Hi Tamers! We’re here to honor our promise to make this a series, so welcome to the second Meet the Team, where you get to know more about the devs working on Temtem and Temtem: Swarm! We plan to hold these little segments from time to time, so everyone can become more familiar with the Crema devs, and get to see the people they are behind the game.

On this occasion we sit with the Programming team, which consists of Javier Agüera, Marcos Díez, Adrián Rodríguez, Diego Sánchez y Toni Torregrosa. We’ll be chatting with them about their day to day, their favorite work of theirs, their start at Crema, and some quirky questions so we can get a better feel of who they are. Let’s begin!

If you’re more of a visual learner, you can see some of their replies in video and some fun skits here!

Javier Agüera, alias Kukiri

• Tell us a bit about yourself and your background! How long have you been at Crema? Have you worked in a similar role before?

Hello! My name is Javier Agüera. I’m 32 and I’ve been working at Crema for 5 years now. I’ve occupied my entire work life on video game programming: I started on mobile at Lab Cave, and then I jumped over to Pc and consoles at Saber Interactive, where I worked on NBA Playgrounds 2.

• What were your goals when you joined Crema? Have they changed with time, or do they remain?

The idea behind joining Crema was a desire to work on a great project with a small group of highly professional devs. When you work for big companies you end up specializing in certain areas, but when you work with a smaller team you get to cover different domains. While working at Crema I’ve been able to help code gameplay, UI, networking features, etc. It’s a real treat for lively people like me.

On the other hand, now that I’m the Lead Programmer, my goals have changed a lot. Being able to lead a programming team from beginning to end of development of a new game is a huge challenge. The opportunity to do so arose, and I don’t really think I’d get this chance anywhere else.

• Which is your favorite game engine and why?

I don’t think anyone should have a favorite game engine: each of them has its strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the game you’re developing, you should conduct a study to figure out which one is most beneficial to you.

That said, Unreal.

• If you were a Temtem, which Tem would you be?

Tateru. No explanation needed: Tateru.

• What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned while working at Crema?

Here I’ve learned you don’t need an immense team to achieve great things, but also how important every team member is individually.

• If you could trade places with anyone else at Crema for a day, who would it be and why?

I’d like to switch places with the awesome Animation department. Breathing life into Tems is a challenge, but the final result, seeing them come alive, is magical. What I’m not so sure about is whether any of them would want to come over to Programming.

• Are there any important people that inspire you in the work that you do?

I don’t think I’ve ever found inspiration for programming in a single person, but rather the medium itself is what inspires me: video games are what move me in the work I do every day.

• What are the best and the worst parts of your job, to you?

The best part for me, personally, is facing challenges that seem impossible at first. Working on them until you make a breakthrough you didn’t think yourself capable of is incredibly satisfying.

The worst part is probably everything unrelated to coding. I don’t hate it, but I’d rather spend my time writing code.

• What makes all the hard work worth it?

It’s going to sound cliché, but when people get to play the game, have fun and give back all the care we’ve put into the game, that’s what makes all the tough moments evaporate. And it doesn’t only work with players: creating internal tools for team mates and knowing it’s going to improve their workflow and day, that’s what makes it all worth it.

• If you had not pursued a career in programming, what do you think you’d have chosen?

There’s a lot of jobs out there I would’ve liked to try, especially those related to science and investigation, which are really cool. If I had to say, the actual second job I had thought of was being a doctor. So there’s a doctor who’s really into Temtem in a parallel universe!

• What are your hobbies outside of work?

Nothing groundbreaking: there’s not enough time in the world for all the books, games, series and movies I want to enjoy. I also enjoy live music and concerts. On the sporty side, I’m really into paddle tennis, it’s really fun.

• If you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you be and why?

Potato, because potato.

• What’s your favorite feature you’ve worked on?

The Stickers, without a doubt. They were the first thing I worked on when I joined Crema, and it took a few years for them to launch because they required a lot of concept work for each individual piece. It was a sweet moment when the feature finally launched and I relived the memories of all I’d grown and changed since I’d first started developing it.

