Monica chose Indie Game Development variation.
Name: Monica Pranato
Country of origin: Indonesia
Study: Indie Game Development
1. Why did you choose Indie Game Development within the Game programme?
‘I chose Indie Game Development because I could not really choose between art and programming. Indie Game Development offers a course in which I can learn to do art as well as programming and those two things are basically what I need to make my ideas come alive. I do not need to ask someone else to programme an idea that I have in mind nor ask someone to make arts for a game that I have in mind. In addition, having the knowledge of programming makes communication easier in a team in which will increases the team’s performance’.
2. If you would have to explain what you are studying right now to someone who is in secondary school, what would you say?
‘I would say: “I am studying making games, all kind of games mostly mobile games.” Then I would pick up my phone, and show the game that I made to him/her’.
3. How do you like your studies and NHTV?
‘I like my study very much because it covers a lot of things. At first, we learnt how to make a proper 2D art and then this year, some of us are learning how to make 3D art. Besides that, some people are also making a good game with C++. Now, the teachers combined the 3D art to make a 3D iPad game. What I like the most is that in my study, we are so up to date about technology. For example, the mobile application is booming right now and Indie Game Development covers that’.
4. How many hours a week do you have to study?
‘I really like this question because I know that I cannot really measure how many hours a week that I spend for school. The school gives us a lot of study load. I can hardly see myself enjoying the weekend watching movies with pizza. I spend every day about 2-6 hours or more outside class. So it is about 10-30 hours per week from Monday to Friday. Weekend will be vary from 2 to 8 hours per day. Do not see the big numbers only because it will be frightening. Instead, see the mid numbers then it will be correct. School works take most of my time but I can see it pays me back when I see my work in the end. So in conclusion, all of my works are worth it’.
5. How would you describe the atmosphere at NHTV?
‘I really like the atmosphere especially the international atmosphere. Most of the teachers are internationals so we use English to communicate. Also with the classmates, even though most of them are Dutch, but they respect the internationals, so they speak English when the internationals are around’.
6. What do you think of the interaction between tutors and students?
‘The teachers are very helpful. Moreover, they have experience in their specialisation area, so they can give feedback on our work so we can improve it to make it better’.
7. Do you think Breda is an interesting city for students? Why?
‘I really like Breda and I think it is nice for students because it has a nice city structure and it is not too crowded like Amsterdam. Breda has some places that are nice for students to study too. For example the city library or even a cafe that is really cozy for studying with some friends. Moreover, for some people who like to go out, the city center of Breda offers a lot of opportunity to do networking and chilling out with other students’.
Monica Pranoto, Indonesia
Student International Game Architecture and Design, Indie Game Development
