Developer Interview - Destromathe

 In our sixth interview we're talking to the new Associate Producer Destromathe who's taken over some of Phantasie's responsibilities.

Can you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Matt Pettit, and my handle on the forums is “Destromathe”, and I am the new Associate Producer for Defiance. I have worked at Trion since June of 2011, and was here when Defiance was still going through growing pains deciding what it wanted to be. For most of my time here at Trion, I have worked in the Austin branch, working closely with Customer Service and Operations to keep communication open between the many different organizations within an online gaming company.

You have recently moved from the Austin offices to Redwood, how has your responsibilities changed, and how different is the change in location?

My responsibilities in Austin was to create a great relationship between Customer Service, Operations, and the Development team here in Redwood. That role expanded, and had me working very closely with the Defiance team to make sure that impactful changes were not going to give Customer Service a heart attack!

My responsibility now has grown exponentially in terms of guiding the direction of the game, however I am still just making sure that everyone gets along! Working with the Developers to make sure that deployments go smoothly, and we deliver the best possible product to the players is still my central focus, I am now just much closer!

As for the change in location, BOY is it EXPENSIVE. The shock of moving from central Texas to California has certainly been a shock, but the weather and the people are totally worth it.

Phantasie is also a producer, do you have a similar role?

Actually, my comparison to Phantasie is perfect here, as I have taken on several portions of his role. As far as Defiance is concerned, the more the merrier, so I am doing many of the same things that Phantasie does. My specialization comes from having a Customer Service and Monetization background, so I am heavily working on things that impact the player, and making sure the players are always happy. Some things, like PTS copies I have taken over from Phantasie, so please feel free to hit me up for PTS characters!

You have been posting Patch Notes lately for PTS. Will you have more involvement with PTS as part of your new role?

As I mentioned above, I have taken over some of the aspects of the PTS from Phantasie, and will be doing so going forward. I will be posting the patch notes for PTS, and deploying the build when we have new content to give to you guys. We have a grand plan for Defiance, and PTS is a huge part of that. Anything we can do to get more players testing for us, the better we can make our updates on day 1!

How did you come by the name Destromathe?

The name Destromathe was actually my GM name when I joined the Customer Service team back in 2011. I got this name from the server that I used to play on for World of Warcraft. It just kind of stuck with me, although I have gotten made fun of in the past for “Destroying Math”.

Have there been any difficulties you had to overcome after joining the Defiance team?

Defiance has a very dedicated, but very small team of individuals that have grand ideas, and only so much time and manpower to get them done. The largest challenge I have faced since joining the team, is prioritizing what we want to do to keep our dedicated amazing veteran players happy, but still encourage the tons of new players coming in to stick around. Prioritization is a huge part of the producer role, and with a small team sometimes you have to let go of the gigantic dreams you want to have. That is easily the biggest difficulty for Defiance, and we are always working on getting fresh new and exciting content to the players as quickly as possible.

What did you finding most rewarding and most challenging in your old Austin role?

The most challenging part of a role that involves being a liaison between many different groups of people is communication. Developers know how much time it takes to fix a bug, but Customer Service sees the front line impact of a bug from the players’ perspective, so the time it takes to fix something may not seem relative. Knowing the perspective of everyone you work with, and conveying that perspective to others (try explaining to a programmer why network operations can’t get their simple code to work because we don’t have the hardware) can be extremely challenging, and very rewarding. When a plan all comes together due to your communicating with multiple parties, it is a very satisfying feeling.

Same question for your new Redwood role?

Learning the technical aspect of how Trion delivers builds, and gets updates and code changes out to servers has been a challenge. Now that it has been a little bit, it has been a very rewarding experience and I feel much more comfortable in my current role.

When and how did you start out in the gaming industry?

Actually, Trion is my first job in the gaming industry. I suppose you could call my gaming industry experience a Cinderella story, as I started out as a tier one customer service agent way back in 2011, with only IT and computer science experience. With how Trion draws on talent, I have been very lucky to be able to utilize my skills to get to where I am today, and affect the direction of an amazing title! It is a great reason for anyone who wants to get into gaming to do so, no matter what level you can start at!

What do you think makes Defiance a unique / interesting / challenging game to work on?

Defiance is the only shooter out there that offers the kind of dynamic content that we offer. Sci-Fi games have a bit of a different feel and player draw than other fantasy MMOs that are out there, and I think that coupled with the ability to explore all kinds of events in the open world makes Defiance a truly unique experience. Easily the most challenging aspect of Defiance is running an MMO on 3 different platforms. Each platform has its own difficulties, and learning how to work with Microsoft and Sony at the same time as a PC product is more difficult that people may think. However, this is another truly unique experience that Defiance offers, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

You've worked on all Trion games. What's the most challenging aspect between Defiance and the other games?

Each game at Trion is different from one another, and each has its own challenges. Clearly, the most challenging aspect of Defiance compared to our other titles is the inclusion of Xbox and PS3. However each game has its own challenges, like the third-party aspect of ArcheAge, or the ever-changing content in RIFT. One thing that is amazing about Trion, is that each game throws in ideas for other games. Many times, I have gotten great design suggestions from another team, and even implemented them into the game! This creates a workplace where we can all contribute to each other’s work, and basically have an entire company of creative ideas for each game.

What's currently on your desk?

My desk here in Redwood is actually very sparse. I have not had time to spice it up yet! However, once it’s done it will look like my desk in Austin, which had a signed picture from Grant Bowler of the Defiance series, and giant hellbug plushie, a pre-launch Defiance poster board, and several other trinkets from Trion products. I also have lots of condiments in my drawers, because what is food without condiments?

How do you spend your free time?

I love to go to movies and play games. When I am not online playing games like Diablo 3 or console RPGs, I am watching my favorite TV shows or movies. I also really enjoy anime, and watch as much as I can in my free time.

Which games, excluding Trion products, do you like to play?

The Diablo series is one of my favorites of all time on PC. I am currently still playing Diablo 3, and when a new patch comes out I always come back for more. I also love RPGs on consoles (mostly of the JRPG variety, but western RPGs are fun as well). I will usually try any new MMO that comes out for at least a little while, and sometimes I’ll stick with them for a long time.

What's your favourite outfit/weapon and why?

My favorite outfit is easily the Ark Predator outfit. I was very excited when I earned it for the first time from the pursuit. I am also a big fan of the red VBI Infiltrator outfit that released with the game. As for my favorite weapon, I actually can’t say, because it isn’t released yet! You will find out more soon, so keep an eye on the patch notes for it next week!

Do you have any interesting stories you can share from your time at Trion?

I have a hundred at least. A good recent one from the redwood office is my poor experience with “Dog Day”. I decided to bring my Corgi, Tobimaru, to the office to hang out and play with the other dogs. Unfortunately, he did not do so well with the abandonment, as I have to get up often from my desk to talk to several different people around the office. I had tied his leach to my office chair, and unfortunately Tobi decided to drag it around the office looking for me and whining, poor guy! He is going to have to get used to being at the office more before I leave him alone again! Imagine you are doing your work at your desk, and a dog pulling a rolling chair comes by looking for me. Fun times!