Cronenburgh–Yerevan–Cronenburgh
2015-02-23
News
3D modeling specialist Sipan Stepanyan speaks Armenian like a native of Yerevan, reads and writes in Dutch, and thinks in the langauge of video games.
"When I was ten, we moved to the Netherlands, and since then I have been completely Dutch – until recently, that is. Six months ago, when I set out to choose an internship location, my aunt who lives in Armenia told me about Tumo. I checked it out on the web and decided to apply as a volunteer. Shortly after that I found myself in Yerevan and discovered that it was completely different from the city I had left 15 years ago."
Even though he's quite young himself, Sipan loves to share his knowhow with teenagers and to augment his own skills in the process. "Here at Tumo I started learning the CryEngine game development platform, and soon afterwords I led a workshop on CryEngine at Tumo Dilijan. I really like how interactive the teaching process is at Tumo, it's more like an exchange than a transfer of knowledge."
Sipan has only recently chosen his career path, but he feels it's not an arbitrary choice. "When you play all the latest games as a kid, the desire to create games like the ones you're playing is inevitable. I believe that today it's possible and even desirable to have more than one area of specialization. For me, it's important to alway change and develop. That's why it's hard for me to form rigid plans, whether they are long term or short term''.
This is Sipan's last week at Tumo. He will be going back to the his hometown of Cronenburgh to continue his university studies. He hopes he will return to Armenia before too long to share his newfound experiences.