MEET TWO SPARK ALUMNI WHO MADE THE TEAM GREENLIGHT AND NOW WORK IN NEW GAME TEAMS AT SUPERCELL.
Kalle Hiitola
FOUNDER & GAME PROJECT LEAD IN TEAM TIDE
Anastasiya Liohenkaya
FOUNDER & GAME ARTIST IN TEAM EVOLUTION
“For an old timer like me, it’s a lot of fun going back to the roots – you feel like a kid in a toystore”
Kalle Hiitola is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Next Games, today a Netflix studio. In his 20+ years in the game industry, Kalle has worn the hats of Game (Project) Lead, Head of New Games and CTO.
The timing to join Spark was just right for Kalle. He’d left Next Games to spend time with family and focus on advisory roles, but had felt that he’s still got at least one good game in his system. Spark presented a really exciting opportunity to work with and learn from the brightest minds. Kalle praises his fellow Spark participants – the group boasted an extraordinary amount of experience and expertise to tap into. “Stephan and Mia did an amazing job in screening a great group of talented individuals with unique contributions”.
Kalle found the program itself was built to be very interesting and unique. Spark highlighted to him the importance of the team building process – becoming familiar with one another, aligning personal values and establishing the pillars to build the team’s ways of working on. Kalle’s main learning: “Despite the tight schedule and tons to do, it’s still worth to spend significant time to discuss values, do personality tests and establish what the team believes in – I’d do it over again”.
As the two most impactful moments of Spark, Kalle raises first the Demo Day – the sense of accomplishment and success together, after a long road and emotional moments with the team. He remembers especially when team member Ellie pushed beyond her limits to prep the team for Demo Day. The other Spark moment still fresh in his memory is the offsite in the beginning of the program – just imagine a 10-day speed dating with 3 demos – and how exhausted he was after it!
Kalle found Spark a great environment for accelerated work – all practicalities were taken care of, Mia’s coaching was instrumental in team dynamics, and Stephan make himself available to brainstorm with the team whenever needed.
Encouraging words for those considering Spark?
“Do it absolutely. Spark was an incredible experience, and it's not often that you get to work in settings like these. You get to work with top pros and get to know Supercell’s fascinating culture. For an old timer like me, it’s a lot of fun going back to the roots – you feel like a kid in a toystore”. Kalle’s top tips for future Spark participants are to be humble and open, be yourself and if you happen to have an ego, leave it at the door. “A little Spark in the eye doesn’t hurt” he says with a grin.
“I’m in the same room with them, which means I have something to give, maybe something others don’t have”
Anastasiya Liohenkaya’s background is in creating new games in different genres. Her career in games started 4 years ago as a Game Artist in Belarus, and most recently took her to Voodoo to investigate puzzle prototypes.
Spark was at the same time very similar to what Anastasiya had done before in terms of the fast prototyping and trying new things, but presented also an exciting opportunity to jump into the unknown. Anastasiya’s guiding principle in life is to go towards things that feel scary with an open mind and curiosity.
When asked about whether being the most junior game maker in the room made her self-conscious, Anastasiya shook her head. “I’m in the same room with them, which means I have something to give, maybe something others don’t have”. She also says that sometimes loads of experience can work against you, because you know what you don’t like and prefer to run away from it. She found that even though her fellow Spark participants had very different backgrounds and experiences, they shared the same mindset.
A couple months after having their team greenlit, Anastasiya reflects on Spark as an opportunity for personal growth. To Anastasiya, it was all about being responsible. “Responsibility for me is freedom – when you’re responsible, you really push your limits”. The experience of creating the team, creating the product, and seeing your assumptions and decisions become something real in your work is really rewarding. Spark was a fast track to understanding your own skills and developing faster. Being curious about the people around you, asking them questions, bringing your skills to the table and taking on something you thought you didn’t know how to do.
A moment that had a big impact on Anastasiya was the team’s decision to remove people. To get to know someone else in a limited time, and to try and determine whether you are going to spend more time working with them is tough – becoming attached to a person but having to make a decision for the future based on logic. Time showed that the team did the right thing, but at the time, there was a lot of discomfort.
Encouraging words for those considering Spark?
Be curious about stuff, always be up for a challenge! “If you don’t come as a generalist, you’ll become one.” When you take the leap, you realize that “fear has big eyes, but hands get the job done.” And in the process, you’ll surprise yourself—building, moving forward, and finding sparks in the people around you.