NAME: Dirk Jonker (I like my name it means King Slave)

AGE: 31

Favorite Game Genre: Simulations and first person role playing/adventure games

Favorite Program: I love Blender, the free 3-D animation program. It's free and has a very intuitive way of dealing with 3-D virtual space. And did I mention, it's free?
I don't believe in using whatever the industry standard is just because everybody else does. There are an awful lot of very talented people creating software that perform some really awsome functions and I like a varied toolbox. Plus: I dig free stuff

Alias or Nick: I mostly just go by dirk or dirkie (the diminutive form of my name in Afrikaans, not to be confused with dirkIE). I don't have much of an imagination as far as names go.

Background Information:
Dirk studied Industrial Design (product design) at the Technicon Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Unfortunately he got bored with studying after two years. He quit studying. Then he got broke and decided to get a job. He delivered pizza's, prepared art work for printing, designed art work and then did the printing himself. Then he got offered better money to design plastic formings. He engaged his little knowledge of CAD and stuck with it for two years while developing his 3-D modeling skills and then he left. Now he plays with 3-D software to see what he can do. He also acts a little in TV commercials and is interested in doing 3-D animation, a fact that led to his work on Kingdoms of War. He thinks he is pretty good at what he does, but experience has taught him that he often under-estimates his skills. He is still learning every day. He is a bit of a hippy. Not the non-bathing sort though. He is not formally employed but prefers to spend his time experimenting with different ways to make a living from his art. Dirk is also one of our top animators.