Meet the Lambs – Sebastian Gajdziński

In today’s next interview in the Meet the Lambs series, we introduce Sebastian Gajdzinski – Lead Level Designer, who came to Brave Lamb Studio from MS Games.

Sebastian, what do you do at Brave Lamb Studio?

Sebastian Gajdziński: My main responsibility as Level Designer is everything related to levels in the game. I fill them with graphical content, set up in accordance with the design any systems that function directly on the stage. I also verify the technical correctness of graphic materials and take care of the optimization of levels from this side. I also take care of lighting and particle effects. My position is a kind of connector, which is most in the middle between other roles in the team.

Tell us about your experience as a level designer.

SG: Since the beginning of my adventure in the industry, I’ve been interested in the whole process of game development and role-mixing, so level design/level art became a natural direction after some time, which in smaller studios usually combines many different competencies. I started with a Game Dev School course and hobbyist creation of small projects by myself or with friends. I started my gaming career in earnest at MS Games, originally as a 3d graphic designer, but my role quickly expanded. I worked there since the studio’s establishment, first on Land of War and then Road Builder.

Why did you decide to work at the Studio?

SG: The main motivation for me was a very interesting project, which is War Hospital. Already when I first heard about it, I was interested. Projects that show armed conflicts from a more realistic, human side are, in my opinion, very valuable. In mass culture we still have an overabundance of depictions glorifying war and showing it as a great adventure.

In addition, a high work culture, which is not always obvious in the industry is hugely important to me. Knowing the key people on the team, I knew that at BLS I could expect it.

Tell us about a sample day at work in the company. How do you work?

SG: We work using the Scrum system,, which means that work is divided into sprints, in our case two weeks. We start each day with a morning meeting (called Standup), where everyone tells what they did yesterday and what they are going to do today. We choose our work for the day from the tasks scheduled for the current sprint. Of course, during the day there are often additional meetings if some issues require deeper discussion between specific people in the team.

In your opinion, what is the biggest advantage and what is the biggest disadvantage of working as a level designer on a project like War Hospital?

SG: Certainly the biggest advantage here is the scale of the project, which is “just right.” It’s expansive enough to pose challenges and build new experiences, and at the same time not so big that it’s necessary to break up the work into many specialists in very narrow fields. As a result, my tasks are quite diverse.

As for disadvantages, a minor downside is that the gameplay is largely based on one large map. This can lead to some monotony when it is necessary to fill a significant area with a relatively repetitive environment.