Back To Meet The Devs

1. What is your name and/or nickname?

jesse kurlancheek, nei, devilmouse

2. How did you come to work at Turbine?

i was friends with a number of people at turbine very early on in AC's dev cycle, and they got me into the early previews, and then i played all through beta. at one point, i decided that i needed to have a "good" character and i started to play way too many hours a day. a friend came over one day and said, "um, jesse, why aren't you working for them?" so i applied, interviewed and BAMPF!

3. What other jobs have you had?

this is my first "real" job out of college. the summers before, i did annoying web db stuff, some ever so hip multimedia stuffs, and all those other random summer jobbie type things.

4. Do you work on anything else besides AC (and can you tell us about it)?

yes. no. =p

5. If you could add or change one thing in AC, what would that be?

if i could add: server divergence or property owenership. players need to be able to impact the world in some way, and we can't let them at this point. if i could change: the magic system. anything in the game can be made better (or worse) through magic. so you take the best fighter in the world, and just add magic, *POOF!* she's better. want to hit harder? just add magic. want to run faster? you'll need magic. want to jump higher? just add magic. want to be more attractive to the opposite sex? just add a red dress.

6. What's the most amusing or embarrassing death you've had or witnessed in AC?

easy... the hordes and hordes of people dying to Pookie (the white rabbit). fields of players fall before him. when i remember, i pop into the worlds and get some screenies of rabbit kill strings. i've got 100 or so screens, each with at least 2 death strings at this point.

7. Are you in an allegiance and do your allegiance members know you're at Turbine?

some of my characters are, but most aren't. of the ones that are in allegiances, only a very limited number of people know that i'm me. pity the DT player when the rest of the server finds out it's me who's responsible for so many of the things they hate...

8. Have you played any other MMORPGs and are you looking forward to any upcoming ones?

played both EQ and UO during beta, but i never really got far into them while i was still in school. i really want to play AO since my sword arm is getting terribly tired, and i just want to pull the trigger on a rocket launcher.

9. What's the current in-office LAN game?

counterstrike used to be _the_ game to play, but recently (much to my chagrin), starcraft has had a revival.

10. Favourites:

music: ... i don't think i could name a favorite. so instead you get what's in the rotation right now: red house painters, magnetic fields, the six string samurai soundtrack, massive attack, cat power, dead kennedys, operation ivy.
film: ... the original black and white "The Blob".
food: ... sushi, hands down. no question.
sport: ... hay bail tossing for height, not distance.
computer game: ... hmm... grim fandango, the monkey island series, zak mckraken, all those lucasarts adventure games really. all the old sierra adventure games (with the series number below 3..). AC is a given, it's probably sucked the most time out of me by far. 2 years playing that... sheesh.

11. What was the first computer game you played?

on a ti99/4a, when i was growing up, i played lots of different ones. does that count as a computer?

12. What would you like appreciative fans to send as gifts?

well they've sent liquor... they've sent food... they've tried to send a stripper... one nice fellow sent us a baseball bat to use to "make decisisons" with. as to what i want, the running item is an electric scooter. my old kick scooter (not these fancy pants lil' Razor jobbies) is dying and i need some pimpin' new wheels.

13. Did you get your pre-patch Greater Shadow Armour in time?

nope... could have, but i didn't have the heart to camp for it. i'm borrowing a set now for my one DT character though.

14. Fasten and then zip or zip and then fasten?

the former.

15. Because of the lead- and asbestos-lined walls at Turbine's offices, you all survive the apocalypse - who'd get voted Supreme Leader?

i don't think we'd have the organization to vote for a leader, so the "process" would rapidly disintegrate. we'd be left fighting tooth and nail for scraps of metal and ounces of gasoline to construct our crash cars. but i'd put my money on david bowman to open up the first thunderdome.