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Our looks behind the scenes of MMO development continue The CEO/President of Runestone Game Development and the Producer of Seed talks to us about what it is like to run a company and direct the creation of a game. |
| MMORPG.com: | Can you tell us a bit about who you are and your role within Runestone? |
| Lars Kroll Kristensen: | My name is Lars Kroll Kristensen. I am the CEO of Runestone Game Development, and I also function as producer on Seed, plus a few other hats. |
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| MMORPG.com: | The gaming industry draws from all quarters. Can you run us through how you came to your current job? |
| Lars Kroll Kristensen: | Well… That’s kind of a long story. The short version is: After finishing an Msc in Computer Science and multimedia, I worked for a large telco for a while. I gathered a few friends that, like me, wanted to make computer games, and together we founded Runestone. |
| MMORPG.com: | Making games is one of those jobs people write “how to get this job” books about. What part of it is the most fun for you? |
| Lars Kroll Kristensen: | Actually, I enjoy almost all aspects of my job(s). I really enjoy structuring the workflow in the company, I like to do business development, but most of all, I absolutely love to tinker with and design our game systems. I don’t get to code anymore, but while I did, I also enjoyed that. Also, I enjoy interacting with our community: It’s extremely inspiring and humbling to have fans. And I always love to toss new ideas for gameplay, story or graphics around with other Seed devs. |
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| MMORPG.com: | What to you is the most challenging part of your current job? |
| Lars Kroll Kristensen: | Probably juggling my own time: There are millions of details that *must* work, some technical, some artistic, some relating to workflow, some to external partners. All of them are important, but sorting between *critical* and merely important, is very difficult. |
| MMORPG.com: | For those who wish to follow and join the industry, what is your advice? |
| Lars Kroll Kristensen: | Get educated. Become an expert in programming, or 3D art, or sound design. Diversifying is fine, but make sure you’re an expert in something first. We get quite a few unsolicited job applications from people who want to be a game designer or project lead. You do *not* get that kind of job just walking in the door. Game companies need experts who are able and willing to work hard and independently on their own little corner of the game, and at the same time are team players: People that realize that everyone in the company are important, and that they themselves will be a part of that team. |
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| MMORPG.com: | Finally, can we get a brief update on SEED’s progress? |
| Lars Kroll Kristensen: | Currently, most game systems slated for beta launch are done, and we are working on a few outstanding issues. Our community is still smallish, but growing at a nice rate. We are all very psyched about getting the beta in the air now. |
| You can comment on the article here. |
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