Torchlight
Posted on April 16, 2010

Rats. Wonder finally got around to hounding me for one of these ‘Meet the Team’ bios.

I’m Brock Jones and I’m a producer/gap-filler here at Runic. My history is pretty similar to several of the other folks here at Runic. After graduating college with a degree in philosophy I decided to pursue the logical career choice and get into games. I’ve been working on games for 10 years now and Runic is hands-down the most fun I’ve had. I cut my teeth in ‘the biz’ as an engineer coding casual games that you’ve almost certainly never heard of. If you have heard of them, I would probably be too embarrassed to admit to your face that I made them. As a producer at Runic I still do some coding from time-to-time, but most of my time is spent being an IT guy and jack-of-all-trades; doing a lot of the little things that just have to get done for everybody else to be able to work. I set up and maintain our network, source control, bug tracking, email, and automated build systems. I’ve recorded and edited minor sounds and voice-over, generated a lot of in-game traps, and scripted installers. I have created advanced carpet tile simulators, hunted for furniture, and am currently considering building a totally wicked conference table for our new office.

In my spare time, I roast my own coffee, brew my own beer, lift weights in my garage, walk my dog in the park, play D&D (well – Pathfinder lately) with my crew, go backpacking, lay flooring, stream Netflix movies, and find quirky games to play on XBLA. To quote Robert Heinlein: “Specialization is for insects.”

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Torchlight
Posted on April 9, 2010

Hello all. I’m Marsh Lefler one of 27 people we now have here at Runic Games. It’s hard to believe we have so many people now. I’ve worked with many of the people in the office over 10 years making games. It’s strange to think these people have put up with me for so long.

So who am I and what do I do here at Runic Games? Well currently I just got done making coffee. Other than that I program. I do other things too; like argue with Travis and from time to time I actually make quests, skills and add monsters to the game.

Well that’s what I do and now who am I? Well I first should say I played a lot of games growing up – a lot. I remember starting to design/draw out and even write quests when I was in 4th grade. I made my first computer game in junior high and by the time I graduated I made countless little side scrollers and RPGs. In college I graduated with a BFA (Yes that’s art not programming) and my senior design project was a Zelda MMO. That little project landed me a job at Wildtangent (WT). At WT I met Travis and soon enough I was helping Travis open up Flagship Seattle – where we started making Mythos. When Flagship sank the entire team stuck together and we all opened Runic Games with the help of Peter Hu , Max and Erich Schaefer.

So there is my Dev Blog about who I am and what I do here. Now to the good stuff:

The 20 Movies I remember watching Growing up.

Poltergeist – yeah my dad showed this to me when I was six. At the time I had a giant tree with a face on it outside my window which I was totally scared of. I’ve never had been so scared in my life. Ever sense then I’ve never been scared watching another movie. If I ever have kids I plan on taking this approach too.

Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back – Even as a kid I knew it was the best of all the films.

War Games – Oh hell yeah. With the discovery of where the secret password to my school grades was located (in the drawer next to the computer of course). I no longer needed to go to school; I could change my grades via a rotary phone, a modem and a computer.

Transformers The Movie – Optimus Prime Dies – what the F*&K! Though it did have that kick ass rock song – “You got the touch – you got the powwwwweeerrrrrrrrr”

Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind – I love to play with my mash potatoes too! I bonded with that film.

Conan The Barbarian – First “female” boobs I ever saw.

Aliens – “game over man, gameeee over.”

Raiders of the Lost Ark – GOD DAMNIT. It’s not Indiana Jones and the raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s just Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s just like First Blood, it’s not Rambo: First Blood – it’s just GOD DAMN FIRST BLOOD. And to clarify there are have only been three movies featuring the character Indiana Jones – THREE!

Terminator – First movie I sneaked in to watch – AWESOME!

The Last Star Fighter – pheeww – pheeewww – BOOM! AWESOME. Had the best video game ever in a movie. And seriously one summer week staying at a family friends house I must of watched it a hundred times.

Goonies – I so wanted to be Data. And thank god they cut the scene with the octopus.

Leon: The Professional – This movie is just too awesome. Natalie Portman becomes a star!

Blazing Saddles – “wait while I whip this out”. “What in the wild wild world of sports is going on around here!”

Battle Beyond the Stars – do not watch this movie. You might have remembered loving this as a kid but seriously don’t watch it. And yes the space ship is a set of boobs turned upside down.

Gremlins – They kill santa! Do you understand – theyyyyyy killlllll S-A-N-T-A. And a gremlin explodes in a microwave.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Yeah it has some pretty racist parts but this movie is pretty damn amazing and Audrey Hepburn is an Angel.

Weird Science – Another 80’s science\computer movie. I mean really how can a movie not be awesome that has a shit monster.

TRON – I had the coolest TRON bike when I was young; which reminds me of a story. At one point I was pretty young I stuffed my clothes to make a giant pseudo-me (I was lonely too ). I called him Frank. Anyways I threw Frank off the third story of our apartment complex just as this lovely elderly lady was walking through the door. I’m scared if I ever have kids.

Fight Club – I had no idea about this movie and after watching it I proceeded to watch about half-a-dozen of my friends have their own fight club( Guys and Girls ). On a side note my brother when he goes out goes by the name Tyler Durden.

Braveheart – We use to watch this every year. We would paint our faces, wear plaid torn pieces of cloth and proceed to drink like fish. During the following next few hours we would cry( from the pain in our eyes of course ), we would lose our voices from screaming so much and then proceed to just pass out. Oh good times.

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Torchlight
Posted on March 26, 2010

Well, it works for sandwiches.

Beginning on Friday March 26th at noon and lasting through Sunday evening March 28th (PST), you can pick up Torchlight for an incredible 75% off – $5.00. A mere five bucks. That’s four for the regular price of one! If you’ve been waiting for a sale to buy Torchlight – this is it. If you need a gift for someone – this is it! Why the sale? This is our big thank-you to industry friends, players, and fans for supporting us. It’s the GDC Award Celebration Sale. Thank you for loving and playing Torchlight! And if you’ve been on the fence about buying it, now’s the time. Five bucks is, well, a fancy coffee, two hours worth of street parking, or hundreds of hours of playing a fast-paced and fun Action RPG! And if you’re a Steam user, Steam is also having a $5 Torchlight sale – mosey on over and check it out!

$5 Torchlight. Noon on Friday March 26 – Sunday March 28 only. Sale ends at Sunday at 6pm PST. Thank you for playing!

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