10 Game Industry Questions - Marko Grgic

10 Questions from Yug - Friday, 30 January 2009 @ 8:21am

Fullname: Marko Grgic Nickname: Marko Gender: Male Age: 22 Current Company: 3 Blokes Studios Current Project: Jewel Quest Mysteries 2 Gaming Systems Owned: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PC

1. What is your job role where you work and can you explain what it entails?

Director and Programmer of 3 Blokes Studios. It entails the running of the company and programming computer games. I'm also the one to blame if we can't fix a bug.

2. What games have you been directly involved with previously?

Magical Forest, Jewel Quest Mysteries: Curse of the Emerald Tear, Jewel Quest Mysteries 2

3. How did you get your start in the gaming industry?

Myself, Duncan Curtis and Zac Congo started 3 Blokes Studios in December 2006 – we dived head first into the deep end of independent game development. We were mates in university and decided that this is what we wanted to do with our lives – Zac left the company after several months into the venture because we wanted to change the company direction and it no longer fit in with everyone's goals. The good news is that everyone was left feeling good about it and headed into the direction that they wanted to head.

4. What has been the most positive experience of working in the games industry so far?

Completing our first game. It's the most rewarding experience I have had so far. I guess the first time is always the best – until of course we complete that AAA blockbuster game – whenever that may be.

5. What has been the most negative experience of working in the games industry so far?

The thing I enjoy least about my job is the bureaucratic running of the company – paperwork and legalities suck the joy out of the job; however it's a small price to pay for the freedoms and benefits that it brings.

6. What advice can you give to other people looking to get into a position such as yours?

If you want to be a programmer and love games? Learn programming; the internet is a great place for that. Download a free programming framework and learn it by making game prototypes; never be afraid to ask people with experience in the local industry questions.

If you want to co-own a games company? Be prepared for a very tough challenge but remember that if you really love what you are doing; you will get through it. I could spill the gut of what has been the past 2 years of starting a company but it would take way too long and part of what makes it special is experiencing it for yourself – I can't really describe it. Also don't be afraid to ask questions about that either :)

7. How do you see Australia as a market when compared to the rest of the world?

It's not so great for casual games as far as I'm aware. I think that it plays a part in the market and shouldn't be ignored or shrugged off as too small to worry about.

8. Got any good stories you want to share?

One of the Magical Forest builds had a save file with profanities in it; one of the publisher QA's picked it up and wasn't too happy :) we laugh about it now. But we also remember to never type profanities again as it will somehow weed its way into the final build!

9. What are your favourite games and why?

I have to choose?

• Guitar Hero 3 – it's a hell of a lot of fun and besides loving games I love music.
• Diablo series – simply awesome RPG, you get so immersed you forget you aren't really an epic hero slaying beast left, right and centre – I'm throwing World of Warcraft in there with that series since the game mechanics are pretty similar (to me anyway).
• Little Big Planet – great multiplayer party game.
• Dawn of War 40k – this is a really fun LAN strategy game; at least for a few matches. Warcraft 3 custom maps – so much variety and neat game mechanics – two particular ones are Tower Defense and DOTA.
• Baldur's Gate series – DnD RPG.
• Mario Kart – another fun game multiplayer.
• Heroes of Might and Magic series – so many weeks/months spent playing that game on multiplayer Hot Seat.

I'm sure there are plenty more that I'll think of in 15 mins.

10. If you could meet any gaming character in real life, who would it be and why?

Let's go with Pacman. At least I would like to meet him until he tried to eat me – then I would run very fast and look for ghosts. I never really got hooked to games by game characters – so you'll just have to live with my half-baked answer.