d3t welcomes Billy Fletcher, Lead Programmer
20th Aug 2024
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I’ve worked in games for around 15 years across a wide variety of genres and different platforms, primarily in the indie and mobile areas, but also on some cool bespoke hardware things like exercise bikes and touchscreen tables. I started out running a small contract studio at university, before moving up to Scotland to work at more established companies. I’ve been lucky enough to work on some more ‘well known’ titles (Neon White, Angry Birds Pop) and just as lucky to work on less famous ones that I got to pour my heart and soul into (Pine Hearts, Cloud Jumper).
I’m really looking forward to working on the more ‘big game’ side of things to experience a side of the industry that’s always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and I couldn’t be more excited to start.
Why d3t?
Primarily I wanted to move towards the AAA world and learn from the best, but it was equally important to do it in a place that would also value people highly and treat them well, since this industry isn’t always the best on that front. Luckily, I came across d3t at the right time and with the excellent history of people loving to work here and the variety of projects and technology available to work on and learn, it feels like the perfect fit!
What do you love about games?
As remarkably cheesy as it sounds, games to me are about inventing and experiencing little moments of magic, whether it’s playing with systems that lead to creativity you didn’t imagine, or narrative moments that resonate only because it’s a game and you’ve made decisions and actions to get to that point. It’s just a cool and still heavily unexplored medium of art that never has to be any one thing and that’s exciting to work on, where even the work itself ends up feeling like solving a puzzle a lot of the time.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I’m currently playing a lot of Slay the Spire, Hitman, occasionally some of the Paradox games and a bit of Street Fighter 3 every now and then. My favourite games are Ultima Online and Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I like to make silly music occasionally, I spent a number of years playing Street Fighter 3 competitively to the point where I went to Japan to compete a few times and a fun fact is that I can technically say I toured with Dire Straits in the 90s, as my dad’s band was supporting them on a tour and 8 year old me was brought along for a few stops, although the only thing I remember is having fun sliding up and down hotel hallway carpets.