Every game dev dreams of creating an original IP. How many fantasize about doing it with a tenth of the initial budget, a fully remote team, and a nine-month development cycle? A lot less, probably. To make this asymmetrical cross-platform survival horror title a reality we did it anyway — and boy-oh-boy, did I learn a lot.

Never meet your heroes, they said. Welp, I've been lucky enough to work for some of the industry's best editorial minds and despite the aforementioned warning, it turns out you can learn a lot running one of gaming's most storied publications.

Occasionally, a recruiter calls up and hits you with a doozy. My favorite went a little something like this: "So, hey...want to come help a new company with a non-existent dev team build a product from the ground up to challenge EA Sports' Madden Football with a Live, Web-Based Free-to-Play Product?" Sure. Why not?

It's fair to say that every aspiring game developer just needs someone to give them a chance. As irony (and luck) would have it, my first crack at it was the other way around. The result? An opportunity to help build one of the greatest franchises ever made.