👥・meet-the-team

[prisma moth]

Hey everyone! Many of you know me as Vaigo, but my real name is Cristian. I'm 33 years old and I'm from Chile 🇨🇱 , I've been part of the Beacon for a year now, currently as the Growth Marketing Manager. My mission is simple: to create and execute a strategy that will make us one of the biggest web3 games out there 🙌 . Let me give you a little insight into who I am so you can get to know me better. So, how did I end up diving into the world of web3 video games? Well, it all started with my lifelong passion for gaming.

The journey began when I was trying to beat my older uncle in a game called Killer Instinct on the Super Nintendo. He was 12 years older than me and had been beating me for five years in a row 😅 ! But then, at the ripe old age of 14, I finally managed to beat him. That's when my competitive spirit awakened, and I started playing games like Dota, Tibia, Battlerite, and others - always gravitating towards games where skill and social interaction played an important role.

Fast forward to 2017, and I stumbled upon the world of cryptocurrencies. Like many, I started with some early trades, winning a little but losing more. Over time, I became more and more intrigued by the technology behind the price movements. That's when I discovered web3 games. Luckily, I had some friends who were starting a project in the gaming space, and since I had a background in marketing from my business studies and previous jobs, it felt like a natural fit. So, put together a gamer, a crypto enthusiast, and someone with marketing skills, and you've got me working on something I'm really passionate about.

One of the best parts of my job is all of you. It's amazing to wake up in the morning and see you sharing this journey with us and supporting us along the way. Thank you for that, and let's keep building together! 🏗️

Here are some of my hobbies: Games - Lettering - Trying to be a collector (starting with some Pokémon cards)
And last but not least, my favorite Pokémon of all time is Gengar ! My founding character was inspired by him!
Here is a photo of me at the Sacré-Cœur, Paris

[pine saddle]

Greetings, good folks. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeremías. People call me Jere. I was born and raised in Chile, and I’m 36 years old as I’m writing this.

It’s tough to know what about me will be interesting to you, so I’ll just rattle off some stuff and we’ll see what sticks.

I guess what is most relevant in this context is what I do for the team. The truth of the matter is that we all do a bit of everything, but my formal role is twofold: I’m both the tech lead and the loremaster.

On the tech side, I tend to focus on system design and architecture, infrastructure, and tooling. What I like most about that part is ensuring that my teammates have the best possible dev environment, while also supporting them and helping them come up with elegant solutions to the problems we face. I’m also a pathologically obsessive code reviewer.

On the lore side, I’m in charge of worldbuilding, naming things, coming up with a compelling story for our game, and making sure everything fits together. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the hardest part of my job.

Next in line would be my personal story. I was gifted my first console (a Nintendo Entertainment System) when I was 8 years old, and I’ve been glued to a screen ever since. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years playing, discussing or thinking about videogames.

When faced with the choice of which career path to pursue, I didn’t even think twice. I chose Computer Science with the hope that I would someday use that knowledge to develop videogames. After having a very rough time at university and a long string of (mostly) bland office jobs, I had all but given up on that notion.

Fast forward to June last year, when I was visiting Furanku abroad. I took one look at what the team was building, the energy and passion they displayed while doing so, and it was all the push I needed to quit my (quite comfortable) job and join them. The rest has been quite a ride, as we pour our blood, sweat and tears into building this game so that you fine gentlepeople have as much fun with it as possible.

Finally, a bit more about myself: I love dancing, singing, and reading fantasy novels. My favorite videogame of all time is “Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars” for the SNES, and my favorite book series is “The Kingkiller Chronicle” by Patrick Rothfuss (even though I’ve been waiting more than a decade for the final book). I dress in colors and do dumb shit with my hair, and I haven’t fully shaved my beard in 7 years.

This is me cosplaying as my Founding Character

[pseudo ferry]

Hey guys, girls, and everything in between,
I'm Lucas, though you may know me better as Abab around these parts. I'm 30, born and raised in Chile.

When I'm not dissociating, sleeping or working, I enjoy listening to barely audible niche music, reading manga, culinary adventures, having a good drink(s), and quality gaming sessions.
Above all, I cherish time spent with the world's most important being for me, my cat Doto.
I also have a lot of tattoos, some including an entire black leg and a Dota logo for some reason...?

