Heaven Games Goes Mad Doc
John Cataldo Interview
As mentioned in our EE2 Scenario editor article, one of the team that was especially helpful to us in figuring our way around the editor was John Cataldo. We talked to him about his work at Mad Doc and how he got to be where he is today!
HG: Hi John Cataldo, maybe you can just give us a little bio of yourself
and how you came to work at MadDoc?
JC: Yeah, well that is a good question. I graduated from northeastern in 2000 and while I was going to North Eastern, in 1999, I did a co-op at digital addiction, which was the second largest online collectable card game at the time. If it matters to you that was also down in Maryland. So, I worked there for 6th months. After I graduated, I had a Computer Science degree, and so I did programming work, nothing to do with games however, I was programming Java. So, I worked there for about a year and than I was laid-off. You know it was about that time that programming people was laid off. I than got a QA testing position at SSSI. In fact, I think I am only one of four people in the world to work on all the Empire Earth series. I did QA down at Stainless Steel Studios in Cambridge for about four month, lots of overtime. After that, I ended up at Mad Doc for Empire Earth: Art of Conquest. I was hired again for QA testing, for Empire Earth 2, because I worked on the first one. So, that is how I got here at Mad Doc. Ok, so what else have I done? I have worked on some games that haven't been released, and I also did some work on Dungeon Seige: Legends of Aranna.
HG: So, what is your official title here, and what are some of your personal hobbies and interest. How have they inspired you to pursue gaming?
JC: Well my official title is "designer" but anyhow one of the main reasons I have gotten into video games came from board games. I play board games a lot, several of them you probably haven't even heard of, in fact I have had a weekly game group going for a couple of years now. I also play lots of card games. Basically I have just been playing games for a long time.
HG: What do you think of the various gaming genres and what are you playing right now?
JC: Well turn based strategies like civilization 2 and 3 are pretty high up there. I play a lot of first person shooters. There is something I do not like about sport games and well of course, I like real time strategies. Right now, I am playing Guild Wars.
HG: Ok, last but not least do you have any advice for people who want to get into the game industry?
JC: Well, probably the best way it to make a good mod, or to make a game, especially for a programmer. A small game that is polished is good. Of course the art doesn't have to be that good since a programmer isn't an artist. So yeah, I guess I would say that is the single best thing you can do. Send it in with your resume and assuming it is not horrible, that is great. Basically do the thing you want to get hired for. Anyone who is a really serious gamer is going to do well. Play a lot of games, get ideas, get your creations criticized by others who are not your friends to see what you are doing wrong.
HG: Well I guess that is all, thanks for allowing us to have this interview!
JC: It was my pleasure.
JC: Yeah, well that is a good question. I graduated from northeastern in 2000 and while I was going to North Eastern, in 1999, I did a co-op at digital addiction, which was the second largest online collectable card game at the time. If it matters to you that was also down in Maryland. So, I worked there for 6th months. After I graduated, I had a Computer Science degree, and so I did programming work, nothing to do with games however, I was programming Java. So, I worked there for about a year and than I was laid-off. You know it was about that time that programming people was laid off. I than got a QA testing position at SSSI. In fact, I think I am only one of four people in the world to work on all the Empire Earth series. I did QA down at Stainless Steel Studios in Cambridge for about four month, lots of overtime. After that, I ended up at Mad Doc for Empire Earth: Art of Conquest. I was hired again for QA testing, for Empire Earth 2, because I worked on the first one. So, that is how I got here at Mad Doc. Ok, so what else have I done? I have worked on some games that haven't been released, and I also did some work on Dungeon Seige: Legends of Aranna.
HG: So, what is your official title here, and what are some of your personal hobbies and interest. How have they inspired you to pursue gaming?
JC: Well my official title is "designer" but anyhow one of the main reasons I have gotten into video games came from board games. I play board games a lot, several of them you probably haven't even heard of, in fact I have had a weekly game group going for a couple of years now. I also play lots of card games. Basically I have just been playing games for a long time.
HG: What do you think of the various gaming genres and what are you playing right now?
JC: Well turn based strategies like civilization 2 and 3 are pretty high up there. I play a lot of first person shooters. There is something I do not like about sport games and well of course, I like real time strategies. Right now, I am playing Guild Wars.
HG: Ok, last but not least do you have any advice for people who want to get into the game industry?
JC: Well, probably the best way it to make a good mod, or to make a game, especially for a programmer. A small game that is polished is good. Of course the art doesn't have to be that good since a programmer isn't an artist. So yeah, I guess I would say that is the single best thing you can do. Send it in with your resume and assuming it is not horrible, that is great. Basically do the thing you want to get hired for. Anyone who is a really serious gamer is going to do well. Play a lot of games, get ideas, get your creations criticized by others who are not your friends to see what you are doing wrong.
HG: Well I guess that is all, thanks for allowing us to have this interview!
JC: It was my pleasure.
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