The Meet the Team series is back, this time we are introducing one of our console programmers, Peter.

Can you tell us about your job at NeocoreGames?

I am one of the console programmers, mostly working on porting the PC features to both PlayStation and Xbox platforms. Although I sometimes help in PC development, too.

What are some of the recurring challenges in your division?

The one that most frequently occurs is that features cannot be ported as-is. Development for consoles is much more strict than on PC, which leads to many features in need of significant changes. Quite a few of these changes are beyond the scope of what the console team can reasonably do, as the team is actually much smaller than you would think. We usually solve this by negotiating with other divisions to get help with tasks that are too big for such a small team to handle. With time, we got quite good at talking-no-jutsu, and that can be seen reflected in the increasing quality of our console games.

Do you have any interesting stories about development?

We have quite a few internal jokes in the team, but usually what we do is under NDA, so it’s hard to determine what I’m allowed to share. Generally, the dynamic between the lead of the graphics department and the console department could be perceived as quite entertaining. You see, due to different hardware architecture we often need to change some graphical elements, even though those were considered to be done, and the graphics department has long moved on to other things. On console team meetings, when we realize that such change is needed, someone always asks: "Okay, but who is going to tell them?". Maybe it doesn’t sound funny, but these kinds of moments make us smile.

What did you do before NeocoreGames?

I learned program engineering at ELTE University, and after that I worked in various development roles. One of them was at NOKIA, where I was developing network features (e.g.: anti-forgery detection for fake sims, parallel processing of subscriber login handling, or different auto-callback functions for companies). I learned a lot there, and I still think that they are quite good at managing big-scale software development. Another quite interesting place was at CAE, a Canadian professional aviation education company, where I helped in improving the radio navigation systems of simulators. The job itself was not that interesting, but maaan, those simulators. They are huge, and a lot of fun to play with. Especially when you book it for an hour for yourself, for "testing solutions". It was quite an experience.

What are some of your favorite things you'd like to mention?

I'm quite casual in my hobbies, but I do like most forms of fantasy. Books, movies, even anime. I've just finished a 1100-page fantasy book in less than a week. Just before that I binge-watched a two-season fantasy anime in under two weeks. But my favorite part is not actually consuming stuff but speaking about it with others. So yeah, if you want to discuss life lessons you can learn from Salvatore's Drizzt series, then I bring the drinks, and you bring the cushions, because we are off to a loooong talk.

Tell us something cool about yourself!

Uhm, that's a hard one, I find it hard to consider myself cool. But maybe this: I started traditional fencing (HEMA) during my high school years and practiced it for like 8-9 years. I still have a 1.91 kg steel sword at home. It is a fun sport; I would recommend it to most people.