Fallen Earth's latest developer interview introduces us to writer and designer Wes "Canticle" Platt, creator of the OtherVerse MUD portal and a true MMO aficionado:

Alias/Forum Name: Canticle

Title / Position at Fallen Earth: Designer/Writer

What games have you played and worked on?
(Played) Everquest, Asheron's Call, EVE Online, Earth & Beyond, World of Warcraft; (Worked On) Several online text-based multiplayer games

How long have you been working on Fallen Earth?
Almost three years

How did you get involved with your job position?
In all honesty: I owe it all to WoW. I wanted to get into the gaming industry, met someone through WoW who worked at Icarus, and that made it possible for me to get Lee's attention. So, all that time spent in Molten Core wasn't just for epics!

What type of college courses or schooling did you have to prepare you for your position at Fallen Earth?
My actual college education prepared me for a career in journalism as opposed to game development. They didn't have that kind of curriculum in colleges back in the Stone Age when I went to school. We were lucky to have advanced beyond rock tablets. However, my experience in journalism did prepare me for handling critical deadlines and gave me some aptitude for handling teams of people. My work developing plots for text-based multiplayer games helped ready me for creating storylines on an MMORPG.

What in particular inspired you to work in the gaming industry?
I've been tabletop gaming since I was a kid, back when my stepfather would do crazy things like announce that he suddenly had a giant slug he wanted to bring in to smash the wall of the castle my brother and I had built in D&D. I grew up playing things like Zork, Wizardry, Ultima, and Wasteland. As the computer gaming genre evolved and the Internet exploded onto the scene, I got into MUDs along with single-player games like Warcraft and Fallout. I became a journalist before I *knew* what I really wanted to be. It paid the bills, sure. I was a news junkie and a deadline addict. About 10 years into the journalism career, I found out what I really wanted to do with my life. Now I'm doing it. Huzzah!

What games stand out in your memory for positive reasons?
Zork, for starters. Simple but quirky, with a snarky sense of humor. Wizardry, because it was the first game that really created a bond between me and my stepfather. Fallout for its atmosphere and morbid sense of humor. And, of course, WoW for the fact that besides doing a really good job of pleasing a very large crowd of people around the world, it opened a door into this industry for me.

What advice would you give to budding games / software developers?
Play everything that you can get your hands on so that you can experience as much as possible of what's been done already (and maybe get ideas about how to do those things even better). Take advantage of game mod toolkits to create your own content. And when you finally get a job in the industry, don't take it for granted. Throw yourself into it. Enthusiasm can be contagious!

On an average day, what do you do at Fallen Earth?
Mileage may vary! Some days it's mostly a matter of traffic management. I check the forums to see what issues might need my team's attention. I look at the bug reports in my queue and delegate where possible. We have scrum meetings to talk about what we worked on the day before and what we're currently doing. On other days, I'll be knee-deep in database work or meet with Lee and my fellow team leads. Still others, I might write and implement a mission sequence, or a short story for the Friday Fiction section. And we've always got a backlog of documentation work to do. Lately, we've been heavy into the bug-fixing side of things, but I'm looking forward to more creative work in the near future as we start plowing onward into content for new sectors of Fallen Earth.

What is your favorite:

Game: SimCity
Book: The first half of Stephen King's The Stand.
Song: One (U2)
Season: Fall
Past time: Online text-based RPGs
Drink: Dr Pepper
Color: Blue
Food: Chicken wings
PnP: Dungeons & Dragons (the old brown paperback books!)
Faction: Traveler

Do you:

roleplay? Yes, but mostly on computers. I haven't acted on stage since an ill-advised turn as an amnesiac in a community theater production of a murder mystery. Most of my portrayed characters aren't very nice people. So, I play true to myself!
have any pets? Yes, a very large dog and two cats, although I am sure they'd argue that THEY have ME - not the other way around.
like beer or wine? Eh. I like wine more than beer, but I'm not much of a booze hound. So, you'll have to find some other way to bribe me.
like coffee or tea? I'm a tea person.
like cake or pie? Definitely cake. Even though one of them is a lie, I'll eat both. I like pie more when it comes with ice cream - especially apple pie. I'm fond of carrot cake, though.
Coke or Pepsi? Whatever's cold. I don't harbor the same culturally-imbedded animosity toward all things "not Coke" that can sometimes come rumbling up in the office.
Pizza or Hamburgers? Pizza.
Chocolate or Ice Cream? Why not chocolate ice cream?
Boxers or Briefs? I'm fine with either as headgear.

Have you ever styled/had a mullet?
No. And I burned all the pictures that might prove otherwise.

If you could have one wish what would it be?
I'd like 100 more wishes, please.

Name one thing you would take to an abandoned island and why?
A teleporter. How else will I get the rest of my stuff to the island?

Does the Landshark really exist?
Other kids at school tell me it's a lie. The Landshark and his offspring will rise up and overthrow the cruel rat that calls himself "Dictator" of Fallen Earth.

Are you willing to be bribed for an alpha spot and what would it take?
How much is AIG getting again? Double that and we'll talk!

For more info check Platt's blog Join the Saga and drop him a line at Fallen Earth's official forums.

Source