Sr. Marcos Díez

• Tell us a bit about yourself and your background! How long have you been at Crema? Have you worked in a similar role before?

I’m Marcos, I’m 35 years old, and I’ve been part of Crema for 5 years. Before this I’d been working at companies more focused on mobile gaming. I have always wanted to create video games and I’m happy I get to work on it.

• What were your goals when you joined Crema? Have they changed with time, or do they remain?

Honestly, my goal back then was to change company, as I was working on a directionless project. When the chance to work at Crema arose, I didn’t think about it one bit.

Nowadays my goal is to keep improving as a programmer in order to be able to create the best possible experience for players.

• Which is your favorite game engine and why?

I’ve worked with Unity for almost the entirety of my career, but now that I’m working with Unreal I think the swap was a 100% worth it.

• If you were a Temtem, which Tem would you be?

Mimit, so I could change my mind later.

• What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned while working at Crema?

That with love and care, a small team can create great things.

• If you could trade places with anyone else at Crema for a day, who would it be and why?

I’d love to trade places with Design so I’d get to drive the programmers crazy for once.

• Are there any important people that inspire you in the work that you do?

I can’t think of anything in particular. There’s a lot of admirable people in the industry, but I’m not sure I ever had an idol. I do, however, give thanks every day to those anonymous people who invest their time in writing blogs and replying in forums, they’ve saved the lives of programmers countless times.

• What are the best and the worst parts of your job, to you?

What I enjoy most is developing complex features. Thinking on how to build up a system so it can cover Design’s needs, be highly modifiable, extensible and optimal makes for a really satisfactory feeling when the pieces start falling into place.

The worst part is probably when something doesn’t work, or when a bug gets stuck for hours or days. It can be really frustrating, although finding a solution is usually also very satisfying.

• What makes all the hard work worth it?

Seeing my work fit in with the work from art, animation, sound and everyone else. Seeing the final result where everyone joins forces.

• If you had not pursued a career in programming, what do you think you’d have chosen?

If I had not been able to work on video games I probably would have ended choosing a path in music one way or another.

• What are your hobbies outside of work?

Video games, music, YouTube, gym and learning about topics that I’m interested in.

• If you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you be and why?

Romanesco broccoli. Just look at those fractals… though it must taste like sh*t.

• What’s your favorite feature you’ve worked on?

My favorite task while working on Temtem was creating the Housing system. As I said before, I like working on complex systems, and I’m pretty happy with how it ended up working.

Adrián Rodríguez

• Tell us a bit about yourself and your background! How long have you been at Crema? Have you worked in a similar role before?

Hiya! My name’s Adrián Rodríguez, I’m 31 and I’ve been working at Crema for the last 3 and a half years of my life.

Before I joined Crema I had been working as a programmer in different industries, like consulting, video games, as a freelancer, etc.

• What were your goals when you joined Crema? Have they changed with time, or do they remain?

My goals when I joined were and still are the same: to improve and grow on a professional level, developing games as ambitious as Temtem, and being surrounded by a team of wonderful people.

• Which is your favorite game engine and why?

Well… I’ve been working with Unity for almost 10 whole years and you know, you end up getting a bit attached. But we’ve been working with Unreal for a while now at Crema, and the truth is that it’s a fantastic engine with a lot of tools super focused on video game development in particular, which makes our lives easier.

• If you were a Temtem, which Tem would you be?

I love Kinu, that nature guardian vibe is really appealing. He was also the first Temtem I ever got a perfect egg from by breeding.

• What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned while working at Crema?

I’ve really learned a lot from my colleagues these past few years, and it’d be really difficult to choose just one thing…

One of the most important lessons I take away is that good communication and a friendly environment between colleagues, and even higher ups, is key for a company like Crema to run as smoothly as it does.

But if I’m being honest, I think the most painful lesson I’ve learned here is that, no matter how hard you try to stick to a diet, there won’t ever be a day without a birthday or a work anniversary, and someone will always be bringing baked goods, churros, or any tasty food to sabotage your dieting efforts.

