• Game Designer
• Business developer/project manager, I run my own game dev startup

For about 6 months I have run my own game dev company working as both MD and lead developer. I have a very clear creative vision of what I want my company's game to be about, how to do it and where to go with it. I just need the technical skills not neccesarily to work on it myself, but the skills to plan and guide the development process and actually grasp the basic principles behind the technical aspects of game making.

I used to work as a freelance consultant specializing in digital and corporate communication in conjunction with leadership and management (suppressing desire to mention arrows and a knee here), but late in the process I realized that I had to work with something I actually felt passionately about, and not just something I have a slight interest in. While game development may not be art, to me it is a definite expression of passion, something to approach with a playful attitude and leave with a sense of fulfilment.

Long-term goal: If the company attains any kind of financial succes, I would like to branch out and become an angel investor for small game startups and provide capital as well as networking opportunities and experience.

I am skilled at adapting theoretical knowledge to an operational context. After all, it's how I've survived the last six months as lead dev in my own company. I am fairly skilled and fast at acquiring new knowledge and skills. For example, I aim to master basic Unity 3D medio this semester despite never having touched a single string of code before.

Which technical skills do I have at the moment? Absolutely none. I am a master of MS Paint. However, what I do bring to the table is a few years of experience working as a project lead in business development and project management.

Getting some tech experience is a key priority for me. I expect to learn a lot of new, useful skills (both creative. dev and tech) and tools to apply to my own game development process, as well as getting to know some great, passionate people.

There are too many games worth mentioning. What I currently enjoy playing is probably somewhere along the lines of:

• Civ 4, the mod Fall from Heaven, a fantasy take on classic Civ. Swords and LOTR-feel, Miguel would absolutely loathe it. I have over 1000 hours of play time in Civ 4. Not proud, just putting it out there… Okay, I have to cut back!
• Battlefield 3, Yes…mainstream… I know. Hey! At least it's not CoD.
• Skyrim, it's more than a sandbox/open world adventure/RPG. Mod it, and it becomes an entirely new game.
• Tropico 1-4, but NOT Tropico 2 * shudders *. You've probably never heard of it anyway. NOT to sound like a hipster!
• Warhammer 40k, so ok, I don't actually play it, I just study the rules and the graticious amount of whine about the rules. However, I find the ruleset and player interaction fascinating because of the scope and scale of differences in how people play the game, how they see it and what they believe about it.

A business developer once told me that the key to success was to make my work my hobby. Admittedly, I have very little free time, and the few quiet moments I have for myself, I ususally spend either playing indie games or visiting some of my neglected friends. I also enjoy cooking, but cooking does not enjoy me!