Yeah, right.

There are always a lot of ideas and misconceptions of the wonderful world of video games. Even more so, as office manager people outside the studio say, “so does that mean you just make coffee so people can have the energy to make the demo for GenCon?” Because of this, I have decided to clarify some common misconceptions about what goes into preparing for a big event like GenCon.

So, Valerie, don’t you just get the guys on a plane and they pop the demo in a contraption at GenCon and say “Behold!”

As awesome as that sounds, it is so much more than that. Before our team can even go to GenCon,  a room must be reserved for us to make the demo presentation so we don’t end up showing it in the back of truck to tourists in the GenCon parking lot. We need to make sure we have the right equipment and definitely make sure it works so the demo runs quick smooth and without any disgruntled looking Juggernauts. Then I start making sure the team has beds to sleep in and flights so they don’t have to hitchhike old school to GenCon. As anyone can see, just getting to the event and making sure that everything works takes a little more than fairy dust.

But you guys work at a video game studio, isn’t preparing WARMACHINE just fun and people just sit around and play XBOX and eat candy?

This is my absolute favorite idea that I hear about working here. We actually do have a lot of candy here, but between handfuls of that there are also handfuls of work that need to get done. There are so many components from art to engineering to visual effects and they all must get done. It does not good if a character looks great, but he can’t even move! Every detail is constantly being looked at. I don’t work on the game, but I get to observe everyone working hard to make sure the game looks great when that demo goes on at GenCon. If we all just sat around challenging each other on xbox and eating red vines, there wouldn’t even be a demo! Just a bunch of xbox junkies on a sugar high.

I don’t believe you! Is it EVER stressful to work in such a cool place when you’re getting ready for GenCon?

I’m not going to lie-working here is cooler than cool. That’s not to say that every day is unicorns and puppy dogs.  During the time we have been spending on preparing the demo, we have had everything from power outages to people losing data. Now, you would think that during those times we are going crazy and yelling profanities. However, the key during this crunch time is the people you work with. We support each other and most of all laugh at a lot of bad jokes.

GenCon is right around the corner and everyone is busy, computers are buzzing, but at the end of the day we’re pretty stoked at what is coming together. As anyone can now see, we work extremely hard, but play just as hard. And for the record for those at the beginning: I make some damn good coffee.