• If you could trade places with anyone else at Crema for a day, who would it be and why?

I’d love to swap places with a teammate from 2D art. I’ve always loved drawing, even if I positively suck at it, plus they’re the ones who have the best decorated area in the office!

• Are there any important people that inspire you in the work that you do?

I’ve always strived to learn from the greatest, from their work expertise and the games they put out. To mention one that’s been recently super relevant to us, acting as a sensei while learning Unreal, we’ve learned a lot from Ari, Lead Programmer at Returnal.

• What are the best and the worst parts of your job, to you?

The best part is always seeing how the work and effort you’ve put into developing anything starts to make sense in the game, and seeing how the work of other departments makes it come alive: art, sound, VFX…

It’s also really satisfying to develop tools for internal use, and watching your workmates have an easier time because of them.

The worst part is always correcting bug and issues, it’s a never-ending story.

• What makes all the hard work worth it?

I think we’re all on the same boat here: seeing players enjoy and have fun with the game, which is the ultimate aim we all have.

• If you had not pursued a career in programming, what do you think you’d have chosen?

Phew, this one is a hard one because I think I’ve wanted to work on game dev since I had my first computer, and programming has always powerfully attracted me. Some years ago I studied some 3D modelling to widen my knowledge about the art flow of game dev, so maybe that would’ve been my other choice.

• What are your hobbies outside of work?

The truth is I have some hobbies that seem to come with the stereotype of programming nerd who rarely leaves the house. I like joining my friends for D&D sessions, board games, video games, the whole nine yards. But I do leave the house, I swear! I love sports and I go boxing often, and play paddle tennis when I can.

• If you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you be and why?

Onion, you know? Because of ogres and layers.

• What’s your favorite feature you’ve worked on?

I’m going to say mouse movement in Temtem. It’s not entirely mine, of course, but I did invest a ton of hours on it little after joining Crema. I suffered a lot making it work, but I also learned a lot on the way!

Diego Sánchez, alias Jusi

• Tell us a bit about yourself and your background! How long have you been at Crema? Have you worked in a similar role before?

I’m Diego, I’m 24 and soon it’ll be 2 years since I joined Crema. Before joining I had been working on creating interactive apps for museums, simulators and instructive stuff like that.

• What were your goals when you joined Crema? Have they changed with time, or do they remain?

I started looking for a job because I wanted to change companies, and then the chance to reach Crema presented itself to me. This is a company I would’ve liked to join for a long time, and now here I am.

Right now I want to continue working on the next projects we’re cooking, and to learn more about programming games.

• Which is your favorite game engine and why?

The one I like the most is Unity, which is the one I’ve always been working with. This also means it’s the engine I hate the most. I think each engine provides a different set of tools, better or worse depending on the project, and that there’s no absolute ranking.

• If you were a Temtem, which Tem would you be?

Hedgine. It’s a mechanical fire hedgehog, it’s everything that’s cool.

• What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned while working at Crema?

That you get nowhere real fast in this industry without teammates and pals. It’s really important to lean on your peers, and to communicate what you need so they can properly lend you a hand if they can.

• If you could trade places with anyone else at Crema for a day, who would it be and why?

I’d like to swap places with anyone from the 3D art department! It’s been a hobby of mine since I learned about it in uni, even if it’s been a long time since I last practiced it.

• Are there any important people that inspire you in the work that you do?

I’m not really one to have idols, to be honest, but there are a lot of movies, songs and video games that inspire me. If I had to say someone it would be Toby Fox, Undertale’s creator: it’s thanks to Undertale that I work in this industry.

• What are the best and the worst parts of your job, to you?

I love creating complex, reusable systems and pieces geared towards helping the rest of the team do their work as effectively as possible, and with the best possible result.

It’s a bit cliché to say the worst part of a programmer’s work is fixing bugs, and I even get to enjoy it at times because they are (usually) short and satisfying tasks, but some days I’d throw the computer off the window.

