Netscape 4 only links:
Marian Feb. 2001, Lar Feb. 2001, Patrick, March 2001, Lar, March 2001, Lynn, April 2001

Interview with Lynn

by Soulflyer

Soulflyer from Neville´s Little Place on the Web had an interview with the one and only Lynn from Larian Studios. The original one is in dutch and can be found here. This is the version translated by me, Myrthos.

Soulflyer: Ok, to start with could you explain (for all the ignorant readers) who you are and what you do at larian Studios and/or for the game Divine Divinity?

Lynn: I am Lynn and so far I'm the only woman in Larian Studios. Whenever the guys vote for more woman - which happens sometimes - I put my veto on it. However sometimes it would be appreciated if there were more woman so that they can support me when things get to wild! But so far things go the way I want.

What I do? Well that's actually hard to answer... I mostly help out wherever I can and when I have time of course. In the past I made some objects in 3D Studio Max, post processed some artwork,... Every now and then I'm a artist for a few days, which is just fantastic! Soon I'll help Cybu, the chief editor, with editing the levels in the Divinity world. Every now and then they also let me scream into the mike of the sound engineers. Apparently I'm very good in acting as a monster. I don't know if I should see that as a compliment however&

But my main occupation here at Larian Studios is Office Manager (keeping the company running on all kind of areas, press e-mails, jobs, testing, administration, receiving guests,&) Webmaster and the right-hand of Swn Vincke, the projectleader of Divinity and the founder of Larian Studios.

Soulflyer: What is the atmosphere like, I can imagine that it must have been strange in the beginning with all these different languages. Actually I can't imagine how things are within a games company. Do you all just sit behind your desk doing your job, or do you play some music and dance around the desk every 10 minutes or &.

Lynn: The atmosphere is super! I must admit that there are some tensions sometimes, but what do you want with a project like this and all those deadlines. But luckily they are always solved and lets keep it that way, because we have a great group and we all are having a lot of fun. Everybody does their share in his own way ;)

We are sitting behind our desks here but you shouldn't think that this is the "normal" thing. You don't have to stay on your chair for ours. Everybody knows what to do and they all work very hard. And sometimes it happens that there is a Larian party and they can be "heavy" at times.

Soulflyer: How is the work coming along at Larian Studios? Is it still a lot of stress or can you relax a bit now the relaese date has been postponed? What are you doing with this extra time?

Lynn: Everything comes along reasonably well. We are working in a steady pace and with all associated stress, but up to now everybody has survived. We are still on schedule for our release in September this year, but it's hard. Extra time? Uhhh& we don't have that on the contrary we would like to have some extra time.

Soulflyer: And then something I've been wondering for a long time, are you the only female member of Larian Studios? And is that not difficult with all that amount of testosterone around?

Lynn: Well I was so 5 minutes ago, lemme check&. Yep I still am! I can handle these men. Sometimes I really freak out over some of them, especially one of them, "the dwarf", but I'm not going into that ;)

Soulflyer: Ok, ok, back to Divine divinity. Did you play the game yourself, or do you have no intention in doing that as you helped creating it? I can imagine that you don't want to do that after working on it for so many months.

Lynn: Yes, I will definitely play the game. Of course I know 'to much', but not in that way that it's no fun for me anymore. Until recently I was not directly involved in the development of Divinity because there was too much other work (website, moving..) Now I'm involved more of course, but I don't mind. It's just fantastic to work on a project like this! Let's just say that we enjoy Divinity then in our own way.

Soulflyer: Are you still playing (or did you play before) other games? And do you still have time for that? (I can image that you don't have time for that. All work and no fun&)

Lynn: Yes, I used to play game, especially on the C64. I also have a lot of games at home for the Game Boy, but don't play them anymore. I also have been nuts about Tetris and race games. And around Christmas I was hooked on The Sims, but I kicked the habit because of lack of time.

This weekend I bought Black & White, what looks really good. But apparently I have problems with games like that, because I get eh& sick after half an hour or so. I used to have the same with Tombraider and it appears to happen to others also. Ah well, I wouldn't be able to play it completely anyway, because of &. Right!

Soulflyer: What do you think personally of the story / the world / the gameplay / the graphics / the name / &. Of Divine Divinity? Would you have bought the game when you saw it standing in the store and wouldn't have anything to do with it, like you do now?

Lynn: I can't say a lot wrong about divinity, can I ;) It just rules!

The name? Well we had this discussion so I'll refer you to the forum ;) Let's say that it gives me the same feeling as playing B&W for half an hour. No seriously, I can live with it. The game is just so good, we are going for it and yes, I would buy it!

Soulflyer: What about the female players/NPC's/monsters in Divinity? A while ago Marian wondered if one would mind killing a female monster. In Baldur's Gate 2 for example there are 3 romances for the male players and only one for the female player. Is Divinity discriminating or not?

Lynn: No in Divinity things are very balanced for the player. The woman that Marian draws are well equipped, but I don't think that's a problem.

Soulflyer: Thanks Lynn that you found in your unbelievable busy schedule some time to do an interview with me.

Lynn: You're welcome.