Andrew

Designer

Andrew has many interests. Chief among them is destroying lesser beings in RTS games.

Equal parts self-proclaimed mountain giant and supercomputer, Andrew Brownell loves working for Red 5 as a designer.

His career to date’s been a storied one. After leaving school, he decided that his love of gaming could—and should—translate into a job, so he got a job at Blizzard Entertainment as a QA tester during the production of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. We’re proud to have him as part of “The Tribe”.

In his free time (no, really—he swears he has some), Andrew enjoys destroying lesser beings in RTS games and seeing the more interesting parts of the planet with his wife, Kristin.

Q: What was the first game you just couldn’t stop playing?
A: I was wonderfully addicted to Warcraft III, and have played around ten thousand games of it online. There were many nights where I should’ve gone to bed about one, two, or eight hours earlier, but I would find myself playing that 17th consecutive solo or team match. I was a big believer in the gamer’s eternal motto: “Just one more game”.

Q: What was your childhood dream job?
A: When I was growing up I wanted to make games … well, that, and the whole “take over the world” bit. But seriously, if I could somehow go back in time and tell my childhood self about my Red 5 job, there would be some major high-fiving going on. WOOT!

Q: What was your favorite toy growing up?
A: I loved building ridiculously large space bases out of my Legos. I was all about making major pieces detachable, so I’d make cars and ships that could break off and attack my enemies. I never found those enemies, mind you, but my base was so ready, let me tell you!

Q: What is the best hand you have had at poker and lost?
A: I was holding pocket threes in the big blind in a nine-handed ring game online. The preflop action limps around, and I check. Five players see the flop which is a king-four-three rainbow. I check-call a bet made by a middle position player. The turn brings another four. I check-raise my betting opponent, and he calls. The river is the case 3. My opponent and I get all-in and my quad 3s lose to my opponent’s quad 4s.