Jens

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Tell something about yourself and what is your role in GameLoom?

As a programmer with 20 years of experience, co-founder and CEO, I have several roles at GameLoom Studio:

1. Create code that runs on the player’s hardware as we intend it to.
2. Make a workflow that enables us to make games of high quality and with quick iteration flow, custom tailored for us. Including quick iteration of asset creation and game design changes.
3. Participate in, or lead, designing our games.
4. Test, test, test, test… and test our games.
5. Be the public front of the company in public events.
6. Pet the cat (she likes getting scratched below her jaw).
7. Try not to go bankrupt.

Why start your own game company?

I’ve always wanted to make games, that’s why I started working at game companies. That’s also why I stopped working at game companies. In a game company you follow somebody’s vision, and although you might be able to nudge that vision, it will not be yours. The only way to make games that follow your visions - is to make it yourself. A game company is simply a tool to make this happen.

How do you see your role as a programmer?

To create software for the user. If that is a fully fledged game or just an in-house development tool, that’s my job. Unlike some programmers, I’m specialized in creating custom tailored software from the ground up, using little to no external software.

So you don’t use engines?

“Game engine” is a silly concept. What game engine is Notepad created with? How about Blender? Photoshop? VLC? Sure a game engine can speed up the process to create a game, but it also limits what you can do. To be able to innovate on all fronts of game creation a game engine would not be an enabler, it limits what you can do - by design.

What would be a dream game to make?

I like to play many different games and I also like programming many different things. A dream game to make would be a game that challenges not only the player, but also what is possible to create in software, design and art. The harder the problem, the more interested I am.

What kind of games do you play yourself?

I play everything between a casual match-3 mobile game to hard-core rocket league. I tend to favor competitive games by hours played, but I do like other games just as much.

Favourite color?

Programmer’s blue.

Favorite time of day?

01:23 - I’m still awake and at my most active time.

Any hobbies?

I don’t always sit at the computer and program or play games, sometimes I play the guitar (or rather the guitarrrrraaa). I’m mostly interested in classical guitar solo pieces, as such from Tarrega. Other than that, making food brings me great pleasure, and if you fail at it you can eat the evidence!

Katja

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Tell me something about yourself and what is your role in GameLoom Studio?

I am an artist, animator, composer, do-it-all and the co-founder of GameLoom Studio. I worked as an in-house mobile game artist for 6 years and before that I was a freelancer.

Why start your own game company?

I have always had a streak of entrepreneur in me and I don’t fare well in big corporate environments. It was a natural choice for me although a scary one as well because you never know how it goes.

How do you see your role as an artist?

An artist's role is hugely important when making games. The artwork is usually the first experience for a player in the game. The responsibility is therefore heavy. After the player is introduced to the game mechanics the significance of the art often becomes secondary and more supportive to the immersion. As an artist you also have to consider what is possible in a given timeframe with the resources you have. Art is an iterative process and if you have planned the groundwork well it is easy enough to make improvements to assets gradually as the project goes forward.

Hidden side of game art is optimisation. That is something that is less obvious to players and it is quite often overlooked even by developers because many people have very good computers these days. But “small streams become rivers” and you might end up with a laggy game or a lot of loading screens. Artists' role is to understand the process of asset creation and the impact the artwork has to the general performance but the artist is not the only one responsible for optimisation because there are a lot of technical sides to it.

What softwares do you use?

I have used Affinity Suite for vectors and general design and it’s really great in those. Clip Studio Paint has been my choice for sketching and painting and it’s great. I’ve also been testing out Paint Tool SAI, which is a great little software still in its alpha. I have never warmed up to using Photoshop.

For 3d I use Blender and I animate in Spine and Moho. For music I use FL Studio and Notion 6, which is a notation software.

What would be a dream game to make?

I would love to make a game for kids. There are not enough games for younger audiences.

What kind of games do you play yourself?

I play all kinds of games I think. RimWorld, Subnautica, Valheim, Stardew Valley, Elite Dangerous, Sims, Mount&Blade Warbad, Eurotruck 2 to mention some of my favourite games.

Favourite color?

I think bright cool red. But mostly I find colour is better in combinations than all by itself.

Favorite time of day?

I like mornings. That’s when I’m at my sharpest.

Any hobbies?

To balance my stressful artist career I started learning music theory and playing a bit of piano. I’ve composed some music.

My biggest hobby is learning stuff. There are so many interesting things to learn.