Agnesa Belegu
Game DirectorUCF’s FIEA (Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy) was where Agnesa set the foundation for her game development career. Having won a scholarship that fully supported her graduate studies, she took the opportunity to make her dreams of bringing the gaming industry in Kosovo a reality. Specializing as a technical game designer, she was hired at EA Tiburon as a Game Designer and had her skills applied and boosted working with veterans of the industry in a AAA studio. “It was a dream come true. Being part of such a well-oiled dev machine was an incredible experience.”
At the end of 2016, she returned to Kosovo with the momentum to jump right into new adventures and take things to another level. “My first goal was put Kosovo on the map somehow. Build games as an indie developer, put a small team together, train people that are as passionate about the industry but never saw an opportunity to be part of it… whatever it was, my gaming industry experience wasn’t over in Kosovo.”
That is when Agnesa came across ZombieSoup. Having met the team, she was ecstatic to see how everyone was passionate about what they were doing and supported in their endeavors. “The most amazing thing about ZombieSoup is that there is no limit to your growth.” she recalls. After discussing opening a new department related to game development with the leaders of the company, a small team was put together and the adventure started.
“It’s been quite the ride. Having tasted the AAA studio experience, running and establishing a game development department from the ground up is an amazing challenge. Although my specialties and heart lies with systems design, working as a game director and helping the team grow and focus their skillsets with my technical background has been enthralling. We’ve already released two games in the past seven (7) months, and the team’s definitely growing in size, skills and confidence levels!” she cheers.
Since starting work at ZombieSoup, Agnesa has been invited to give multiple speeches at local events about the gaming industry in Kosovo, inspiring the Kosovar youth to take on the challenge of game development. “Games have always opened way to the rest of the world for me. Opening up our culture to fresh and unexplored perspective is something our youth is in dire need of.”
“We’ve still a long way to go” she states. “It’s only the beginning for ZombieSoup’s game dev team, but I’m extremely proud of what the team’s achieved having had no prior experience to game development. Our games are getting better, bigger and bolder.”