Zipper Profile: David Johnson

[shane]

Our Developer Profile series introduces you to the many faces of Zipper Interactive. From designers to artists to programmers to audio engineers to producers, you’ll meet the creative minds that make Zipper what it is (and maybe learn a few surprises along the way). This week's profiled Zipper is David Johnson, Tools Engineer extraordinaire. David's work affects many facets of our titles, particularly with designing the tools that allow the games to be created. Here's what he had to tell us:

 

 

 

Job Title: Tools Engineer

Years at Zipper:Almost 4!

Years in the Industry: 4 in the games industry, 10 in the software industry.

Favorite Zipper Game: MAG

Favorite Non-Zipper Game: It’s too hard to pick just one! It’s got to be one of Chrono Trigger, Zelda: A Link to the Past, or Tales of Symphonia.

Motto: "Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive it isn't." – Richard Bach

 

What is it that you do specifically, and can you walk us through your typical day?

If a game studio is like an RPG adventuring party, then I would be one of the white mages: I don’t have a lot of direct damaging spells, but I definitely help everyone else out with the healing magic. My role at Zipper is largely in the support department, doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work that helps keep the "more renowned" departments—art, design, and engineering—working at top speed! My main responsibility is to give our level editor all of the TLC that it needs in order to pump out new levels fast. I’ve also been helping the Cinema guys iron out the process for making cutscenes and scripted sequences.

 

The typical day for me right now is 9 in the morning until 7 or so on a smooth day, though not every day is a smooth day! I catch up on emails in the morning and check to see if there are any critical (or just plain annoying) issues that’s keeping others in the company from working. I do a lot of troubleshooting whenever things go wrong and then do my best to fix all of the problems plaguing everyone else. After that, I’m pretty much off to the races by making new features for our level editor, data compile process, and Maya. It’s hard to say what I’ll be working on two weeks from now because my team covers a lot of ground and pretty much affects everyone else!

 

 

How did you get into the industry?

It’s kind of a crazy story when you get down to it. My previous job was in Ohio where I worked as a Department of Defense contractor for the US Air Force. I was looking for a career change and had uploaded my r

 

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