Q&A with Steven Troughton-Smith

I run High Caffeine Content, a company that develops our own apps and games for various platforms (primarily iOS). I do pretty much everything myself, and have a wide area of interest varying from OS & kernel design to game development. Most of what I'm focusing on now is bringing game development techniques to traditional apps, through use of 3D.

Hardware

My desk is a dual-computer setup, with a 27" iMac for primary development and a custom-built dual-GPU PC, driving a 32" 3D HDTV rigged up to a dozen HDMI devices & development kits through a switcher & recording device (Elgato's Game Capture HD). Behind me, there's an Oculus Rift, a 3D printer for prototyping, and a full-wall shelf system with dozens of devices (smartphones, tablets, consoles, etc).

Software

Xcode, Eclipse, Unity3D and MonoDevelop have permanent spots in my Dock, though these days Unity is my editor of choice. Usually I would be running Photoshop and Terminal alongside one (or more) of these IDEs. I rely a lot on Github and Dropbox, too. On the PC side, Visual Studio is the obvious choice.

Dream Setup

For the most part, I have everything I need to build what I want to build. I can't stand multiple monitors on the same machine, but I'd never say no to better GPUs and more RAM. Ideally, I'd have a super-thin tablet with Wacom stylus support running Adobe Ideas, but sadly no such thing exists.

Inspiration

I have a vast Steam game library, and pay close attention to how game developers, especially the indie kind, use the medium as the ultimate form of expression. I spend an inordinate amount of time mentally reverse-engineering the various facets of graphical, level & gameplay design while exploring digital worlds.

Beyond that, I follow people much smarter than I on Twitter, and try to learn completely new things every day.