7 posts tagged with "team"

In our latest instalment of this series we chat to Kevin, PlayCanvas' Creative Director from Sligo, Ireland.

How did you get into the video games industry?

I developed educational language games in a previous start-up, but had always wanted to get involved in real games. PlayCanvas was my chance.

Can you briefly describe you role at PlayCanvas?

I’m the Creative Director, so I look after the design side of things. We are just getting warmed up!

Favorite aspect of PlayCanvas' service?

I think creating games is a very natural and intuitive thing for people to do, but often with creating computer games the technical aspects can make it seem like a mysterious beast. PlayCanvas is dropping this barrier bit by bit and that’s something I really like.

How is PlayCanvas changing the way people make games?

It’s pretty amazing to have one code base for these games, so it can be played on multiple device types and shared around with just a link. That’s pretty powerful stuff in a world full of different devices and operating systems.

Where do you see web based gaming in the future?

Probably firing laser beams from its eyeballs at passing games consoles throughout the galaxy.

Describe one interesting thing about yourself?

When I was 17, I represented Ireland in Basketball for a number of years! (Editor note: Kevin and Vaios’ ‘mano e mano’ Shoot-out is coming to a court near you)

The Quick Fire round (this is where things get a little interesting)​

Zelda or Final fantasy?

Zelda

COD or Battlefield?

Battlefield

Mario or Sonic?

Mario

Favorite game of all time?

Oooooo tricky. I have lots of those. At the moment it's Battlefield 4, but only when my friends are playing at the same time!

Greatest Gaming Achievement?

Being part of the team that made SWOOOP!!

Next up is PlayCanvas' Chief Technical Officer who shares his name with beanie clad U2 Guitarist 'The Edge', Dave Evans. Dave grew up just outside of Cambridge in Duxford where he says he was regularly dive-bombed by old planes from the nearby Imperial war Museum.

How did you get into the video games industry?

I started writing games when I was around 13-14. Learning to program in C on a Mac LC II, which is not a great introduction to programming. Then I didn't do anything for a few years and got back into it at my last year at Oxford University where me and a friend wrote a game about a skateboarding monkey called Stunt Monkey.

When it came to applying for jobs after university I fell into game development as it was the first job I applied for. I worked at Rebellion in Oxford for a couple of years on Gameboy Advance and PlayStation 2 titles. Then I moved to London where I worked for Sony for about 7 years. During this time I made the change from AI/gameplay programmer to Tools programmer.

Can you briefly describe your role at PlayCanvas?

I'm the CTO, which is a grand title for a small team. But basically I make sure that the development of the PlayCanvas tools and engine are all on track. Making sure all the programmers have stuff to do along with making sure what they are doing makes sense for PlayCanvas in the longer term (i.e. it'll scale as we grow, it's maintainable for the future, etc). I try and get a bit of coding done most days, but that's not always possible. Finally, along with the rest of the team, I'm supporting all our users to make sure they are happy and productive.

Favorite aspect of PlayCanvas' service?

The speed at which you can prototype a game idea and share it with other people

How is PlayCanvas changing the way people make games?

Online communities are massive accelerators where people can learn new skills and create new things. The PlayCanvas community is built around our tools and we can already see it bringing together game developers from all over the world.

Where do you see web-based gaming in the future?

Web-based gaming is the future! If there is one thing you can be certain of, it's that every device released in the future, from phone, to TV, to something we haven't thought of yet, will have have a web browser. And we're right on the brink, as with PlayCanvas and WebGL you can now create great looking games to play on any of these machines.

The Quick Fire round (this is where things get a little interesting)​

Zelda or Final fantasy?

I've only ever played FF7, so I guess that?

COD or Battlefield?

COD

Mario or Sonic?

Mario

Favorite game of all time?

That's a tough one... Monkey Island or Multiplayer Halo.

Today we are talking to the Russian (from Latvia) Senior Engineer at PlayCanvas: Max!

How did you get into the video games industry?

I started making games when I was 13 years old and always knew what I wanted. A long journey but here I am, making game development better with PlayCanvas.