Professionally, I'm the Content Manager for Skillcap/The Beacon, which basically means chasing after the dev and art team for cool stuff to post and in turn showcasing our game to the best of my ability.
I write the words you read in our posts, videos, blogs, and all things public, which also means that if there's a typo out there is most definitely mine and you should let me know in private, please.
You might've also seen my face hosting one or two live streams.

Let's talk gaming. I'm not just a gamer; I'm a god gamer—in my head, anyway. It's a necessary illusion I'm not willing to let go of just yet. From Dota to Smash, MTG to Poker, my logged hours are... extensive, they're in the thousands and let's leave it at that to save face.
Lately, I've been getting into deckbuilders and card roguelites like Slay the Spire and Wildfrost, and I try to fit an MTG FNM here and there. Started playing Elden Ring last week, having tons of "fun" so far.

My academic background spans from film studies to a few other things, but how I landed here is the coolest story—I owe it all to my gaming buddies.
The TLDR is I got into MTG from an old TF2 mate (I'm talking 15+ years of friendship), then because of MTG, I got into a decent practice group, and from that group, I met Jere. And here I am.

Some of my favorite stuff:

• Live-action movies: The Vengeance Trilogy by Park Chan-wook, with Lady Vengeance being the best for me. Bronson is a close second to the trilogy.
• All-time movie: Redline, which I urge everyone to watch if you haven't.
• Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
• Manga: At this point in time is Haikyu!! but that changes regularly. Frieren and Undead Unluck are close.
• Food: Right now it's Burrata & Roasted Olives + Sourdough
• Music: Men I Trust, Sewerslvt, BADBADNOTGOOD, Crystal Castles, and Machine Girl. These change regularly as well.

Oh, and before I forget, here's a picture of me and my cat.

[zinc obsidian]

Greetings Beaconeers! It's a pleasure to virtually meet all of you!

I'm Santiago, but you can call me Harb when I'm navigating the online realms. I'm one month away from being 30, and I share the same Chilean roots as most of my fellow team members. Beyond my coding prowess as a Software Engineer, I'm known as a cheesecake connoisseur, a karaoke enthusiast, and a devoted video game aficionado, with a particular passion for fighting games and RPGs.

As for what I do for the project on the technical side, I take on the role of a Software Engineer, using Godot to develop the game. On the creative side, I'm the one responsible for the names and descriptions of the current in-game items. Additionally, I collaborated with Jere on the tavern quiz dialogues, ensuring a steady flow of puns that won't stop while I can do something about it ;).

Beyond my dedication to making the Beacon the best game ever, I've embraced the life of a Digital Nomad for the past year and a half, with no plans of settling down anytime soon. As someone who delights in culinary adventures, being on the move allows me to savor and experience diverse cuisines from around the world. Whether I'm immersed in code or exploring new locales, my journey is fueled by a love for gaming, a passion for good food, and a perpetual quest for finding the best cheesecake in the world.

Here is me having some cheesecake at the top of the SkyTree in Tokyo

[sturdy glen]

Hey everyone! Nice to meet you all.
I'm Slardak, and my real name is Juan Cristóbal. You might notice a trend in here - I was also born in Chile. I'm 30 years old and one of the youngest members in the team. For now.

Academically speaking, I studied engineering and failed. Then I graduated in Business Administration, a field of study which I barely use in my daily life. I'm one of the software engineers here at The Beacon. My developer career started just before I finished my business studies, since I had a feeling that this field was the one I was meant for, and god was I right.

I specialize on the back end side of things, as well as on The Beacon's smart contract. You probably won't see me touching any UI stuff since my aesthetic taste is terrible, and I fully acknowledge that. I believe myself to be quite a logic and rational thinker, so that's probably why I ended where I am now.

I've been a digital nomad for almost two years now, traveling around the world most of the time. However, one must know when it's time to establish roots, and I think that time has come for me, so I've set a more permanent foothold on the beautiful country of Portugal.

Since my childhood I've been a gamer. Top MMOs include Tibia and WoW. However, my favorite game of all time has to be DotA. I've spent many hours on this game, and for those who know, my current rank is Divine 5. Once I get Immortal I'll surely take a break though, this game is hard on the soul and mind.

Here's a picture of me enjoying an ice-cold beer on the beatiful streets of Prague.

