Étienne Racine

“I’ll be exploring and creating games at TAG, a cluster of the Milieux Institute. Right now, I'm experimenting with machine learning.”

Why Concordia?

My decision largely depended on the Game Design minor. I knew I wanted to do games-related stuff which is great now that I’m part of the Milieux Institute. When I made my decision, it was largely because I wanted to do game-related courses and artsy stuff. I decided to go to Concordia because of the Computation Arts options.

How did you choose Computer Science?

I knew I wanted to do coding. I wanted to be a programmer first and foremost, but I believe that variety is the spice of life. Overall, games involve a ton of fields, like audio design, visual stuff in 2D or 3D, and programming. I find it more engaging for me to not do the same thing all the time.

As an undergraduate fellow with the Milieux Institute, what projects will you be exploring?

I’ll be exploring and creating games at TAG, a cluster of the Milieux Institute. Right now, I'm experimenting with machine learning to find out how feasible it would be for developers to implement it in design and testing workflows. Otherwise, there's lots of other game-related topics I find interesting and would like to explore further, from exploring the minimal requirements for media to be considered a game to emergent gameplay. Nothing is set in stone, however; I'll pursue what I find most interesting.

Do you have any plans for post-graduation?

Right now, I have an internship at Unity. I had one last summer too and I’m going back again because the company is super cool. If you don’t know them, 70% of all games are made are there. I’ll be working there next summer, so I hope I can get a job offer. My hope is to end up at a small-ish studio, making games.

Do you have any advice for future students in Computer Science or Game Design?

There’s an engineering Discord for the faculty, and students have a session on every course which can be very useful. Everyone ends up learning about it. By joining that and going into the channels related to your course, you can get a ton of information. There’s a lot of discussion happening there and it’s great.

But don’t be afraid to contact teachers about anything. The whole reason I got into Game Design is because I contacted Pippin Barr, the undergraduate director of Computation Arts. He told me to enroll in the Game Design minor, which changed everything for me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be part of Milieux at all.

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