Can you briefly describe your role at PlayCanvas?

I’m a Full-stack developer and love to be involved in anything specific or generic. Making PlayCanvas service work fast and scale well is what makes me feel good.

What is your favorite aspect of PlayCanvas' service?

It is in the browser (1-click-away), and JavaScript.

Where do you see web based gaming in the future?

There are so many ways gaming in web can be moved forward, that we even can't see where it will be in few years, only guess. The most important thing is well-connected and social games, where by just sharing a link you can invite your friends to challenge your record or even play in real-time with you.

How is PlayCanvas going to change the way people make games?

Collaboration and the fact you can make games straight away and test them out in minutes on hundreds of users, like your twitter followers. It’s something so powerful. We can't predict what users will come up with being so accelerated by those features.

Can you describe one interesting thing about yourself?

I do care about things going on around and will always get obsessed by things I work on, I want to get as much as possible from my efforts.

The Quick Fire round (this is where things get a little interesting)​

Zelda or Final fantasy?

MediEvil

COD or Battlefield?

COD

Mario or Sonic?

Contra

Favorite game of all time?

Tough question, which ever one has most meta-gaming (UO or EVE for instance)

Greatest Gaming Achievement?

Life

"I used to play basketball. Before all this, I considered doing it for a living."

Vaios comes from Athens, Greece (if his name wasn't giving anything away) and he is a Senior Engineer here at PlayCanvas.

How did you get into the video games industry?

I wanted to get into the video games industry since I was a teenager. So I studied Computer Science at the University of Piraeus where I researched everything I could about graphics and game development and then I got an MSE in Computer Science from the University Of Pennsylvania. I was very fortunate to get a job as a Junior Programmer at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, where I met Dave and Will and I've been working on games and game related tools ever since!

Can you briefly describe your role at PlayCanvas?

My work at PlayCanvas includes implementing and documenting new features for the Engine, the Designer and the backend, improving user workflows, fixing bugs and creating game demos whenever I can. We're a small team so we all contribute our ideas of what we should be working on based on our experience working on other engines and games.

What is your favorite aspect of PlayCanvas' service?

The fact that I can work on my game anywhere from any device. I'm not limited by the operating system and I don't have to worry about source control or where to store all my assets. Everything is on the cloud and I can instantly share my work with others or invite them to my project to work with me, without going through the whole process of downloading and installing tools first.

Where do you see web based gaming in the future?

I think game development is moving towards people working together from all around the world. This used to be a big barrier before - for example, as a programmer with not a lot of artistic talent, I was limited to downloading free models and textures from the Internet. If I wanted to make something unique and pretty I had to find an artist. Then I would have to give that artist access to some repository and explain to them how the whole source control thing works. The artist would have to compile and run the game in their machine or I would have to be there physically to do it for them. You can see where this is going... With PlayCanvas you simply don't think about that stuff anymore. PlayCanvas empowers people from all around the world to work with whomever they want, instantly.

How is PlayCanvas going to change the way people make games?

One of the main reasons why developers would want to develop games that work in the browser is the fact that their game would be more accessible by everybody. One of the reasons why people avoided making games for the Web was that they were limited to simplistic games that may not have appealed to their taste. I believe that WebGL and game-related web technologies in general have become more and more reliable in every device and as tools get better developers will be empowered to make any kind of game they want. I think that eventually most games will be playable in the browser so PlayCanvas is moving in the right direction.

Can you describe one interesting thing about yourself?

I used to play basketball during the period between elementary school and university and before all this I considered doing it for a living. I even played in the major leagues for a while! (well I sat on the bench that is...)

The Quick Fire round (this is where things get a little interesting)​

Zelda or Final fantasy?

Unfortunately I haven't played either of them!

COD or Battlefield?

Same as above! I'm not a big FPS guy.

Mario or Sonic?

Mario! It was one of the first games I played!

Favorite game of all time?

Grim Fandango! Viva la revolution!

Greatest Gaming Achievement?

Finishing Killzone 2 on a single Sunday while sitting on the floor in front of my sofa for the duration of the game.

