We’re hiring
October 31st, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Interested in working in the gaming industry?
Ksatria Gameworks is hiring.
Archive for the 'Work' Category
Report from Ksatria Gameworks (swedish branch)
September 20th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
I realized that by skimming through my blog posts one might get the impression that I quit and left Ksatria Gameworks. While I did leave Singapore I’m still very much working for them, remotely.
Working from home is hard.
I’ve been forcing myself out of bed at 8am *gasp*, getting into this whole “breakfast” thing before booting up my computer at around 9. I download the latest updates and get to work. To keep myself from slacking off or spreading my work out all over the entire day I always stop working at 5pm. If I’m still not finished with something at that point it’ll just have to wait until the next day. So far this policy have worked pretty good to give me a normal work day of sorts. Still, it gets a bit lonely at times.
Been playing a lot of games lately ever since my american ps2 finally arrived by mail (stupid customs). Persona 3 is awesome and feels like it was made for me. I feel like I can finally put in the time necessary to play RPGs again so I ordered Wild Arms 5 and Shadows Hearts 3 yesterday and I just got them.
To even get to the nearest game store I need to take a 45 minute bus ride. Ordering games online or buying them off of Steam have just become a much better deal for me.
Oh and I got a new computer too. (Sorry Landale for only talking about all the stuff I’ve bought)
Last day in the office
August 24th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Today was my last day in the office . I took the next week off because, as a master of procrastination, I need a few days to get everything packed and ready.
The crew wrote me a card and gave me cake. It’s something we usually do for people’s birthdays but I still appreciated the gesture. Who doesn’t like cake and attention?
Final countdown
August 20th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
This week will be my last in the office before flying back to Sweden. Last week was very hectic. Especially since no one remembered to inform us that the deadline had been pushed to this wednesday. Thanks, I really appreciated that.
I’m still a bit concerned about how much I’ll be able to do this week. There are a ton of things to do, but at the same time I don’t wanna start on anything I can’t finish. I also need to remember to compile a list of things Meide and David can do next week. But I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re like.. smart n’ stuff.
We’re getting ready for GC Asia that’s just around the corner. In the office we have two stands, each holding a huge banner/poster things. One of Lonewolf and one of a screaming giak. They look pretty pimp. Pictures to come.
Silly’s going-away-reunion slash reunion-of-awesomeness has ended and Lanni wrote about it on her blog. If I’d been able to book an earlier flight I would’ve been there, but it wasn’t within my control. But they still wrote me and stuff :3. In a sense my spirit was there (and apparently his name is Ztanz?)
I can still go and bother Simon and Lanni once I get home, but Silly is leaving for Japan >.< so that’s a bit of a bummer..
Acting lead
August 6th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Cédric, our lead programmer, flew to france last week for his vacation. Someone had to fill his role as lead programmer while he is gone and that someone turned out to be me.
It’s quite daunting but sort of fun at the same time. Besides figuring out what I’m supposed to be working on I have to keep track of the other programmers too (not counting the french) and plan out their next tasks. We have a deadline coming up and that means no slacking!
I also have to manage the inhouse releases of the level editor and work more closely with Raymond, our game designer. He’s the first guy to find any bugs and in a sense my job is to shut him up. A quiet game designer is a happy game designer 
[Update]
Okay, I might have underestimated this a little bit. Today was a bit more rough and I never like it when I’m unable to deliver. Big props to Ced for helping out over msn XD
Going home
July 17th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Beginning this august I will have stayed in Singapore for a whole year, save my christmas holiday. I knew very little about this place when I first arrived, but now I know this is a wonderful little spot on the map. The people here are friendly. The culture is rich and it’s been an exciting experience to live in such a big city. I really do love Singapore.
But after all this time I’ve realized that there are some things that I can’t be without and some people I can’t be apart from. Just as I’ve felt I’ve been able to excel in my work, I’ve felt constrained in every other part of my life. Eventually it began to interfere with my work.. and at that point, who benefits?
So a little over a month ago I decided that I had to return home to Sweden. I hinted at this earlier, but today it’s official so I wanted to expand upon it and share my thoughts.
Last week I sat down with Cédric and Steve to explain my situation and discuss the proposition for me to continue working remotely (as a couple of programmers are already doing from France). While not exactly thrilled over the idea of me leaving, Cédric was relieved that I still wanted to stay in the project and Steve had no objections.
I’m so grateful that I’m able to do this and still be able to see this game through. I mean, really. I wouldn’t expect this from any other company.
I’ve been blessed to work along side such great people. Extremely talented and extremely kind. I really wish I could bring all of you with me. You all made this decition extremely hard for me.
As for the specifics, my plane leaves around 7am, August 30th (Singapore time) and I should arrive in Umeå at around 10pm the same day (Swedish time).
Raymond’s solemnization
May 10th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Here are some pictures from Raymond’s solemnization ceremony last week.
When I received the invitation I wasn’t really sure what a solemnization ceremony was so I should probably explain it for the rest of you who are as clueless as me. It basically the legal part of their marriage. They both get to sign the marriage certificate and exchange rings but it’s a more casual ceremony. They will have a more traditional wedding later next year.
It was really sweet and I wish Raymond and June a long and happy future together!
We re-furnitured the office
May 4th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Ever since Steve arrived we’ve been making a lot of small but important changes to how we work. Today we rearranged all the desks in the office. The new philosophy is to put people who are working on similar things closer together, as well as to easily be able to see anyone’s monitor with just the turn of a head. I thought I’d share a few pictures from the pandemonium.
No, I’m not bitter.
April 12th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Why would I be? GameAxis wrote a ten page cover story about my game and the company I work for. Sure, there’s no picture of me in the article, nor am I mentioned in any way.. but hey, who’s keeping track?
I don’t know why I made such a big deal of their visit. I was excited over finally getting my mug published in my first ever game magazine cover but at the same time I felt really uncomfortable in front of the camera. Maybe that’s why they didn’t like my picture.. or perhaps it was the gigantic zit the size of Mount Everest (no joke) I was wearing in the smack center of my forehead that morning.
Seriously though, they wrote up a good article. That said, most of the ten pages were mainly padding of concept art and other tidbits we sent them. But they seem genuinely excited over the game, which is a good sign. Especially given what we actually showed them.
Here are a few excerps from the magazine:
If you want the whole thing you should buy the magazine, or poke me.
GameAxis visits the office
March 15th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
This just shows how lazy I am with updating my blog, but GameAxis came over here two days ago to talk to us about our game and take some pictures.
I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say but it’s not like people read this blog for news so whatever. From what I heard we’re going to be the cover story of the April issue and featured in a 5 page long article. I have no idea how they will fill those 5 pages from what we showed them.
My only appearance will probably just be in the corner of one of the pictures as they never really talked to me. They only gave me one question as I was demoing the physics but of course it was one I didn’t have the answer to. Andrew rallied the reporters and the usual suspect (lead artist, lead programmer, etc) in the meeting room and gave them the lowdown. I’m not sure what was said in there, guess I’ll find out once I get to read the article.
More updates (and pictures) once the issue is published.
