Hello, I’m Jimmy Senechal, currently generalist programmer at Colossal Order since May 2024.
Before Colossal Order
Before starting to work at Colossal Order, I was working at Ubisoft Montréal, where I worked on multiple projects, before finishing my stay there on Rainbow Six: Siege. R6:S was an amazing project to work on, plenty of different things to touch, from Engine code to Front-End of internal tools.
I decided to move to Finland, both because I’m originally from France, so I wanted to get closer in proximity to my family, but also because working on Cities Skylines was a opportunity I knew I couldn’t miss.
Before Ubisoft
I moved from France to Quebec in september 2014 to spend 3 years at the Univeristy of Quebec at Chicoutimi(UQAC). 1.5 year for a Computer Sciences’s Bachelor (with minor in video game design) and 1.5 year for a Master in the same field.
During those classes, I’ve developed my knowledge about various video game fields.
- AI programming
- Game Design
- Basic VR programming (using an heaset and haptic arm)
- Basic 3D programmation(working with OpenGL)
- Project Management
- Game Engine fundamentals
For my last semester, I’ve been selected to work in the Ubisoft GameLab Competition with 7 friends, which allowed me to use all the skills I’ve learnt during all my years of study. We won the jury special award with our game, « Ambulance Express », despite being 8 programmers with no artists, which we thought was really an accomplishment, and we all felt proud about our work.
My participation in that competition granted me an internship of 6 months at Ubisoft Montréal as a tool programmer. This internship concluded my Master’s year and also represent my first step in the gaming industry, as I kept working on the same project at the end of that internship.
Even Before that (my time in France)
I was studying computer sciences with a major in software engineering at the IUT of Lannion(Bretagne, France) when a representative from the UQAC came to my university.
The representative came to present us IT programs available, including a programming program with a game design specialization.
Those were two fields that I was found of, so I took the opportunity and signed all the papers that would officialise what was supposed to be a year of exchange with the UQAC.
I’m just a guy that loves judo, swimming the outside but as expected :playing games, especially JRPGs and story driven games.
The games that shaped my vision and how I perceive the media are likely, in no particular order:
- Nier: Automata
- Final Fantasy 7
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Spinter’s Cell: Chaos Theory
There is no particular reason outside of the enjoyment I got, emotions I felt when playing those.
