1.
So what's your role on the Elder Scrolls team?
After being a level designer for Morrowind and tribunal,
I jumped ship to go back to my roots of "animating".
I missed playing God, and getting to create creatures
from poly to texture to animation. I started animating
again with Bloodmoon, and I feel pretty much at home
again.
2. What's your typical day like on the team?
My typical workday starts around 10am (who am I kidding....
it's usually just after 10) with a cup of stupidly hot
coffee burning the scores of taste buds off of my tongue
and scanning through the 3 emails I may get overnight.
I scour over the internet through my daily bookmarks
to see what the game industry and the world has come
to and where it may be going (without me). Then between
modeling, texturing, and animating I occasionally find
time for the "every 15 minute smoke break",
a little idle chatter here and there, and crazy good
lunch prepared by the game industry's most acclaimed
chef. Firing ICQ messages back and forth with other
devs about error fixing in tasks, finding the fixes,
and actually fixing them is probably 70% of what keeps
me busy now. Wash, rinse, and repeat until about 7pm
and then it's off to Starbucks for a venti quad shot
mocha from Starbucks before heading home.
3. What's your favorite development tool?
Well, being an animator, I would have to say Max.
Without Max, I would probably still be doing cel animation.
Max offers most of what I need to get my tasks done,
except for Photoshop, which I use to manage my textures.
And, of course, once the textures are prepared and ready
for flight, it's back to Max again. I know Winamp and
iTunes aren't EXACTLY dev tools, but they help get me
through my days too. Afterall, music is to thank for
a lot of the great things you see in games these days.
Plenty of inspiration and the setting of the right moods
comes from tunes to get the job done right.
4. So what do you spend your late nights and weekends
doing?
Well, just to maintain my good stature and mannerisms,
I will keep it very obscure. Late nights range from
an easy night of sipping fine ports with friends in
front of a fireplace and talking for hours, to going
out on the town and racking up bar tabs. Feel free to
fill in any left out detail. I am sure some of those
nights involve what you have on your mind.
Weekends, I generally find myself sleeping in until
1pm and lumbering around my house for hours on end.
I used to be more outgoing and adventurous with my life,
and would take a trounce on my dirtbike or do some rallycross,
but I have since become a lounging sloth. More recently,
I have been doing some home remodeling and "trying"
to train my puppy. Yes, training a puppy takes MUCH
time. Just to add, it's difficult to do much at all
with this painfully cold winter we have been having.
Hopefully, this spring, I will be able to get out and
about and get into more trouble.
5. What's your favorite game?
Most recently, I would have to say Age of Mythology/Titans.
That game just sucked me right in. I'm a big fan of
RTS games and this one took me by surprise. I was having
trouble putting it down sometimes until the wee hours
of morning, with work crawling up soon. Having beat
it now though, I am slightly in a rut. I also just picked
up the Silent Hill series of games. Heard so much about
them that i had to check them out. AFter beating all
3 in about 3 weeks, I am waiting patiently for Silent
Hill 4.
I tried playing Final Fantasy Online, but having played
other online games, it seemed a little dumbed down to
me and bored the socks off of me. Hopefully, I will
find something new soon to pick up and get into.
6. What games are you playing now?
Currently, I'm not playing a thing. There are a few
titles I have my eyes on and just waiting to play though.
7. What game do you hate that everyone else seems
to like?
Ok, throw pie at me, but I have to say the Grand Theft
Auto titles. I tried them, and just couldn't get into
them. Only took me about 15 minutes to realise that.
I won't get into WHY I don't like it, but hey, to each
his own. If you like it, play away.
8. What's the craziest game idea you've had?
I assume by crazy, we mean off the wall-people will
be like "what the dilly!" I doubt people would
buy it, but it was a wild idea at one time when game
controversy was a top seller. Basically, it was a first
person shooter, where you played a "certain higher
power" in a white robe. You scoured the streets
of places like NY, DC, Amsterdam, the Gaza Strip, and
other areas of crime, sin, and mayhem and "cured"
them of their troubles, with arsenal of holy water to
holy handgrenades to yes, even the holy BFG. And you
would even be able to occasionally summon the Seven
Seals. That's right, 7 cute, lovable little seals would
rain down from the heavens and aid you in your "cleansing".
Of course, what would this game be without the final
boss being confronted in, non other than Hell. I had
always thought it would be called "The second Coming"
or "Walking Tall".
So yeah, there ya go. Crazy enough? It sure seemed
crazy, and even funnier, back in like '97.
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