We often mention our team in terms of "Amplidudes and Amplidudettes", but we haven't talked about them in a while. Today, we decided we'd do just that. Introducing our new (semi-)regular feature, Meet the Team! If you want to know more about us, or your nephew wants to learn more about the career path of a game developer, or if you're just curious, read on.
Today, we're talking to the man pulling the (narrative) strings behind the scenes, Jeff, aka Slowhands!
Who are you and what do you do at Amplitude?
My name is Jeff (Slowhands on the forums) and I'm the lead writer and narrative person. I get involved right from the beginning of the projects, working with the design and art teams on the universe, factions, characters, stories, etc. I get to come up with all the crazy factions and characters and settings, so if anything written in a game sucks, it's my fault.
What were you doing before you joined Amplitude?
Before Amplitude I was doing freelance game writing, mostly for Ubisoft (which is how I met Romain and Mathieu). I did most of the Ubisoft Might and Magic games until Heroes 7 -- Heroes V and the extensions, Heroes VI, Dark Messiah, Clash of Heroes... I also worked on some other cool projects, like Ghost Recon (PC). Before that, well, my ancient history includes an MBA and lots of IT stuff in France, the US and Japan.
When did you join the studio?
I have the good fortune to be one of the founding team with Romain, Mathieu, Eric, and Corinne. So late 2010 / early 2011; I've seen it grow from a handful of people meeting in Mathieu's apartment to where it is now.
What feature have you worked on that you're super proud of?
I have had a lot of fun so far, but the things that I am the happiest with are probably the tech tree in ES1 (seriously - a huge amount of research and imagination went into that), the faction quests in EL (Quests? In a 4X?), and the album and backstories in Dungeon. But maybe the one I like best is unannounced... Sorry!
What are you currently working on?
Everything! That's what is great about being the chief scribe - you have your fingers in all the pies. I get to poke around in every project whether it's in conception, development, or maintenance. On the downside, though, sometimes I feel stretched pretty thin.
What's your favorite game of all time?
Ouch. That's a tough question. There are a few old ones that ate many hours of my life like Red Baron, Doom, Baldur's Gate, and Thief. More recently I have really enjoyed Civ, WoW, Portal, and pretty much anything by Telltale. But my all time favorite might still be D&D
Is there anywhere on the Internet where I can see more of your stuff?
I have a web site that is mostly, appropriately, cobwebs... The best way is to play more of the games I worked on!
What's your favorite faction or character in our games?
How can you ask me that! You might as well ask "Which of your kids is the least ugly?" I guess I would say that I like the Horatio for their insane backstory - we have had a lot of comments about that - and the Roving Clans for their style. But there is a little bit of me or my life experience in pretty much every faction in our games, so it really is hard to pick.
Is there a funny story that happened to you at Amplitude?
Every time I use French wrong it's funny. But only for everyone else. Life would be a lot easier if the French could give up this whole gender thing for their nouns.
What's your favorite junk food?
Potato chips. Not all the other weird crunchy chip-like snack things with increasingly alien flavors and improbable shapes, generally made from food starch and chemicals. No, none of that. Just. Potato. Chips. They're like Jeff catnip.
What's the next place you want to travel to?
I managed to cross the Great Barrier Reef off the bucket list this summer (it had been on there for 30 years), but I still haven't been to Alhambra of Granada and the Great Mosque of Cordoba, right next door in Spain.
That's it for Jeff!
We hope you found this interesting. Comments or additional questions, feel free to ask!
