NEW SENIOR PROGRAMMER AT GOLD TOWN GAMES
There is a common joke that people from Skellefteå all have the surnames Marklund or Lundmark. This might not be completely true, but most likely there is no other city that is so strongly connected to certain family names, as Skellefteå is to these two. True or not, funnily enough our newest employee, after our latest recruitment Simon Lundmark, is named Marklund. But how strong is his connection to Skellefteå? Meet Jocce Marklund, our new senior programmer.
So, what are your connections to Skellefteå?
– My grandfather grew up in a small village outside of Skellefteå, but later on he moved to Stockholm. That is it.
But you are born and raised in the south of Sweden?
– I was born in Stockholm, but I have lived in the area around Örebro and Nora most of my life. I moved to Skövde to study game design, and after that I lived in Nyköping where I taught game development and worked as a programmer. The last couple of years I have been a programmer back in Stockholm.
When did you become interested in gaming?
– I have always been interested in gaming. My mother and her husband owned a toy store, where they sold video games and I played them a lot. When I was 13-14 I started making my own games in Click n’ Play but I soon found that pretty boring. Before I started studying to become a game designer, I mostly worked with RPG Maker and similar programs to make games. Today, one of my arms is especially dedicated to game motive tattoos, so you might say that the interest has escalated since the toy store days.
Which is your all-time favorite game?
– That is a tough question. There are way too many excellent games, but I would have to say Fallout, the first one of course. Mostly because that was the game that made me realize that this was what I wanted to do and I have a lot of fond memories from playing it. My runner-up answer would have to be Bioshock.
What are your experiences from the gaming industry?
– Besides being a game development teacher for a couple of years after my studies, I have developed some indie games for PC/Mac, Xbox 360 and iOS, both on my own and together with others. So, my experience is solely from an indie developer’s point of view.
What is your role at Gold Town Games?
– My role will officially be as a Statistical Analyst. My responsibilities are to handle all statistics, and to implement and present them. Other than that, I think of myself as a Swiss Army knife, I can be used for everything!
And how do you like it here?
– It feels great! I have left my comfort zone and joined this very exciting project together with people I do not know yet, in a city I have never been before. This is a real adventure for me and I am really looking forward to it!
