Dev Profile: Lars Kroll Kristensen

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.