It's my responsibility to make sure the stuff that our writers design gets implemented into the game, and we make it feel like a living, breathing world. We put in the NPC's that talk to you, the quests and public quests you embark upon, the monsters that you kill (or might kill you), and the objects you interact with, as well as the scripting, pathing, animations and spell effects. I try to implement something every day, but most of my time is spent helping my team, making sure they all have what they need to do their job.
What is your background? College? Degree? Has it helped with the job?
I have a degree from Brigham Young University in Elementary Education. If you think
this doesn't seem applicable to my current responsibilities, you'd probably be right.
Game developers are never childish! So pbbbbtthhh!
Seriously though, I'd say my upbringing and family background have contributed the most to my successes at Mythic. My parents taught me to work hard, to finish what I start, to do things right the first time and to take pride in my work. Additionally, I was raised to treat others with respect.
1st job out of school? 1st game industry job? How long have you been with Mythic? What
other jobs have you held in the industry?
I graduated from college and went straight to work for a large ISP. I worked in telecom for a
few years and then lost my job when the tech market crashed. The job market was horrible at
that time, and I realized I needed to look to another industry for work.
A guild friend of mine in another MMO told me that a local company was launching a game soon and were hiring for CS. I interviewed with Mythic and was offered a job as server lead the next day. My boyfriend (now my husband) was hired the following month, along with the guild friend that referred me.
I worked in CS on Camelot for 4 months and was the first person to be promoted to development from customer service. I wrote and implemented quests for Dark Age of Camelot and its expansions, worked on quest design for Imperator, took a break to have a baby, and came back when they offered me a lead position on Warhammer.
What was your "welcome to the game industry" moment when it hit you that you were really
making games for a living?
I honestly don't remember a specific first welcome to the industry moment, maybe because there
are frequent moments where it just hits you. One of my recent favorites was an afternoon where
Brad, our sound guy, was recording voice-overs. Out of nowhere, suddenly someone shouted,
"WAAAAGGHHHH!!!" at the top of their lungs. Then they were grunting, and roaring and groaning.
Brad kept calling different folks in to do different voices. My whole team was laughing too hard to
get much done that afternoon. On a day like that, all I can think about is how cool it is that I
really make games for a living. (And when you hear a goblin go, "Ow!" in the beta, I’m pretty sure that's me.)
What excites you about the Warhammer property? What makes it perfect for an MMO? What cool
things in the Warhammer universe do you hope to bring to life?
I was a Warhammer newb when we started, but I got pretty excited about the Armies. It seemed
like everyone was getting and painting these huge armies. The details were so minute, and
looking at a well-painted army, or even just a single figure, can be so inspiring. Getting
to read the army books and then trying to write and implement content that holds true with
IP is very exciting. For example - I read something in the Dwarf army book about how it
takes a minimum of three to man a flame cannon. So I started thinking – what about those
three Dwarfs? What’s their story? What happens to them? - That’s the kind of thing we’re
trying to bring to life.
Do you collect Warhammer figures? What army do you play?
I wanted to get a few of the Dragons because I enjoy the painting and wanted to display them,
but ended up getting an army. I picked Bretonnia because I like their color and variety.
What are your hopes/goals for the game?
My dream would be that every bit of content in the game is perfect, with no errors and no
bugs, where every path is realistic and all dialogue is typo-free.
My goal is to deliver a game with fun, compelling, and immersive content that can be played from start to finish with no problems.
My hope is that when Warhammer fans play the game they’ll feel like they’re stepping into a new adventure in a world they’ve already grown to love.
What are your favorite video/computer games of all time?
Adventure, Odyssey, ATWT, Nethack, Planets VGA, Myst, Rollercoaster Tycoon,
Civ2, EverQuest,
DAoC, The Sims 2, Knights of the Old Republic, and any competitive game that I played against
my sister because her smack talk is so totally ridiculous.
What music are you listening to right now?
I've got a ton of favorite music: Collective Soul, Vertical Horizon, Bush, Live, Nickel Creek,
BNL, DMB, Freestyle (my dad's college band) ... I could go on. I listen to books on CD from the
library during my 1.5 hour commute (each way) each day, and I rarely listen to music at work
because if I put my headphones on I'm too cut off from what's going on around me.
Is there a recent movie you’ve seen or book/comic you read that you’d recommend to others?
My favorite author is Guy Gavriel Kay. He writes historically based fantasy that is so
completely beautifully written, it’s inspiring. This year I also read every book by Charlaine
Harris.
As far as what I like to watch, this season's TV shows have been great. It's so hard to choose and our Tivo is constantly full. Battlestar Galactica above all else, but also House, Heroes, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Monk, Lost, Desperate Housewives and Project Runway.
