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

Our second interview lines up Stevie, a man whose alphabet always starts with XYZ.

If you missed our previous interview, Lidia gave some pretty nifty answers last week.

Stevie is a 3D artist and cube enthusiast Norwich, UK.

Who are you?

Hi, I’m Stevie and I make art for video games.

Where’re you from?

I grew up in the fine city of Norwich in rural East England. And live there currently after a few years in London.

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

My job is to.. create the things you see and play with in your computer games. I get to make the people and build the worlds and make things come to life through animation. It all sounds so whimsical talking to a five year old.

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

I was always making or drawing something as a kid, I can’t recall what triggered it but for as long as I remember it’s always been the plan to make games.

In terms of 3D modelling specifically, it’s not something that occurred to me at first, but on giving it a go soon realized I enjoyed it more than illustrating so that’s where I put my focus.

How’d you end up working in video games?

Games were always the trajectory I was shooting for. I studied Graphic Design in college, as a stepping stone to what was then a very new Games Art & Design course at university. After which (and with a lot of persistence) I ended up working in games.

I’m also fortunate that the work turned out to be something I enjoy.

How did you end up an Awesome Guy?

So from my end it seemed a trivial story of seeing the job, thinking you were cool, and applying. I later learned there was a flood of other applicants which I unknowingly fought to the death in the form of an art test.

I’ve yet to meet Nick in person, though he’s undeniably Awesome.

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

I think in general they do, video games are undisputedly big business so the proof is in the pudding. Do people think it’s a worthwhile job?

I’m sure there are still plenty that see them as an evil waste of time, but they probably just need to play Journey or something.

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

A ‘normal’ job might mean I’d have a healthier social life, but I honestly don’t know what it would be… I spent many a summer working with my father making furniture, so I can imagine a universe where I continued with that instead.

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

You can do an awful lot with infinite time. But honestly I think deadlines help to keep things grounded and coherent, so my ideal game would be something comparatively short and sweet in length, something unusual and thought provoking.

And most importantly made alongside all my favorite people.

Longest ‘/played’ on any game ever?

Not surprisingly it was an MMO, namely Guild Wars. 

I’ve lots of fond life-affirming memories of that game. I was a sunshine yellow Assassin, and I was as beautiful as I was deadly.

Favorite voice line or sound effect in any game?

I’m torn between

“Welcome!” – Resident Evil 4 Merchant

And this iconic sound:

“Alert (!)” – Metal Gear Solid

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

The obvious, lame, answer is that it depends. On the game, the characters, the urgency. But I think I’d lean toward slower rather than faster. It’ll always look more natural than the run-stop-run-stop you get otherwise.

How did you rate your last Uber driver?

5 stars.

Draw a chicken.

Thanks for hanging out Stevie. Tune in again next week for another ACTION PACKED series of questions and answers.