by The Drunken Dwarf
Doug "Elidroth" Cronkhite, Associate Game Designer at Sigil Games Online, Inc. has a long history as an MMO player. One day he decided to follow his heart and change careers so he could work in the gaming industry, and now he's busy building a world that we are all dying to adventure in. He was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.
You worked as a Cisco Network Engineer before joining Sigil. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got your foot in the door and made the transition from techie to game developer?
I guess in this business it helps to know people. I met Brad McQuaid and Dave Gilbertson at a racetrack event several years ago. Then in 2003 I met Bill Fisher at the Las Vegas EQ fan event. We talked a little about the industry but I was pretty entrenched in Network Engineering and Sigil just didn’t have any need for my specialty at the time. But we kept talking and at some point I finally decided that it was more important to do something I really wanted, than just something to pay bills. I contacted Brad again and offered to literally do anything to get in the door. He mentioned they were looking to hire Associate Designers and I jumped at the chance and have never looked back. In 26 years of being employed in various jobs, working at Sigil is the first place where I wake up every morning truly looking forward to coming to work.
You played EQ for several years and raided everything from Lady Vox to the Plane of Time. Now that you are a developer, what are the biggest challenges you’re finding with designing raid content?
The hardest part for me is coming up with something new that hasn’t been done fifty times before. As much as I played EQ and other games, it’s very easy to start working on something only to realize your ‘inspiration’ was simply something you had done before and forgotten about. Coming up with something really unique and interesting is the challenge that makes all the long hours and hard work really worth it in the end.
A web search for “Doug Cronkhite” brings up your Sigil bio, a couple posts on the Vanguard forums, and a bazillion hits about R/C aircraft! You’ve obviously made a name for yourself within that community as well. How long have you been involved in flying R/C aircraft? How did you get into it?
My father got me into it when I was six years old. I guess that puts me at over 30 years flying R/C aircraft. For a long time it was just a hobby that I could do with my father, but then about 12 years ago I got heavily into the competition side of things, going to two world championships and finishing in the top 10 both times. It’s been a lot of fun and something I’ll likely do for the rest of my life when I have time.
If they weren’t aware of it already, my readers will be happy to learn that you played a Warrior in EQ. What inspired you to choose playing a tank? How has your previous experience playing a heavy fighter influenced your philosophy as a game designer?
I’ve always preferred the up-front, bash’em, physical side of combat in MMO’s. The whole ‘stand back and wiggle my finger of doom’ thing really never grabbed me in EQ. So I played a warrior starting back in beta three all the way through Omens of War. Initially I was attracted to the cool weapons and impressive armor, but as I progressed into the upper end raid game, I felt a great sense of pride at going ‘toe-to-toe’ with some of the nastiest monsters in the game.
Playing a warrior has given me a strong sense of group or community since I was really unable to do very much by myself in EQ. So I’ve learned to rely upon others and work as a team, and keep a close watch on how everything I put into Vanguard will affect others in the game.
The High Inquisitor insisted that I ask. Pumpkin Pie, or some inferior confection?
Pumpkin Pie of course. (With a scoop of inferior confection on the side)
I'd like to thank Doug for finding time to answer our questions.
I think the Pumpkin Pie Inquisition will be satisfied with his responses. What do YOU think of the interview? Comments are welcome in this thread on our forums.