Karthik ‘Karnage’ Chokkaram was lucky that we saved him from that place up north (some people call it Michigan). But that doesn’t explain why they call him Karnage.
How did you get the nickname Karnage?
I am not entirely sure, I showed up at a local bar one night and everyone was calling me Karnage. I presume it is because someone found my name difficult to pronounce. It could also be that I am not very nimble and I am more likely to accidentally destroy something in my path then leave it completely untouched.
How did you get started with Game Development?
The truth is I never really wanted to get into game development and I actually avoided getting any specialization of it in college. I guess my story is kind of backwards. It was Game Development that got me into programming.
The first program I ever wrote was a game. I was bored out of my mind in my sixth grade math class, and I was messing around with the TI-82 calculator that I had borrowed from the school because my parents wouldn’t buy me one. I had no idea how to program or even knew what programming was. I started messing with random commands, not knowing what any of it did. Eventually I figured out enough of the commands to make a really rudimentary slot machine game. Over the next couple of years I took whatever available computer courses my school had. That led me to make several more games like a side scrolling shooter and pac-man.
What kind of work did you do before coming to Blue Frog Gaming?
Nothing really, I was fresh out of college and only had a few internships and research positions. I interned at Toyota and did research in Bioinformatics and Biometrics. The Bioinformatics research dealt with isolating genes responsible for diseases related to the eye. The Biometrics research was a program for the FBI that could match tattoos from surveillance video to an existing database of tattoos.
What projects have you worked on at Blue Frog Gaming?
I have worked on Spades HD, Hearts HD, Hearts Multiplayer, Polar Puzzles, Pop Dat, Ghost Chicken, Starfleet Commander, Stardrift Empires, and an undisclosed title.
What’s the biggest design challenge you’ve been faced with at Blue Frog Gaming?
All the different languages/technologies I have had to master since starting here. All five of the game families I have worked on have used completely different technologies.
