's like from afar just through a conversation helping to test, you can learn so much and not fall into problems that maybe. Most of the people around you already solved, and, and sometimes you don't even have to.
[00:41:25] I'm very sociable. But I, I invite everyone to, to find a developer that they like the games they are making and write them and say hello. And you don't even need a reason, in my opinion, if you like what they're doing, you just say, Hey, I like what you're doing, and maybe that's the start of a conversation that takes you some place, you know?
Explore, Play & Stay Creative
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[00:41:46] Susan Gold: I love that. Speaking of, Are you showing your photography in places?
[00:41:53] Nico Castez: Not yet, but I'm, let's say, exploring different kinds of photography, but it's very. [00:42:00] It's very amazing because let's be honest with this, video games are amazing. I love making video games. I love sharing video games. I love seeing someone playing our video games, but most of the time we don't see people playing our video games.
[00:42:14] And maybe the video game we created in two years is going to die because Google updates something. So we are creating things that do not last as much as a sculpture, you know? and also we don't connect that much with the people we are, trying to entertain and photography. It's so direct.
[00:42:35] I took some pictures of people on the river today doing some sports, on the water, and I sent the pictures to them and they were happy and I, I said that no need to pay me anything. and they paid me anyway. And it's crazy, but. It was something that I was doing because I wanted to, it was something I was enjoying. I was, documenting in a very artistic way. People on a very lovely sunset and [00:43:00] they paid me. and that's quite crazy for me because making a video game nowadays, it's, it gets harder to make money. And I think it's the general feeling because games got bigger, much bigger and, when we started, it was not the best moment, but we were closer to the best moment when App Store appear, and any small game was a potential success We got like in the second wave, but. But we did small games that were interesting for us and were not like a huge investment and we did good. But nowadays you games do not, end. Fortnite is going to be there, Rocket League is going to be there, and people do not have time to play new games. And that's a very challenging thing. and that's why I, I love not just photography, but these musical events I'm producing or maybe going to game jams and seeing people playing the games I'm creating, [00:44:00] or, or festivals.
[00:44:02] Susan Gold: And that's something I still love, you know, like getting closer to the toy maker.I think that. Games are complex toys, Well, You make games that are complex toys. I think that's more to the point. not everybody makes a game that's a toy. Sometimes they just make a ance of their own, skill. but, you make more toy-like games, which is a different style. And, that is, Has its own sense of, of place in the genres of games and it's its own medium in which you can explore.
Where to find Nico
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[00:44:39] Susan Gold: As we, wrap up our conversation here. Where can people find your games, photos, and what you're building next with Goraku Club?
[00:44:50] Nico Castez: I think that the easiest way is to share all my links.com, slash NicoCastez.
[00:44:56] Susan Gold: Yeah. I, I appreciate that and, I [00:45:00] really feel that there's so much to you as a developer, as a person who likes to create, and I am so grateful that you are willing to share your story so that others can learn from it, and also see that they are not alone. And that I love how you, you put that all together, that we are in this together, and, I truly appreciate you being so open and honest about what has transpired over your career and that I am looking forward to great new things for you.
[00:45:38] Nico Castez: Thank you. It was a blast to be part of this and so happy for all the things you created because behind my story, it's the Global Game Jam, right? you've been part of my story as well, even though I didn't mention as much as I should. But I imagine my story is the same as thousands of people that were part of Global Game Jam, and I think that's,[00:46:00] like,lighthouse, I don't know if in English is the same like that a guide, the way Global Game Jam works, it's amazing and we should try to do other things in the same way.
[00:46:12] Susan Gold: I know that the organization is constantly trying to grow and trying to expand and find opportunities for developers all over the world. So you know, you're always welcome and I truly thank you so much for sharing. This has been the Global Game Jam podcast. Thank you very much.
[00:46:34]
Outro
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[00:46:34] Shirley McPhaul: Want to get involved with the G GJ podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Please send your ideas, suggestions, and questions to ggj pod@globalgamejam.org and tell us who you think we should be talking to next. What stories or issues matter most to you about the future of games, and help us highlight the people and practices that make a sustainable, creative life and games possible.[00:47:00]
[00:47:00] Thank you for spending time with us on the GGJ Podcast. This conversation sparked something for you. Please share it with someone who might find it useful, and don't forget to follow along so you never miss new stories from makers around the world. You can find more episodes, resources, and information about the Global Game jam@globalgamejam.org.
[00:47:21] Catch us on substack and on YouTube and anywhere else you find podcasts. This has been the GGJ Podcast. Thanks for listening and keep making games.