The Indie Game Magazine May 2014 | Issue 37 | Page 14

OSCAR Interview
Interview w/ Josh Long
Luke Siuty

When we hear of success stories, it’s often the case that unknown indie developers
catapult themselves to front pages, stepping into the gates of some renowned AAA
studio. It’s then even more astounding that Josh Long, a pro-gamer-turned-developer
extraordinaire, forsook his career at places like Relic Entertainment to turn to
independent game development. We got the chance to chat about his past, why he
left the AAA industry, and what’s it been like to work on Oscar, a project devoted to
exploring emotionally mature experiences.

IGM: How and why did you get into pro gaming

in the first place?

Josh Long: Both good questions. How was

more a matter of timing; in 2004 the World Cyber
Games declared the game I had been playing daily
a competition event. Initially I didn’t think much of
it, but for a brief window of a couple years I had
been much deeper in my commitment to one game,
down to leading a clan, entering us in tournaments,
training players etc.. To be clear, I’d never done any
of those things before; I was just any other gamer
who happened to really like one game. Anyways,
someone brought up that I should compete at WCG
and while at first I was hesitant, it occurred to me:
What’s the worst that could happen? I decided to
give it a shot and several escalating events later,
I won the Canadian nationals and went on to
represent Canada for a couple years at WCG events.
To elaborate on why I decided to do it though,
I’d honestly say it was mostly for the travel. Going
to events and spending time with people from
dozens of different countries was a life-changing
experience. Meeting elite gamers who could be a
bit brash online and discovering they were all pretty
nice guys was a pleasant surprise; I remember
every match, trip and competitor very clearly. On
that note, it was amazing to meet so many famous
professionals, especially Koreans whose stardom
was almost mythical to me at the time. It’s also

neat to see some familiar competitors move on to
compete in more famous games like Starcraft and
LoL; I can say “Hey! I played against that guy!” (And
hopefully I had a winning record haha).

IGM: What particular things in today’s AAA

video game industry bother you? Which issues
would you like to see addressed more?

Josh: Today’s AAA industry has brought about

a lot of good, but having spent time as a peon, lead
multiplayer designer on an 8 figure budget, pro
gamer, and design mentor at a game design school,
I feel my perspective has shown me a few issues
I’d like to focus my career on addressing. To name
them at the tail end of things, in no particular order
they are: Overtime, lack of interesting projects, and
job stability. I