Meet Kateřina

Hey, Kateřina. Please, tell us a little about yourself.

I started to learn programming because of bugs in a PC game that I found while I was bound to a hospital bed. Later, I studied IT at a university and started working for a small company that made plugins for some economic and business products. Shortly after, it became incredibly boring and I started studying forensic science in IT — for fun and to get the "Ing." in front of my name :-P . At the university I met some students who were organising stuff around e-sports and games in general. I focused my master thesis on that topic and that's what my recommendation was based on to get me to Bohemia two and half years ago. Here, I realised that I'm finally using what I learned for the reasons I learned it.

Can you tell us a random fact about yourself...

I like almost everything that spins or shines.

What was your first positive interaction with video games, that you can remember?

About 8-year-old me playing StarCraft with absolutely no knowledge of English. Collecting shiny crystals in a fictional universe.

And your most memorable video game moment?

The Gnomeregan run where I met my husband.

What's your all-time favourite video game? And what sort of game do you like to play generally?

Damn, that's a hard question! In general, I prefer games that have something more to them. It could be teamwork with people like in WoW or LoL, some extra load on my brain in a grand strategy like Europa Universalis IV, some great puzzle games like The Witness, co-op in Portal 2, something art-atmospheric like Contrast, or some more complex builder like Cities: Skylines. I really don't like story-based RPGs.

What's your favourite movie, TV show, and/or book?

Deadpool, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.

So, as a Lead Scripter, what do you do?

I lead scripters. We cooperate with other departments to put the game together. This could mean that we take art assets with animations and add some functionality to them, like changing their state front end. The whole Shelter builder, for example; changing its visual state, connecting it to data bound to a specific player somewhere in the programming backend, etc. The same applies for all of the improvements. We also create some interfaces for designers to tweak values that are used for improvements or loot. Then we connect to — and create — the pretty UIs that are to be opened.

Regarding the levels in Vigor themselves we, for example, take the airplane, script where it should fly, connect the sound to that, and — the grand finale — select a location for the airdrop to fall (hopefully not on your head). If you are successful, we kindly ask our cloud services to provide you with your reward back at your Shelter. We also collect analytical data from all the time you are playing and display some of it for you within the reward screen.

And we are making bubbles!

What do you enjoy about your job, and game development in general?

There are a lot of amazing people in game-dev. And here you can be yourself.

As of today, there are still many women that are discouraged from getting into video games as a career, what can be done to encourage more women to work in Game Development?

I think it's slowly getting better. It all begins when we are small, what parents and teachers are telling us about girls and boys and games, etc. When this is done wrong, it's really hard to encourage someone later on. So, let's begin in schools with the basics and later on at universities. Or, for young people in general — market GameDev as a more friendly, open-minded, and creative environment — rather than be seen as an exclusive industry of crunching nerds. I think Bohemia is doing well on this front.

With that in mind, there are many great inspiring women here at Bohemia who can lead and be excellent examples. Of course, the nerdiness is still here, but in the good way: people here are on such high level of weirdness that they just don't care about pettiness like stereotypes or origins. #moregirlstogamedev

If you had the opportunity, what would you tell your 8-year-old self?

Learn English sooner.

What's your favourite thing about Vigor, and why do you think people should play it?

I like to explore abandoned places in both real and virtual worlds.

What's the worst — or most memorable — bug you've come across in a video game?

The funniest bug for me was reported by our QA on Vigor. I got a pretty nice psychedelic screenshot of a shelter with a comment saying that a short time after appearing in the world, everything looks like they are on a trip, and after a few seconds the feeling disappears. They should probably re-test it later after that party. Also, saw a smiley face in the dirt under Karazhan tower (WoW) while I was stuck there during a raid.

Is there anything else you're currently working on in your spare time?

I'm doing circus in my free time. Acrobatics, hula hoops, aerial arts, and light shows.

To finish, tell us one of Kateřina's Top Tips...

Just don't be a d**k.

Our next Featured Bohemian is right around the corner, so keep an eye on our social media pages for the latest updates. But until then, feel free to learn more about working at Bohemia Interactive by checking out our Careers Page – we may just have the perfect job opening for you. Until next time...