[raw topaz]

Greetings, my dear community.
It's my turn to introduce myself. I'm Moks, but my real name is Maximiliano. I am 29 years old, and like so many of the team, I'm from Chile.

Let me start with some facts and details about my life that led me to this day. Since I was young, I've always been fascinated by how things worked, mostly mechanically speaking, which resulted in specific dedication to physics and mathematics during my school years. When the time to decide my career arrived, and despite my willingness to study physics, I applied to engineering, which, at least how it works in Chile, gives you the option to follow many different paths, including the one I finally opted for, finance... Something I never expected to be too fond of, but in the end, I was. After I graduated, I started working in Investment Banking, where I lasted four hard but fun years until my millennial brain kicked in and made some calls to Zeelex and Furanko about the option of joining this incredible team. Shortly after, I resigned and changed my life forever.

Now let me try to explain what I do here in a not too boring way. My job here mainly consists of saving precious time from our Founders, which means a lot of operational and finance work, with a bit of Human Resources too. Besides this, I help anytime there is some modeling or estimations needed, basically, wherever numbers are involved.

Finally, to add more miscellaneous information about me, besides considering myself as an average gamer, I've always been playing games, starting with FF IX when I was younger to mostly Dota 2 nowadays. My favorite sport to do now is cycling, and to watch would be F1. My favorite book series has to be the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. And last of all, I must say I'm engaged to my girlfriend of 10 years, so really happy about that too.

Really glad to be able to share this with you all, I leave you with this cropped photo so you can know me better. I don´t have many photos alone ahaha.

[tulip terrace]

Hello everyone, I'm Nanzs, my real name is Fernando.

I am 33 years old, and I am from Chile. I work as a community manager at The Beacon. I am a sound engineer with extensive experience in customer service.

My job at The Beacon is basically to ensure that the entire team can work without interruptions by answering questions in the community and generating content to keep them entertained. In addition, I maintain a pleasant and safe environment for the entire community on Discord.

I started as just another user in this community. I was fortunate enough to help the team with some of the SFX for the settlement launch, such as the sound of the chest when it falls and items come out. Later on, the team contacted me to help with the events of Kaiju and Smolverse. After this first opportunity to work in the web3 world, I was given the chance to work with the Team of Knights of the Ether, creating SFX for almost all the monsters and the Colosseum of Phanes project for LIFEVERSE. This helped me delve even further into the web3 world and connect with more people within the treasure ecosystem.

I worked for almost 10 years as a cabin crew member, leading teams and dealing with people all day. Honestly, I hated that job, but I couldn't just walk away. I was very lucky that one day, while in a Miami hotel making SFX, I received a call from Vaigo telling me he was interested in having me on his team. In less than 4 days, I had already submitted my resignation to my boss, and well, the rest is history.

I think I am a person with too many hobbies. I really enjoy collecting things. My current obsessions include Marvel Comics (especially Daredevil), musical instruments (with a growing collection of 4 bass guitars, 2 regular guitars, and 1 ukulele), Pokemon cards, and vinyl records. As many already know, occasionally I like to play music. My favorite genre for this is House, from Italo to Disco. I also really enjoy techno and tech house.

Favorite game? It has to be World of Warcraft. I've been playing WoW since I was 17 years old (since The Burning Crusade). I have a lot of gaming stories with SLARDAK, JAM, and ZEELEX. I can't fail to mention the constant fear that only TIBIA can generate and of course the Pokemon saga (up to the third generation), including Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2.

This is me doing one of the things I love

[static falcon]

Heya pixelart lovers. 😁 My name is Duarte, 31 years old, from Portugal. I’m proud to be the latest addition to the art team!

I had the pleasure of joining the company a few months ago, and it’s the most fun I’ve had pushing pixels professionally, during my (pretty short) career.

Working in an environment full of such wonderfully talented and motivated people has been a blessing. I feel like I’m learning and growing a bit everyday, pushing the limits of my abilities as an artist.
Drawing the Town scene, along with Ross, was the most challenging task I’ve had to date. Hope you guys enjoy walking around, exploring all the little details we crafted. I’m really proud of what we achieved there!

