Ben Esposito
Independent game developer (Tattletail, Donut Country)
Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm an independent game maker based in Los Angeles. I cofounded Glitch City, a collective of indie game makers in LA, and I'm working on a big solo project called Donut County.
What hardware do you use?
I have been developing games on a 2011 MacBook Pro since... 2011. I love that it has a CD drive & Audio In. It only turns on about 60% of the time now, though, so I got a desktop gamer PC. This is the least embarrassing case I could find.
I use a Razer BlackWidow Chroma mechanical keyboard & a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse.
I regularly use an Intuos 4 for drawing.
For music and audio editing I use a pair of ATH-M50 headphones. They sound pretty even and work great for the price. I don't know if I should be embarrassed or not, but 99% of the time I just use my $30 pair of Apple EarPods. They're the only headphones I can leave in comfortable > 1 hour!!!
Finally, I use a ruled Moleskine notebook that acts as a daily journal / planner / concept sketchpad. I do a quick (~1 hour) journaling and planning session most mornings to figure out tasks for the day, and to dream a little bit.
And what software?
For development:
- Maya 2012 (3D art)
- Photoshop CS5 (2D art)
- Unity 3D (game engine)
- Xamarin (IDE for programming)
- FL Studio 10 (music / advanced audio editing)
- Audacity (most basic sound editing)
- Google Sheets!!!! I love setting up beautiful spreadsheets for task tracking.
What would be your dream setup?
My dream setup is simple!! I have an adjustable standing / sitting desk. My office has AC and heat. The office has really high ceilings, there's a sky painted on the ceiling. The floor is fake grass. Outdoor ambience plays, and there's windchimes. The lighting makes it look like you're outside, and matches the time of day. There is a running stream for gentle thoughts, and a grotto for serious ideas!!