Meet the Team: Daniel Shvarts
Welcome to another entry in our Meet the Team blog series where we highlight different members of Candlelight Games. This week, we’re spotlighting our Head of Production, Daniel Shvarts!
Daniel is the Head of Production at Candlelight Games. Before that, he worked at Pixelberry Studios as a Producer and Product Manager on Choices: Stories You Play. Daniel was the Lead Producer of many Choices books, including The Nanny Affair, Open Heart, It Lives, and Blades of Light and Shadow.
What do you do at Candlelight Games?
As Head of Production, my role is to ensure that game development runs smoothly and efficiently while delivering the best possible experience to players. If those priorities sound like a potential conflict of interest… it’s because they are! A big part of my job involves helping the team manage those priorities and maximize our team’s ROI (return on investment)—essentially, creating the highest value work for the least amount of time and effort.
On a day-to-day basis, this means doing whatever it takes to ship a great game on time and within budget!
What made you want to co-found Candlelight?
When I started working with the other Candlelight co-founders 12 years ago at Pixelberry Studios, I was still an intern and brand new to the games industry. I learned so much from them and the amazing player base we cultivated, and it was a place where I was able to grow both personally and professionally. Continuing that work with Candlelight Games was a no-brainer, and it’s been exciting to carry that passion forward into something new.
What are you most excited about in our upcoming game?
There’s so much I’m excited about!!! I wish I could share everything we’re working on, but if I had to pick just one thing, it would be the incredible level of player agency we’re introducing. We’re returning to our roots from Surviving High School, adding a layer of time management and giving players the freedom to choose who they want to spend time with and tell the story their way.
Also, I’m excited to make some music for the game!
What video game is the biggest influence on you?
Definitely Kentucky Route Zero. It’s quiet, slow, and… quite strange. What stuck with me was how deeply it made me feel connected to its characters and their journeys. It’s all about subtle choices that shape the story in meaningful, unexpected ways.
Will Spoon be in the game??
Haha I’d love to have Spoon in the game. We’re not sure if there’s going to be any dogs in the game, but if there are… Spoon will be the first one to send in her audition tape!
Okay fine, then can we at least see another photo of Spoon?
Of course!
If you want to learn more about how Daniel spends his time, check out a Day in the Life of a Producer at Candlelight Games!