Meet Squanch - Studio Director Mike Fridley

What’s up, Squanch-heads?
We got something cool for you today.

Games like Trover Saves the Universe only get made because the people who make them are so talented and dedicated. We wanted to put a spotlight on the hardworking people that bring the games you love by interviewing them on this here blog.

This week, we’re starting with Mike Fridley, studio director here at Squanch.

What do you do here at Squanch and how long have you been doing it?

I am the Studio Director around here. I've been doing it for the last 8 months at Squanch, and I've been heading up production in games for the last 22 years.

What got you into the industry?

I was sitting in a movie theater in the late 90's and was watching one of those slideshows that plays before the trailers. A local ad came on that said "Do you like playing video games?" I said, "Yes, yes I do like playing video games". So I called them and it turned out to be an outsource QA house for Hasbro and Microprose games. That place got my foot in the door and I ended up working with a handful of people who would later move on to work with me at Bethesda.

When I started at Bethesda Game Studios it was as a designer, but I wasn't a very good as a designer. What I was actually good at was organizing people and making sure everyone is on the same page, so I kind of just transitioned in to working more as an associate producer and started up Bethesda's internal QA department. I got to work on Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and a few externally published titles for the 7+ years I spent there.

When did you decide "This is what I want to do"?

Sometime during the production of Morrowind. Once I realized that we were making something that hopefully millions of people would enjoy hit me kind of hard. Also, shortly after we launched Morrowind, we all got cost of living increases at Bethesda. I technically had already decided that I wanted to make video games for a living by then, but after the post-ship raise, I could actually afford to do it for a living. I was still making garbage money at that point, but it was just enough that I could stay in the industry and continue to chase the dream.

Do you have any nicknames? The more embarrassing the better, please.

Not really. There are so many Michaels in the world that I generally just go by Fridley. So, most of my nicknames have been bastardizations of my last name. Frid, Frids, Friddles, etc. My least favorite is Friddlesticks, so I'm sure that will really take off with the team now that I have brought it up in this blog.

What about hobbies? These don't have to be embarrassing, but follow your star.

I tinker with a lot of things. Cars, electronics, miniatures, BBQ, etc. Probably my favorite hobby, and I use that term loosely, is always going to be pen & paper gaming. I love a lot of different systems from something light on rules like Call of Cthulu, to something with a ton of rules like Aces and Eights. D&D is always the go to and I've really been enjoying 5th edition and the development of D&D Beyond.

What's your favorite video game? If it's not from Squanch then this answer might not get printed, but we'll see.

It really all depends on my mood and amount of time I have to spend. Trover is right up there and was absolutely the reason I wanted to work at Squanch. World of Warcraft is always going to be in the conversation for me because I've spent so much time in it and it is still the champ as far as polished MMO experiences go. If I had to pick one game to play on my deserted island scenario it would probably be the first Bioshock. The setting, story, systems, and moment to moment gameplay are all so perfect to me.

What are some of the important tenets of beard maintenance?

When trimming your beard, less is more. You can always trim more off, but it takes a long time to grow back a patch that you haphazardly just shaved down to the skin because you weren't playing attention.

What are you looking forward to in 2021?

At this point, I'll be happy to have Cyberpunk 2077 launch and be able be outside without anxiety overwhelming me every time I hear someone cough.