Silver Saaremäel

One of Wooga’s newest lead artists on life at the company

How did you end up at Wooga?

There’s a trend going on where AAA developers are flocking to indies and mobile-game studios, and I was no different. Mobile games are getting more competitive by the month, constantly more beautiful with the new hardware, and can reach a billion people. That’s a pretty exciting challenge.

What are you working on right now?

Wooga has several studios inside it, each representing a different segment in the games market, and each studio has several game teams working on games from prototypes to productions. I’m in the core games studio, where we concentrate on a deep gameplay experience and a high-quality visual experience. Just within the brief time of a year I’ve worked on games ranging from epic fantasy strategy games, to Renaissance empire-builders and steampunk viking battlers.

What’s a typical day for you?

I usually start the morning with feedback and art direction overpaints, or writing briefs for new assignments. I try to get all my meetings in before lunch as well. After lunch I do my darndest to find hours to paint concepts, while tackling the occasional feedback session.

What’s been the best part of the job to date?

The mobile games industry is very dynamic and constantly innovating itself. It’s a lot of fun trying to keep up with the market and outdo it at the same time. But most of all, I enjoy the tremendous amount of effort that the company founders and studio heads are putting into transparency. We’re constantly updated to the state of the company, what each studio is doing, why we are doing it and where we’re headed in the future. We’re also constantly in an open discussion about what we’ve done wrong, what we’ve done well and where can we grow sensibly. It’s a very accepting and pro-active environment that’s not afraid to try out new things.

What’s your own best advice for someone looking to get into a similar sort of job?

It’s fairly simple really. You need a portfolio that’s up to par with industry standards. If your portfolio looks as good as the guys who did District 9 or Frozen, then you’re bound to get to the studio of your choosing. Art directors are looking for people who can deliver solid art first, and innovation second.

Silver joined Wooga in 2014. He was previously a senior concept artist at Crytek Frankfurt and “dabbled” at Jagex in Cambridge.

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