Overwatch content creator Cres managed to marry his passion of 3D animation and Overwatch together as well as setting up an Overwatch collegiate tournament. We sat down with him to find out just how far his passion has taken him.
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00:00So when I pitched that we're going to be live, can you help promote our event?
00:03A lot of them were very sceptic and we did hear a lot of feedback saying that
00:06this is not going to work, like these people are just crazy and stuff.
00:20Overwatch is originally started as a 6v6 mobile shooter game,
00:24but I think now you're most commonly referred to as Overwatch 2,
00:27which is a 5v5 mobile shooter game.
00:30In Overwatch, you get to pick from a cast of over 40 different heroes,
00:33each with their own unique abilities and background and also their own storyline,
00:37which I think really excites a lot of people to give Overwatch a try.
00:40Even here in Singapore, we do have our own local representative called Echo,
00:44which is a robot based off a Singaporean scientist
00:47and I personally do really enjoy playing Echo as well.
00:50I think a lot of the characters have very, very unique backgrounds
00:53and they aren't afraid to really give the minority races around the world
00:57their time to shine as an Overwatch hero.
00:59Hi, my name is Iman, but if you have met me digitally,
01:02you more commonly hear my name as Kress.
01:04I'm a content creator slash a YouTuber.
01:07I make videos about the game Overwatch specifically.
01:10Yeah, and I do a lot of things when it comes to Overwatch,
01:13things like very funny videos, educational.
01:15I like to do 3D stuff for Overwatch mainly because I do love editing videos
01:19and I'm just trying to make people smile.
01:21I started playing video games back then when I was young.
01:24I started with a PS2 that my parents bought for me.
01:27Since young, I think my parents were very supportive,
01:29allowing me to play my games as much as I want as long as I keep my schoolwork done.
01:34I would say most of my gaming experience comes from me and my younger brother in specific.
01:38We play a lot of online shooter games, things like Counter-Strike, Soldier Front back then.
01:42When it comes to Overwatch specifically,
01:44I got exposed from my younger brother when he got access to the open beta back then.
01:48I tried the game a bit here and there,
01:50but I think I really got into it when a lot of my JC friends started playing the game as well.
01:55When it comes to content creation,
01:56I think the first video I uploaded on my current channel was actually just a compilation
02:01of all the funny, funny clips that me and my friends had while playing Overwatch.
02:05I started doing a lot of 3D work around Overwatch
02:08because I really do love how the game models are made
02:12and I just thought 3D was something to challenge myself as well.
02:15I mainly just do it out of pure passion,
02:17but somehow or another it got into commission based as well
02:21where a lot of different teams competing in the Overwatch circuit
02:24do actually approach me to do 3D models for their own team as part of a promotional activity.
02:30I've been doing that for about two and a half years with a variety of different teams
02:34and all of them were very happy with the work that I've made
02:37and a lot of them not only criticized my work but also helped me to improve.
02:41I thought that was a very unique opportunity
02:44considering I do not come from a media background.
02:46My first commission was actually a close friend of mine
02:49who wanted to do something for his Overwatch team.
02:52From then on, I started getting a lot of offers from even some of the bigger teams.
02:56Some of the biggest ones that I've worked with personally is Ex Oblivione
03:00which is a team owned by one of the Overwatch voice actress.
03:03This is definitely a team I stuck along for over a year actually.
03:07I'm doing commissions with them and they are also one of the teams
03:11that actually helped me improve on my own work
03:14because they have their in-house team of designers.
03:16I would say Overwatch acted as the base for me to spin off into other passions.
03:21It's not the reason why I enjoy other things
03:24but I think Overwatch acts as a very unique medium for me to explore my creativity
03:27when it comes to making videos, doing 3D modeling.
03:34I think for me to create content,
03:38I have the luxury of traveling four hours back and from school
03:42which is something a lot of people actually dread
03:44but for me, I actually do enjoy
03:45because it gives me a lot of time just sitting on the MRT
03:48and just doodling on my iPad trying to figure out video ideas.
