It’s all about the chances
Nightspade first took shape In 2009, four students were teamed up to work on a project at Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia. For each of them it was their best experience working as a team during their time in school. After graduation, Teddy Pandu as CFO, Garidbaldy W.M. as CMO, Dody Dharma as CTO, and Inas Luthfi as CEO, decided to continue work together and form a company called NightSpade.
The four programmers, interested in a variety of projects, laid out a plan to research different options that would enable them to work together. They attended conferences and exhibitions that gave them the opportunity to create or work on different kinds of projects. Ultimately, the area that inspired them the most was creating mobile games.
Their first game for iPad, Don Gravity (Look it up!) received hundreds of thousands of hits and downloads within the first few weeks and became a featured game on the Apple Store. Their instant success enabled them to review their process and individual roles as well as evaluate what they had learned. It was apparent that four programmers could not sustain, quality content without bringing a game designer on board. It was important however, that this new team member fit into the culture of the company while also bringing a higher level of professional game design and game creation pipeline system to their developmental process.
Enter Viananda, or V as we call him was using a coffee shop as his studio. He was spotted by Dody. V’s work was the perfect skill match for the team, but he still had to be a great culture fit for the team. Nightspade created a plane for interviews and tests. However, V, a bit nervous on the inside but confident enough on the outside, said take it or leave it. V knew that the team might like his attitude and confidentiality or drop him as a candidate immediately. They liked it. Nightspade saw V as the kind of person they wanted on the team. He had bold approach and was brave enough to take a stand if needed.
The team has grown dramatically since 2011. They share their meals together and the table is full. Within their growing company, they are plagued with serious issues such as who swiped Teddy’s favorite candy when he wasn’t looking or who left a mug in the sink. Here in Kuala Lumpur, three team members are representing the company. Amanda is kickass Bloodborne player, Teddy read all the books in our library before October, and V is creating his own special wall art throughout the offices. They are a great representation of Nightspade’s quality, creativity and confident culture.
