Uses This

Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm Tynan Sylvester, an indie game developer. My main project is RimWorld, a space colony simulation game focused on story generation. I previously worked on BioShock Infinite, and I wrote a game design book called Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences.

What hardware do you use?

I've got a giant home-built desktop PC and a Dell XPS-15 laptop I use for development. My monitor is an old Dell 24-incher; I use a Razer DeathAdder mouse and a Razer Black Widow mechanical keyboard. More important than all of this, perhaps is my chair - a Herman Miller Embody that makes it comfortable and not horribly unhealthy to work for extended periods.

And what software?

RimWorld is developed in the Unity engine - still on old version 5.6. For coding, I use Visual Studio Code. I use Git for source control, Photoshop for 2D art, Audition for audio editing, Premiere for video editing, and our team coordinates on Google Docs and Skype. My Photoshop is still on version CS6, since Adobe refuses to sell permanent licenses now and they haven't added any must-have features.

What would be your dream setup?

RimWorld's been pretty successful, so if I needed something else I'd definitely buy it. But I'm not one for new or fancy tools - I've been using the same tools for many years now. For me, familiar tools reduce disruption in the design process that I actually care about. I suppose my setup could be a bit dreamier if you put it in a New York penthouse or something; that'd be fun.