Dev Box: Sandy Beach’s Senior Programmer Vincent Mysliwiec

Written by 2.o | January 14, 2009

Great games come from all different size companies – teams big and small, from all over the world. This week’s Dev Box features Senior Programmer Vincent Mysliwiec from game developer Frozen Codebase. Hailing from Green Bay, WI, Frozen Codebase have worked on games for THQ, and Konami, including the recent WiiWare action strategy sand castle game, Sandy Beach.

Name: Vincent Mysliwiec
Title: Senior Programmer
What you do: My primary responsibilities include Wii development and gameplay programming.
Most recent games worked on: Sandy Beach, Elements of Destruction, and Screwjumper PC.

1. What game has most influenced you, and why?
There are so many! I really enjoyed the Soul Reaver series for its compelling narrative and innovative game mechanic. I enjoyed the Zelda, Metroid, and Halo franchises too. I think Rush 2049 has the best driving and car combat to date and I really put many hours into that game. As I am getting older I find myself shifting from a devout hardcore gamer to a pick-up-and-play enthusiast.

2. What are you playing right now?
Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars, and Guitar Hero

3. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about game development?
Great tools and an efficient production pipeline are key in game development. Another important ingredient we found was that stopping to review the state of the game more frequently, after individual features and systems were completed, allowed us to find and resolve issues with features more quickly.

4. What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Passion is a valuable metric. The people that have it excel at their craft while people that do not stay stagnant and eventually leave this industry. If you can keep your team passionate and focused you can move mountains!

5. What do you think is the biggest problem current games suffer from?
Too many games are generic and not putting enough emphasis on character design. Character is what allows gamers to make an emotional connection and investment in the game. It also is the ingredient that gives an IP most of its value too. A great game is awesome, but a great game with character can make a gaming franchise!