Our recent commitment to open sourcing is not the only thing we at PlayCanvas are open about. To help get in touch with our community, we are starting a series of posts about the people behind PlayCanvas. From the informative down to the outright silly, step deeper into our world.

"I wanted to work at Marvel Comics when I was 18 but my coding skills won out which is probably for the best!"

First up is Will, our CEO and co-founder, from everyone's favorite sleepy little town Bedford, England!

How did you get into the video games industry?

I never intended to get into making games. During my time at Imperial College in London where I studied Computing, I had to do a 6 month industrial placement. I joined a VR company that's still around today in the form of Virtalis. But being the late 90s, the technology was underwhelming and I wanted to be back near to London, so I took an interview at Criterion Software where I started out as an engineer developing RenderWare. If you haven't heard of RenderWare before, it powered hundreds of PS2 titles (including the GTA series). I think it's fair to say, I learned a lot working with such awesome teams.

Can you briefly describe your role at PlayCanvas?

I'm CEO. I'm a technical guy, so although I don't do much coding myself these days, I know enough to keep the coding team on their toes. I spend most of my time dealing with the mechanics of running the business and promoting what we're doing out to the wider world. If I had to pick one thing I do and do best, it's predicting where we need to be 5 years from now and figuring out how we get there. So far, so good!

What is your favorite aspect of PlayCanvas' service?

Tough question, there's a lot to choose from. For me, it's the collaborative nature of the tools. It was the killer feature of Google Docs that completely blew me away. We're doing the same thing for game developers. It really is a revelation once you've experienced it.

How is PlayCanvas changing the way people make games?

It's becoming more transparent. If you choose to work in public, I can see your project at any time I want to. I can play your games any time, anywhere and on any device. We're making the process more collaborative, with a multi-user editor where you can see the game come together live before your eyes. And we're opening game development up to a far wider audience, by making the tools incredibly accessible. Did I mention we're open source now?

Where do you see web based gaming in the future?

I see it becoming the pinnacle in convenience. Ultimate accessibility. Completely cross-platform. And even more dynamic and open than it is today.

Can you describe one interesting thing about yourself?

I wanted to work at Marvel Comics when I was 18. I used to take my portfolio along to the London Comic Art Convention looking for a job. In the end, my coding skills won out which is probably for the best!

The Quick-fire Round (this is where things get a little interesting)​

Zelda or Final fantasy?

Zelda

COD or Battlefield?

COD

Mario or Sonic?

Mario

Favorite game of all time?

No contest: Elite.

Greatest Gaming achievement?

Can losing be an achievement? I played the UK Nintendo Champion at Street Fighter 2 in 1993. I left his Dhalsim battered and bruised with a mere pixel of health remaining!

To kick off 2014 with a bang, we're welcoming a brand new member to the PlayCanvas family.

Kevin's image doesn't appear on film, so we've used this instead.

Kevin Rooney joins us as Creative Director, check out his amazing portfolio. Kevin is an experienced designer who has sampled the start-up life before at Memrise.

What does this mean? Kevin brings a much needed designer's touch to the PlayCanvas team, so look out for big changes to the look and feel of the PlayCanvas site in the coming weeks. Currently we have a kick-ass tool for creating HTML5 and WebGL games in the browser, but very soon we're going to have a beautiful one as well.

Welcome Kevin on his twitter.

It's a big day over at PlayCanvas towers. We have a new programmer. In fact, our first full-time staffer after the founding team.

Humouring the idiot with the camera phone

Vaios joins us from sunny Athens, land of gods, fine olive oil and greeks bearing gifts [Best you could come up with!? - Ed]. More importantly he's got loads of experience writing games and tools for game developers. He spent a number of years working at Sony Computer Entertainment in London on the sadly un-released AAA action title Eight Days, and the ground-breaking console virtual world PlayStation Home. Since then he's been working another virtual world title in Athens.

Join us in welcoming Vaios on twitter. He's going to play a big part in helping PlayCanvas become the game development platform of the future.