What’s your role at FlatPonies?

I’m the Creative Director at the company. That includes both our games and any creative aspects of our external work, like branding guidelines, website design, etc.

On the games front, I set the overall direction — what the game is about, the rules, the mechanics, and so on. Anything game design, really. I’m often the knot that ties together every department: game design, art, audio, code, and narrative.

I do a lot of meetings, task reviews, specifications, prototypes, and mockups. I also handle audio direction, compose the music, and implement the audio — though I rarely do sound design anymore, since we now have a dedicated sound designer.

I also work on trailers, mainly editing, and I contribute to the plot, writing, and world-building.

I probably forgot other things I do — I wear a lot of hats.

What makes a great work environment?

The flexibility to work on your own terms — within certain bounds, of course. People don’t have to stress about their private lives, sickness, or weird schedules (for the most part).

It means that when people do work, they might even give it that little bit extra.

It obviously takes a responsible team to make that work — and thankfully, that’s the case with us.

What excites you most about our current project?

The fact that I get to make my dream project — and that I have a skilled team working together toward that.

The best part is when someone on the team has been working on something they’re really excited to show me. That gets me really excited as well.

What’s been the biggest ‘aha’ moment in development so far?

I think it was recently, demoing the game and realizing which parts really resonate with players — and then leaning into those.

You often get lost in the details while working, so it’s healthy to take a step back and have someone say, “I really love this,” even when you thought that part was trivial.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be diligent — but sometimes you spend a lot of time on something that, in the end, doesn’t really matter.

Thankfully, this time it was in a good way!

What’s a fun or unexpected fact about you that your teammates might not know about you? 

If you had asked me 15 years ago what I’d be doing at a game company, I’d probably have said “artist.”

I used to draw a lot from a young age — I come from a family of visual artists. I was actually quite good at it, and looking back at old drawings, I sometimes can’t believe I made them.

Nowadays, I can make a doodle with a shaky hand and that’s it. Based on my current skills, you’d never believe I used to draw.

If you could jump back in time, and play your favorite childhood video game, which one would it be and why? OR What’s a gaming moment from your childhood that you’ll never forget?

Playing the original Crash Bandicoot demo — one of my earliest memories. I must have been around 2 or 3 years old.

The memory is so vivid. I obviously couldn’t beat the level (which is the second in the game), but I kept playing anyway.

It wasn’t until Crash 2 came out over a year later that I really got into games — at 4 years old — and that set me on the path I’m still on today.

Tell us about your pony—why is it designed this way?

It’s quite old at this point, but it was originally based on a business card from VRUnicorns that Julie Heyde had made, where you could color yourself in.

I only wear black on black, but I suppose it would have been hard to create contrast with that alone.

The gamepad represents my passion for game design, and the headphones and synth are from my background in music — specifically electronic music, which is where I started out.