About Me

Polish Games Industry
Industry Overview
Games Industry List

Hobbies
Games Modding

A good way to begin would be to answer that second question - the reason I bothered setting up this website, back in 2003, was simply to have a place where I could put an online version of my Master's Thesis about video game narrative. I've added a few things since then, and I daresay that for many people, my list of Polish game developers and publishers will be of much greater interest.

Back to the first question, then. Who am I? Professionally, I am currently a project manager in game development; previously, I had also worked in a number of other capacities, as a writer, level designer, game designer, et cetera. Other than that... I'm 27 years old. Roman Catholic by faith, Polish by nationality. Recently married. I have three brothers and two sisters (more about my family on my father's website). I come from Toruń, a small city in northern Poland, but I've lived all over the world - Poland, Papua New Guinea, Macau (China - though it was still Portuguese when I was there!), Australia, and France. Currently, I live in Warsaw, Poland.

I have many, many interests, but as this website would indicate, my primary area of interest is computer gaming and game design. I've been playing games for almost two decades now, from classics like Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987), Silmarils' Colorado (1990), Westwood Studios' Dune 2 (1992) and id Software's Doom (1993), all the way to Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) and, well... Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004 - the remake). And, of course, the Wing Commander series (1990-1998). Over the course of this period, I gradually learned that playing games is not even half the fun - there is much more enjoyment to be had editing and making them. This, of course, naturally led to an interest in the theoretical side of things.

Truth be told, it wasn't even my intention to get so deep into games - my Bachelor's degree was in international relations, and I fully intended to work in this field. International relations, however, was ultimately something of a disappointment - certainly, I learned a lot, and certainly everything I learned was of interest to me, but I couldn't find anything that I would want to do with this knowledge. Fortunately, however, I had been required to take several elective courses during my studies, and I happened to choose a film-related course called Style & Genre. During this course, I wrote an essay about narrative (storytelling) in video games... my lecturer was very pleased with it, and encouraged me to do more with the topic. Next thing you know, I was pursuing a Master's degree in film & television. Film is by itself a fantastic thing to study - combined with games, it was simply the best subject I could have possibly chosen.

It was also during those years of university study that I finally started doing serious things with games - first, by getting into the community centred around the editing (also referred to as modding) of the Wing Commander computer game series, and then by discovering the world of indie games development, where small teams develop games on virtually no budget... and are able to earn a living by doing it.

Meanwhile, in late 2004, I got my first 'real' games industry job as a junior games designer, at the now-defunct game developer Tannhauser Gate in Wrocław, Poland. Working full-time for a games developer is an entirely different experience than indie gaming, but I haven't regretted the move - it can be incredibly frustrating at times, but it's always interesting, always fun, and very much worthwhile. Of course, this meant that I had to give up on indie development due to a lack of time, though paradoxically, even this full-time job hasn't stopped me from continuing modding - on the one hand, it's been a hugely useful means of gaining experience (especially in team management)... and on the other hand, I couldn't very well give up modding until I've done everything I'm committed to.

Then, in July 2005, I come to work one day and get a big surprise - the publisher's cancelled the deal (the publisher, it must be noted, had just recently been bought by another company), so the company won't be able to pay us any more. And so it was that the entire development staff lost their jobs in the space of one day - nothing unusual, of course, this kind of thing happens in games development all the time.

Fortunately, as typical as it is to lose your job in games development, it's also quite easy to find another one - so I found myself employed at City Interactive, another Polish games developer. Not much chance of this one going out of business any time soon - indeed, while I was working for them, they grew... well, tenfold would be overstating it, but not by much. There was 30 of us when I started, and, as near as I can figure out, probably around 200 when I left. While at City, I had been the lead designer on a number of flight action game projects, and in November 2007, I completed my first game as a project manager - a first-person shooter called Terrorist Takedown 2. City allowed me to grow from a somewhat inexperienced (and somewhat arrogant) designer to an experienced (though still somewhat arrogant :) ) project manager. During this time, I got to put into practice a lot of ideas about leadership - both about what to do, and what not to do. It was a great, fun and exciting time - and an exhausting one as well, since City develops games at a frantic pace (who else out there would even try developing an FPS in under five months?). Now, after nearly three years, I have left City Interactive. What's next? That remains to be seen. I spent a bit of time trying to set up a new development studio, but that didn't turn out too well. On the other hand, I have been making good progress earning a living working for hire. Ultimately, however, I'm planning to get back to work for another employer - it's fun to sit at home and write, but I miss the teamwork.

All that's left is to say a few words about my interests other than video games. First and foremost, I very much adore my wife - that's why I married her, after all ;).

Other than that, I'm an avid reader of almost anything, fiction and non-fiction. In fiction, my tastes go from classic literature to modern pulp fantasy and science-fiction; when it comes to non-fiction, I spend countless hours reading history books, some bits and pieces of philosophy, and in recent years, quite a fair amount of Catholic theology. Ever read anything by G. K. Chesterton? No? Well, you should.

I'm extremely musical - I can play some really amazing music on an instrument called the CD player ;). My musical tastes range from classical and various kinds of ethnic music all the way to heavy rock (but not metal) - some of my favourite artists and groups include Mike Oldfield, Enya, Clannad, Crowded House, Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, Meat Loaf, various Polish artists like Marek Grechuta, Myslovitz, Wolna Grupa Bukowina, Jacek Kowalski... and a lot of others.

I also watch a lot of films (in particular, Oliver Stone's work - Platoon (1987), Heaven & Earth (1993), Any Given Sunday (1999), et cetera) and some TV series. The latter includes mainly Joss Whedon's work - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Angel (1999-2004) and Firefly (2002), but I'm also a fan of Chris Carter's The X Files (1993-2002 - although I only watched the first four or five seasons), Matt Groening's Futurama (1999-2003) and Richard Carpenter's Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986). I also enjoy hiking, swimming and kayaking. One of these days, I plan to learn to sail, or better yet, to fly light airplanes.

Copyright 2010 Jakub Majewski