Hey guys and gals!
New year, new season of Meet the Team! Take a peek inside the studio, learn more about the many careers and paths that led our collaborators to join Amplitude!
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.
Behind the moves of a treacherous AI, meet Jean-Luc, aka Jhell!
Who are you and what is your job at Amplitude?
Hi, I’m Jean-Luc (jhell on the forums), I’m a Game Designer and I’m currently working on ES2’s AI! It’s challenging but really interesting.
What were you doing before you joined Amplitude?
I was working as a Game Designer for Gameloft in Valencia, Spain. Great city, great country - go to Spain if you haven’t yet. 
I worked on the adaptation of Trivial Pursuit for mobile and two other games which sadly were cancelled. But I got to test the Apple TV before it was publicly released, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
What do you like the most at Amplitude?
Amplitude itself I think! What Mathieu and Romain and the others have created, in terms of work structure, game universe, work conditions… it’s a very pragmatic answer but it’s the truth. I’m also always amazed by the talented people working here.
What feature have you worked on that you're super proud of?
The AI! More seriously, I am fairly excited by what we have done for diplomacy for the next update. It’s ambitious, it is a lot of work, and it will need more tweaking to be perfect, but I hope you guys will have some fun interacting with the AI in the coming update.
What are you currently working on?
I just finished some work on the AI’s diplomacy, I now have to spend more time on the military part of the AI and try to get it to react better to player attacks. It’s also an ongoing work to make sure that the AI just works after a new gameplay feature is added to the game, or simply modified.
What's your favorite game of all time?
I’m going to have to say the first Fallout, as it’s the answer I always give. But, really, this is an impossible question! I wasn’t a console player when I was a kid and as such I never caught the Nintendo craze, so their classics are missing from my list, but I’d definitely like to quote a few excellent games like Supreme Commander, Dungeon Keeper II, Prison Architect, Distant Worlds, Dwarf Fortress… and that’s just for the sim/strategy ones. 
What’s the game you dream of creating?
More than a game I’d like to work on something heavily dependent on indirect control. Think Dwarf Fortress, but on a less micro scale – Endless Legend type of scale. Keep ordering trees from that forest chopped down? Well your workers are going to establish a village there. Keep buying stone from that neighbor? They create a trade embassy in your city. Etc.
On a side note, I regret that we haven't seen many RTS come out in recent years. So working on a RTS would also be really cool. 
Is there anywhere on the Internet where I can see more of your stuff?
I’m completely inactive on my twitter (@djayhell), I only use it to follow a few people. I do have some ludum dare games if by chance anyone is interested. (“Entries” at the top. If you want to have a good laugh you can hear me trying to do voice-over for “Tangram Escape”). I also write fiction (in French only, sorry :/) that you can find here.
What's your favorite race or character in our games?
I like the Cravers. I have a lot of pity for them, as they’re their masters’ victims. They’re seen as the bad guys but really they can’t help it, they were literally designed like that, and were ruthlessly genocided when the Virtuals decided their species was a mistake. It’s really a tragic story when you think about it.
Is there a funny story that happened to you at Amplitude?
Somehow I’ve gotten a reputation for being a treacherous bastard at boardgames, but I’m genuinely confused where this comes from. Genuinely. [Playing Game of Thrones or Eclipse with Jean-Luc is amazing: he'll backstab you with a smile, all the while explaining why he's the good guy. We love to hate him -Ed.]
Do you have any pets?
Yes! I love animals. I have two dogs at home and I used to have a cat. Here’s a picture of the (not so) little furballs:
In the near future I also plan to acquire a snake and two chickens, and of course a cat (if we can find one of those Norwegian cats that supposedly don’t trigger allergies).
What are your hobbies in life?
Video games! Yeah, I play a lot. As I get older I tend to dig for increasingly obscure indie games, I love the creativity that’s hidden there. Last in date would be UnReal World (warning: not super friendly UI). But I’m also heavily invested in “buhurt”, it’s full contact fighting with medieval weapons in medieval armor 
(yes, it exists and yes, it’s the best sport ever). I don’t have my armor yet but working on it! Laurent was of course an inspiration (but he won’t train with me, the coward!).
That's it for Jean-Luc! We hope you found this interesting. Comments or additional questions, feel free to comment!
If there's a question you would like us to ask the interviewees, let us know!
