Member Spotlight – Wirago

Austrian programmer Wirago, AKA Pavel, is next to feature in our Member Spotlight series. A member since March 2017, read on to find out how they got into game development.

GDM Username: Wirago

Name or Nickname: Pavel

Age: 34

Country: Austria

Developer, Asset Creator or are you a bit of both?:   

Programmer and game designer (story and gameplay)

Full Time, Part Time or Hobby?: 

A hobby taken seriously. Well spent time next to my full time job as application manager and traveling with my wife.  

How long have you been doing this?: 

Actually, I wrote my first line of code when I was 12 years old. Wrote some small code pieces in visual basic. Hard time learning to code when you are a child without internet and parents who have the slightest clue of what you are doing. 

However, I got older, I got some books and lastly this so called internet. Started many trial and error projects in various languages. C++, Java, C#. You need to find your tool of choice, right? 

My first more planned project was a Zelda-like RPG. Written in C# using the MonoGame framework, This was the point where I purchased assets from GDM the first time.

But as most newbie projects, it was quite oversized and lost its “flow” over the time. Good time learning though.

What made you become a dev/artist?  

I actually can remember the exact discussion with a friend of mine, like… 22 years ago.
“Do you now how they create games like Half Life?”
“Hm… I think with Visual Studio or so”
“Visual what?”
“I got this CD from a games magazine. Theres an installer on it for that. Do you want it?”
“Sure…”

 

Yeah… I was quite disappointed when it turned out to be a “text editor”

Favourite software/tools to use?:  

Visual Studio, GitHub Desktop and currently trying to get into Unreal Engine, but rarely time for progress on that.

What’s one tip you would give to someone starting out?:   

Try to study as regularly as possible – this is the only way to stay on the ball.
Please do not start programming a game immediately while you are learning to code.

How do you promote your work (games or assets)?:  

Twitter turned out to be a very good point for promotion and getting contacts in the game dev scene. #gamedev #indiegamedev

What project are you working on now?:  

We are currently in a closed testing stage for our turn based grand strategy game “Feudal Kingdoms”
You can find information about it on our website (bloodpixels.com), Twitter @bloodpixels or by joining our discord.

My part in this 4 men (actually 1 woman + 3 men) project is primarily story telling and balancing out numbers as well as maintaining the website and setting up tutorials.

Feel free to wishlist us on steam Feudal Kingdoms on Steam (steampowered.com)

 

And finally, favourite game ever & why?:   

Hard to tell. Judged by the time played probably World of Warcraft. But from a heart perspective it’s probably Warcraft2. First, it was the first game I’ve purchased with my own pocket money and second I think this was the game that turned me into a gamer 😀

 

 

I am not the biggest content creator, but you can drop me a follow on twitter (@slesinger) and have a nice chat