Joined Hoard: Been with the team since the beginning.

Twitter: @Ed2warf

LinkedIn: Cyryl Matuszewski

Games he previously worked on: Dark Souls: Remastered, Mortal Kombat X, Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, DMC: Definitive Edition and Dead Rising.

“I am excited about the idea that information is decentrally stored and cannot be altered. It is natural that most things will migrate over to the blockchain and, for me, games will be one of the first categories to get there.”

Cyryl programming a robot for ETHBerlin.

Cyryl is our lead programmer at Hoard. This means that he is responsible for scoping out the goals of the project, guiding the development, prioritizing tasks and ensuring that everyone works together to achieve our goals.

What was your background before you came to Hoard?

“Game development mostly. However, my very first job out of university was designing a furniture design system. It wasn’t long before I realised that my main interest lay in CGI and I wanted to be involved with that — whether it be for video games, film or special effects.

I also wanted to work in game development because I’m a kid inside and I wanted to be involved in creating these games that I enjoy. I’ve been working in game development for 10 years prior to coming to Hoard.”

What do you think a very good ‘blockchain game’ will look like?

“I think it is going to be very different from games that currently exist. We need to find a good gameplay mechanism that is based solely on the player’s knowledge that they have true ownership. It doesn’t have to have fancy graphics, be an MMO with complex features, or even introduce new gameplay concepts.

It should just be based on this simple rule. If someone creates a game like this, it will be a winner because can be easily adopted by many people.”

How would you define a ‘game’?

“Games are about interactions. This means that if we are playing a game together, things that I do will affect you. If my actions do not influence your actions, there is no interaction.

I enjoy games with beautiful graphics, but I know that that’s not what makes a great game. For example, the first game I really loved, The Elder Scrolls, had terrible graphics. Even though it was in 3D (which was advanced at the time), there were many other 2D RPG games that looked much better.”

What do you see are our biggest challenges right (from all perspectives — tech, adoption, etc.)?

“Knowing whether what we’re building is suitable for the people who will use it. I’m a game developer and worked in this business for over 10 years, so I think I know what game developers need. However, this industry is constantly evolving.

We are making sure that we are in touch with what game developers think by getting out there and talking to as many as we can. At some point, we will start doing this in a more systematic way to get more comprehensive feedback.”

What do you think are the strengths of the Hoard team?

“We communicate really well with each other. I think communication is the most important thing because, in my experience, even if 5 world-class experts are working on something and they don’t communicate well, they will fail. Here at Hoard, we understand very well our goals, our responsibilities and that we all depend on each other.”