• What makes all the hard work worth it?

It’s definitely seeing the players enjoy what we do, it’s an incredible feeling. If I also manage to enjoy the road until then, it’s a 10/10 experience.

• If you had not pursued a career in programming, what do you think you’d have chosen?

I love the restaurant and cuisine industry. Were I not a programmer, I’d love to open a little cute café to serve coffee and baked goods in a chill environment where people could relax and enjoy.

• What are your hobbies outside of work?

I don’t get to game as much as I’d want to, although I’m working on it. I love cooking, as well as rock climbing. I also love being out in the mountains, but it’s also something I can’t do as much as I’d like to!

• If you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you be and why?

Onion, everything tastes better with some fried onion in it.

• What’s your favorite feature you’ve worked on?

Ever since I joined the Temtem team I’ve been able to work on a lot of different features and there are many I love. I hold a special place in my heart for the Speedrun Challenge Mode because that was the first feature I worked on, but the one I’m most proud of is the Replay feature. It was a pretty big task, being able to cooperate with my pal Toni on it was super enjoyable, and I think it came out pretty well!

Toni Torregrosa, alias Bigtower

• Tell us a bit about yourself and your background! How long have you been at Crema? Have you worked in a similar role before?

Hi! My name is Toni, I’m 33 years old, and I’m from a very small country called Andorra. I’ve been at Crema for 1 year, 8 months, 10 days, 12 hours, 23 minutes, and 40 seconds… 41… 42… 

Before Crema I worked creating mobile versions of board games for a year, and before that I spent many years working as a programmer, but in a sector way less fun than video games.

• What were your goals when you joined Crema? Have they changed with time, or do they remain?

My goals have always been to keep learning and improving at what I do, and being able to work on a project as big and ambitious as Temtem was the perfect opportunity to do so.

• Which is your favorite game engine and why?

Each engine has its strengths and weaknesses, and which one to use depends more on the type of game you want to make, so I don’t have a favorite per se. However, I’m very happy because I recently switched from working with Unity to Unreal, and I’m finding it a very cool engine.

• If you were a Temtem, which Tem would you be?

Since I really like everything related to space, I’m going to say Galios.

• What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned while working at Crema?

That the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Crema is made up of incredibly talented individuals in all departments, but only when we work together towards the same goal can we achieve impressive things.

• If you could trade places with anyone else at Crema for a day, who would it be and why?

Maybe with someone from VFX; I would love to learn how those spectacular and eye-catching effects are made.

• Are there any important people that inspire you in the work that you do?

I would like to mention Jason “Thor” Hall, CEO and head of Pirate Software, a small indie studio, and also a Twitch and YouTube channel. His vision of game development is totally inspiring to me, and as he would say, “go make games”.

• What are the best and the worst parts of your job, to you?

The best part is seeing the code you’ve programmed come to life within the game. The worst is when you’re trying to fix one of those “difficult” bugs, and it takes several hours to find the solution; it’s frustrating.

• What makes all the hard work worth it?

It may sound very cliché, but it makes me happy when players have fun with or appreciate something I’ve programmed.

• If you had not pursued a career in programming, what do you think you’d have chosen?

Something related to nature. A forest ranger, a snowboard instructor, something outdoors.

• What are your hobbies outside of work?

I love board games to a level that borders on obsession. I have almost 100 at home, and I don’t currently own more because I’ve run out of space. I could talk about it for hours and hours on end.

• If you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you be and why?

Garlic: it makes all food taste better, and kills vampires.

• What’s your favorite feature you’ve worked on?

I really enjoyed working on the Arcade Bar minigames; it was a breath of fresh air to program them. I didn’t do it alone, of course, I worked with my pal Diego, and I think it ended up real neat.

Programming team, if you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you be and why?

This is it from the Programming peeps and their The Office segments! Thank you everyone for tuning in today with us and our coding team, hope you had fun, and see you next time with another department!

Have fun and Temtem up!