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EQ2_Bloggers
06-16-2011, 01:01 AM
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It’s time to highlight another diverse employee here at SOE! You’ve met the Community Team on the forums and at Fan Faire. But what about our fine folks in Finance, Human Resources, Development, Legal, Quality Assurance, Office Operations, Public Relations, Administrative Assistants, and Marketing, just to name a few. We have people from all walks of life here at SOE.

The Community Team would like to introduce you to these people in a monthly feature titled, “SOE Employee Spotlight.” Each month our spotlighted employee will also appear in some fashion on the Official SOE Podcast. This month you will meet Andre Padill, AV Producer. Take a moment to find out about what a typical day in the office is like for him, what his favorite SOE game is, and other fun tidbits. As a special bonus, we learned where his favorite location in-game is and included a screenshot for you to download!



http://www.soe.com/images/community/employee_spotlights/june11/Andrep_sm.jpg (http://www.soe.com/images/community/employee_spotlights/june11/Andrep.jpg)


Question: Tell us about yourself!* What’s your name and what do you do here at SOE? How long have you been working at SOE?

Answer: My name is Andre Padilla and I’m an AV Producer. I make the TV broadcast commercials and web videos that market SOE’s games. I have worked at SOE for 3 and a half years.

Question: How did you get into the industry?

Answer: I went to college for graphic design but was always attracted to animation. Afterwards, I worked at a small ad firm doing design and multimedia for the real estate industry. This was the mid-nineties so we had to make things up as we went along (there were no “how-to” videos on youtube) and resourcefulness was rewarded. I taught myself 2D animation in After Effects and incorporated movement into many of my interactive projects. The small ad firm grew from 4 people to 40 and I eventually developed into a Creative Director. Later, I was offered a position at SOE by one of my former college buddies and I couldn’t resist the allure of working in video games.

Question: Tell us what a typical workday is like for you.

Answer: There is no such thing as a typical day for me, and I love it that way. *I may be capturing in game for a commercial, which includes scouting locations and outfitting characters with cool loot. Or I may have to float around with a camera and take pictures, like I did at E3, or shoot product shots for t-shirts and hats. I love creating motion graphics, including selecting fonts, or perfecting a particle effect, or even making it bounce just so. Sometimes I have to create storyboards, select music, or work with a voice talent in the sound booth. When I’m on the computer I spend most of my time working in Final Cut, After Effects, or Photoshop.

Question: Let’s talk favorites… What is your favorite SOE game title? What is your favorite location, favorite thing about that game? Do you have a favorite memory or moment from that particular game?

Answer: Since I’m a photographer/graphic designer, I’m drawn to games with beautiful aesthetics. The first time I played EverQuest II, I couldn’t get over how stunning and utterly cool the environments were, including the design of the NPCs and their idle animations. As a director I try to take advantage of what the game designer has built and hope for some “NPC Magic”.

I’ve made a great deal of TV spots for Free Realms and I love shooting in Seaside. The team did a great job with the environment and the early morning lighting there mimics what you would get in real life.

My favorite game moment came from DCUO. I was probably about level 4 or 5 on a PVP server on the live game and I kept getting pwnd by a group of villains, so I couldn’t finish my quest line. Fed up I flew after them, attacked, died (quickly), then re-spawned. I did this over and over to no avail. Finally I changed up my tactic, waited for one of them to wander away from the group and engage an NPC. I jumped in, fired a couple combos and got my first PVP kill. It was GLORIOUS!

Question: If you could be any fictional character, who would you be?

Answer: Indiana Jones. I took archaeology in college just to see what it was all about. Sadly there were no chapters in the book covering whip fighting techniques. Seriously, I got an A in the class and the teacher asked me to stay on as her assistant. I actually went on a dig in Mexico. Too bad real archaeologists aren’t as adventurous as Indy.

Question: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Answer: I’ve spent too much time thinking about this in my youth so I wouldn’t hesitate to pick the ability to freeze time. Final answer. I mean c’mon, the prank potential is limitless.

Question: Let’s get real! Hobbies? What’s last book you read? What do you do to unwind after a busy day?

Answer: I’m a busy father of four: Alex (21), Chase (15), Riley (14), and Allison (11) so they keep me pretty busy. I also like to play soccer, a lot. *I play on 3 different indoor soccer teams.

The last book I read was Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Fun fact, the US Marine Corps lists the book as recommended reading for Officer Candidates.

I took my family to go see “Super 8” last weekend, and it was GREAT! Definitely reminiscent of 80s Spielberg.

After a busy day, I usually play some PVZ on my iPad before going to bed. Now available for download on PSN.* http://s1.wp.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Enjoy this screenshot from Seaside in Free Realms, one of Andre’s Favorite Locations!

http://www.soe.com/images/community/employee_spotlights/june11/seaside_sm.jpg (http://www.soe.com/images/community/employee_spotlights/june11/seaside.jpg)

Click through for a larger image

We hope you enjoyed meeting Andre and will take a listen to Podcast #113 (Live at Fan Faire) where Andre will be featured. Return next month for another SOE Employee Spotlight.




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