Hi, Paul here. So last week you met our bearded wizard Nic. Well now it is my turn to give you a basic 101 – Intro to Paul. Where do I start? Let’s go all the way to the beginning (queue dreamy fade out/in here). I was born in 1989 – wait, that might be too far back. Ok, basic info. I hail from a small town back in South Africa and moved to the sometimes sunny Gold Coast of Australia where I currently live. I work at Well Placed Cactus with my unofficial title being “That guy with the accent”. So when you hear that guy screaming at the screen after dying 500+ times – that’s me.

http://youtu.be/HwbJFEh5ka0

I am a huge fan of movies and games alike. I think there is a whole lot more to any screen media than just sitting back and watching. To make a really great experience for the audience there has to be something to connect with, and I connect most with characters. I mean when I was a kid I used to watch all my super heroes save the day. Now with games, I can be the one saving the day. Take Uncharted for example. Playing as Nathan Drake is freaking awesome. But it’s not just Drake I care about. Sully, what an awesome old guy. When Sully gets shot I felt goosebumps and a tingle down my spine. I didn’t even realise I cared about him until that event. Good characters make a movie or game so much better. Whether it’s to try create a deep emotional connect or just keep the mood light like Mario, characters can add so much to any medium it is hard to overlook them. Would you play through games if the characters were still cubes?

http://youtu.be/QyI9F_5zq6E

That’s what I try and do here at the cactus. I try adding character to the games we make. Not just through character, but the entire game. Not all games require an actual character, in which case the game itself becomes the character and we work to give it a certain personality that ties in with the game. Luckily with Eggolution we had the chickens to work with. So I tried to give then some quirky movements and not just be your average chickens. We only started animating the chicken towards the end of development. As soon as those chickens were moving it added a whole new layer of life to the game. That is my aim for all future games we make, add that extra layer of life.

Chickens are better than cubes.

Mario looks a bit better these days.

PS. I have been asked a couple things about living in South Africa so I figured I would answer then here quick just to clear things up. I did not live in a cave. I did not have a lion as a pet. I did not go to school on an elephant every day. I lived in a house, had a couple dogs and went to school in a car. Although I think having a lion as a pet and going to school on the back on an elephant would be awesome.