portrait #02: Mike
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name: mike hoge
age: old enough
team member since: 1997
project history: gothic
indian name that fits:
Gurubawa (he-who-knows-the-way)
look at mug more closely
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Michael
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What's your job at Piranha Bytes?
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Oh God. What's my job? Game design, story, AI scripting... and minding other peoples' business.
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What's it like to manage such a complex project and coordinate the team?
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First of all, nobody suffers alone. Nobody manages alone, either. It's like this, there are several people who are responsible for their respective areas and thus contribute to project management. And most people here need a relatively small amount of supervision - we're a good team after all. Apart from that it's hell. It's a lot of work to manage a project and ones own stuff at the same time.
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Is it a fulfilling job or could you imagine to be doing something else?
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Doing something else might be an option... but I can't think of a good example right now.
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You're married, with two kids. How do you manage to reconcile time-intensive work and family?
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Well, that's a good question. If my wife wasn't as contained and content with what little she's seeing of me, I guess I couldn't do this job at all. It's the same with my kids. But I'm trying to spend all my free time with my family. The project will come to an end some day, anyway. And before we'll jump right into the next one we'll be effectively out of work for a while.
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If you'd have to give your life a fun-rating, what would it be?
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Right now? 15%! It's simply too much at the moment. 1000 people who want something of me. I'd love to be able to stop time, finish the crap and pass it on. Then again there are days when I drive to work and am in a good mood despite everything, singing and actually looking forward to being in my office. It's up and down, up and down.
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If you were allowed to say one sentence about Gothic II with the aim of raising realistic expectations in people who knew Gothic I... what would this sentence be?
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One sentence? *ponders for a long while*
That's damned difficult. A sentence means talking about one aspect of the game only. Many aspects of the game are pretty cool. I don't know if I should talk about game atmosphere, the story, people's reaction or the AI.
About the atmosphere: If you thought it was cool to run through the forest with a lit torch at night in Gothic I, wait until you see what we did for the Gothic II atmosphere.
In Gothic I some NPCs were playing you for a sucker. This will be a much more common ocurrence in Gothic II. You think you fleeced someone... but in reality this NPC fleeced you.
(One sentence, nine sentences, where's the difference?)
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You're - among other things - responsible for the storyline. Are you a born storyteller, or do you need a lot of time and privacy to come up with a scenario like that of Gothic?
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The latter. 80% planning/design and reflection, 20% implementation.
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If you could change something about your working environment, what would it be?
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Just one job instead of two. More spare time.
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Do you like peanut butter?
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In the majority of cases, no.
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Do you lead a healthy life?
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Food? Yes. Sports? No.
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Who's easier to control, your kids or your co-workers?
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What a stupid question. *grins*
My kids or my co-workers? Jeez...
My kids! Definitely.
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Is there a quotation (e.g. from a movie) that you frequently use?
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Luke Skywalker: "I don't believe it."
Yoda: "That ... that is why you fail."
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