In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with Alex Constante about his journey as a VFX artist and Retro Game Developer. We cover his favourite childhood games and cartoons and the decline of physical experiences in a digital world.
Check out Alex below:
https://www.instagram.com/alexconstante
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:00 Newgrounds + flash animation
3:30 Favourite flash games growing up
5:37 Influence of Ed Eddy and Eddy & Dexters Lab
7:20 Drawing
7:50 Lack of innovation
9:30 We need more scientist cartoons
10:12 Pretending to be an inventor as a kid
11:54 Arduino projects
13:00 Creating a tamagotchi clone
14:00 Coding with ChatGPT
16:07 Physical products
16:22 VFXnaks
19:40 Saving money by repurposing
20:00 Happy Meal toys
23:14 Remixing & reusing IP
24:20 Samurai Jack for adults
25:54 Kids are using apps instead of toys
26:28 Lego piggybacking off of popular IP
28:19 Pros and cons of the algorithm
31:01 Engagement not reflecting true value
32:00 Negative feedback loops creating bad art
33:50 Instagram as portfolio
35:00 The lyrical lemonade of video games
37:00 Personal websites to express yourself
38:00 Leveraging artists fan base to grow
41:23 Making work for yourself vs the audience
43:00 Raunchy video games
44:38 Standing out as a game developer
45:00 Recent projects
49:00 The importance of physical objects in a digital world
51:27 We need the real world
52:28 Physical experiences and rituals
53:00 The iPhone is the most based camera in 2024
54:33 The power of physical products
55:27 Loss of touch
58:00 Human made is the new premium
59:13 The future and the rise of the generalist
1:00:24 Outro
