With the kick-off of FIFA under-17 World Cup, Kerala is in the throes of football fever and the joy is overwhelming in Gopal Reghunath’s voice, not because of the football event happening close to his home, but for a pair of football boots that Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, and Argentinian striker Mauro Icardi of Inter Milan will be wearing on pitch soon.
A native of Thiruvananthapuram, Gopal, a character artist working at EA Sport’s Vancouver studio, led the team that designed the Nike x EA Sports Hypervenom-3 football boot, that the star forwards will be wearing while terrorising their opponents in the coming months.
Back home for a short vacation, Gopal is thrilled to share his experience working on FIFA 2018, the latest version of the highly popular football video game and the designing of Cavani’s boots.
Design idioms
“My division is unofficially known within the company as ‘the wardrobe’. We design all accessories such as boots, footballs and jerseys. I lead a team of 15,” says Gopal. The limited edition boot was something Nike wanted to release along with the game. Nike gave an initial design that Gopal and his team reworked to create the final product. It is a boot specifically designed for a striker’s playing style. “EA often collaborates with sports goods companies to create such limited edition products,” he adds.
FIFA 18 released on September 29 and the Hypervenom -3 is available online, with the price starting at ₹35,000!
Although he works on the most sold football video game in the world, Gopal is yet to become a football fan. He doesn’t follow any clubs or watch matches week in and week out. Basketball, he says, is what he loves the most. But not watching regular football, he thinks,helps in a way in designing the accessories. “Usually design inspiration is found from things other than football. The new Hypervenom was based on 3D polygons and wire-frame. Last year’s Hypervenom was inspired from pixel art. So not having too much football in mind helps, to an extent, in getting a fresh perspective,” says Gopal.
An alumnus of Loyola school, animation and game design was no where in Gopal’s hopes regarding his future. He was neither into football or into intense gaming. “My brother Gautham was and still is the gamer in the family. He is a FIFA fanatic. I used to play once in a while,” he adds. But Gopal did like to draw and paint and it was during his college days in H.R. College, Mumbai, where he did his B.Com, that he got into animation and video games. He says, “I was so into it that I did a certificate course in animation and joined a small company after college. At some point, the diploma course in game-design at Vancouver film school caught my eye.” After finishing his diploma there in 2013, he freelanced for a while before striking gold with EA Sports. EA has been an enriching experience, says the young designer who is super happy with his life and career in Vancouver.