Meet Merix: Tomasz - Game Developer

Tomek is one of the first employees of Merixstudio - he is here since 2008. He started as a Frontend Developer, but right now he is engaged in the production of games. Tomek is taking care not only of the code (what you will find out for yourself from this interview), but he also likes to broaden his knowledge in many other fields. Woken up at 3 in the morning he will not have a problem to list every character from Peppa the Pig - as a real SuperDad, he constantly watches this cartoon with his daughter. :)

• Tell us something about yourself.
  Perfectionist and analyst at work. I like to raise the bar for myself, but I can also be terribly lazy. Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to make games. Professionally I'm doing it this since 2014. I am married to the most forgiving wife in the world, and I am the father of the greatest daughter on the planet.

• What are your main responsibilities at Merxistudio
  I am a producer, designer, and developer of games - currently working at Merixgames, which is one of the brands included in the portfolio of Merixstudio. Previously I’ve dealt with the creation of websites.

• How do you work? What is important to you while working?
  Whatever I do, I must read a lot about it first - mainly on Wikipedia, but I also search for knowledge in books. An in-depth analysis for me is the basis and the first step before taking on new challenges. I also like the strategy of risk reduction. Each new project contains some unknowns. Therefore, I would recommend dealing with them as soon as possible to reduce the possibility of failure. In my opinion, the harder something is, the faster it should be implemented.
  However, for me the most important at work are people. They must have the right attitude to work, good motivation and persistence in overcoming challenges. Without investment in people, there are no good projects.

• Tell us something about the beginnings in the company.
  I work in Merixstudio since 2008. Because of the small size of the team I’ve felt very comfortable from the start. I started with cutting templates and went through the worst years of Internet Explorer (IE6-IE8). I remember one of the first difficult tasks that I got. It was somewhere at the very beginning of my work in Merixstudio and I had to perform a full styling of the <select> element (dropdown), what at that time was a very demanding (compatibility of IE6 +). Today it may sound a bit ridiculous because you can no longer rely on ready-made solutions.

• You've started working at Merixstudio on slightly different position than you have right now. With time came specialization and interest in other technologies. Where your enthusiasm for games came from, and most importantly what are the origins of Kopanito?
  I was interested in games since I was a kid - since I got my hands on Atari and "Polish" NES, which is commonly known as Pegasus. At the age of 8 years, I knew that I wanted to make games. Today, it is my mission in life.
  The idea for Kopanito did not appear out of anywhere. We did a market analysis looking for a niche and took into account what we would like to play. We were considering few different genres of games, but in the end, arcade football seemed like something that has not been seen for a very long time. A significant impact on the final result and the look of the game also had the nostalgia for playing football as a kid on old platforms.

• You are working in our company for quite some time. How much has your work changed since the beginnings?
  Personally, I really like changes. I started with cutting HTML templates, then after few years turned to the Python development (it’s the best programming language!), right now I’m creating games. And all while working in one company! At the moment, I have much more responsibilities than a year ago when I was only a developer. Now, while working on Kopanito, I’m simultaneously busy with producing and designing (our team is small but very talented!).

• Have you learned something while working in Merixstudio?
  I've learned a lot while working here, but I am a person who likes to gather knowledge even outside of work. I’m constantly reading something: it might be about marketing or development... I try to keep up with new technologies, but also to deepen my knowledge in other fields. One of the most important things I realized, and what is particularly crucial in the production of games, is that the key to great results is hidden in people, in their skills and attitudes to work, not in rigid rules or specific technologies. There are no good games without a good team.

• What do you like about working at Merixstudio?
  The best thing from my perspective is the creation of internal projects, also directly for specific communities (such as gamers), not only for corporate or business clients.

• Which project from the ones you worked on in Merixstudio you liked the most?
  By far the biggest and the coolest project I have worked on is Kopanito All-Stars Soccer, the arcade football game. It is also a project that is one of the greatest challenges of my professional life. Kopanito proved to be extremely time-consuming and demanded knowledge from different fields, such as physics, sports, artificial intelligence and more. I’ve learned a lot while working on it, but it’s the final result that is the most fun!

• What was your first contact with web technologies? When did you make a decision that you want to work in IT?
  I dabbled in HTML and CSS in 1999, but only as an amateur that is checking out the technologies. I was even before high school, so I was not thinking yet about working in IT.

• What things are the hardest and what is the most interesting in the work of Game Developer?
  The most interesting is that is its diversity. In designing the game, you have to be familiar with its theme (e.g. economics, history, sport, etc.). As a developer, you need to know the different mechanisms and apply algorithms associated with, for example, physics or artificial intelligence. However, the coolest thing is being able to have a positive impact on the players. It's fun to see how people get into your game and how intense they react to what is happening on the screen. Games are a means of communication, the same as film and music. The idea is to arouse emotions in people. The most difficult are, however, compromises and cuts when it turns out that the element of the game can’t be completed within the estimated budget or deadline. Nobody likes to strip the project out of the fun!

• First thing you do when you arrive at the office
  I greet the members of the best development teams in the world, the colleagues sitting next to me ;)

• What do you do in your free time after work?
  I think that people rest only through inaction. Whatever you might want to do to relax can be quite tiring and fail its purpose, such as playing sports (it is very tiring!). When people are engaged in anything, they are not resting. I don't like to do nothing. Therefore, I always find myself something to do, for example, playing and analyzing games, reading about games or creating games;)

• The best hero from your childhood is...
  Donald Duck (Duck Tales!), Asterix and Obelix, Smurfs, Gummi Bears, Rescue Rangers.

• What is your favorite place in Poznań?
  I do not like the city - I prefer peace, quiet and calm landscapes. Poznan can, however, includes Kierskie Lake near which I grew up and I highly recommend it as a place of rest. Rusałka, Strzeszyńskie Lake, and Malta are also splendid! When it comes to more commercial spots, I like IMAX and Termy Maltańskie.

• Beer of vodka?
  Whisky, vodka, beer.

• Favorite sport?
  Cycling - every day I’m riding about 13 km to work.

• Dog or cat?
  I used to like cats, but right now I don’t have any animals. I lean more toward dogs. However, they seem to have more emotions comparing to cats - those can only eat, defecate and sleep.

• What website do you visit the most?
  Wikipedia. I recommend it to everyone - it’s a great source of knowledge!

• If you could only visit one website for the rest of your life, what site would that be?
  That is a sad question. Wikipedia would be the most useful. Or something completely different, maybe a site with funny content... but I don't know which one it might me. I can’t decide...

• If you could have your dream job, what it would be?
  Game development was always my dream job. Now all I have to do is keep getting better and better at it ;)

Read more articles from the #MeetMerix series and meet the rest of Merixstudio!