What’s your role at FlatPonies?

Lead Programmer – I lead the programming team, which means that besides regular programming tasks developing systems, I also take responsibility for the quality of our codebase and provide the technical perspective on production planning with regard to risks, costs, and pains.

What makes a great work environment?

Good communication along with a sense of trust and mutual respect for each other, both professionally and personally.

What excites you most about our current project?

I am excited to see the world and its characters come to life as we further develop the progression of the game. In particular, one of the bosses is a conductor and has a vibe that I am excited to see come to fruition.

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

I haven’t had any major epiphanies in development so far. One of the things I have been impressed with, though, was the possibilities we had in creating custom editor tools and UI using the Odin Inspector with Unity, and how well-supported we could make some otherwise “too cumbersome to be possible” workflows.

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

I can’t think of any facts about myself that people would find too surprising. However, my mother is a pensioner at this point, yet she, my middle sister, and I still play World of Warcraft on a weekly basis together. At times, she and I will also play Magic: The Gathering together. She loved playing Skyrim, has completed the Dragon Age series, and has recently given Baldur’s Gate 3 a try. She’s also part of a board game club playing some of the more heavy, complex board games like Spirit Island and Dune: Imperium. That does surprise people most of the time I tell them!

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?

Gaming moment: There isn’t so much a single moment as a period, I suppose. When I was little, I would sit in my mother’s lab as we played Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor, an old RPG based in the universe of the more popular Heroes of Might and Magic game series. She would read aloud the conversations for me, as I was way too little to read. Some parts I would control and play the characters, while others she would. For instance, there was a dark cave filled with bats, rats, and spiders on the starting island that you had to go into to retrieve a quest item. I would always let her do it because I found the cave fairly scary.

Jump back in time: I do “jump back in time” and play my favorite childhood games from time to time. I spent a lot of time, already around the age of 3, playing Age of Empires and then later Age of Empires II. However, the vast majority of that time was spent in the map editor, creating my own scenarios and playing them rather than the campaigns or default game modes. Using the map editor was a bit like having access to unlimited knight and soldier toys. I could set them up for big battles, make little towns, big woods, roads, farmland, etc. I could tell my own stories or try to mimic ones I liked from the campaign or other games I played. Although Age of Empires was probably one of the biggest games of my childhood, the ones I most often feel drawn back to play from that time are the RPGs Neverwinter Nights and Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor, as I just love fantasy in the more medieval setting and their stories, as well as good memories playing them with my mother.

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

When my pony was to be made, I was asked for a picture of myself. I simply sent over the best-looking picture I had at the time, which was me on a friend’s couch in a grey shirt. I was also asked if there was a specific gadget I would like to be holding, e.g., a keyboard, a yoyo, or a guitar. I ended up asking for a big two-handed sword and suggested putting me in a pose similar to the iconic pose of Ned Stark from Game of Thrones.

I thought it would be cooler and more true to my personality to include a more medieval/fantasy gadget for my pony than what others had so far. I also respect Ned quite a bit as a reliable, loyal, responsible, and good man that I would love to be associated with.