Mikhail Ignatov
What you do at Tango?
I am a concept artist, which means I’m responsible for the visual design of our games. Occasionally I also function as John’s spel checkr.
How do you describe Tango’s development environment?
The dev environment is pretty open and collaborative. We are not a huge team, so everyone has a good bit of responsibility for their individual work, but people often exchange ideas that go beyond their specific areas.
What do you think makes Tango unique as a game studio?
Tango is a unique place because of where we are in terms of scale, standards, aspirations, and geography. We are small enough that everyone can take pride and ownership in their work, but we do have high standards of quality and aspire to make games that have something novel, which pushes us outside our comfort zones. We are also a Japanese studio but have a mix of people from all over and, at the risk of over-generalizing, I don’t think we fit neatly into a strictly-Japanese or strictly-Western development mold. I think this combination gives us our unique sensibilities and studio culture.
What are your thoughts about the type of people who work at Tango?
Well, as in any company there are all kinds of people here. The one thing that they share is a commitment to their craft, and I respect that very much. Then again, it is a club that would have me as a member, so I don’t know what that says about them.
Looking to the future, what are you excited for when working at Tango?
The one thing I know I can count on here is that we will try to make something interesting and fresh, especially in terms of game design and visuals. I am excited about that. Also, as I said earlier, we have a kind of collaborative environment where I can have an idea, pass it on to the next person in the pipeline and they add something of their own to it, then they pass it on, and so on and so forth. By the time it is implemented a decent idea has transformed into something special. I love seeing that. It’s a great feeling.
What’s something you’d like to tell someone interested in the company or working with your team?
I’d say something like: You there! The one who isn’t afraid of taking chances, and enjoys making games in a fun, creative environment. The one who isn’t satisfied with the good-enough. Yeah, you. Come join the party! We’ll just be here. Waiting.