JOSH (19) SIGNS CONTRACT FOR GAME RELEASE
NORTH Wicklow man Josh Loveridge is working 19-hour days as he prepares his game ‘ The One We Found’ for market.
The game is expected to be officially be released on XBox 1 and Playstation 4 later this year.
Nineteen-year-old Josh, the BIFE graduate behind Loveridge Designs who hails from Ballinahinch in Newtownmountkennedy, can’t announce the official release date until the game’s age rating has been finalised.
A gamer throughout his life, Josh didn’t think that his pastime would become his career.
‘I didn’t know what to do when I finished my Leaving Cert,’ he said. ‘I liked video games so decided to study that. As soon as I started, I fell in love with it.’
He enjoys the whole process of creating games, including all the creative media he hadn’t been exposed to before.
Ireland doesn’t have many big gaming companies, so getting work presented a challenge. Josh was approaching companies and they all said the same thing: his work was industry standard but there were no openings. Not wanting to leave the country to find work with a larger company in, for example, Canada, Josh decided to establish his own company.
‘It’s an industry that hasn’t been tapped into in Ireland yet, I feel,’ said Josh.
As well as being talented and hard-working, Josh has a solid business head.
‘Gaming is quite a volatile industry,’ he said. ‘You work in hope and without getting paid a wage every week. I decided I would have to expand the company to other aspects of media.’
The company is self-sufficient in that the game design side is supported by other departments - web design, motion graphics, VT before films and so on.
Studios have availed of Josh’s services as a consultant. He works with them to help bring games to a higher quality.
While long days at work creating high quality output may not be everyone’s idea of fun, Josh is happier at his desk than anywhere else and relishes working towards building something.
‘It doesn’t feel like work to me,’ he said. ‘I love it!’
The game is still in the development stages. ‘It could release and only get a small number of downloads,’ said Josh. ‘But I will always have a job within the industry. I don’t plan to stop and aim to grow to be a very big game company in Ireland.’
It’s been a team effort, and Josh’s family are by his side. ‘We need a tight network for it to work,’ he said.
‘I plan to have my company to look after my parents later in life.’
Having completed BIFE’s level 5 and level 6 game design courses, Josh plans to progress to his degree in game design as soon as time allows.
The One We Found is a first person survival horror experience which challenges the user’s perception of reality. The player takes on the role of psychotherapist in a mental asylum, uncovering dark secrets. for more information, visit theonewefound.com.