51社区黑料

Carlos Montoya-Aviles graduates next week with a Bachelor of Science in Interactive Arts & Technology with a concentration in creative media arts and game design. Carlos shares his experiences in SIAT, his involvement with StudioSIAT and the 51社区黑料VTuber program, and a little advice to students!

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Carlos! I鈥檓 a guy that likes to consider himself a film and game maker but in all honesty, I just love to work on creative projects of any kind. At SFU, I studied Interactive Arts and Technology, concentrating in Creative Media Arts and Game Design, alongside a healthy dose of computer science. I also was a teaching assistant for the film course IAT 202 at SIAT, which was a highlight of my time at SFU.

Why did you choose SIAT for your studies?

Originally, I was studying computer science and did not feel like I fit in there at all. My dream was to do artistic, creative work, but the CS curriculum was all back-end development grunt work, and classes where you could flex your creative muscles were extremely few and far between. Once I was at SFU, I started to take a few SIAT electives and I fell in love with the different environment, vibe and community that SIAT had when compared to the Burnaby campus. For the first time in my university career, I was actually invested in my classes and enjoying what I was studying. From there, the answer was obvious and I made the jump over to SIAT.

You were heavily involved in StudioSIAT and the 51社区黑料VTuber program. What did you take away from your involvement with those programs?

I remember first learning about StudioSIAT after trying to find a good place to hunker down and edit my film and video projects. It just felt like a cozy hole in the wall part of campus that not many folks went to and I really loved it. Even now, if I鈥檓 on campus I鈥檓 probably hiding out in one of the editing suites. When the opportunity arose for me to get involved, I jumped at the opportunity and alongside J, Trisha and the rest of the incredible folks at the Studio, I鈥檝e been fortunate enough to help kick-off and sustain the VTuber program and to have been a part of some really awesome projects. I wouldn鈥檛 trade that experience for the world.

I think my role at the studio really helped me develop professionally more than anything else. From working in the studio, I feel like I gained valuable insight on how to truly manage a creative project from beginning to end, which when making personal projects, isn鈥檛 something I gave much thought (see the LUDICROUS amount of stray files on my desktop). I feel that the road for any creative project is always a turbulent one with ups and downs and crazy loop-de-loops where things can go wrong. By working with J and learning from her, I truly feel like I can better weather the storms that come with producing a project. The studio also gave me a place that I could truly call home on campus. The folks there saw potential in me, encouraged and entertained my weird ideas and gave me the space to try, fail and improve. For believing in me when I honestly didn鈥檛 believe in myself, I will always be very thankful to everyone at StudioSIAT.

You were awarded the 2025 Cody Swatsky Memorial Award in Gaming. How did winning that award affect your time at SIAT?

Receiving the Cody Swatsky Memorial Award was a very touching and reflective moment for me. Reading about Cody and becoming familiar with his story, I was honored to receive it and as someone who really isn鈥檛 used to recognition like that, it provided me a moment to reflect on my journey thus far. It definitely relit a fire in me and motivated me to finish my degree strong to make my dream indie game project a reality in the years to come. I am still very appreciative to the Sawatsky family for the award, and it truly does still mean a lot to me.

How did your studies in SIAT fit into your future goals and what is next for you?

I think SIAT has helped make me into a well-rounded individual. It鈥檚 helped me become proficient in a lot of skills that will help me in my creative endeavours going forward. As for what鈥檚 immediately next for me, I鈥檓 not too sure! Wherever the wind takes me. But along the way, I want to keep improving myself and my skills so that I can create on par with what my ambition demands. But wherever I鈥檓 going, so long as I鈥檓 creating work that can help people, or at the very least give them something to appreciate, I鈥檒l be happy.

Further down the line however, I鈥檓 hoping to pursue grad school so that I can continue my passion for teaching. I would love to be a professor to someday be able to pay it forward, and provide future students with the same encouragement my best professors gave to me.

What was the highlight of your SIAT academic career?

I think that the highlight of the whole thing was the people I met and my time as a teaching assistant. Throughout my undergrad at SIAT, I was able to meet extraordinary mentors and a smorgasbord of different people doing amazing things. I met immensely talented filmmakers, game designers, mocap technicians, artists, animators and even DJs who were all at SIAT with the sole goal of pursuing their passions to the fullest. In that shared drive, I feel like there's a true sense of camaraderie despite the sheer variety of people and interests at SIAT that feels uniquely us. We were all driven to do good creative work, and the memories I hold of renting out a cabin in Chilliwack to film a horror movie, or encouraging my students to be their best selves as a teaching assistant, or all the dumb little commercials I made in Bernhard鈥檚 game design classes are ones that I鈥檒l keep close to me for a long time.

Do you have any advice for students starting their degree at SIAT?

I think for new students I have two invaluable pieces of advice to make the most of your time at SIAT. First, on the practical side of things, be brave enough to 鈥渒ill your darlings鈥� and pivot. Sometimes your favourite ideas aren't gonna pan out and that's okay! The good elements from those ideas will inevitably seep their way into other projects, or you can even save them for later, but having an open mind and being able to reinvent an idea is a very valuable skill!

Second, and this one is much more fun, SAY YES TO THE WEIRD PROJECTS! Sometimes you鈥檙e going to be presented with an idea that is out of your comfort zone, or maybe just not at all what you had in mind. Maybe the road forward with it isn鈥檛 as clear as other, easier ideas, but it鈥檚 unique and it鈥檚 new, and it can teach you a new skill or something about yourself that you wouldn鈥檛 have otherwise considered. I would encourage you to say yes as often as you realistically can, because when you鈥檙e on the other side of it, you鈥檒l be a more well-rounded individual and all the better for it. Some of my best memories from my undergrad have been as a result of rolling the dice, and you want some good lore for your future self to tell. Best of luck!