Before I started doing this for a living, I'd spend most of my time procrastinating finishing my Master’s Thesis in Architecture.
I'd have a lot of fun making little 2D games for myself, exploring engines like Unity, Construct 2 and Godot.
A little over a year ago, I finally ended up realizing that I was more motivated to do this than my schoolwork and, with a little push from my girlfriend, I built a small portfolio with all the little things I drew while avoiding my responsibilities! 😅

And now here I am, having the time of my life. Eheh.

Over these past three decades I’ve enjoyed playing a multitude of different types of games.
Online was my jam during my teens and onward. I have fond memories of playing Runescape, MapleStory, League of Legends and a hidden gem called Rumble Fighter.
Currently I really enjoy playing indie games: Hollow Knight, Momodora: RUtM and Valdis Story are among my favorites.

But, as a game-developer myself, it’s difficult to really enjoy playing anything nowadays, since I end-up spending most of the time taking mental notes on what the game does right, and what things I’d do differently.

Guess I can tell the boss I’m doing research, if he catches me, controller in hand! 👀

Here's me looking at something I love!

[pseudo zodiac]

Hey there, guys! My name is Cristóbal, and I’m 33 years old. I’m from Chile, as some of you might have guessed. I do the front-end dev stuff around here.

My hobbies include photography, hiking, music, and gaming. Though not as much as Nanzs, I’m also something of a collector myself, focusing on CDs, coins, and banknotes. Recently, I've developed an interest in sailing and intend to take lessons in the future.

Well, gaming is a hot topic here for obvious reasons… 🫣. I’m primarily an FPS boi who started with Medal of Honor: Allied Assault in 2003, then moved on to CS and CoD (CoD2 is the best, period). In the MOBA genre, I play League of Legends – yes, I often argue with the DOTA guys on our team. I also love MMORPGs, though now I don't have as much time to grind as most of them require. I played Tibia with some of the guys on the team, as well as Ragnarok Online, Aion, and Lineage 2.

This is me sailing somewhere in southern Chile

[plucky niche]

Hey there, everyone! Nice to meet you all.
I'm Ross, but my real name is Rostyslav. I'm 33, and I'm from Ukraine, currently living in Vancouver, Canada.

Here's a little backstory on how I ended up here. I loved drawing when I was a kid, went to a non-art-related university, got kicked out after a year, then attended an art university, successfully graduated, but started to hate drawing for an unknown reason and didn't make a single stroke for a couple of years. Meanwhile, I got a job as a 3D animator, worked there for a couple of years, realized that I don't like 3D, and that i miss 2D a lot.

I played a lot of indie titles, most of which turned out to be pixel art. So, I thought, "Hmm, I can draw, I like gaming, and I like pixel art aesthetic. I definitely should try some pixels and game dev." And so I did. I started finding joy in drawing again, and oh man, I fell in love with pixel art so much. I learned Unity and how to code a little bit, did a few small prototypes (solo and with friends).

After that, I finally created an instagram account and started posting some artworks. It didn't take long until I got a DM from Diego asking if I'm open for work. Well, the first thought was something like: "No way someone is willing to work with me. My account is too fresh and almost empty. This must be some sort of a scam." But eventually, I ended up getting the best job in the world with the best team I could ever wish for.

Beyond the job, I like gaming (obviously), music (used to play guitar a lot), and working on personal projects when I have some free time.

Here's me enjoying beautiful British Columbia

[candid flare]

Hi dear Settlers, I guess it’s time to tell you all a bit about myself too. My real name is Rafael Vidaurre, I’m 33 years old. I’m CTO & Co-founder at The Beacon, the dream project that I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to bring to life with my business partner and brother, Diego.

I’ve always been passionate about creating stuff other people could enjoy. It has been the only thing that truly fulfills me since I was a little kid. I’ve always pursued this need to create in different forms throughout my life. There are three areas I’ve truly enjoyed as a creative outlet. One is music, which I’ve enjoyed as a singer and songwriter in a couple of bands in my teenage years, and later as a YouTuber doing anime music covers. Another is art. Since I was little, I would draw comics and create hand crafted board games. As a kid, I would work for days on some random Flash cartoon series only me and my friends would ever see, and in my early adult years, I would work for free for some random game doing (probably pretty bad) pixel art. The third one is engineering, in particular, coding, which I fell in love with in high school when I was around 16 years old, and that I haven’t stopped doing ever since.

It is truly a childhood dream come true to be able to merge the different forms in which I like to create into one by building video games.

