The first pitch for Kerbal Space Program was humble: you'd just build a rocket and see how high it could get before crashing back to the ground, then do it again.

'So that's how it went.' He's still baffled by that decision, but assumes that Squad's leaders were also tired of the grueling advertising business and thought it was worth trying something new. If you stay with us, we'll let you make your game,' Falanghe remembers.

So he walked in one day determined to quit. He didn't like advertising, and the nonstop pace of the work was grinding him down. After taking a job at Squad straight out of college, essentially desperate for whatever he could get, Falanghe quickly found the work depressing. If you ever thought that it was strange that a marketing company with no videogames under its belt created one of the most important PC games of the decade, well, you're not alone-Falanghe thought it was strange, too, and he was the one who worked there.

The unlikely origins of Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal space program free play