The Unsung Hero 1: Sophie Rossetti, Curve Digital

Hiya! Marcos here. I keep banging on about how much we love the “behind the scenes” people here at Vita Player. From the janitor to the programmer, everyone involved in bringing games to Vita is a stellar person in our book. A hero, if you will.

That’s why we’re launching this new pilot program: titled “The Unsung Hero”, we’re asking developers and publishers to nominate a person from within their company, who goes above and beyond their call of duty (specially above the Classified Ops kind, wink ;), never asking for recognition.

Our first laureate is Sophie Rossetti, producer at Curve Digital (one my personal favorite developers / publishers in the industry). What a way to start!

[Follow Sophie on Twitter: @SophieRossetti]

Without further ado, here’s our interview with Sophie Rossetti, videogame producer, Unsung Hero at Curve:

1.       Hi Sophie! First off, You’ve been singled out by coworkers as “The Unsung Hero” within the company. We’re not going to spare you your blushes, so please do let us know how it feels!

AAAAAAHHH thank you so much!!!!!! I can’t begin to express my gratitude, I really am speechless…

2.       A bit about Sophie Rossetti: Walk us through what has lead you to work at Curve, from schooling to previous work experience.

I mean it’s all pretty standard really, girl grows up avoiding the Australian sunshine playing video games inside… discovers that university is a thing and that you can study games there (very new in Australia at the time) and is shocked to find that sitting around playing games all day isn’t exactly the whole picture. I realised I wanted to be involved, but couldn’t choose a discipline, which basically led me to mushing my hands into all the pies, which apparently made me Producer material! So I got a graduate Producer job at Beefjack, who taught me so much and I’m still really grateful to. I was then taken under the Curve wing and haven’t looked back since!

3.       Are you a videogames fan? If so, when did your journey in videogames start?

Yes, very much so. I have always had a Nintendo console in my house, and have many fond memories of entire school holidays cooped up inside fighting my sister over the controller for Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. I think we finally drew blood when it came to Pokemon Stadium though. I’ve calmed down a bit since then, and enjoy a casual game of Prof. Layton on the old 3DS or trying out new indie titles on Steam.

4.       What made you decide to work in the videogames industry?

I wanted to help people share that tremendous range of emotions and treasured memories that I myself have experienced many times while playing truly ground breaking games.

5.       Is there a moment in the lifespan of a game (be it pre-production, launch day, etc), where you’re losing sleep and telling yourself “this job is going to kill me”?

Mostly during the lead-up to a console submission, when surprise bugs are springing up all over the place, and the marketing machine is already at full steam, the demand for expectation-management is very high.

“Sophie is a really valuable member of the production team. Her attention to detail and organisational skills combined with her can-do attitude have made her an invaluable asset to the studio here at Curve.  We are a very lucky to have found such a fresh talent like Sophie.”

 – Richie Turner, Development Director at Curve Digital

6.       On the other hand, is there a moment where you say “It was all worth it, this is why I do what I do”?

Yes! Once the game is released, seeing it covered in major outlets, even just seeing it pop up on the store when I boot up my console at home. When the game is well received/reviewed, that really validates it for me, but I am also just happy to see it out there in the wild.

7.       Which company or professional within the industry do you admire? Why?

I’ve always been a fan of Tim Schafer’s work, and Double Fine looks like a fantastic place to work. I mean.. they have equal opportunity employment for bunnies! I admire the fact that while not all of their games were commercial successes, they were all critically acclaimed, and have made an impact on the industry as a whole, inspiring so many designers and storytellers in their wake. I’ve loved them ever since we had to choose a company we’d like to work for as part of a University project all those years ago.

8.       Can you list the games (and their respective platforms) on which you’ve worked?

While working at Curve, I have been indirectly involved in all projects published, and the main Producer on the titles in bold:

Plus some upcoming ones that are being announced very soon. 🙂

9.       What’s it like working with Vita releases? Is it different than working with other platforms?

Vita is interesting, because you are sometimes given scope to utilize the unique control inputs and do something exciting with touch or gyro, much as we did with Proteus around the time I joined Curve. We do have to take care to watch out for the limitations of the hardware though but it can do some really cool stuff. I personally love the console.

“Sophie has incredible attention to detail. She goes out of her way to help everyone with anything that they might need and is an excellent problem solver. Throughout my time working with Sophie, she has been a key team player and I’m glad that she is getting the recognition she deserves”

 – Fran Court, 2D/UI Artist

10.   What’s been the favourite game you’ve worked on so far, and why?

Who could pick a favourite? I think at the time, my favourite is always the one I’m currently working on (can’t tell you what the newest one is just yet!) as there are always fresh and exciting challenges to overcome. I’m always blown away with the new things people are creating, so I guess that feeling of novelty influences it too.

11.   Anything you’d like to say to Vita enthusiasts reading this?

You are such a great group of fans, and we love hearing from you! My heart always swells with pride when I’m approached by a Vita fan who thanks Curve for making the effort to port to Vita, it really makes it worthwhile. So, thank you for being so appreciative and supportive!

12.   A message to your co-workers at Curve?

​Where do I begin? I love you all. I’ll always treasure every moment I’ve had to work amongst you and bask in your creative and technical genius. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my days worth getting up for, and for making this industry better as a whole.

Seriously, a thousand thanks!!!!!

No, Sophie. Thank YOU! A fantastic person, a great producer, a woman in a difficult industry. Sophie Rossetti, Unsung Hero at Curve Digital!

Below is a playlist of all the titles on which Sophie was a main producer: