Keep up with what Kaitlyn, Lead Economics Designer, is planning at Dynasty Studios.
Through a series of interesting interview questions both inside and outside of gaming, the Devs at Dynasty articles give our fans a special look into individuals working at Dynasty Studios.
What is your role at Dynasty Studios?
I am the Lead Designer in charge of game economics. My job is to ensure that players have a good experience earning and spending resources within the game. This requires a strong understanding of both traditional economics and player psychology. It’s easy to make a game economy that exploits players and coerces them into spending lots of money, it’s far more challenging to create one that’s fun to play and makes players enjoy the world.
What do you like best about working remotely at Dynasty Studios?
Dynasty Studios is brave enough to truly try new things. Rather than making something that’s been done several times before and is a safe bet, we are trekking out into the deep blue of the unknown, pushing the limits of game development and trying to give our players something they’ve never seen before.
What do you think sets Dynasty Studios apart from other game companies?
Dynasty Studios has both the talent and the ambition to create the next great leap in game design. We aren’t afraid to try something that no one has tried before, and we have the people with the skills to make it work! Hearing “Let’s do it!” is such a refreshing change for a designer than hearing “can you give me 3 examples of that working in previous games?”
What’s the first game you remember playing?
Ernie’s Magic Shapes! It came on a cassette tape (not even a floppy disk). I wasn’t allowed to play Missile Command because it was too violent – to be fair, I was like 3 or 4 years old at the time.
What’s your favorite cookie/dessert/ice cream?
Oh, tough choice… A cookie is the easiest of the three with chocolate chip, dessert would likely be tiramisu, and ice cream… salmiakki. I know the idea of salty licorice ice cream sounds debatable, but it’s actually really good!
What’s your favorite franchise?
Battletech was one of the first franchises I really got into. Finding over 30 of the old, out of print books used on eBay was a goldmine! I own all the Battletech novels except for three 🙂
