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Hi, My name is FatShady and I'm a Trials Rider.
If that sounds like the introduction usually heard at another type of meeting, that because I've played Trials for over 3 years and I'm not thinking of stopping any time soon! The guys over at RedLynx have asked me to share a story with you about my time as part of this community that has, among other things, involved me writing articles for gaming blogs, appearing on TV, and culminated with me getting a chance to travel from Australia all the way to Finland to meet the development team that made all of this possible.
I refer to this as FatShady's Pilgrimage because that is what it was to me. "A pilgrimage is a journey or search of spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a location of importance." (Thanks Wikipedia!). A pilgrimage can mean many different things, but for anyone who has played, laughed, cried, and thrown the odd controller due to this game, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn't miss!
If I look back, It all started in 2009 when I joined the Official Redlynx Forum. At that time, Trials HD had just come out and like many people, I had never heard of this franchise. I initially joined the forum to find people like me that were interested in this game. While at work, I still wanted to talk about Trials and my co-workers didn't really appreciate the constant interruptions during meetings to talk about my faults on Inferno II. I found an amazing community of both players and developers that all regularly contributed and just made it a great place to hang out. It wasn't until 2010 that I stumbled across the post about Easter Eggs that it all changed for me. Had anyone told me what that first post in that thread in 2010 would lead to, I never would have believed them. I am just a regular forum guy who works in the Insurance industry and has a wife and a kid living in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, and in a very short period of time I found myself in a position where I was interviewing RedLynx Developers, writing articles for Kotaku Australia and XBLAFans and was even interviewed on Australian TV about Trials HD. The story that I was discussing was that of the Trials HD Riddle. I don't want to go into that story too much because I have covered it previously. After working closely with Antti Ilvessuo regarding these interviews for these features, he proposed that we work together to reveal the answer to the world, the end result being this video. ( I'm also hugely proud of this video and am just taking this opportunity to plug it again!) So, as you can see, I went from Insurance guy to TV celebrity (not really) and amateur video producer. I'd never done anything like this before and while massively time consuming, was a hugely rewarding experience. I had done this because i enjoyed the riddle and really just wanted to make sure that I did the answer justice. It was a labour of love, and I didn't ever expect anything for it. So I was totally surprised when I received an invitation from the CEO of RedLynx to jump on a plane and come and hang out with the team earlier this year. I have honestly never wanted to do anything more in my life. It was one of those opportunities that you simply couldn't pass up. I had never been to Europe and considering where I lived, I wasn't sure I ever would. On the 8th of May, 2012, I said "goodbye" to the family and started what would be the longest commute to work in my life! I actually doubt there are many journeys that are longer as it took me approximately 28 hours to get from my home in Sydney to the RedLynx offices in Finland.
When looking on a map, the offices are just next to a train station called Pasila and the address is Opastinsilta 8 in Helsinki. There were immediately a few issues. I had left my phone on the plane so I immediately lost all internet and GPS access, so I was quite lost. Second was the fact that I couldn't even pronounce the street, let alone know how to talk to anyone to ask for directions! When I finally arrived at number 8, and thinking that my troubles were over, it turned out that the complex the office is in has buildings from 8A to 8E, and the RedLynx office is on the 6th floor through a doorway that was unmarked! Before I describe the insides, I will leave you with one final comment, when discussing the building with Antti Ilvessuo, he was sayed that Finland is the world design capital and they take their design quite seriously.
Unfortunately, the complex that the offices were situated in was built in the 1970's and at a time where the designers thought that the bland, square buildings of East Germany were the way of the future... Turned out they were wrong, and the exterior of the building is not impressive at all. This also explains why I didn't even bother to take a picture of it :)
When I walked into the office it was another story. It wasn't until much later that I realised that I was walking into the home of a game that I loved, to meet guys that a true fanboy idolised, and I had no idea what they would be like. Thankfully, they all turned out to be a very warm and welcoming bunch and I felt right at home. Part of the relaxed atmosphere had to do with the lack of shoes.
