Between two Ferns…

Hello everybody!

Hope you’re having the coziest of days!

It is with the utmost pleasure that I present you our friendly neighborhood plant- err I mean Technical Director of Level Design : François “Fern” Tétreault!

Hailing from Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, our loving Fern has been breathing, living, playing and dreaming of videogames basically his entire life, which spans more than twice mine, believe it or not! Well you shouldn’t, ’cause that was a lie. Though he did help create over 20 published games throughout his long career in the industry!

Although I am still unsure why he refers to himself as a vegetation, Fern is one very charming fellow that’s bound to make you smile!

You can read all about him below!

Have a good one, y’all!

– Med.

• Birthplace: St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada
• Role at Thunder Lotus: Design Technical Director
• Career story before Thunder Lotus: Web Developer/Coach, Mindfulness Speaker. Design Technical Director/Level-Designer in video games at Ubisoft Montreal (12 years, mainly on the first Assassin’s Creed brand + Child of Light) and Microids Canada (4 years).
• Favorite games? Huh?! This is too difficult to answer! I love so many kinds of games and there are so many great games out there!! Can I take 8 pages to answer?! Ok, well, if I answer real quickly, here are some games that come to my mind, even if I am sure that I will forget some! Starcraft, all Metal Gear Solid games, all games from the company Quantic Dream, the first Assassin’s Creed, the Batman series, all the Borderlands, Atom Zombie Smasher, Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons, some of the first Final Fantasy, Celeste, Commandos, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Dead Space, Dishonored, Diablo, Doom, Gato Roboto, all God of War games, Gears of War, GTA, Half-Life, Halo, Homeworld, Hotline Miami, Journey, Katana Zero, Last of Us, Limbo, Mass Effect, all Max Payne games, Mirror’s Edge, Muramasa, My Friend Pedro, N +, Ninja Gaiden, Ori and the Blind Forest, Quantum Break, Rocket League, Rogue Legacy, Shadow of Mordor, Shovel Knight, Sleeping Dogs, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Super Mario, Super Meat Boy, Supraland, System Shock 2, Zelda, The Messenger, The Swapper, Portal, Thomas Was Alone, Splinter Cell, Titanfall 2, Tony Hawk, Tomb Raider, Torchlight, Trials, Uncharted, Void Bastard, Wolfenstein, XCOM… phew… well, that was it… I told you it was going to be quick!
• Favorite book? Once again, I like a lot of books, but I especially like the one from those 2 authors: Marc Fisher & John P. Strelecky.
• Favorite music? I really like music, I use it as a tool for working, relaxing and most of my work/spare time is spent listening to music. So I would say I like EVERYTHING, except maybe country. Sorry for country fans!
• Favorite place in the universe? I’m a true believer that we are always at the place we should be… So the correct answer would be: Where I am now.
• Favorite movies/tv shows?
• –The Matrix. In its first year of release, I think I’ve watched it about fifteen times, including at least 5 at the movie theater.
• –The Shawshank Redemption. There’s something about resilience & hope in that movie and that’s why I love it so much.
• –The Usual Suspect. OH BOY!! If you have never seen this movie, YOU MUST WATCH IT NOW!!!! Seriously, you’re still here?? Come on, I said go listen to it NOW! What do you not understand ?! HAHA!
• –White men can’t jump. Being a big fan of basketball (playing it as much as watching it) this film is a classic.
• -Otherwise on the series side, I listen to a lot less tv shows than movies, but my cult series without a doubt is Breaking Bad. Walter and Jesse, what an incredible duo !!
• Favorite color? The kind of burnt yellow/orange and purple/pink the sky does on the horizon when it goes into sunrises or sunsets… I find it really soothing and beautiful.
• If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Well, it will sound too common because clearly many people would like it, but I would like to be able to stop time, so I could have all the time I want to do everything I would like to do.
• Can you play any instruments? No, not really … well I play a tiny bit of piano here and there, but having said that, there are 2 instruments that I would very much like to learn more seriously: The piano and the drums.
• What is something you learned in the last week? I just learned I was going to be a dad once again! 😀
• What’s the most impressive weather event you’ve seen? I’ve seen a mini tornado. I was in elementary school, in one of our sports classes and at one point we saw it go through the window about 700 meters from where we were, fortunately, the tornado had passed in a field and had not really caused damage.
• Radioactive spider or Vampire bite? Clearly the radioactive spider!! Come on, who wouldn’t dream to be able to climb on walls, to glide through the city by throwing webs, etc… I wonder?
• What is your favorite line from a film? From The Usual suspects: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that… he is gone.” – Verbal
• Do you have any curious facts you’d want to share? Yeah, just one thing! When I answered a question above about the fact that I was becoming a dad once again, well it was just a good joke! No, I won’t become a dad again, I just wanted to make you react! HAHAHA! I hope it worked!