Anders is s a Tactile veteran, a multitalented artist & designer, and an integral part of our story for the past 14 years. We asked him to share more about his role at Tactile, how it has changed over the years and what’s a piece of advice he’d give to aspiring designers looking to break into the industry 🙌

Tactile: Hi Anders, could you tell us a bit more about what you do at Tactile?

Anders: I work at Tactile as a UI designer. I work with maintaining the general UI and gameboard in our game Lily’s Garden. I also develop and produce new features and board pieces for the game.

Tactile: You have been at Tactile for almost 14 years! How has your role changed over time and what has kept you here for so long? 🙂

Anders: Oh boy! Has it been that long?! The company was quite small when I started – so I worked as a multipurpose artist. Doing a bit of everything concerning visuals. As the company grew I was able to specialise in the UI area. It has been really special for me to be a part of Tactile growing from the basement backroom of an art gallery to a 5 story building full of people! It is something that makes me very proud to be part of.

Tactile: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Anders: As a designer, I am privileged to be part of many of the different processes in the development of the game. So seeing a feature move from idea to completely functional game is really rewarding. Also it sounds corny but teamwork makes the dream work! When everybody comes together from all the different disciplines to make something great and engaging. Nothing quite like it. You see your own contribution in the bigger picture.

Tactile: What do you think are the most important qualities that every UI designer should have?

Anders: Be able to take criticism. Don’t take it personal but use it to better yourself. Be curious about advances in your field of work. For me having a background in animation has been a huge plus. With animation you can make everything come alive and help facilitate the emotions you want the player to feel.

Tactile: When you’re not at work, you are …

Anders: I plunge head first into the role of being a dad to 3 great kids. That comes with multitude of benefits like drawing ALOT, playing video games and so on. Also I have personal projects I work on.

Tactile: Hi Somalee, could you tell us a bit more about what you do at Tactile?

Somalee: Besides all the fun, I work as a software developer for multiple dashboards that we have to manage our games better. We proudly call ourselves the CORE Team as a lot that we decide to put in our games comes after a thorough analysis and testing through these dashboards. Our mission is to make it easy (and fast) for our game producers and designers to understand how users react to different levels and features that are being put in the games.

Tactile: What was your journey to becoming a Software Engineer?

Somalee: It actually quite interesting as I did not study to be one in my bachelors. I had a bit of coding with C++ back in school where I figured I am good at this stuff but I originally studied to be an instrumentation engineer and worked at a Petroleum refinery for about 4 years only to realise its not my cup of tea. So I indulged into some coding, figured how fun JavaScript was and decided to do it professionally. And so to say, I love every bit of it.

Tactile: What do you like the most about the team you’re working with?

Somalee: I would say its how diverse we have managed to be. Its really quite an open culture of trust and reliability we have established. I take pride in saying how well the team reflects the core values of the company which made me join Tactile in the first place.

Tactile: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Somalee: I would say every now and then we come across technical issues which are challenging to resolve. But we don’t give up and on the way learn so many wonderful things. Its intriguing that I have been doing this for quite some time and still manage to learn new things everyday.

Tactile: For people who would like to start their career, what do you think are the most important qualities that every Programmer should have?

Somalee: I think problem solving and analytical skill are the most important ones. Also, communication, as any programmer has to talk to a lot of people to gather the requirements and work towards a solution.

Tactile: When you’re not at work, you are …

Somalee: I prefer to stay outdoors, workout, maybe go for a run. Copenhagen is full of beautiful parks and lakes which I am currently exploring. I also paint. With all the rains that we are getting these days, a cup of hot coffee and brushes in my hand makes a perfect day.

We’d like to introduce our Lily’s Garden Producer, Preben Rosell. Preben is one of the veterans here at Tactile, as he started almost 8 years ago as a producer on Bee Brilliant. Since then, he has been responsible for coordinating the production pipeline for Lily’s Garden. Preben’s colleagues would describe him as responsible, attentive and extremely supportive.

Tactile: Hi Preben, could you tell us a bit more about what you do at Tactile?

Preben: The producer role is quite diverse with many different (and at times changing) tasks, but first and foremost I help coordinating what the team should focus on and how they should structure their work. Furthermore, I am responsible for getting our weekly releases ready and tackling issues that may occur in our live game or in our production pipeline.

Tactile: How did your journey as a Producer start?

Preben: I have a background in game and level design, but by chance I was pulled into a hybrid role almost 10 years ago, in which I had the opportunity to work with project management. Although I had never planned for this, I realised that I really loved the work and when I a few years later got the opportunity to switch to a producer role, I went for it. Now I cannot imagine doing anything else 🙂

Tactile: For people who would like to start their career, what do you think are the most important qualities that every Producer should have?

Preben:

• A drive to improve processes – There is always some aspect there that can be improved, regardless of how well it worked last quarter.
• Be flexible – A producer’s role is ever changing with new tasks and responsibilities that comes with whatever the needs of the current project are.
• Good verbal and written communication skills – As a producer you will communicate with a wide range of people from a range of different disciplines.
• Solution-oriented – Look for solutions rather than problems!

Tactile: When you’re not at work, you are …

Preben: Besides spending as much time as possible with my kids, I love gardening, cycling and playing games.