How did you get into video games? And why, of everything you can do in video games, of every discipline that exists, did you pick animation?

I think I need to answer those backwards. When I was in high school and I wanted to go to art school, I was going to be a graphic designer. And I'd been accepted to college for that. And we went to the Tyler School of Art Portfolio Day and showed my portfolio to a bunch of other colleges while we were there. And my mom was like, we've got to go to this one. There's one in Florida. And I was like, Mom, I'm just beat. I don't want to do any more. She's like, come on, just one last one. So I went there and talked with them, and they said, well, we have this new thing we're doing called computer animation. This would have been the time when everyone was wearing flannel, right? And I was playing Street Fighter II with my friend Brian, who, if he's watching, shout out to Brian. And I said to him, if I get accepted at Ringling, then I would go into doing animation. And they said, why don't you come on down? We got to Florida. I saw two girls walk past me in Florida attire. And yeah, that's how I got into animation.

And video games, Brian?

Right, video games. So out of school, the year that I graduated, there were a whole bunch of layoffs in the visual effects industry, and it was tough to get a job. My first job offer that I got, and that was firm, was a company in Portland, Oregon called Image Builder, and they did things like 2D character and special effects for kids' games, stuff like that. My first game was called Tonka Diggin' Rigs. And it had this thing that you strapped onto your keyboard and you turned the wheel like this, and it pushed the buttons and everything like that. That was my first job. And then just bouncing around the industry until one day a recruiter called me and said, have you ever thought about living in Germany? And I was like, who hasn't? No. So, yeah, I went out to a company in Germany. They were in Coburg at the time, which is this really small town in Germany, the birthplace of Prince Albert, actually. I had the interview. They had some after dinner drinks, probably one too many after dinner drinks, and I took the job. And that's how ultimately I ended up sitting here with you.