Rick Saada of Flying Lab Software, producers of Pirates of the Burning Sea, sat down with the folks at Stratics to talk about PotBS, himself, and life at Flying Lab Software.

Greetings! As we begin, would you like to introduce yourself and describe your role at Flying Lab Software?

Rick Saada: I'm Rick Saada, and I wear a lot of hats at FLS.  I'm one of the founders, so I've been around since the dawn of time.  I'm also the tools developer, so I write the tools our artists and writers use to produce a lot of the content in the game.
I'm also in charge of banana bread, and baklava, and generally keeping the staff fed.

Are you an active gamer? If so, what is your favorite genre - and do you consider yourself a casual or hardcore player?

Rick Saada: I'm fairly active, but not particularly hardcore.  In addition to our game, I've played CoH/CoV, LotRO, AC, and I'm still playing WoW.  I'm an altaholic though, so I've never maxed a character. I used to be more of a single player RPG gamer, and still enjoy Mass Effect and such, but lately MMO's have stolen more of my life than I'd like to admit. I also play RTS's and 4X games, like Sims, Age of Mythology, and stuff with my kids like Viva Pinata.

I'm doing my best to raise my kids to be proper gamers, so my two daughters have their own WoW characters and Sims, and kick my butt at Viva Pinata.  Very cute but surprisingly addictive game.  My 8 year old loves it.  In fact I had to make a pinata from the game for her last birthday.  Somehow Microsoft missed the obvious marketing tie-in. Actually, it's been really fun; they have long distance playdates with their cousins across the country in online games.

Read the entire interview here.