Welcome, one and all, to another tale of learner success! For this interview, we’ll be chatting with Derick Conti Pereira, a Java developer getting a running start in the realm of game development.

We’re excited to get to chat with you, Derick! To start things off, could you tell us a little bit about what got you into programming originally?

Since I was a kid, I wanted to work with computers. At that time, I didn’t know the variety of areas in IT, so when I was 14 I decided to study more about it. I ended up graduating from a technical IT school where I learned to code in VB.NET and C++. After that, I graduated in computer science.

You’ve been working as a Java developer for a long time. What sorts of interesting experiences have you had working in this position?

I have been working with Java since 2008. I worked for a big outsourcing company in Brazil for 10 years, where I provided my skills for big projects and clients.

Over this time, I have faced many different infrastructures, architectures, frameworks, and – more valuable than that – a big diversity of industry segments. I have worked on projects for retail, banks, healthcare, prepaid corporate services, and much more!

Since 2018, I have been working for an Australian Company that provides HR systems.

More recently, you’ve started to get into game development – and even completed your first game. Can you tell us about your game project and what the development process was like for it?

I always wanted to develop a game. I do have creativity, and I know how to develop – but my weakness has always been the design process. Anyway, I wanted to have a go.

During lockdown, I had this idea to build a simple but complex game where the player wouldn’t finish so easily. In fact, most of my friends get stuck on level 2!!!

I didn’t have a great development process, but, you know, I wanted to finish it. I set a few goals, but changed the requirements many times while developing it. One thing that is still pending is improving the character animation, such as jumping.

Regardless, I am pretty happy with the result, and I have started working towards my next game.

How has your previous work experience played a role in how you approach game development?

My experience plays a very important role in my approach to games. Knowing logic and how to code another language made it easier to understand a few concepts related to games. In addition, after working on many projects, it’s helped me know how to organize a game project with things like structure (methods, classes, objects), creating comments, debugging the code, and mitigating bugs.

Another important piece of knowledge I’ve gained from previous experience, and that makes your life easier, is knowing to plan ahead. Think about structure, and have specifics with solid requirements. But don’t be too strict about it! As is normal with projects, a lot of changes will come up!

Now that your first game is complete, what are your next goals in terms of programming?

I do have three more game ideas to develop, so for now, I will keep studying more about game development so I can make them.

We’re very happy that the courses at Zenva have helped you so far with studying game development. What drew you to Zenva’s courses in particular?

One day, I saw an ad on social media. So, I researched Zenva to check the reviews, and I decided to subscribe for a year given the vast collection of coding and game courses and reviews I saw.

Before we bring this interview to a close, we have a final question for you Derick. What advice do you have for those trying to learn game development and complete their first game?

For sure, everyone can learn using free online tools (such as Google, YouTube, etc.). But if you don’t want to waste time and energy trying to understand the difference between A and B or why they are using X and Y, find a good course that will explain in detail what you need.

Furthermore, if you think that you are going to finish your game in the next month, multiply it at least by three, as there is always something to be improved with your project.

That concludes this interview, and a big thank you to Derick for chatting with us! We can’t wait to see those next few game projects.

Have some free time for gaming? Be sure to check out Derick’s first game, Ultimate Jump!