In The Beacon, I wear many hats, but I spend most of my day-to-day working shoulder to shoulder with both the engineering and art teams. I also spend a lot of time on game design, working with musicians, making sure the art and music have cohesion, looking at UI designs, and more. I spend most of my waking hours working on and thinking about The Beacon, and I absolutely love it.

My hobbies right now are playing piano, singing, and for the last 2 years, traveling as a nomad around the world.

My favorite game of all time is Tibia; there was something special about that game. I don’t have a favorite genre, but I do enjoy some retro MMOs, survivals, fighting games, and roguelikes (duh).

Even though I might do a lot of things, I’m relying on the extremely talented and passionate people I have the privilege of working with every day. If there’s one thing I’m really proud of, it is the team we have built. It is truly a very unique thing we have going on in this company.

Here’s a picture of me in my old music studio in Chile

[stuck storm]

Hey guys, it's finally my turn to tell you a bit about myself. My name is Diego Vidaurre, and I'm the CEO & Co-founder here at The Beacon. I'm 31 years old.

This project is really a dream come to life in a way. Ever since Rafael and I were growing up, we dreamed about being able to build games, particularly MMOs. We've always been creative individuals and love crafting experiences that other people enjoy.

Personally, I've always been interested in games, technology, and business. I've delved into plenty of activities and projects in my life, but there have been very few things that have ever gripped me as much as games do. One of my unfulfilled dreams was to be a pro Dota 2 player when I was younger (back in 2010, that wasn't an option living back in Chile). When I was between 17 and 18 years old Rafa began teaching me software development, a skill that proved particularly useful, especially during our attempts at creating games and Tibia servers, as well as acting as a key skill that allowed me to sustain myself in life later on, particularly during my college years.

Besides being drawn towards technology and games I've also always had a keen interest in the human psyche, which is why I graduated as a psychologist back in 2018. Although I never dedicated myself to therapy and worked for a very short period of time with my credentials, given that I was dedicated to software even before graduating, and I was always set out to do scalable things. However, I've always kept my interest in the intricate nature of the human psyche. I believe that being able to fully (or well, partially) understand oneself is one of the key journeys a human must take in order attain development and a fulfilled life. Our minds are complex, and there is a vast universe that composes them that is crucial to understand.
I've always enjoyed understanding and connecting with people. In that sense being a psychologist has its perks when dealing with business relationships as well as with the people that work with me. It also comes in handy to understand player's perspective when it comes to game design.

I've always been fascinated by how games engage people. It isn't evident to me that games are mere entertainment. They seem to evoke in people a much deeper response that derives meaning, dedication and purpose in a way that few other experiences in life do, and I believe this is a highly valuable principle if oriented and used correctly. I barely remember anything I learned in school, but I remember perfectly all the abilities of Dota 2 heroes, the different quests and recipes of Tibia, and plenty of leveling routes from WoW Vanilla and TBC. Some of my most fond experiences in life were playing Tibia with my friends and raiding in WoW, or the late Dota 2 nights with Slardak when we were grinding MMR. It's not evident to me that those memories are less "real" than other experiences I've had in life.

Although I'm the CEO and I'm involved in plenty of processes of the company on all fronts, from marketing, to game design, to business relationships, I also get my hands on the game content itself. I'm the one that creates most of the frustrating dungeons you've encountered while playing our game, where maps, quests, boss fights and enemies are some of the things I enjoy creating the most.
My hobbies now are mostly The Beacon and creating content for it, but I regularly work out and play some dota2 when my schedule rarely allows it. I'm also currently writing a book about the human psyche and how to understand it in order to align yourself and reduce suffering (although the past few months I've been dedicating basically all of my time to The Beacon). One of my favorite activities is to grab some beers with the guys and talk about the cool stuff we want to create for this game.

Here’s a picture of me (left) on the Foresight Summit 2023 on HK, having a chat with Yves La Rose from EOS Network

[gray patio]

Hey guys! I'm Davide, I'm 30 years old and from Italy 🇮🇹

I'm a software engineer and game developer, I've been using Godot Engine for a looooong time and I think it's awesome.
I discovered it during my University years and it changed my life, since I had always (secretly) wanted to make games.

I worked as a Backend dev at the start of my career, then I decided to pursue my dream full-time. During this period, I've collaborated with various startups and indie game studios, before ending up at Skillcap.
Here, I've had the pleasure of meeting a team full of ambitious, talented and committed people, which is why I'm proud of being a part of it!