I can't say that I've ever walked into a business of any kind and immediately been asked to remove my shoes but it was actually cool. I'm thinking of trying to bring this in at my workplace, but with limited success (it's just me!). It was a really relaxed atmosphere and the offices were exactly what I expected and I was immediately greeted with a couple of large Trials HD Banners.
If you were ever looking for evidence that the community is at the front of everybodies mind, right at the front entrance way there is a table dedicated to The Trials Community and awards. There are items here from a wide range of events/occasions from the life of Trials HD, including the awesome custom painted controller that ShiftySamurai painted for Trials HD's second birthday.
The next thing that immediately strikes you as odd (but it does seem to fit in once you get to know them) is the wrestling mat. Now this isn't tucked away in a hidden part of the studio, this is located on the side of the main hallway through the office.
Just one word of warning, If you ever enter an office that has a wrestling mat, don't be stupid enough to ask if they actually use it, it doesn't end well!
Yep, that's Antti showing me how it's done. After thoroughly beating me up, he decided to give me a short tour round the office. It was actually a small office because RedLynx is a small company, and, as you can see, they were all packed into the offices pretty tight, though this did have the added advantage of ensuring that the NERF gun battles were also accurate due to the close range.
It was also clear from some of the offices that the team really took pride in their workplace and kept is neat and tidy!
It was also cool to realise that these guys were also passionate gamers themselves. There was a fully stocked games library that anyone could take stuff from. It was great to see that they were just like us and just enjoyed games.
 Once the tour was done, and I'd settled in a bit, it was time for some work and considering that this is a game developer what do you think 'work' is?
I got to do some gaming! Here is a picture of Ville and I having a go at some local supercross. Now there are two funny stories about this scene. First of all, like many of the people that have had the pleasure of talking to RedLynx developers online, you only know them by their forum names. I actually spent 2 days sitting next to Ville and talking to him and I had no idea who he was. Whats worse, I was also friends with him on Xbox Live, and had been for a month or more before my trip, but because he was introduced using his real name it wasn't until I was sitting next to him logging into his Xbox, and I saw his gamertag, that it all clicked! That was actually the hardest part for me, when you meet the team they all introduce themselves by name, not gamertag or forum name, and it was near impossible to keep track of who was who!
 The other funny thing about this photo was my competition with Ville the whole time I was there. He is amazingly good at SuperCross and is basically unbeatable. However, in this photo, I was winning by a fair amount. You can tell by the look on my face (on the left) that I was happy. So, to show off, I decided to bail out to win the race only to faceplant on the finish line and have Ville win that one too! As a way to say "thanks" I decided to bring some good old Aussie food for the team to try. Aussies will immediately know what all this food is, but the RedLynx team, and I presume a number of the readers of this blog, you will have no idea. Needless to say, the team didn't go hungry and Antti got his wish of eating a Koala.
It was an amazing journey that I will never forget and to make sure, I got myself a pretty cool souvenir, a Trials Evolution flag signed by the entire development team.
Getting to meet these guys was a fantastic feeling. Everyone in the office, from the CEO, Tero all the way down to Manu, and then further down to Jesse in IT, were so great to me and just made me feel like part of the team. I will also pass on a special thanks to Tero and Antti for making all of this possible and to Ville and The great Mr. Shogun for inviting me to chill-out with them during some down time. It made me feel welcome and was nice to just relax with you guys and show you how to complete extremes! (Haha!)
I'm not sure what impression I left on them or what they thought of this Aussie bloke wandering around their office when they were trying to work, but I will seriously never forget it. I was proud to be part of this community before this. After this experience, I will be a Trials and RedLynx fan for life.
My gamertag is 'FatShady Live' so, if you ever see me online or on the forums, say "hi" and I will be more than happy to chat about this with anyone.
