The Real People Behind the Virtual World - Meet Vanguard's Rob Metzker |
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Those developers and designers that bring us fantastic online worlds - such as that of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - do their jobs well. Perhaps too well - it's easy to forget that these fantasy worlds are indeed, fantasies created by real, flesh-and-blood men and women.Sigil Games, the company behind Vanguard is now featuring interviews with the people who work there. Today, Vanguard fans get to meet Rob Metzker, one of Sigil's webmasters and tool makers.
What do you do, Rob?
IÂ’m [a] web developer, build master and tools guy. I work with Sean Hamilton to create and maintain our web presence while also keeping the gameÂ’s build tools updated. When I am not spinning the web, I play keys in a San Diego rock-n-roll jam band called "Moontucky Risin'."
How did you get your start at Sigil?
It began when I was accepted into EverQuest Beta - Phase 3. I fell in love with the style of game play and the awesome 3D worlds that Brad and his team created. After the March 1999 release date, I played the game almost non-stop and eventually joined the guide program... it was there where I met many cool people including Michelle Butler, whom wanted me to come out and be a Game Master on her team at Verant Interactive.
In January 2000, I moved from my home town of St. Louis, Missouri to San Diego where I helped the original EverQuest customer service department get their tools together while acting as a game server technician during off-peak hours. When Sony Online Entertainment acquired Verant, I moved over to a System Programmer position. I continued to work on various CS, QA and game hosting tools. Then in 2005, the opportunity came knocking to join the Sigil family and I could not pass it up. ItÂ’s great to be working with a lot of the friends I met back when EQ was born!
What is your favorite part about working for a game company?
The culture! People here are creative and like to have fun while working hard. It really makes for an exciting and rewarding work environment. I love the electronic entertainment industry and IÂ’m proud that our company is working on a product that so many people are looking forward to.
What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about working at Sigil?
We have a tight-knit community of employees. IÂ’ve worked for quite a few companies in the past and I have never experienced this kind of overall utopian experience that we have here at Sigil. It really makes coming to work everyday something I look forward to. We strive to make a great game while trying to keep the workplace as non-corporate as possible. This helps to bring about more of a family-like environment where people can be themselves.
What is your favorite thing you have worked on for Vanguard?
I developed a system to handle the creation of NPC pathing data for the entire game world, using a cluster of machines that work together to crank out gigs of data. I guess you could say I tell the creatures of the world where they can and canÂ’t go.
What has been the most difficult thing you have done for Vanguard?
Taking over the system of scripts and tools that create Vanguard itself has been a lot of work. The process has been passed down from several people, so it is always a little adventure to peek inside the scripts when you need to make updates. However, I couldnÂ’t be more excited to work on something as important as this! ItÂ’s a great feeling when I take all of the hard work done by our artists, coders and designers and bring it all together in one place for everyone to enjoy.
What class/race are you going to play when Vanguard is released?
I am still waiting on a couple more classes to be opened up in beta, but so far I really enjoy playing a Dark Elf Disciple. That might change when I get a taste of what a monk can do.
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