The weekly Meet The Team Q&As is wrapping up this week – catch up on them all now at Paradox, our publisher’s website!

As well, we managed to make Angry Joe into Happy Joe, Tracy Morris sat down to talk writer to writer with our very own Arinn Dembo, and PC Gamer UK gave us a sweet preview!

Strategy Informer: Your benefactors and overlords at Paradox Interactive obviously launched their flagship Paradox Connect platform this year – are you tying SOTS2 into that that in any special way? Especially in terms of multiplayer or maybe achievements?

Martin Cirulis: You can expect a whole host of wild and woolly achievements that not only will let you brag across the breadth of Paradox Connect, but even unlock badges or graffiti for your own ships.

• Game Shark interview with producer Chris Stewart
• Strategy Informer preview
• Strategy Informer interview with lead designer, Martin Cirulis

Favorite thing about making games
I like that it’s a rare job in a rare industry. People make assumptions about the work (“Oh, how lucky! You get to play video games all day!” Yes, the same work-in-progress for the better part of a year…) and the industry (“It’s like making movies, right?” No, not really), a lot of which misunderstand the amount of work required to make a game. But at the same time, nobody else in the world gets to solve the kinds of problems a dev team gets to solve. Not just technically, but creatively. There’s a line at the end of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 The Movie where one of the robots spots the special-effects team and cracks, “Oh, those are the guys that spend all day making elves dance.” That’s what I tell people I do… it’s not far off the mark, really.

Read the whole Q&A here.

“How did you get started in the games industry?
I started making my own games on an Apple II when I was 14.”

How did you get started in the games industry?

Ever since I was young I’ve been doing some sort or artwork. I got into digital at a pretty young age. By playing
around in Photoshop and teaching myself. I first developed an interest in doing 3D after playing the original
Command and Conquer. A few years after graduating high school I decided it was something I wanted to do
and decided to go to school for it. I briefly worked in 2d animation as a background artist before getting in to the
game industry after that.

“A tools programmer builds the tools used by the artist and producers to put content into the game. When you see a snazzy starmap or neat looking explosion, I built the tool that made it… and because we’ve taken a unique approach to effects in SWORD OF THE STARS II, I’ve been working heavily on adding effects features and making adjustments on both the game side and the tools side.”

Go to the Paradox Interactive forums to read the whole interview.

The issue is in stores now!

“In practical terms, I design and describe the various factions of the game, give them an evolutionary history and define their biology and culture. Since both biology and culture are important in the design of characters and ships, I have a lot of meetings with 2D and 3D artists. My work also touches on the behavior and technology of the various races of the game, so I am a working member of the design team. I also have some collaborative input with the artists who record sound, music and voices. Essentially, it’s my job to make sure that the game has a soul.”

Go to the Paradox Interactive forums to read the whole interview.