Fallen Earth: Meet the Dev "Ilkor"

Fallen Earth's newest Developer interview introduces Project Manager Colin "Ilkor" Dwan who's signing up exclusive Alpha applicants in exchange for giant yachts, while giving exclusive look into his developer role:

Alias/Forum Name: Ilkor
Title / Position at Fallen Earth: Project Manager

What games have you played and worked on?

Games I play are: WoW, Fallout 3, Assassin's Creed, Spore, Bioshock and Mass Effect. This is the first title I've had the privilege to work on.

How long have you been working on Fallen Earth?

A little over 3 years.

How did you get involved with your job position?

I was fortunate enough to sneak in as a scripting intern when we were only about 15-20 people. Over time I worked my way up through the scripting and backend programming department then moved to project management early this spring.

What type of college courses or schooling did you have to prepare you for your position at Fallen Earth?

I graduated college with a computer science degree from NC State (Go Pack!). My overall cynicism and desire to crush dreams prepared me for my project management role.

What in particular inspired you to work in the gaming industry?

While I had limited game exposure growing up (we had a Mac ), I loved the LucasArts, Bungie, and Blizzard games I had access to. My dad gave me access to hypercard (basic scripting application) and when I realized I could theoretically make Myst, I was hooked. I never thought I'd actually get a chance to work in the game industry but when I graduated I just started sending my resume to every game company in the Triangle whether they were hiring or not. Icarus was foolish enough to take me on as an intern and here we are.

What games stand out in your memory for positive reasons?

Marathon (predecessor to Halo) was the first FPS I played. I loved getting my friends together for a "LAN" party (we used appletalk) and playing king of the hill with rocket launchers. By the end there were mountains of corpses everywhere . SWG was my first MMO and it totally hooked me with its persistent world and sandbox feel (until the NGE of course).

What advice would you give to budding games / software developers?

Have patience and do the best you can at your current role. Everyone wants to be the lead but you have to take your time and learn from those experienced folks around you before you can move up. Listen to those veterans at your company and really learn how they progressed through the industry.

On an average day, what do you do at Fallen Earth?

Archangel (the Associate Project Manager) and I are responsible for keeping Fallen Earth on track. We fight a lot of fires around the office each day, do a lot of prepping for upcoming patches to either the test or live server, and try to make sure everyone's working well together. As a PM you have to be able to keep both the details and the big picture in your head at once so you make sure things are going well on a day to day basis as well as the overall course of the game.

What is your favorite:

Game: Pre-CU SWG will always have a place in my heart but there's something about the Total War games that keeps bringing me back year after year. I think it's something about conquering all of Europe that I just can't resist.
Book: "Notes from Underground" by Dostoevsky was a key book in my life (depressing but thought provoking). The Foundation series by Asimov is probably my favorite to come back to.
Song: I'd have to say the whole "Dark Side of the Moon" album.
Season: Spring/Summer. Whenever it's 70 degrees and sunny.
Past time: Smoking a good cigar sitting on the edge of a lake.
Drink: Jack and Coke
Color: Wolfpack Red
Food: Chinese
PnP: Not yet
Faction: Tech, I love tinkering.

Do you:

role-play? Only limited amounts in MMOs.
have any pets? 2 cats, 1 is bent on world domination. I think they're "Pinky and the Brain" of cats.
like beer or wine? Beer
like coffee or tea? Coke, I'm not old enough for coffee yet.
like cake or pie? Pecan pie.
Coke or Pepsi? Coke
Pizza or Hamburgers? Hamburgers from Chargrill - best burgers in Raleigh!
Chocolate or Ice Cream? Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Boxers or Briefs? Boxers

Have you ever styled/had a mullet?

I've been shaggy but never quite mullet-tastic.

If you could have one wish what would it be?

Solve world poverty.

Name one thing you would take to an abandoned island and why?

The Bible - it has more depth than any other text and understanding God's word could fill a lifetime.

Does the Landshark really exist?

Other kids at school tell me it's a lie. There have been landshark sightings near the office. It's widely believed that his recent defeat was greatly exaggerated and he still lives...

Are you willing to be bribed for an alpha spot and what would it take?

I am for a yacht roughly this size:

Ilkor answered several direct fan questions as well:

1) What is your relationship with Captain Pouches?

Captain Pouches is the perfect tool for a Project Manager. I can use him to abuse any slacking workers and I don't get blamed for it. Of course the official statement is "The evil Pouches and his air of intimidation will not be tolerated" but without his help I wouldn't be able to keep these people in line.

2) How much of a pain in the arse is it to deal with your artists? Do you have an AD you can delegate the most prominent annoyances to?

The artists aren't too bad, it's the designers you have to watch out for. The artists are really talented and will sometimes take too long to finish an asset but the designers will take a simple and workable idea and turn it into the next "Spore". Canticle is the worst, just ask him about bugs on the ceiling.

No, in reality I've been incredibly lucky to work with this staff. Any schedule stretching things they may do is always with the desire to make a killer product. I can't really get mad at anyone for the passion they display. I may have fun crushing their dreams, but I don't really hate them (for long).

3) What is the agro range of a typical Fallen Earth Project Manager? Are there any secrets to avoiding encounters with this mob? Does hiding under a desk actually fool it?

The aggro range of a Project Manager isn't necessarily that long but he is a social aggro creature. He has contacts in different departments so can practically aggro at long range. The best way to avoid him is to try to hang him up on pathfinding through our circular office hallways. He tends to camp the design department, staying particularly close to Alec Masters and Canticle.

4) Have you found a particular area within the world of Fallen Earth that you are partial to? Can you describe (without skirting the NDA) what the area is, and what it's like?

I think my favorite town so far is Oilville. It has the most "Mad Max" feel of the Sector 1 towns. The giant oil tanks with nasty spikes settled around the natural barriers makes for an awe inspiring sight as you come up on the town. You're walking through these giant rock formations then start catch glimpses of these precious structures. It's a very cool setup.

5) As a project manager, would you say you have more interaction with the game itself, or with other things (like advertising, goal outlining, etc.)

s a Project Manager I have more interaction with the game than the advertising. I have a fair amount of contact with Circatrix but it is usually sharing information and giving her project milestones then she runs with all the details of that implementation.

Normally a PM just handles schedules. They'll take the goals then figure out how to assign resources to get things done on time. I've been lucky enough to have a decent amount of creative input to the game side of development for a PM, helping keep us focused on our creative goals and critically evaluating our product. Our team is so tightly knit though that they'll take my opinions and sometimes use them . I think it's one of the coolest things of working for FE. While it has gotten harder to see everything that's going on as we get bigger, we've still managed to maintain a relatively open communication and take ideas from all departments.

6) There are probably times when you envy the job of the designers/artists, right? Have you ever had a great idea that you couldn't develop because you were a PM, not a designer? I'd love to hear some.

I don't think I've envied the design or art staff nearly as much as the programming staff. I was a backend programmer before this position so there are definitely times when I see a feature that I know how to do but can't fit it in the schedule. I'm still trying to figure out a way to stop time so I can code features as well as help manage the project but somehow my attempts just seem to speed UP time . When I have an idea for the design or art staff they're usually agile and quick enough to be able to make it happen.

Stay tuned for a new Dev interview next week, right here at WarCry!

Source: Fallen Earth Official Forums

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