As you might have guessed by now, I'm a Godot developer. Be it internal tools to speed up development and help content creation, or actual game logic, I'm doing a bit of everything on the game side. I'm mainly responsible for implementing the game's UI, so if there's gonna be a problem with that, you know who to blame, hehe.
I think The Beacon might easily be the most challenging and ambitious project I've worked on so far, and I love it! I can't wait for everyone to see what we're building!

As for myself, I love playing games (😱 ). I like trying various genres, mainly indie games, RPGs (big fan of the Yakuza series), FPSs and roguelikes.
As a matter of fact, I poured hundreds of hours into Nuclear Throne. It's actually what got me into gamedev.

Other trivia about me: I love FOSS, music and beach volleyball 🏐

Here's a random picture of me racing with go karts, to prove that I actually go out sometimes 👀

[wanton trout]

Hey guys! I’m John (Afrito), 36 years old as I’m writing this. Like many on the team, I’m from Chile. I’ve always been into traveling and staying active through sports. I’ve traveled quite a bit, and I always find it interesting to explore new places and meet people from different backgrounds. As for sports, I’m usually practicing something, my favorite has always been football, but I’ve recently started exploring martial arts.

In terms of my professional background, I’ve worked in a variety of areas, finance, commercial roles, but mainly in business relations, from large corporations to entrepreneurial ventures. And now, I’m thrilled to say I’m landing at The Beacon!

I’ve also been a gamer for as long as I can remember. I started out playing on the first consoles, got hooked on Tibia, and later became a die-hard Dota and Dota 2 fan (though, to be honest, I never got to a high rank 😢). Those are still the games I’ve spent the most hours on. Now, it’s exciting to combine my professional experience with my passion for games and contribute to an industry that’s been such a big part of my life.

Random fact: I initially joined The Beacon just for Phase 1 of the NFQ, and ended up having the craziest onboarding experience ever 😅. It was intense but awesome—felt like I crammed six months of learning into just three weeks!

Here is a photo of me travelling and knowing new places!

[coral cipher]

Ahoy there Beacon Community!

My name is Rodrigo, I’m 40 years old, married, and have two amazing children (and counting).
I’m Chilean just like most of the team, but I’ve been living in Brazil since 2017.

My professional background is mostly in digital marketing, but I always wanted to be a musician, ever since I was around 11 years old, when I tried the drums for the first time at school. I then spent the next couple of years pretending the cushions were actually a drum set, until I convinced my parents to get me a real one.

A few years later, I picked up the guitar (campfire level), and then started making music on my computer with a cheap plastic microphone.

Fast forward a decade or so, and I really thought I was going to be a rockstar with my band, SOFIA. Between 2008-2010, we won a few international cash prizes for emerging bands, and even opened a show for Matisyahu. We ultimately decided to dissolve the band in 2012 after the lead singer went to live abroad and the bass player was eaten by his pet python Cleopatra.

After these events, life became a little more conventional: I earned a business administration degree, taught myself digital marketing, and worked for different agencies and companies. But I was always daydreaming about making music—especially for video games, which have been a passion of mine since the Atari days. This led me to take a short course on Video Game Music in Santiago de Chile, which was very interesting and useful for the work I’m doing now.

Sometime around 2022, I noticed my friends and former roommates Furanku and Diego (I should also include Harb, but now that I think of it, he never paid any rent) were taking the world by storm with The Beacon, along with the rest of the insanely talented people at Skillcap. So I got in touch with Furanku and started working on The Beacon’s Main Theme, which was later properly mixed and produced by my friend Pepe.
I’m happily working full-time here at Skillcap now, best job in the world! Creating The Beacon’s OST, along with everything related to dynamic music.

Favorite game: Metal Gear Solid
Favorite books: The Kingkiller Chronicle, The Stormlight Archive. Currently reading the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov.
Favorite band: Metallica

Fun facts:

• Because of the band, I became friends with Furanku and Nanzs, and subsequently with the rest of the guys, the butterfly effect is real!
• If you look closely at Furanku’s picture, it says “DRUMS” behind him. That was my spot 🙂
• I’m an origami expert, I can make a stegosaurus from a simple square of paper

[safe niche]

Hello World! 🌐

I'm Paweł, a 43-year-old software engineer from Poland 🇵🇱. It looks like I might be the oldest in our team, but I feel younger thanks to my passion for games 🎮. But first, let’s start with a basic introduction...