03:52And when I get most of these ideas,
03:54I think the most important thing is to quickly jot it down so you don't forget.
03:57So I usually have a reminders app on my phone to dump all my ideas
04:00and then once I reach home, I try to organize it on my mood board
04:04which is not very organized in the end
04:06but on the left are the more impromptu ideas that I've ever had
04:09and then the one on the right are a little bit more urgent.
04:11So it's something for me just to refer to at the end of the day
04:14or especially during my free time when I'm just sitting around not really doing anything.
04:22Well, my hobbies are pretty simple.
04:23I guess I'm one of those people who really love jogging, building Lego
04:26but one of my favorite ones is actually to personalize gifts for family and friends.
04:30Yeah, that's where I really invested a lot of money in this Cricut printer
04:34and this is just one of the ways I can personalize things.
04:36So things like this little bag,
04:38you can see a little design that I printed of the Overwatch logo.
04:41But yeah, I just like to make all these funny arts and crafts
04:43that make people feel like the gift is a bit more special
04:46because I put a lot of time and effort into preparing them.
04:49The way this works is pretty simple.
04:51I will have a design loaded up on my laptop
04:53and it will connect via Bluetooth to the Cricut
04:56and all I need to do is basically put in the medium of printing.
04:59It can either be a vinyl or an iron-on
05:01and I think you can see the design emerging a bit
05:04and then all we need to do is clean it up.
05:08Then I'll do some final touches.
05:12So when it comes to 3D, I'm entirely self-taught.
05:15I mainly picked it up during my school holidays
05:18after my first year at university
05:20mainly because I saw a couple of video editors
05:23working with 3D in Overwatch
05:25and I thought, well, that was pretty cool.
05:26And yeah, it's definitely very daunting
05:28for someone who didn't come from a media background.
05:30I have never studied media all my life.
05:33I've learned video editing and now 3D editing all on my own.
05:37Yeah, so this is an example of one of the working files
05:40that I've imported in Blender.
05:41So the one on the left, if you can see
05:43this is an Overwatch character called Genji
05:45and this is the full render that will happen
05:48once this animation plays out
05:50and then the one on the right is basically the working template
05:52and over here, I think I've put a little animation on Genji.
05:55So he just does this little backflip with his sword
05:58and then he just shoots it at the end of it
06:00and this was actually one of the shots
06:01that we used for the 2023 World Cup rosters.
06:07I had this giant grand idea to be like
06:09why not we hold this tournament at a live event
06:12where there are actual computers
06:14and players can come down physically
06:15to actually not only meet each other
06:17but also play on a stage
06:18which was something actually ridiculous to think about back then
06:21but I just thought, what if we could just do this once
06:23at least once for all the players to experience
06:26how is it like to play video games at a very big stage.
06:29So yeah, we started with a very, very grand idea
06:32and in order to get there
06:34there were a lot of sacrifices
06:35that needs to be made from me and my team.
06:37I was very blessed to work with
06:38some very, very passionate individuals as well
06:41who were really there to stick through me
06:43when times are tough
06:44and a lot of us made our own little initiative.
06:48The event is called the SGCC
06:50which stands for the Singapore Collegiate Clash.
06:52Back then, it was a 6v6 tournament
06:54so each team had to send in about six players
06:57to play for their team.
06:58Overall, I think we had a total of 12 different teams
07:01and all of the teams compete in a group stage
07:04that is conducted online firstly
07:06so they needed to qualify through a group stage
07:08and only the top four teams making out the group stage
07:11would be playing live online.
07:13We didn't have any sponsorship
07:14and I thought what would really make people want to
07:16play in the event
07:18so I decided to make my own crafts
07:20trying to make my own prizes in a sense
07:22using my skills as a 3D modeler
07:25so I did things like printing out the prizes on vinyl
07:28and a lot of memorabilia for all the players participating
07:32but also for the fans who actually came down for the event
07:34and I just thought that all these little things made by me and my team
07:37really shows that how a community effort
07:39managed to actually make a small idea into reality
07:42even when it doesn't seem very very likely
07:45and I was yeah I was very very fortunate
07:47to have a supporting community as well
07:49they actually contributed a lot to the crowdfunding.
