Character Artist

Joining us from a clafoutis baked by the gods of Mmmmmm and Oooooh comes Linus "Lanyo" Lidberg. Constructed from cross-braced slipware transoms linked by stringers larded with goat pemmican, Linus can upon occasion be utilised as an atlatl, that is to say, woomera, even though he is himself pelekyphorous that is to say axe-bearing. Upon occasion, he imitates the fearsome abatis, or knapps flints to the applause of the watching, waiting, whistling Production Otters. After an hour-long eisteddfod, it has been established that he favours the chorabates over the groma. Phew. Close, huh?

Linus owns his own private ravelin, which he keeps tethered outside the office. In his spare time, he releases radiosondes into the wild, is the Vitruvian man and supplies gravity to the continents of Antarctica and South America. He's valid in all DVD regions, and was nearly used as a universal joint in a giant mechanical land-frog. Yeah, I think you're right; technically that would be a giant mechanical toad. He’s about nine cubits by four and can be found between the K and L keys of your next keyboard.

Things You Were Too Afraid To Ask...

Every once in a while, we interrogate one of our own and put their answers up for all the world to see. Read on to find out more about what Linus does, how he ended up at Splash Damage, and more.

What do you do at Splash Damage?

My role as Character Artist involves creating, perhaps not surprisingly, characters. This includes high-poly sculpting/modeling, low-poly modeling, UV mapping and texturing. For BRINK, all of our characters are customizable by the player, which was challenging at times but I think it's going to be a great feature of the game. I really enjoy working in my team; we've got a great workflow system which makes it feel like we're working together really efficiently.

Why did you want to work in the games industry and how did you get started? Do you have any tips for people wanting to break in?

I have been interested in games my whole life. I first started to "make characters" in ASCII using the letters and symbols on the keyboard of my Commodore 64. Much later I got introduced to early versions of 3D Studio MAX - there was a lot of trial and error involved!

It was when I got my hands on Quake II and textured some skins that I started to daydream about making games for a living. Much later I studied game development at Gamemaker in Arvika, Sweden. I worked extremely hard, often 12 hours a day; there was so much to learn! A great part of the course was getting an internship - I think getting experience at that stage really helped me and I would recommend an internship to anyone wanting to break into the industry.

What other games have you worked on? Which one did you enjoy the most?

I previously worked for Eidos at Pivotal Games, where we released Conflict: Denied Ops. I also worked on a few other titles there that never saw the light of day, including one game using UnrealEngine 3.

How did you end up at Splash Damage?

After working for Pivotal Games, I set my sights on London. I really liked the style of games Splash Damage were producing and wanted a piece of the action! I'm a huge fan of the old Quake games, so being able to work with the people who made Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars sounded like a great opportunity.

What is it like to work at Splash Damage?

It's fantastic, I love working in this industry. Great people, nice office, events, football, trips to the pub and, of course, Left4Dead4Lunch!

What are the best and worst parts of your job?

The best thing is seeing the whole process from start to finish - I get a new concept from Laurel (our Senior Concept Artist) and really enjoy the challenge of making it come alive.

The worst is when the Dream Team (a mix of artists and programmers) loses in our regular Left4Dead sessions!

What was your first gaming experience?

The first game I played was either Giana Sisters or Outrun on my C-64.

What types of games do you like, and what's your favorite game of all time?

I prefer first person shooters and real-time strategy games. I'm really into playing Left4Dead at the moment, but my all time favourite has got to be Quake 2. I started a clan together with some friends, created a webpage and made myself clan leader. =) I have never been so good at any game since, it was definitely worth all those phone bills!

What's the meaning behind your nickname?

My nickname hasn't got an interesting story to it, I'm afraid. I actually got it from a nickname generator on the internet, since I liked the sound of it.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not at work?

I love spending time with my friends and family, exploring London, playing football, forcing myself to go to the gym, playing games, making my own characters. I also used to fish, snowboard and wakeboard a lot back in Sweden.