• Kredits
• By: Hector Sanchez
Summer has officially wrapped up, and the Mortal Kombat team is ushering in the fall season with untold hours of hard work and dedication in preparation for the launch of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe!
Over the last month, while everyone, friends and families alike, was out barbecuing and trying to soak up the final rays of the summer sun, a group of talented and obsessed workers have been toiling away at their computers trying to put the finishing touches on what's been a very challenging iteration of Mortal Kombat. Challenging, I say, for a myriad of reasons. We are dealing with new characters (and what characters they are!), new hardware specifications, new gameplay mechanics, and a desire to reboot the franchise while making a huge splash on the next generation of consoles at the same time.

I've been really fortunate to be here working alongside character artists and designers, producers (What up Ed and Hans?!) and audio engineers, programmers and animators; every one a vital cog in the machine that is working towards getting this game out to our fans in time for the upcoming holiday season.

It's a humbling experience, I tell you. It got even more humbling as I began work on one of the final tasks of the game.
You see... I'm helping out in compiling and assembling the Kredits this week.
Now, the Kredits may not seem like a big deal to some people, but let me tell you this:

Every name is a unique story.

There are at least a hundred people that have dedicated the past two years of their life to this project. Untold hours away from family and loved ones, missed birthday parties and cold leftovers wrapped in the fridge waiting for them when they get home. Countless acts of sacrifice to bring our fans the best possible game we can create.

Every name is important.

The Mortal Kombat team isn't high on titles. It's not a hierarchy with a predetermined list of subservient roles. The intern trying to make a case for being brought on full time is just as important as the art lead who has been doing this for 15 years. It's the sense of ownership and accountability that is passed along and instilled in each one of the members of the team that helps motivate us internally to give the fans, the most important people of all, everything we have.

Every name is accountable.

And because of this sense of ownership, we expect excellence from every member of our team. There is no room for a lackadaisical work ethic. There are no shortcuts or easy ways out. Our programmers WILL figure out this latest tech hurdle. Our artists WILL make this arena fit in memory.
So as I sit here and begin to compile names for the Kredits, I can't help but marvel at the amount of talent that has gone into this game and how lucky I am to work alongside such great people.

In the spirit of past Mortal Kombat games, I'll be writing a developers blog leading up to the release of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. I hope to spotlight a few of the contributors to our little project and get their stories out to the fans. One thing that you'll notice right off the bat is the amount of passion the MK team has for their very own product. It's infectious to work with so many people who LOVE WHAT THEY ARE WORKING ON. It makes Monday mornings a WHOLE lot easier to deal with.

I also plan to talk about some of the day to day stuff, like working with Marketing and PR, with the Legal team and other various corporate entities, and what it's like to work on merging two billion dollar franchises (Mortal Kombat and DC Comics) together without fainting everyday like an overwhelmed fanboy. I mean, really? Batman AND Superman? Scorpion AND Sub-Zero? It's been an amazing opportunity to work on a project like this.

I really do feel like I'm living a dream. I tell people that all the time.
They continually ask, "Hey Hec, how are ya?"
"Living the dream."

Tell your friends,
:hec