We often mention our team in terms of "Amplidudes and Amplidudettes", but we decided we should give you folks an idea of who we mean. You've guessed it, it's time for another instalment of our (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.
She is one of the people you have to thank for the Shifters expansion, meet Pascaline, aka Pikou!
Who are you and what do you do at Amplitude?
Hello everyone! I'm Pascaline, better known as Pikou over on the forums, and I'm an Associate producer for Amplitude. Under Laurent's supervision (Lt_Miles), my role is to support project teams. Basically, I try to relieve team members of as many project-related tasks and minutiae so that they can focus on their core tasks (design, programming, etc.). Among others, I make sure everybody is on the same page and that we keep focused on the project, so as to be able to anticipate needs and difficulties. Since my arrival I've had more of a content-focused role, managing a good share of graphical assets production (from both in-house and freelance artists), as well as some gameplay aspects. I've put in practice the Scrum methodology we currently use, and do a lot of bug management via our database, build creation to update Steam, follow-up with the community on the forums, etc.
What were you doing before you joined Amplitude?
Just like everyone before me, I can say I was a student before!
However, I just completed my 6 months end-of-course internship at Ubisoft Partners, just before applying to join Amplitude. I was then working with a Scottish studio on a mobile adaptation of Clash of Heroes, an experience during which I learned a lot.
When did you join the studio?
Must be about three years and a half since my recruitment, I have to admit I hadn't even noticed how time flew by!
What feature have you worked on that you're super proud of?
Having a more literary background despite my liking for all things computer-related, I thought I was lacking sorely on the technical side. On top of learning a lot thanks to our programmers' helpfulness and availability, I am very proud of having contributed to the quests in Endless Legend, by chipping in during the xml integration phase. Their structure was very complex at times but it was a very motivating challenge.
I have to add that implementing modding possibilities was also extremely gratifying. Some regulars and newcomers answered the call, and while I wasn't always able to give them as much time as I'd like, this aspect of our game is very dear to my heart.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently focusing on Endless Legend in its post-launch phase, which means all its expansions and content packs, with this same emphasis on balancing time constraints, costs and quality.
What's your favorite game of all time?
The very first game I backed on Kickstarter was Yooka-Laylee, with its promises of bringing back Banjo-Kazooie game sensations (the same core team is heading production). Might as well tell you that I had stars in my eyes: the glory days of my beloved N64 and Rare games!
Is there anywhere on the Internet where I can see more of your stuff?
A stray blog post here and there, but nothing concrete that I could show the masses.
What's your favorite faction or character in our games?
Without hesitation the Hissho. I'd never have thought space chicken could be so classy.
Is there a funny story that happened to you at Amplitude?
It is fairly easy to make me laugh, and on the funny stories side I mostly remember stuff happening to others... Let's just say that I have a pretty high level when it comes to uttering the perfect sentence to take out of context.
What's the most played song in your music library?
Back in the day I would mostly listen to game soundtracks, but ever since I met my other half, I've had the pleasure of broadening my musical horizon quite significantly. Nowadays, I like listening to the Glitch mob, an electro band from the US, and in particular on their album Love Death Immortality.
What's your favorite fictional character?
I like an inordinate amount of fictional characters, but there is one in particular that has been following me since I was 16. I'm not talking about Sonic or Mario, but about the protagonist of a novel that my latin teacher told me about. This series -- written by Jean-François Parot -- follows a young law clerk from Brittany called Nicolas Le Floch, who travels to Paris in the XIXth century to finally end up becoming an investigator. I really like the very eventful historical context (French Revolution and all that), and the description of Paris is very well detailed. There was a tv adaptation, but it failed to impress me...
Also Yoshi! I really like how he progressed from almost being a plot device (when he was just a ride for Mario) to a character of his own (Pascaline has a Yoshi figurine driving a kart, sitting atop her screen - NDE).
That's it for Pascaline! 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!
