Young Indonesian Game Developer: Fandry Indrayadi

It is undeniable that Indonesia’s game development advancement in recent years saw a promising growth. For such growth, we got game developers to thank. In the spirit of Youth Pledge Day on October 28^th, 2013, Duniaku present you special featured articles on young game developers in Indonesia.

After Mahdi Bashroni Rizal and Eldwin Viriya, this round we have another young game developer, Fandry Indrayadi who currently is the Creative Director of Mintsphere. Fandry is one of the relatively young game developers in Indonesia, even he currently is still at his 7^th semester at IT Telkom Bandung. Although still relatively young, Fandry (who has been involved in game developing world since middle high!) had so many creations under his belt. Curious on what Fandry think about Youth Pledge spirit in modern era and his experience as a game developer? Without further ado, here’s the interview:

Duniaku (D): What do you think about the meaning of Youth Pledge in such modern times like now?

Fandry (F): Youth Pledge in modern times is a pledge to make the best of our nation’s independence. Since we no longer fighting the invaders like during pre-independence days, our job now is to make Indonesia better in the area we’re good at.

D: Can you share to us what made you got into game developing and when?

F: I have fallen in love to video games since I was introduced to it at a mere 3 years old by my parents (the first game I played is Mario Bros at NES). I used to have retro game consoles such as NES, SNES, and SEGA Mega Drive (or SEGA Genesis at USA). Since then I have a passion to make something like that when I grow up.

During my first year at middle high, I often made simple board game such as modifying ular tangga, monopoly game, etc and ask my classmates to play it together. After studied programming at 3^rd grade middle high, I made my first video game and joined GameDev Indonesia community (GameDevID.org).

D: Is there any achievement or creation that you remember the most? What makes it so special?

F: The achievement that I remember the most is when I finished creating my first video game (around 3^rd grade middle high to 1^st grade high school). What’s so special about it that even though my game was ridiculed by others since it’s really bad, it’s a stepping stone for me in choosing this field.

D: As a game developer, what have you done to bring the Youth Pledge to life?

F: As a domestic game developer, what I can and able to do is show the world that Indonesia also has a huge potential in game industry and help organizing events to raise awareness that “Game developing environment and game studios in Indonesia is as good as other countries!” Those are the things that I always worked on, even until now.

D: As a young game developer and currently a college student too, how did you manage your time between education and game developing activities?

F: I’m a college student by day and game developer by night. Since I’m busy with my studies, I can only develop the game at night, between classes or when I have no class, and at weekends. This made the game took more time to finish, but it’s better than nothing, right?

D: Any word for Indonesian youths that choose gaming world as a means to make Indonesia better?

F: Be passionate and shape your mentality! Game developing is no easy feat and there will be times when something unexpected happened. During those times, a strong passion and willpower is what will push you forward.

D: You must be having a dream that you wish will come true in the future. What is your biggest dream as a game developer?

F: My biggest dream is to be able to create a game that inspire and remembered by a lot of people even long after the game was released – a timeless game. Yatsumi Matsuno and Shigeru Miyamoto are my role models and my biggest wish is to be able to create games as phenomenal as Zelda Series and Ivalice Alliance Series.

D: Okay, thanks for your time and we wish you a lot of success!