It looks like a dream offer too. Work on games, write for games, help develop the vision for games, be among creatives who will spark off my own creativism ?
Perhaps.
A games company called Paradox have taken an interest. Looks like they want a consultant engineer type person to write for them and add solid flesh to some of the lore bones they have in their games. A person to look at a Battlemech and say "That'll work, that's sound. But this is WAY COOLER!" So many times a creative project falls down because people will look at what's been made and it .... just cannot work. The creative engineer's job is to take those creative ideas and :
Make them work;
Make them cool;
Add in little essential details.
One of the sayings for engineers is that a designer will add the world to a device, the engineer will refine it back until it does its purpose as efficiently as possible. (And then the geekiness of all engineers will kick in and add something quirky again).
So that's your creative engineer's role. Steer the artists in a direction that will show creations that look like they could work. Suggest all sorts of additions like vents, intakes, exhausts, sensor blisters, weapon ports, windows ... things like that which add in the cool factor and give those gamers something to look at.
Oh and to take the "read all about the cool stuff behind the stuff in the game" a bit further and actually indulge in writing all that cool stuff behind the game. Things like the timelines that would go into Battletech or leading up to Surviving Mars or Stellaris. (Their other games are more historical)
Why Paradox ? They have games that make me want to pack myself up into the crates ...
Surviving Mars caught my attention early with its concept (right up my alley) and with the graphics too. I really must give it some more attention and time (see comment above ref: shoulder and wrist), although I have been hugely enjoying the soundtrack and the artbook I picked up with the game. You can tell they had people working on it who wanted to touch every single asset included in the game and add a little touch of awesome.
And then there's Battletech ... I started my PC playing days on Tie Fighter yep ... but one game that really caught my attention was Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries. Curiously, I never really played the other Mechwarrior games much until Mech Commander 2, which I'm actually considering bringing out again due to the hype behind Battletech. Here's the old game :
So many games, not enough time to play them all. (Unless playing them becomes the job, that would be as awesome as the Lego Spaceship guy being told he can build a spaceship).
It's not just the games though. It's the culture. I was very impressed while watching the livestream videos. They seem to have a culture there that's inclusive and which is steered towards enjoying the work and FUN. And that was going from their CEO coming in to sit in for the livestream looking at doing fun things with the game, through to the people who normally work on the games but who were taking their spell playing on the livestream.
That culture of fun is very attractive.
Oh and there's a rumour that Producer Niki wants a Chief of Staff, although I think she framed it more as "Manager of People". There was a strong suggestion that I should bring my black leather gloves, aka Assassin Gloves. Whatever for I wonder ?
But yeah, the first Paradox livestreams I watched were the Surviving Mars livestreams with Producer Niki playing and Community Manager Susie watching the stream comments and enabling the community interaction. I wouldn't keep watching an hour long set of videos (and prioritising them over others !) if they weren't fun and enjoyable to watch. And that culture enables Niki to unleash the crazy ideas and to be that free spirit.
There's a bit more to do though. I'm currently passportless after letting my old one expire (wasn't traveling anywhere, didn't need to renew it) and I definitely need to get a new one before the new Brexit passports (made in France) come in :
The GB thing is another factor actually, I'd definitely miss the people here (who would only be a flight away) but the country is steadily going downhill due to shockingly bad leadership. We have no credible politicians at the moment and the ones we do have are bent on self destruction.
Another thing about Sweden though, it's home to those lovely people from the Violence Reborn guild. The Warcraft period was quite turbulent towards the end of my time with the Mercenaries of Darkness but the mostly Swedish group of Violence Reborn picked me up again and ... rehabilitated me into the game ? And one person in particular, lovely Sandra. There was that unforgettable evening where Alex and DT were singing to each other over the voice comms ... and they got me joining in at the end too.
They had a crazy warlock too (can't remember her name sadly) who was very entertaining over the voice comms. She bought all of our souls in exchange for cookies and we were glad for the trade. Old Doomprayer too, he was a good egg although he got a bit caught up in the elitism that surrounded the raiding. Good chap. Oh and Tufflan too.
So many free spirits enjoying life and taking that enjoyment through to the game. I don't have nearly as many friends on Facebook as some but there are a number from the old Warcraft days who are definitely prized friends.
I should wrap up now though. It would be a fantastic opportunity to work for a company like Paradox.
PS In the interest of disclosure ... not-an-ad. :-)
Presumably you'll be starting *next* April 1st?
ReplyDeleteOh yes :-D
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