The drop in oil prices have hit hard for all Canadians economically, but for Shane Berezowski, it just might have led him to his dream career.
After being laid off in February 2015, from his job as a project manager for the steel making and mining company EVRAZ, he spent his excess of free time tinkering with the program GameMaker, an application used to develop video games.
Over the course of only eight months, Berezowski managed to create an arcade spaceship shooter game, CMYW, and release it for sale on the Steam software distribution platform for computers.
“It is very rewarding for me since it requires a lot of problem solving and heavy use of math. At the same time, I can be as creative as I want and express myself any way I want to,” said Berezowski.
After graduating from University of Saskatchewan in 2011 with a degree in mechanical engineering, Berezowski moved to Calgary the same year for a job lined up with EVRAZ.
However, he found that the positions he had landed in the work force were not as engaging as he expected them to be. Rather than engineering or problem solving, he was tasked with budget management and control on projects.
“Transitioning for me has been a lot like opening Pandora’x Box. I’ve never felt so motivated to commit to an endeavour in my life until I started working on game development,” he said.
First discovering GameMaker in March 2014, he was already familiar with the program and enjoyed experimenting with its set of tools before the layoff hit.
Once unemployed, he had more time to spend with the game-engine and become comfortably attuned with its tools, so much so that eventually his hobby became a viable career choice that he could pursue.
While it is clear that there is a strong relation between engineering and software design, the career shift from the oil and gas industry to game creation was certainly a surprise to his friends and family.
“Everyone was pretty shocked in the beginning. They definitely questioned how I was going to make it work.”
At one point, Berezowski even had his own mother sit down to watch the development process to help her understand and take more seriously the work involved.
“They never doubted me,” he said.
“But it took a while for them to realize that it was in fact work and not just me playing around on the computer.”
There was confusion, but nobody was ever unsupportive. On the contrary, after displaying his dedication to the project CMYW, which began development in April 2015, his fiancé Taylor Olson even took up a lot of the marketing support for his new title, managing the game’s Facebook page.
“I was treating it like a job by getting up the same time I was before with my previous job, and working all day and if not longer than I normally would,” said Berezowski.
Olson is also an engineer, currently working for Cenovus Energy. The two met through a social gathering of engineers back in Berezowski’s hometown of Saskatoon.
In May 2015, Berezowski joined the non-profit organization Calgary Game Developers (CGD) to surround himself with fellow game designers and learn from their experiences.
He even got to showcase his game at the local Indie Game Bash event that took place on June 6, 2015, where it was warmly received.
Colleagues from CGD supported Berezowski to bring his game to the market through the Steam Greenlight program, a service that allows the Steam user community to vote for small independent titles to be published on the official Steam Store page.
After posting CMYW to the Greenlight campaign on July 16, 2015, the game was “Greenlit” by the Steam user-base only a month later in August 2015.
The game received modest reception, receiving a 62 per cent rating from Mouse n Joypad and selling more than 800 copies in about one month.
Unfortunately, for a six month endeavour, the modest revenue of roughly $2,000 did not prove to be the most profitable success for Berezowski, but these numbers did not discourage him.
“Regardless of any business you start, it won’t be profitable at the beginning.”
Berezowski doesn’t anticipate on returning to the oil and gas industry anytime soon, but instead looks to further his career in game development.
He currently plans to finish one of his earlier projects that he started during his preliminary months with GameMaker, potentially released for mobile devices.
“Mobile development is interesting. I heard it’s a very difficult market nowadays compared to before; however, people still find success with it.”
“I’m certain I can do the same, given enough time and effort.”