![]() But as time progressed, we learned that it wasn't all a walk in the park." "We had this really good team spirit going. "We were five people doing something together, something that we really believed in," says Pilestedt. So we did." Brimming with confidence, they borrowed what money they could, set up Arrowhead and began writing their game. "He advised us that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance that we should take. "The dean said that we should drop out of college," says Pilestedt. I didn't know whether the others would have second thoughts." "We had all agreed what we wanted to do, but when we went into that office we were nervous. "We thought of him as a conservative person who did everything by the book," says Englund. Nevertheless, together they filed into the office of the dean of Luleå University of Technology to tell him that, halfway through their courses, they were moving on. ![]() Quitting school is always a risky decision, one that is rarely popular among older and wiser heads, most especially those in the educational establishment. They would throw their lot in with one another and with Magicka. The five young people agreed that they would set aside their studies and quit their college courses. We were like, 'Yeah, we should totally do that.'" "We had all agreed what we wanted to do, but when we went into that office we were nervous." "They recommended we do something with it, start a company and make it into a full product. "The jurors were people from Starbreeze and Avalanche and places like that," says Pilestedt. Their entry was an early version of Magicka. In a country that boasts development teams like DICE, Avalanche, Starbreeze and Frictional Games, it's a prestigious contest for up-and-coming indies. In 2008, they recruited fellow students Anton Stenmark (programming), Malin Hedström (art) and Robin Cederholm (economics and scripting) to work on a part-time project, which they submitted to the Swedish Game Awards. Pilestedt favored the programming and art side of the business, while Englund specialized in animation. Pilestedt and Englund were students at the Luleå University of Technology, in the far north of Sweden on the shores of the Baltic Sea. ![]() In the course of the game's difficult gestation, they wasted or exhausted each and every one of these, and came uncomfortably close to destroying the most important gift of all, their relationship with one another.Īrrowhead began the Magicka project by ignoring two mantras of success: first, never go into business with friends, and second, stay in school. What they had on their side was an impressive collection of attributes, including the energy natural to ambitious men in their 20s, public recognition of their abilities bestowed through their victory in a game design contest, and advice from seasoned supporters and mentors in the Swedish game design community. Pilestedt and Englund were trying to make a top-down action-adventure based partly on myths from their native Sweden and partly from a global motley of pop culture and quirky humor. ![]() The group spent two years working 70-hour weeks - an experience that almost broke them, physically, mentally and emotionally. They, along with three other guys, had formed the company Arrowhead specifically to make Magicka and to break into game development. It had turned out so wretchedly for them because they just didn't know any better. It's a grim way to exist, the frustration of its victims exacerbated by common aggravations such as lack of resources, poor planning and incompetent management.īut Johan Pilestedt and Emil Englund didn't have anyone else to blame. They were suffering from "crunch," the state of being in which game developers work insane hours, desperately trying to meet a looming deadline. The stress and exhaustion of game development, coupled with their own lack of experience, had eroded all their energy and frayed the bonds that had brought them together. They were threatening to mangle all that they had achieved. Two old friends who had once pledged themselves to each other, who had stuck through 20 months developing a game called Magicka, were in the full and hideous majesty of a blowout fight. ![]()
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