Interview with a Flash Developer

True Lab Scientist

Q: Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I keep saying that I’m a award loser, non creative 53 years old living under a bridge, but I’m not. I’m like the rest… you know, award winner, super creative 26 year old living in trendy London

Q: How would you describe a day in your shoes?

A boring nightmare for most of the people. I’m all the time behind a screen, doing and learning stuff. At Hi-ReS! from 10am to 7pm, and once getting home if I’m inspired I check my to-do list and start getting things done. Recently it’s getting very low tho, 60% of the times I’m not inspired and I just go and see what’s new on the internet.

Q: How long have you been using Flash/Flex?

I started toying with Flash 10 years ago or so, just for simple animations. The code lines written have been incrementing at a normal pace since then. But, 3 years ago, when I went freelancing under the name of Mr.doob the increment went exponential.

Q: What is it about Flash/Flex that you like the most? What would you change?

If you’re talking about the IDE, you’re asking to the wrong person as I don’t use them. Specially because I decided to move to Linux a year ago. I use FDT and Flex SDK at the moment which is multiplatform. And on this case I wouldn’t change much is working quite well. Recently, if I need some extra tool I prefer to code it myself, AIR is good for that.

Q: What was the most challenging thing you ever did using actionscript or an actionscript based library/framework?

Right now, the new Jägermeister website. It started as a 2′5D website so I did a simple engine and editor for that. But the designers kept pushing it and ended up being a full 3D site, it helped me to finally get done with my own 3D engine tailored for my style. The site is still not done tho, it will get bigger and bigger and hopefully will also get nicer and use the tools better.

Q: What suggestions or sources of inspiration/motivation would you like to share with up and coming Developers?

Suggesting sources of inspiration wouldn’t be a good idea. Inspiration comes from anywhere, the last funny inspiration spark I had was just putting me on socks. They were striped socks, looked cool, so I wondered if I could code that into a piece I was working on. I’ll go for the one that never fails instead… Patience and perseverance is the key.