City of Steam Windows, Mac, Web game

0 comments by CoS_Ethan on May 21st, 2012

We here at Mechanist don’t always manage (or want) to stay in one place. One might start out wearing one “hat” at first, but eventually find him/herself wearing a completely different (and often unexpected) one later on. Having discussed this amongst ourselves recently, we thought it might be fun to share some of these quirks with you guys!

First off, let’s slide over to Fan, who started out as a concept artist. After some time, Design found itself short-staffed (Dave being the sole one in there at the time), and Fan “naturally” stepped up to fill in (despite no previous experience in the field). He found himself much happier in this role, and is now the department’s Asset Manager. When asked if he ever looked back, his simple answer “not enough time” says it all.

Some of Fan’s artwork, gotta love ‘em Dwarves

Charben and Wayne have been an inseparable team since the beginning over 2 years ago. Charben drew concept art, which Wayne then made into 3D models. Perhaps they went through more of a brain swap than a “hat” swap, as one day they simply traded roles!

Some of Charben’s 3D work

Gang Girl and Rigger Claw concepts by Wayne

Ethan and Dorian share a similar story. Ethan, as you may have noticed on the Forum, is quite the die-hard fan.  He began in Translation, but was moved into Marketing. The Translation spot, now open, was given to Dorian who applied for and got the job. Mere months later, however, Andrew “stole” him and placed him in Marketing too. That’s the lesson for today, folks; if interested in marketing, don’t bother taking classes. Just learn a foreign language or two and start out in translation!

Ethan and Dorian, two Draug of a kind

Speaking of Andrew, he has done his own share of “hat swapping”. Starting out with Design at its early stages, Andrew helped polish off some background and history of the City of Steam world, and even enjoyed playtesting very early versions of The New Epoch. He then proceeded to dabble in level design, yet none of his level work was implemented in the end [Studio Audience Cue: Awww]. From there, he answered the beckoning call of Marketing, where he is now the Marketing Manager and working his nuts and bolts off [inappropriate; but too funny to leave out] spreading the word about City of Steam.

Andrew overseeing some playtesting. Cast votes for a return of “the beard“!

Our own Alzq, or plainly Ali (try saying his name 3 times fast), may not have left his department, per se, but took a huge leap of his own, going from client-side coding to server-side coding… Who does that?!

We can only imagine he’s coding something on his phone, too…

Co-founder Joey has worked together with Dave for a long time now, the two having built the game from the ground up with humble beginnings. Joey started out in Localization, but stepped up at every opportunity and spends his time making sure the other programmers are on task as well as doing quite a bit himself (self-taught o_O)  ! Spending most of his time in development, Joey has a hand in just about every aspect of the game.

And finally, the Big Boss (not to be confused with Fist Boss): Dave! A true jack-of-all-trades, you can find Dave’s fingerprints all over the place. With 10 years of work in gaming, Dave has worn just about every “hat” imaginable. Having a musical background, he has experience with composing and even did some of the music for CoS (though a lot of it is being changed before release). He has done 2D and 3D art, is the heavy hand in overall art direction, and even put together some of the tilesets! Currently, he is the company’s General Manager and Lead Designer. Where does he find the time? Well, some of us swear we have never even seen the guy leave the office… True dedication, Dave! We salute you!

Dave, so focused as to not notice his picture being taken

Much like how we started small in a shoddy apartment, to eventually move into a nice and proper office, the path thus far has been a growing experience for many. All in all, there may be some tug-of-war bouts over people between departments once in a while, but it goes to show our staff’s willingness to learn and adapt, and the hidden talents that are discovered in doing so!

Any thoughts on the stories of “hats” we once wore or are wearing, roll them out on the forum post here.