I never thought I would be making games at first. I was studied in movies, literature, theater. And uh, so yeah, that was my, uh - my gang, my group of - of friends were all in - in arts in general, but that was making movies back in college in '93, '94, '95ish. And uh - and then, suddenly, '97, Ubisoft arrived in Montreal and I applied, basically. And then - and then - and then video games picked me more than I picked the video games. But I was a gamer since, uh - since I was 6. Uh, my - my dad was a - a mathematician or teacher - math teacher in - in - in - in a college, but not university. In Quebec, we have, like, this - this school in between high school and - and university. Call it college. And so, uh - and so, there was machines around in the house, because when - when you're in math back then in the 70's and early 80's, well, you - you love computers. And my - my dad's master was on - on binary logic. So, he was one of the early adopter of - of any computers. And so, I had one, uh, at home when I was 5 and 6 and I started to play, uh, really, at a early age. I started with Load Runner and Choplifter on - on an Apple 2, and then eventually, the NES - NES came around in - in '85 and I - you know, and I never actually stopped since. Well, it's not true. I stopped for 4-5 years, college years, where you - you know, back in the days, you could not say to a girl that you would - that - that you played video games. You had no chance in life or in your love life. And so, uh, and eventually, like, yeah, after college, I, you know - I quit for, uh, college. Basically, after three years without the diploma. And because - because, uh, you - you don't learn to make movies in school. You actually just go out there and you take your camera and you shoot stuff, right? And so, uh, that's - that was my - my - you know, my top process, and - and Ubisoft arrived in '97 and I applied, like I said. And uh, but I was a cocky 23 year old guy who - when we did we the interview, they asked me, do you want to do the interview on - on script writing, because I said I was a script writer, uh, or on - on game design? And yeah, so, cocky like I was, I said well, you know, I could be a script writer for movies or TV, but you know, game design is only for you, Ubisoft. So, I'll do the interview on game design. Never, you know, actually did any game design in my life except some - some levels here and there. And - and - and then, we talked for - for almost an hour, and I used the term gameplay for the first time, and I was, like, oh God. I think I got something. We - I remember we talked about Mario Cart and - and - and how the drifting gameplay is really important and how also you get the power ups if you're in the back so it helps you go in front and - and what not. And - and, you know, it's been, uh, 18 years now. I never actually, you know, stopped make video games since then, and I was already a game designer when I started. And I was the very first employee back in - in '97. Ubisoft Montreal employee, not the very first video game employee. And uh, yeah, never looked - looked back. And I love video games. Often people ask me why don't you do something else like a book or - or - or a - a movie, and I'm like ah, no, the interactivity part of video games is really important. This is how I think now. This is - this is how I, you know - a flow of a game is different than a - than a movie or a TV series, and for me, it's - it's fun. And I think with a - you know, I think my ideas and - and games with the controller in my head, and - and I cannot only tell a story without that part. It's really important for me, the part of having fun with a controller. And so, that's why games, see. You put just 25 cents in the machine and I go and I talk.
