About me
My name is Filip Orrling, and after two years of studying at The Game Assembly in Malmö, I’m now encouraged by my educators to finally call myself a game programmer. Before venturing on this path, I worked for over 10 years as a freelancing producer and production manager in television, mainly with comedy, but I’m no stranger to drama, lifestyle and big studio productions either. It might be confirmation bias, but I just keep finding parallels between my past and future occupations. They’re both creative endeavors, usually with a very passionate team driving them forward. They’re both huge, unwieldy productions that rely on a number of highly specialized teams that work more or less independently towards the same goal. And finally, when that huge machine manages to run smoothly, the sum can be greater than its parts, and the final product has the potential to be pure magic.
I have always loved games, and I’ve grown up with computers. My older brothers had some classic ones, like the Commodore 64 and later on an Atari ST, and I used to love watching them play. When I got old enough to play myself, I fell hard for the strategy genre, with games like Masters of Orion, X-Com, and a bunch of Sid Meier’s stuff. I’ve also spent countless hours making arrows for a high level, British benefactor in Ultima Online, and my first big cultural disappointment was when I heard of the cancellation of its sequel (it still hurts…). Even though I haven’t always worked with computers, I’ve always kept up to date with what’s going on both in hardware and in software, which often has led to me getting the not always grateful role as impromptu IT-support for friends, family and neighbors. Getting to deep-dive into the nitty gritty of it all these past two years has been amazing, and I feel truly excited to soon get to do it for a living.
I have extensive experience in working in large projects. My job as a television producer was to facilitate each department to do their best work possible within the budgetary constraints. You can’t give everyone exactly what they want, so being able to see the bigger picture, make the tough calls that benefit the final vision the most, and then relaying it to the team in a way that everyone is comfortable with is crucial. It has taught me that no department is more important than any other, the team has to function as a whole for the result to be as good as possible. I belive that the key skills I bring with me from my previous career - humility, communication and organization - will come in quite handy in this one as well.
Although I enjoy all aspects of programming, I’ve come to prefer gameplay and tools. I love working with the player, and as you might guess from my specialization, the camera holds a special place in my heart. When it comes to tools, I like that it’s a dialogue with the end user, discussing their requirement specifications and trying to anticipate what features could elevate their user experience even more. These are also the areas where I feel I have the most use of my earlier experiences.
I’m confident that I will feel right at home in the gaming industry.
Hope to see you there!