Why I Make Games – Martin Sahlin
2016-02-05
EA Staff
There’s something special about making video games, and whether you love art, engineering or both you know how magical the experience can be.
We’re lucky to have lots of amazing creative people who make video games here at EA, and we wanted to find out more about why they’ve chosen to make video games.
When Martin Sahlin took the stage at E3 last year to unveil Unravel, it was an emotional experience for him and players alike.
We all fell in love with Yarny and with Sahlin’s obvious passion for video games, but believe it or not, Sahlin wasn’t always sure he wanted to work in the field.
“I guess I just never considered the option, it was a bit too cool to be a real possibility, or something like that,” he says. “I’m pretty glad I was wrong about that.”
Like many, Sahlin first got into games through digital art. “I've always been interested in that, from pixel painting to 3D modeling to all kinds of fancy FX & simulation stuff,” he says. “I've always liked making art, I used to do lots of illustration, and I was a tattoo artist for a while.”
And sometimes, things just sort of fall in place.
“It was more like I kind of stumbled into it, and found out that I really liked it,” he says.
Sahlin met the people who would become his co-workers at University, getting his first and only job as a game developer. He started working on sports games – “tiny games with tiny budgets” – and most of them featured snow. “I guess that kind of comes naturally when your studio is based in the far north of Sweden,” he says.
And although he enjoyed those years, there’s a big difference between those titles and what Sahlin and Coldwood hope to achieve with Unravel.
“I wasn't satisfied with making things that were just pure diversions. I wanted to make something with a deeper meaning, something you could really connect with.”
Like many who make games, Sahlin loves the process of creating and connecting with players. “Games have such huge potential to reach people, on a deeper level too. It's an incredibly strong bond. It's a big responsibility for us game developers, but it's also a totally awesome thing.”
Sahlin wants to see people connect with Yarny on an emotional level, and hopes that it inspires others to create, too.
“My hope is that people come up with their own stories. I hope they can look at this thing, relate to it, and make it their own.”
And it’s that process of creating that helped Sahlin start out in the first place.
“There is something truly special about working on something you really love, something that's truly from the heart.”
Unravel is available on February 9! You can play right now on EA Access.
Learn how to make your own Yarny here and follow the game on Facebook and Twitter.
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