Der er få udviklere, der er lige så kendte og hyldet i den moderne spilindustri som Josef Fares, grundlæggeren af Hazelight, det svenske studie, der gav os A Way Out, It Takes Two og Split Fiction.
Fares er ofte kendt for sin episke kommentar ved The Game Awards for nogle år siden, hvor han ikonisk råbte "Fuck the Oscars" men alle, der kender Fares og hans arbejde, ved, at han også er meget mere end denne kommentar.
I den forbindelse fik vi for nylig mulighed for at tale med Kaja Chan, stemmeskuespilleren bag Split Fictions Mio, om blandt andet hvordan det er at arbejde med den berømte udvikler.
"He is such a character. He's such an incredible person. So he is the "F the Oscars guy", but he's actually really grounded. He's so down to earth and so welcoming and so loving and incredibly passionate. He knows how to lift up the spirits of an entire room and the moment he walks in, it's like the temperature rises in a really good way. It means that when we're doing motion capture, we lock in. But also as soon as things get serious, he's like, all right, you know, who can I show some love? And then he'll go into the ground or he'll be like, oh, do you want chocolate? Do you want chocolate? Do you want chocolate? And, you know, he's making sure everyone's fed.
"It's like you have to, you have to strap into the roller coaster ride that is working with Josef. But he is adorable and lovely. And I think that the success of Hazelight and Split Fiction and It Takes Two, and every one of their other amazing titles, has been because of the strength of his ambition and the clarity of his vision and how optimistic and encouraging he is of his team. Everyone is blindly following him into battle, basically, and that's because of the power of his vision and his, you know, he's very persuasive, put it that way."
Hazelight kan vinde endnu et par trofæer til reolen i morgen ved BAFTA-uddelingen. De er i mellemtiden begyndt at arbejde med motion capture til deres næste titel, hvilket antyder, at det ikke varer længe, før vi hører fra Fares igen.
