Futuregames Umeå: a new chapter for Stefan Eriksson

Futuregames Q&A

Stefan Eriksson is a student in Futuregames first Game Designer class in Umeå. Not only was he born in the city, but he also has an impressive background in Umeå’s indie game scene.

– I was born and raised in Umeå with PC gaming in my blood – my dad wanted my brother and me to learn computers from an early age, so the step towards gaming was a short one. Professionally, I have a background in IT, where I managed a customer support department before moving into project management. When I realized that IT really wasn’t for me, I went back to school to study digital media production, and later on, I did my first tour at Futuregames in Project Management Games & IT!

– After that I started working at eXpression Umeå, which is an incubator for cultural and creative companies. An incubator supports the business side of start-up companies with advice, lectures, mentoring and coworking space, and my role there was to provide support for Umeå’s thriving indie game scene. I ran a community called Game Hub Umeå, organized events like after-work dinners, game jams and female meetups, and collaborated with Umeå Kommun and Arctic Game to promote our local studios and companies. I met more or less every gaming-adjacent company in Umeå during my time there, which gave me a newfound appreciation for how widespread the industry really is!

What made you choose the Game Designer program at Futuregames Umeå?

– I think I’ve known for a while that although I’ve worked with project management for a long time, it’s not really where my heart is. After I left my job at eXpression, I thought for a long while about what I really wanted to do, and I realized that although I really enjoy helping others achieve their goals, I had sort of neglected my own dreams – actually creating games. I considered my options and decided that I really wanted to get back to my creative roots, and, well, what’s more creative than game design?

– By chance, Futuregames was opening a new game design program in Umeå, something I’d been actively working towards together with Arctic Game in my previous job – and the rest is history!

How has your experience at Futuregames Umeå been? What is the community like?

– For the most part, I’ve had a fantastic time with Futuregames here in Umeå so far. In my opinion, the most important thing that vocational studies provide isn’t the actual lectures, but the context for learning. Being able to learn together with my classmates here in Umeå and from our sister sites in northern Sweden and in Poland is what pushes and motivates me. We ask each other for help, we learn from each other, and we support each other when the game engine refuses to cooperate.

– There’s also something special about being the first students here in Umeå and being back on campus where I’ve always been really comfortable. We’re in the process of setting up a student association and planning how to welcome next year’s students to really grow our small community. I think everyone’s really excited about it!

How does the mentorship program work?

– Apart from the scheduled lectures, we have two types of mentors – quite often we have guest lecturers available online who stay on as mentors for the duration of a course, and they provide help and feedback on request. It’s pretty easy to just share your screen, show off a level or a piece of code, and get their thoughts on what you’ve just built. Then we have mentors on site as well, who are developers from some of the studios that have coworking spaces in the same building on campus. They help with many of the same issues as our online mentors, but perhaps more importantly, just give us a grounded and realistic look at what it’s like to be a game developer. When our mentor Oskar tells me to take a step back and look at the big picture, well, that’s usually exactly what’s needed!

Do students have access to Umeå’s games industry?

– I think that’s the wrong question to ask, because that implies students aren’t part of the games industry, and we most definitely are! What’s important to remember is that although the Swedish games industry is worth more than the music and movie industries combined, it’s still a pretty small and close-knit community. Developers want to hang out with other developers, and game dev students are junior developers. We have industry developers as our mentors, we invite them to our board game nights, we meet them at industry breakfasts and they visit us at school.

What do you see as the biggest advantages of studying game dev at Futuregames Umeå?

– Two things stand out! First of all, Umeå is a city built around its university and although Futuregames isn’t part of the university itself, our classrooms are located on the same campus so much of what applies to the university students applies to us. Everything is close by, there are great bus and bike options and a lot of classic student traditions like the World Brännboll Championship – and there’s always something going on around campus.

– Then, and perhaps more importantly, Umeå has a long tradition when it comes to video games, spanning all the way back to the ’90s. A lot of big titles have been created right here in Umeå, for both PC, console and mobile, and many of the devs who made those games are still here, along with their knowledge and their networks. And as I mentioned before, they’re usually more than happy to share their experience with us. It’s funny though, because this side of Umeå is rarely talked about or advertised by the city itself. We’re big on culture here, we should absolutely be promoting our games scene more.

What are your future plans as a Game Designer?

– Well, I’m realizing each and every day how much more there is to learn, and how deeply you can specialize if you want to. But I’m leaning towards narrative design, as I’ve always been a big fan of telling stories. I currently get my creative outlet through tabletop roleplaying games, but if I could do that on a grander scale – quests and stories in CRPGs, maybe, then that’d make me really happy. A lot of people have dreams of working for one of the largest studios in the industry, but I think I’d be happiest in a small to mid-sized studio where I could know everyone and we’d be excited about making our games together.

– It’s funny because sometimes it can feel like a really long way off – but then I remember other people I know who’ve studied here and immediately got picked up by Hazelight, Chief Rebel or Arrowhead, and it suddenly doesn’t feel that far off anymore!