Hi, My name is FatShady and I'm a Trials Rider.
If that sounds like the introduction usually heard at another type of meeting, that because I've played Trials for over 3 years and I'm not thinking of stopping any time soon! The guys over at RedLynx have asked me to share a story with you about my time as part of this community that has, among other things, involved me writing articles for gaming blogs, appearing on TV, and culminated with me getting a chance to travel from Australia all the way to Finland to meet the development team that made all of this possible.
I refer to this as FatShady's Pilgrimage because that is what it was to me. "A pilgrimage is a journey or search of spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a location of importance." (Thanks Wikipedia!). A pilgrimage can mean many different things, but for anyone who has played, laughed, cried, and thrown the odd controller due to this game, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn't miss!
If I look back, It all started in 2009 when I joined the Official Redlynx Forum. At that time, Trials HD had just come out and like many people, I had never heard of this franchise. I initially joined the forum to find people like me that were interested in this game. While at work, I still wanted to talk about Trials and my co-workers didn't really appreciate the constant interruptions during meetings to talk about my faults on Inferno II. I found an amazing community of both players and developers that all regularly contributed and just made it a great place to hang out. It wasn't until 2010 that I stumbled across the post about Easter Eggs that it all changed for me. Had anyone told me what that first post in that thread in 2010 would lead to, I never would have believed them. I am just a regular forum guy who works in the Insurance industry and has a wife and a kid living in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, and in a very short period of time I found myself in a position where I was interviewing RedLynx Developers, writing articles for Kotaku Australia and XBLAFans and was even interviewed on Australian TV about Trials HD. The story that I was discussing was that of the Trials HD Riddle. I don't want to go into that story too much because I have covered it previously. After working closely with Antti Ilvessuo regarding these interviews for these features, he proposed that we work together to reveal the answer to the world, the end result being this video. ( I'm also hugely proud of this video and am just taking this opportunity to plug it again!) So, as you can see, I went from Insurance guy to TV celebrity (not really) and amateur video producer. I'd never done anything like this before and while massively time consuming, was a hugely rewarding experience. I had done this because i enjoyed the riddle and really just wanted to make sure that I did the answer justice. It was a labour of love, and I didn't ever expect anything for it. So I was totally surprised when I received an invitation from the CEO of RedLynx to jump on a plane and come and hang out with the team earlier this year. I have honestly never wanted to do anything more in my life. It was one of those opportunities that you simply couldn't pass up. I had never been to Europe and considering where I lived, I wasn't sure I ever would. On the 8th of May, 2012, I said "goodbye" to the family and started what would be the longest commute to work in my life! I actually doubt there are many journeys that are longer as it took me approximately 28 hours to get from my home in Sydney to the RedLynx offices in Finland.
When looking on a map, the offices are just next to a train station called Pasila and the address is Opastinsilta 8 in Helsinki. There were immediately a few issues. I had left my phone on the plane so I immediately lost all internet and GPS access, so I was quite lost. Second was the fact that I couldn't even pronounce the street, let alone know how to talk to anyone to ask for directions! When I finally arrived at number 8, and thinking that my troubles were over, it turned out that the complex the office is in has buildings from 8A to 8E, and the RedLynx office is on the 6th floor through a doorway that was unmarked! Before I describe the insides, I will leave you with one final comment, when discussing the building with Antti Ilvessuo, he was sayed that Finland is the world design capital and they take their design quite seriously.
Unfortunately, the complex that the offices were situated in was built in the 1970's and at a time where the designers thought that the bland, square buildings of East Germany were the way of the future... Turned out they were wrong, and the exterior of the building is not impressive at all. This also explains why I didn't even bother to take a picture of it :)
When I walked into the office it was another story. It wasn't until much later that I realised that I was walking into the home of a game that I loved, to meet guys that a true fanboy idolised, and I had no idea what they would be like. Thankfully, they all turned out to be a very warm and welcoming bunch and I felt right at home. Part of the relaxed atmosphere had to do with the lack of shoes.