07:52I think one of the sweetest things to emerge from this SGCC event
07:57was that the producers of the game
07:59actually reached out to us
08:00because they were quite not only impressed
08:02but also very heart warmed
08:04to see that Overwatch was still thriving in Singapore
08:07so we actually prepared a little montage video
08:10mainly for the players
08:11but they wanted to showcase it to the other fans of Overwatch worldwide
08:14so it actually got reposted on the Overwatch Facebook page
08:18which had over 2 million people following the page
08:21and to my surprise a lot of people were actually very stunned
08:24number one to see why is this random video from Singapore
08:28being showcased on the Overwatch official page
08:31but also a lot of very supportive feedback
08:32hearing especially for other countries
08:34when they are very shocked
08:36to see that people in Singapore actually do still play the game
08:39yeah so these are actually just some of the memorabilia
08:41that I've collected over the past
08:42I guess we'll start with this one
08:43this was something that I made with my friends
08:46who organized the SCDF Call of Duty tournament
08:49and I just thought of making one for all my organizing team
08:51to remember how we actually started
08:53and personally this is actually the first event
08:55that I've managed to organize
08:56so maybe it's the one that started all of this out
08:59apart from that I also have this little prize
09:01that I won with my NTU teammates
09:03when we competed in the Overwatch tournament
09:05this is actually a picture that me and my friends took
09:08and some of them I met for the first time actually
09:10and if you take a closer look
09:11I think you can see me over here
09:13yeah I thought this was something nice
09:14provided to us by our sponsors to remember the event
09:17and then lastly which I was very excited
09:19was actually to print out these little cards
09:21that I actually gave out to the people that attended
09:24yeah I just want people over there to feel like
09:25their time wasn't wasted
09:27so some memorabilia for them was nice
09:29we just had the Overwatch character
09:31along with the event name
09:32and then a lot of them actually used it
09:33to collect signatures from other players
09:35which I thought was pretty sweet
09:36these are actually two posters of two of the game characters
09:39that I actually brought to the live event itself
09:42because I was so busy with organizing and even playing
09:44I actually didn't have time to go around
09:46to really meet the people that came down
09:48and surprisingly quite a lot of people did sign it
09:50and I recognized a lot of the names as well
09:52so it's very heartwarming to see that
09:54they actually took the time to come down
09:55when it comes to the Overwatch community
09:57I would say in Singapore
09:58we're a very small community compared to other games
10:01but I would say we're very tightly knit
10:02because we've been playing this game for
10:04at this point over six to eight years
10:06having a live event where we get to meet each other
10:08is indirectly reduce a lot of the toxicity
10:11I would say amongst our different players
10:13I think when people really get to see the person
10:15they're interacting behind the screen in real life
10:18it really puts them in a different light
10:20but if you get to see the real person you're interacting with
10:22the real person has their own inspirations
10:24their own values and their own characteristics
10:27and by seeing each other in person
10:28we do really understand where the other person is coming from
10:31and through that I think we instilled a lot of positivity
10:34amongst our community
10:35a lot of us are a lot more friendlier now
10:37especially when we see each other again online
10:40knowing that we have met each other once in real life
10:43For my own community
10:44we actually do have our own Discord server
10:46which is the one you see over here
10:48basically just a giant chat room for people to communicate
10:51and personally I do really love Discord
10:52because I think one of the best part about Discord
10:54is you have so many different channels
10:56where you can just talk about anything you want
10:58and it's still very very organised
11:02I really felt that the biggest takeaway
11:05is that we have this unique experience for a lot of us
11:07neither of us I would say will make it pro in esports
11:10but this was just something that is very unique
11:12when it comes to universities
11:13because you get to play all these things that you really enjoy
11:16and esports is not something that is very exposed in universities
11:19a lot of us are still traditional
11:21and yeah I'm happy to instill the love of the game
11:24amongst Singaporeans as well
11:26and I think that's the way it should be for Overwatch