I'm married, have two kids 👨👩👧👦, a dog (an Irish Setter) 🐕🦺, and a cat 🐈.

My career has combined both sides of my dual education: an IT and economics degree. Over the last 20 years, I’ve experienced almost all the roles you can imagine in the IT industry—from development to managing teams and projects in web environments. But there’s always been a burning desire inside me: to set foot in the game industry. Why?

Because I'm a gamer at heart, ever since I got my first computer (Amiga 500) in the early '90s. I remember playing "Dune 2" like crazy. I could spend all weekend playing, only taking breaks for food and sleep 🙂 The list of games was much, much longer, with titles like "Battle Squadron," "Eye of the Beholder," "Battle Axe," "Moonstone," and "Civilization 1 (where I even created my own version of dialogues and content by modifying game files). It was fun seeing Caesar swearing in Polish 😉 Then I upgraded to a PC a couple of years later and tried out the infamous "format C" command. You know the result—pretty painful—while I was too green to fix it myself. But this tough lesson led me to learn more about computers and forged my destiny, I guess 🙂

Anyway, I got hooked for real and played through all the classics in my favorite genres, not to mention multiplayer games where I spent countless hours. One type of game that really surprised me back then was the Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) type of text games. I had real fun with them— it was really surprising that such adrenaline can be felt while playing a text-based game!

Meanwhile, I also read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi books & comic books (Tolkien, Sapkowski, Dick, the Thorgal series—just to mention a few) and played pen & paper RPGs, as well as a lot of board and card games. I like to collect board games now, though I don’t have much time to play them due to family obligations 😭.

But it didn't prevent me to play some games lately: Hades, Pheonix Point, BG3, Icewind Dale (enhanced edition), Witcher 3, Gwent, Magic: The Gathering.

In recent years, I’ve been involved in blockchain projects, which actually brought my attention to The Beacon—as it combines the best of all my favorite worlds: an RPG game on the blockchain. A killer combo for me! So, when I saw the team was looking for reinforcements, I gave it a shot, and here I am. I'll be responsible for web & blockchain projects in principal, while also messing up with some game development duties. Kind of a swiss knife approach, but without knife and not being a Swiss.

I like to 'get my hands dirty' at work (attaching a picture from my last side project), so I'm rolling up my sleeves for The Beacon now.

All the best to you all,
Paweł aka Pablo

[river axle]

Hello everyone! I’m Pepe, a 43-year-old music producer based in Santiago, Chile. My journey at The Beacon began when my friend @coral cipher reached out, needing my help for mixing and mastering a track he had composed for a new game. Fast forward a year and a half, and now we both make up the music team!

I’ve been a music producer for over 18 years, working with a variety of bands across genres from indie to metal. Deep down, though, creating music for video games has always been a dream of mine. I previously had the chance to work on Omen of Sorrow, an incredible Chilean game, where I did the mixing, mastering, and even played some guitar parts. Yes, I play guitar and I sing too! I’m involved in various bands and projects, with All Tomorrows and Drogatones being my most successful. I’ve toured Europe, played at major festivals in Chile, and even shared the stage with some of my lifelong idols (Meshuggah, Gojira, Deftones, to name a few).

Back to The Beacon—it’s amazing to be part of this project, where I get to compose, record, produce, mix, and master. It’s truly a dream come true. Being surrounded by such talented people at Skillcap is incredibly inspiring!

As for hobbies, well, I kind of turned mine into a career—yep, I'm all about music! And well of course games. Growing up, my best friend's grandpa had an Atari (Aztec Challenge, Montezuma, Pitfall... true stone-age classics!), followed by the mighty Nintendo, and I’ve been hooked on gaming ever since. These days, my favorite modern games include The Last of Us I & II, the Uncharted saga, Skyrim, GTA V, and The Witcher. In the early 2000s, Half-Life, Portal, and Halo (that multiplayer!) were big for me. Going back even further, I loved Super C, Double Dragon, Prince of Persia, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Stunts. And for all-time favorites, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger are at the top, especially for their unforgettable music!

Here's me transmuting into other dimensions