Wow! I must admit that I was not expecting Lima to be such a vibrant and energetic city. Only once I start doing a bit of research did I get a sense of an expansive cosmopolitan city of over 8 million people, world-class restaurants and strong culture of arts. Once I arrived, it was non-stop action and stimulation.
I was brought down by the Escuela de Arte Digital (EAD) to both consult specifically on their efforts and business, as well as catalyze some action within the overall (nascent) ecosystem in Peru. In this regard EAD was smart in leveraging my short time in Peru – and wisely, they understood that in order for themselves to be successful the whole ecosystem needs to be successful. So, they booked me for a bunch of extra meetings, press interviews and student sessions. My schedule looked something like this (though, I’m sure I’m missing some stuff):
Tuesday:
- 2am: Very early arrival of my flight to Lima
- 10am: press interview with the El Correa newspaper
- 11am: visit with Studio EAD (the school’s outsourcing sister company)
- 12pm: press interview with ? newspaper
- 1pm: lunch meeting with EAD at Rosa Nautica (awesome ceviche and pisco sour)
- 3pm: press interview with Channel N’s Business World (like the CNN of Peru)
- 6pm: Judo training at the Japanese Cultural Center
- 9pm: press interview with El Comercio and JPGames blog
- 10pm: Guitar Hero competition at nearby jazz club
- 11pm: go for drinks with JPGames at nearby hang-out/hot-spot Larcomar
Wednesday:
- 4am: return from Larcomar, sleep
- 11am: press interview with ? newspaper
- 12pm: lunch meeting with EAD (in historical Bohemian district Barranco)
- 2pm: press interview with Miraflores newspaper
- 5pm: lecture at Catholic University
- 10pm: dinner at Cala, a snazzy fusion restaurant on the beach overlooking the crashing waves
Thursday:
- 4am: return from post Cala drinks, sleep
- 3pm: meeting with AVATAR game group from Catholic University
- 6pm: Judo training at the Japanese Cultural Center
- 10pm: grab a chicken wrap and apple from the local grocery story for dinner
- 11pm: pass out from exhaustion (due both to the heavy Judo training and the intense schedule)
Friday:
- 9am: breakfast meeting at the Lima Country Club with various deans and directors from all the major universities in Lima
- 11am: final meeting with EAD
- …rest of time off
- 11pm: head to airport for my 1:30am flight home (which turned into a 3:30am departure!)
- midnight: meeting in the airport food court with an indie developer (see below)
What’s not captured in the above listing is the chaos. The majority of meetings were shifted and moved to accommodate traffic delays or overran meetings, etc. It was quite interesting to see the extremely malleable nature of everyone’s scheduling – it really didn’t faze anyone.
Much like in the rest of South America, a nascent games community is emerging and struggling with figuring out their place in the global scene – partly inspired by the awesomeness of traditional big budget console games in North America, partly curious about how the lessons of online markets like South Korea apply to their own economic conditions. Universities are just starting to ramp up their efforts, and a myriad of amateur attempts are popping up around the small handful of established studios, like Bamtang.
There is opportunity in Peru, but it will take business and process innovation – not technical innovation. But, as is often the case, the first wave of folks interested in driving the industry are the developers/techies, who focus on the tech and then struggle to see how to get paid…
Sadly, I didn’t get much chance to do any serious traditional sightseeing. I’ll be sure to work that into the schedule for the next visit… Still, I did grab some photos:
View outside the hotel window. Very “layered” and many different “eras” represented.
There was always lots of trees and foliage mixed between buildings.
EAD
One of the classes at EAD in session.
The Rosa Nautica. Yummy food!
Part of the TV station.
One shot inside the station, before security told me to put the camera away…
There were the usual squeegee punks and girls selling candy along the streets. Then this robot guy comes walking down the street. I gave him some coins before he had a chance to shoot me!
Martial arts action at the Japanese Cultural Center.
Poster for the competition at Jazz Zone.
Fierce competitors in action.
There were a surprising number of casinos in town.
The open-air mall, Larcomar, at night.
Beach shot along the Pacific.
Not quite like in Rio… The nice beaches were a decent drive out of town.
In the lovely Barranco district.
Vibrant traditional colors from the restaurant tablecloth.
The Country Club Lima Hotel, where the meeting with deans/directors was held.
A shot of me giving an impromptu white-board session to the deans/directors.
Nicely lit church on the Miraflores round-about near my hotel.
Indie game developer Martin de la Torra showing me how to play Empre$ario, the original board game version of the Facebook game he is developing.