I can't say that I've ever walked into a business of any kind and immediately been asked to remove my shoes but it was actually cool. I'm thinking of trying to bring this in at my workplace, but with limited success (it's just me!). It was a really relaxed atmosphere and the offices were exactly what I expected and I was immediately greeted with a couple of large Trials HD Banners.
If you were ever looking for evidence that the community is at the front of everybodies mind, right at the front entrance way there is a table dedicated to The Trials Community and awards. There are items here from a wide range of events/occasions from the life of Trials HD, including the awesome custom painted controller that ShiftySamurai painted for Trials HD's second birthday.
The next thing that immediately strikes you as odd (but it does seem to fit in once you get to know them) is the wrestling mat. Now this isn't tucked away in a hidden part of the studio, this is located on the side of the main hallway through the office.
Just one word of warning, If you ever enter an office that has a wrestling mat, don't be stupid enough to ask if they actually use it, it doesn't end well!
Yep, that's Antti showing me how it's done. After thoroughly beating me up, he decided to give me a short tour round the office. It was actually a small office because RedLynx is a small company, and, as you can see, they were all packed into the offices pretty tight, though this did have the added advantage of ensuring that the NERF gun battles were also accurate due to the close range.
It was also clear from some of the offices that the team really took pride in their workplace and kept is neat and tidy!
It was also cool to realise that these guys were also passionate gamers themselves. There was a fully stocked games library that anyone could take stuff from. It was great to see that they were just like us and just enjoyed games.
Once the tour was done, and I'd settled in a bit, it was time for some work and considering that this is a game developer what do you think 'work' is?
I got to do some gaming! Here is a picture of Ville and I having a go at some local supercross. Now there are two funny stories about this scene. First of all, like many of the people that have had the pleasure of talking to RedLynx developers online, you only know them by their forum names. I actually spent 2 days sitting next to Ville and talking to him and I had no idea who he was. Whats worse, I was also friends with him on Xbox Live, and had been for a month or more before my trip, but because he was introduced using his real name it wasn't until I was sitting next to him logging into his Xbox, and I saw his gamertag, that it all clicked! That was actually the hardest part for me, when you meet the team they all introduce themselves by name, not gamertag or forum name, and it was near impossible to keep track of who was who!
The other funny thing about this photo was my competition with Ville the whole time I was there. He is amazingly good at SuperCross and is basically unbeatable. However, in this photo, I was winning by a fair amount. You can tell by the look on my face (on the left) that I was happy. So, to show off, I decided to bail out to win the race only to faceplant on the finish line and have Ville win that one too! As a way to say "thanks" I decided to bring some good old Aussie food for the team to try. Aussies will immediately know what all this food is, but the RedLynx team, and I presume a number of the readers of this blog, you will have no idea. Needless to say, the team didn't go hungry and Antti got his wish of eating a Koala.
It was an amazing journey that I will never forget and to make sure, I got myself a pretty cool souvenir, a Trials Evolution flag signed by the entire development team.
Getting to meet these guys was a fantastic feeling. Everyone in the office, from the CEO, Tero all the way down to Manu, and then further down to Jesse in IT, were so great to me and just made me feel like part of the team. I will also pass on a special thanks to Tero and Antti for making all of this possible and to Ville and The great Mr. Shogun for inviting me to chill-out with them during some down time. It made me feel welcome and was nice to just relax with you guys and show you how to complete extremes! (Haha!)
I'm not sure what impression I left on them or what they thought of this Aussie bloke wandering around their office when they were trying to work, but I will seriously never forget it. I was proud to be part of this community before this. After this experience, I will be a Trials and RedLynx fan for life.
My gamertag is 'FatShady Live' so, if you ever see me online or on the forums, say "hi" and I will be more than happy to chat about this with anyone.
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