Tomáš Kozlik was born in Veľký Krtíš, in the south of Slovakia. He worked on Mafia III at 2K Czech before he joined Warhorse Studios shortly after our Kickstarter campaign in early 2014 where he became our Senior Animator. Part of his job is to get his colleagues animated to work. 
Do you have any additional questions to Tomáš Kozlik? Just ask here.
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.
1) Where can we usually find you lurking in the holy halls of Warhorse?
My table occupies the far western corner of the animation & character art office.
2) When did you join Warhorse Studios?
I joined Warhorse basically immediately after 2K Czech closed down its Prague offices. There were a few of us who made the same decision, and at one point, there seemed to be an influx of former 2K Czech employees that came into Warhorse Studios. Even the famous Lubos used to work there.
3) Which job would you not want to do?
A Tester. I definitely would not want to be a tester. I do not envy their job description. To be really good, you have to be quite proficient in programing and have knowledge of other gaming related professions as well. All your friends may think it’s easy because all you do is play video games and eat pizza all day long. Furthermore, your job description is basically to dig into other peoples’ work and to point out their mistakes, which can tick people off. That being said, I absolutely respect the guys who chose this as their job; they are really good at it. It’s hard work and a good Q&A team can really make or break the game.
4) Please describe one of your colleagues or your department:
There are many talented people in our studio. One person that stands out for me is Jan “Jabba” Zamecnik. He’s technically part of the animation team, although we sometimes joke that he’s his own department. It’s very hard to describe what his profession is, because he’s an animator, a scripter, a character artist, a tools programmer, a designer and who knows what else, all at the same time. Seriously, go ask him about a game related problem that you’re unable to solve; he had the solution figured out five years ago. At the very least he’ll have an opinion. A huge chunk of learning the ins-and-outs of game animation got way easier because I’ve worked with him.
5) Describe your usual day at the studio?
My usual day starts with my first morning cup of coffee and it ends with a fourth or fifth cup of coffee in the afternoon. I often occupy first place in our coffee consumption leaderboards. In between the coffee drinking I animate, resolve bugs, supervise mocap shoots or act on the mocap stage myself with an occasional philosophical debate with my colleagues sprinkled here and there.
6) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
I’ve been part of the combat team right from the start so the combat is the biggest feature that I’ve worked on. I took part in a combat workshop and supervised the mocap shoots with fencers. Over time, I became so involved with fencing that in the end, I was entrusted to record some of the motions myself. Towards the latter stages I recorded some of our special moves that require two characters being recorded at the same time. We had a proper fencer performing the cool, special-move, and I was the one being punched in the face.
7) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
I love that you can fight with a halberd. It’s much more badass than all the other weapons and when you see a guy in a full plate armor wielding a halberd, you know you’re in trouble. I think that one turned out very well, although it was quite a challenge to get it working in a system designed primarily for the longsword.
8) How, when and with what game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
I believe the first game I played was some kind of Robocop themed platformer. I was probably five or six at the time and my dad brought a laptop home from work. It blew my mind, although I’ve never played it since. I tried searching for it, but none of the games I found resembled anything that I can remember and I was also very young. For all I knew, it might have been a text editor that I mistook for a game.
9) What was your saddest, video game moment?
When they captured Uncle Pey’J in Beyond Good and Evil. I know it fits the drama arc of the whole story, but it took me a couple of hours to get over it and to accept Double H as a replacement of Pey’J.
10) Are there any videogames you repeat playing over and over again?
Yes, it would be Icewind Dale (the first one). I love the atmosphere and the visuals of it. I’ve always been a fan of Dungeons AND Dragons and having a PC game based on D&D was a blessing. I need to install it again when I find some spare time.
11) What game have you been really looking forward to but turned out to be a total disappointment?
I’m aware of the inflammatory nature of this subject, but for me it was Planescape: Torment. For me, the second word describes my player experience. This game was hyped by my friends so much, it felt like they were getting paid for it. I was very excited when I installed the game. It wasn’t 5 hours later until I realized that I had read a ton of flavor text in dialogues, I hadn’t progressed a single inch in the story line, and I couldn’t remember any useful information. However, I did read a lot about how different the Planes are arranged though. I compared my experience with my friends to see if I was playing it wrong, but I really wasn’t. They just forgot to tell me that most of the game, especially at the beginning, consisted of reading inconsequential flavor text. I uninstalled it with the sad thought that this would be the only D&D based game that I’ll never be able to enjoy.
12) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
Just hanging out with my wife and my daughter doing all sorts of silly things. My daughter is two-and-a-half years old and she’s able to turn any day into the best day of our lives. Whether she falls asleep watching movies or playing board games with my wife, I’m able to relax and enjoy the day.
13) Do you have a personal story?
My wife used to be my colleague at 2K Czech and now we’re both working at Warhorse. I never thought I’d marry a coworker, but I guess love doesn’t care about your thoughts. She’s a talented character artist and she manages to work from home while taking care of our little one as well. For that, I admire her eternally.
14) Your travel tip?
Go visit Crete. Take a tent (or don’t. It doesn’t rain there anyway), rent a car and just drive around the narrow roads in the hills. I guarantee you will be stopping every five meters for some, “honey we have to take a picture of this view” moments. Pro tip: take a two-year-old kid with you. If you don’t have your own, borrow one from your friends. They’ll be thankful for the much needed free time and you’ll have at least ten times as much fun exploring all the things you never thought could be interesting. Everybody wins!
15) What’s your guilty pleasure?
I listen to Lana del Rey, when I have too much and find myself working till late hours. There, I said it.
16) You have to fight in medieval times… who are you? Which weapon do you choose?
Knowing my luck, I’d probably be the guy, who gets a blunt spear and armor, that’s missing a helmet. So in short, I’d be dead.
17) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
I’d like to thank all of you guys for the continued support. If the game turns out at least half as good as all of you believe it will, it’ll be awesome to the moon.
Do you have any additional questions to Tomáš Kozlik? Just ask here.
Someone already asked me why he doesn’t hear that sound he’s used to. But some other people liked this approach. We try to stay as realistic as possible as long as the gameplay’s not affected.
