Series 2, Episode 11: Jonathan Topf

Pegbar and Grill

***PLEASE NOTE THIS PODCAST WAS RECORDED IN 2017. PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR OUR RIDICULOUS LATENESS IN RELEASING IT.*** Jon Topf is a games designer, developer, animator, and a former member of The Line. Most recently he was lead developer for Monument Valley 2. Jon talked to us about how he first got into coding as a teenager and how he started his career as a mechanical engineer, before eventually getting into animation. He has worked as a VFX artists, and directed commercials at Studio AKA, before joining UsTwo Games. During his time at UsTwo, he created an IOS game in his spare time called Trick Shot. After this, he was appointed the director and lead developer of the sequel to the hugely successful phone game, Monument Valley. Jon Topf http://jonathantopf.com/ Monument Valley Game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC1jHHF_Wjo Tim Cook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cook MC Escher http://www.mcescher.com/ Trick Shot http://trickshotgame.io/ UsTwo Games https://www.ustwo.com/ Gear VR http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-vr Maya https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/maya/overview Open source rendering software https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/top-free-rendering-software-cg-artists-91412918 Python https://www.python.org/ Side FX Houdini https://www.sidefx.com/ Arrival https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film) Trick Shot http://trickshotgame.io/ Script Notes Podcast https://johnaugust.com/scriptnotes http://scriptnotes.net/304-location-is-where-its-at