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Get to Know - Hidde van der Kooij - Programmer

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▶ What do you do on Vigor?
I am a programmer working on the character, camera, and tools for Vigor. The work builds upon earlier feature prototypes and placeholder and brings them to a higher standard.

 

▶ What is your contribution to the Vigor Team?
It is my goal to make sure that the game designers and level designers have an easier task to create a better game. For this, I need to research how other games implement features, develop our implementation, and iterate upon those features over several releases of Vigor.
Not everything I make is perfect, but as long as it pushes the project further then, I am doing a good job.

 

▶ What do you like about Vigor?
The tension of a match, you are uncertain about when things are going to go wrong, and you are always calculating risk versus reward.
You can also play differently depending on your needs, you may play safe and only look for metal pieces, or play aggressively with a duo and planning to get the airdrop or die.

 

▶ What do you want to see in Vigor?
I am not much of a visionary; better aim assist functionality, changes to the camera behavior, better vaulting and climbing, and better implementations of everything else I worked on. I learned a lot in the past year and a half, and now I want to apply it retroactively and make the game better.

 

▶ What do you do when you are not making Vigor?
Play games, do photography, travel abroad (this year Tokyo and New York, kismet), and several side projects involving writing, programming, and art.

 

▶ Did game dev change your view on the games and how?
Definitely! Right now we are working on replacing the ladder functionality to be compliant with all the other character improvements we made and raise the standard. While playing Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice I had to play around their ladders for comparison, I also toyed around with the camera in the Tomb Raider games before I realized that I could do this during work hours and get paid!
I appreciate the work put into games more now, but I have issues enjoying the games themselves.

 

▶ Your favorite games and why?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for their atmosphere and cohesive world, Dark Souls for their world and the lesson that you can do anything if you don't give up, Minecraft for being an outlet both technically and creatively, and Pokémon as a huge inspiration for any journey.

 

▶ What's your favorite music, movie, show, book and why?
My favorite music is Dutch hardcore (Neophyte, Angerfist) not to be confused with American hardcore; I love my electric and rough music!
Sadly I don't have the time to read that much, but I enjoyed Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky brothers and Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer.


▶ Is there something that you want to say to our community?
This is my first job and also working on a AA game, and I am thrilled with the player's reaction to our game from the first teaser to people playing it today. A lot of feedback and criticism is on-point, and I appreciate the faith many of you have put into the project.
As an insider, I know more what is in the works, and what is going to improve in future updates so I hope you keep coming back for every update!

 

▶ You are Outlander; humanity has fallen. What would you do?
Carefully scout Grontheim with my Vintar and SPSA and trusted friend Mazen.

 

Bonus Question (From Filip )
If you were to make your own game, what genre would it be and why?
Challenging question! It would not be far off from stalker, and it would focus on storytelling. Your path through the game is yours, and your actions have a significant impact on other characters. I don't know about the genre but has first person shooter elements.

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First Person Mode (like PUBG choosing to pick between) would be an amazing addition!

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