Who are you, and what do you do?
I’m Michael Brough. I’m an artist. My main artform is video games: I often do all the parts myself (from design to drawing to programming to vocals to marketing) but sometimes collaborate. My current project is a collaboration with my wife Tara - a musician. I also dance and brew potions.
What do you use to get the job done?
I mostly work from home - though for a couple of years until quite recently I was sharing an office with a few engineers and architects. We’ve recently moved out of the city now so it’s a home office again. I’m in recovery from a major illness that took away my ability to work, and the shared office was a great environment for getting back into it because the guys there had excellent focus. Now I’m able to keep that up myself again.
My main work computer is a Mac Mini. I got it second-hand at a good price, and it works well. We have it set up on a low table, where we sit or kneel on the floor. It’s shared with Tara: she has a couple of keyboards and headphones set up there, and her bass. I’ve got an electric guitar, and we have some percussion instruments lying around too, so it’s starting to look like quite a music studio. The room is really messy and full of boxes we haven’t finished unpacking since moving, and the workspace will be better once we get around to that.
My secondary computer (for when travelling or when the main one is in use) is an embarrassingly shiny gaming laptop with PREDATOR emblazoned across it in glowing lights. This is a great machine. It was a given to me by a friend whose company had it spare. He heard my old laptop was dying and I couldn’t afford a replacement. The support I’ve received to get me through these challenging times has been astounding.
I mostly test on a cracked old iPad, an old iPhone (from the same friend!), and a Steam Deck that my publisher got me so I could work on controller support.
I used to draw on an old Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid I’ve had for many years but sadly it’s getting increasingly difficult to connect it with anything: I can still draw on it but I don’t have a good way to get the files off it when I’m done.
On the software-side, these days I’m working in Godot and I’m very happy with it. It has everything I want from a game engine, it runs well, it’s in active development and the choices that they’re making all seem to make good sense. For drawing I mostly use Aseprite, some custom tools, and Clover Paint on the Wacom tablet. For sound I use Goldwave and Ableton Live.
Time outside in nature is an integral part of my workflow. Lots of problems get solved on a walk. I used to use the Fife Coastal Path; these days it’s Costa da Caparica and the occasional trip to the forests of Sintra.
What would be your dream setup?
The time I was most productive was living in Scotland from 2011-2015. My dream setup would be pretty much to go back to that! It’s mostly a matter of life/lifestyle factors, not tech (although I would also love for the tech to continue working over time more reliably!).
I’ve identified some key factors. As I mentioned, time in nature is a big one: hence our recent move to be nearer the coast, which is helping!
Others were:
- A team of creative game developers (Lucky Frame) nearby in Edinburgh who I would hang out with. (They’re also no longer there.)
- The supportive UK indie scene, with jams and chill game events in reach. (Which is still there and still supportive I’m just far away! Portugal doesn’t have as much but also I’ve had less capacity to get involved in what there is.)
- A thriving online community, back before social media turned into such a hellscape. (But again I myself have just been less able to keep up.)
- A local social group not oriented around games.
Because I’m in such a different place in life (being a parent and recovering from this illness) and so many of the people who were a big part of my time there have moved on, it’s unlikely that simply moving back would return to what was so great for me there - even if we could manage to sort out the visas to do it. But we do think about trying it out to see how it goes. Otherwise it’s a matter of understanding what was working well then and bringing that into my life in the forms that make sense now: which I do feel I’m making some progress in.
I’d also like a second monitor, an office with space to fit that second monitor, a house with a garden, and to get the iPad’s screen fixed.