What do you do at Undead Labs?
I’m an Engineer! I stare at a screen with a frightened expression until the computer attached to it does the computer-y stuff that makes a game go. I find that any description less vague than that is probably leaving *something* out. Basically engineers get to sit around and solve problems (or, equally importantly, decide which ones not to solve) all day. It’s pretty rad.
What made you get into the game industry?
I’m sure the core of my origin story is pretty similar to a lot of other folks’: I started playing games when I was pretty young (mostly NES era, but I have some early memories of a handful of Atari games, too), found them superior to hanging out with the other human children in just about every way, and since then have had a pretty good run of continuing to be a huge dork who keeps his face buried in a screen for what I assume is a catastrophically unhealthy amount of time.
Video games got me to get into programming and computer science early on, though I never really thought about *actually* being in the industry until only a few years ago. I had been a software engineer for a number of years prior, and at some point finally started playing around with writing some little game-like stuff on my own. I had just purchased a VR headset (so that I could *really* start living in a screen all the time) and wanted to experiment with making things since there wasn’t exactly a whole ton of VR content just laying around back then (though I guess that hasn’t really changed much…). I immediately decided that it was basically the coolest Lego set I’d ever played with, suddenly realized that I was really bored with my *actual* work, and then just as quickly found myself quitting my job to “take a year off to make a game.” Fast forward 2.5 years (never was any good at estimating) and heeeeere I am.
How did you end up at Undead Labs?
A friend of mine had started working at Undead Labs a year or so before I left my old job and during the couple years I spent doing the solo/indie developer thing they introduced me to several other folks from the office at various industry gatherings/events. Everyone was always really passionate about their work and seemed to genuinely love working at Undead Labs, so when it came time for me to finally go get a real job again it was still the best place I could think of to aim for. (Knowing someone that could give me a referral sure didn’t hurt, either.)
What is your favorite part about working at Undead Labs?
I always figured I’d never *really* go into the games industry because it seemed like every other story I heard about a game studio was about some sort of terrible grind, crunch hours, working conditions, or a dozen other things that seemed like they’d eventually turn even a nerd like me away from games. The people at Undead Labs and the culture they’ve made is really completely the opposite of everything I feared about game development. People here love their work and still maintain a healthy life balance, are all very talented and passionate about getting even better, and the environment is open and collaborative so that you actually get to work *with* people.
(Now that you’ve read that, here’s my secret real answer: office dogs)
Any interesting facts about you (outside of work) you’d like to share?
日本に旅行が好き。日本語を私の友達と勉強していますけれどもまだのが上手じゃない。だが、十二月にN4試験つもりですから, 私を幸運を祈ってくれてください
From everyone at Undead Labs, thank you for your hard work Ken!
Do you have a question for Ken? He would be happy to answer it! Just comment on the Twitter or Instagram post this link was on, or join our Discord network (https://discord.gg/undeadlabs) and send your questions to Undead Megan. Ken will be answering these questions on our live stream, Monday, October 7th, from 3-4 PM PDT.
