This is the fourth entry in our short series of whimsical interviews with current team members of Those Awesome Guys.

Our fourth interview features 5 star rated software Chef, Maarten.

If you missed our previous interview, Josh pushed some real story buttons last time around.

Maarten is a seasoned technology gourmand from Belgium.

Who are you?

I’m a thirty-*censored*, happily married father of two gamer sons that has settled down and enjoys solving complex problems while normal people do social stuff and watch TV. My name is Maarten, which mostly French-speaking people consistently fail to write or pronounce properly, but that is OK.

Where’re you from?

Born, raised, and settled in Belgium. That’s geographically more accurate than most American states – but you can add ‘in the Dutch speaking part, a little to the left of Brussels’ if it needs to be more precise 🙂

I’m 5. Explain to me what your job is.

I make video games! No, I can’t draw or paint. No, I don’t come up with the ideas. No, I can’t make music either. I’m the one that actually makes the game! Oh, never mind, go play with your brother.

How’d you get to do this for a living?

I keep choosing over and over again. Sometimes it’s games, sometimes it’s something else, sometimes, like now, it’s both 🙂 I’d love to do games full time all the time, but me being settled in a small country doesn’t help, so freelancing is a good solution there.

How’d you end up working in video games?

I have been a gamer since 14.4k modems were a thing, but it wasn’t until college I started tinkering with game programming.

By hazard, a Belgian games company noticed one of my posts on a gamedev forum, and they wooshed me away from a life of stability.

How did you end up an Awesome Guy?

To honor one of my many nicknames – Master Boring – Nick found me through a reddit ad. A lot of them come by, but Move or Die met my incredibly high quality standards for a game so I agreed to work with Nick for slightly-less-than-minimum wage.

It’s been a healthy relationship ever since 😀

When are you going to get a real job? Like a doctor or a lawyer?

A-ha, gotcha! I HAVE a real job, I’m a Senior .NET Developer!

(Although if people ask me what I do, I spend about half a sentence on the .NET thing and then start ranting about My Awesome Job.)

If you didn’t make games for a living, then how would you be putting your mind off the inevitability of death?

I would no doubt have succumbed to my dark side, and be a Criminal Mastermind by now. I would be rich, and possibly on the run for several authorities (but someplace nice, with great weather & cocktails).

Infinite minerals and vespene gas, what would your ideal game be?

I would make a cockpit space fighter game where most of the action happens on, in and alongside rivers & canyons, spanning the entire universe (connected through wormholes – think Hyperion), with an epic story line that ultimately explains the meaning of life and the end of the universe (spoiler: they’re related!).

It’s called ‘Momentum’. Patent pending.

Longest ‘/played’ on any game ever?

Steam says 1240 hours of Team Fortress 2, but I think I spent more on old school Counter Strike or Battlefield 1942 – that was before recorded history.

Favorite voice line or sound effect in any game?

HUMILIATION – Quake 3 Arena

In an escort quest, should the NPC walk faster, slower or at the same pace as your character? Why?

Slower of course. You need to be able to catch up if the NPC got further while you were beating them monsters or whatnot. Faster or same pace means you’d never reach him anymore once you lag behind 🙂

How did you rate your last Uber driver?

3 stars.

Draw a chicken.

That’s some mighty fine programmer art. Thanks Maarten! Tune in next week for our first ever canine guest!