18
11
Yes I will blog here again, particularly when I talk about Android Dev, Game Project Dev, and programming of video games and robots. But for the time being; check out my latest #AltDevBlogADay posting.
Tim Closs, CTO at Ideaworks3D in London talks to Game Careers at Develop in Brighton
16
11
Tim Closs, the Chief Technical Officer at Ideaworks3D in Notting Hill, London talks to David Smith of Game Careers and Interactive Selection at Develop in Brighton. Ideaworks3D Ltd is a leading developer of mobile games and mobile applications technology. Tim had several 8-bit games published whilst still at school. He gained a Maths degree at Cambridge University before returning to the games industry. At I3D, Tim has overseen the creation of Airplay, a binary-portable solution for native applications on mobile devices. His advice for those looking to apply for a position at Ideaworks:
“If its on the engineering side, we look for people with really strong core skills. We have a gaming side to our company but its not all about games, there is a real strong technology core to what we do. We do look for people who have a strong degree in mathematics or computer science or one of the related sciences. And also some real demonstration of interest and ability outside their coursework, so a portfolio that’s purely based upon projects that are done within your course is not going to get us excited, but if you’ve done something, however small, however esoteric on your own, then that’s gold dust to be honest. Especially in today’s app store economy where you can build a Facebook game and put it up yourself, or build an android app and put it up on Android Market without any cost investment, then we are really looking for people to do that extra step as part of their portfolio.” See the full clip here:
Livingstone Hope Report Next Gen from NESTA featured on Newsnight 10 October
14
11
A report by Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology correspondent on the UK Education system and whether it is failing the Games and Special effects industries. Newsnight ran this report on 10 October 2011. See the full video report that follows:
Greg Robinson, COO & Co-founder of Connect 2 Media talks to Game Careers at Develop in Brighton
09
11
Greg Robinson, COO and Co-founder of Connect 2 Media talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at Develop in Brighton. Greg has worked within the mobile content arena since 2000. He has lead teams responsible for several ELSPA top ten games working with brands such Sonic, Monopoly, Guitar Hero and Tetris as well as launching several successful original IP’s such as Go Go Rescue Squad. Previously he has held senior management positions at iFone and Hands On Mobile Inc. He tells us what he looks for when recruiting:
“Mainly enthusiasm. When we do interview you see so many people . They come along for the job but don’t come along quite mentally prepared for what the job is. We are a highly professional company and people misunderstand what the games industry is. The games industry is a multi billion enterprise in the UK alone. Its highly professional – but we are not looking for people looking to escape from the real world. Yes its fun, and its a lot of fun, and it certainly beats working in a band, but we demand the highest professionalism. We deal with huge project budgets, high development times and costs and we can’t afford to be anything less than utterly professional. Come along, be enthusiastic, make a difference in your presentation to people. If you come across as enthusiastic, professional and have a love for the subject then you do tend to stand out from everyone else.” See the full clip here:
Rob Davis, Founder and Director of Playniac, talks to Game Careers at Develop
09
11
Rob Davis, Founder & Director of Playniac in London talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at Develop in Brighton. Rob founded Playniac and has been game designer and producer for many games productions, as well as programmer for quite a few. His games include International Racing Squirrels (Channel 4), The Big Generation Green Quiz (British Gas), Battlefield Academy (BBC History), Fashion Fixer (UKTV), Alien Farm (CBBC), Springwatch Trackers (CBBC), Kung Fu Panda The Adversary and The Field of Fiery Death (Nickelodeon / Dreamworks), The Lost Army of Fu Shi (BBC Bitesize), Feel Up (Getty Images), First Aid Action (BBC), and Survive Dickens’ London (BBC Drama).
He graduated in Computer Engineering at the University of Bristol with a thesis on artificial intelligence and created his first commercial game, a text adventure that reached number one in the UK charts, at age 14. His advice for those applying to work at Playniac:
“We like people who are passionate about games, who are knowledgeable about games. People who think beyond what they are making right in front of them, who know what the implications of what they are doing are across the whole game, so we end up with games that are very beautifully designed, very thoughtfully designed, and really high quality products.” See the full clip here:
Linda Carlson, Director of Global Community Relations for Sony Online Entertainment, talks to Game Careers
07
11
Linda Carlson, Director of Global Community Relations for Sony Online Entertainment, talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at GDC Europe in Cologne. Linda has been involved in gaming since her very first, photocopied D&D manual arrived in the mail several decades ago. Over the years, she made the transition from tabletop to online to media to industry… and now serves as the Director of Global Community Relations at Sony Online Entertainment. SOE maintains over a dozen online titles, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, Clone Wars Adventures and DC Universe Online. Whether delivering lectures at conventions, hosting SOE Webcasts as “Brasse,” (her garrulous Dwarven alter ego) or working on SOE Community Team projects, Linda is constantly inspired by the passion of the people who create and play games. “In no other field of endeavor do we see such rapid evolution of society, technology and communication,” she explains, “The gaming world is one incredible, organic social experiment, and I can hardly wait to see what’s next!” Her advice to those thinking of applying for a job with Sony Online:
“I warmly encourage anyone who is interested to contact me directly. In a nutshell, what we are looking for is passion because we are a company of gamers who make games. So passion for the product is very important, keeping in mind you may switch from product to product every year, but the joy of making things whether you are coming to the company as an accountant, or a public relations representative, or joining the community team, or if you come to us directly as a programmer or a developer of any type, we are looking for passion, so that’s the most important thing.
When you write a covering letter when you apply for a job make sure its not a farm letter, we have to know who your are. You have one chance to convey yourself, and if you blow that you are going to be lost in the sea of resumes we get. Make sure the resume is up to date and detailed. If you are coming from an artistic background or sound engineering or anything like that, make a portfolio and post it online, or if you are a programmer include examples of your code, post it online and give us the links so that we can review the cases easy for the people who are looking through 150 resumes to make yours stand out.
Understand as well that if you really want to get your foot in the door, one of the best passes to Sony Online Entertainment is to join our Quality Assurance or Customer Service teams. You start out at a fairly low wage, but it gives you direct access to everyone in the company and if you prove yourself there I can guarantee you your manager in CS or QA will recommend you for position when they come up.” See the full clip here:
Ernest Adams, a freelance games design consultant, talks to Game Careers
03
11
Ernest Adams, a game design consultant and formerly a programmer, talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at GDC Europe in Cologne, Germany. Ernest is a freelance game designer, writer, and professor, working with the International Hobo Design Group. He has served in the game industry since 1989, and is the author of four books, including the university-level textbook “Fundamentals of Game Design, Second Edition.” He was most recently employed as a lead designer at Bullfrog Productions on the Dungeon Keeper series, and for several years before that was the audio/video producer on the Madden NFL football line for Electronic Arts. Ernest is also the founder and first chairman of the International Game Developers’ Association and a popular speaker at conferences and arts festivals around the world. His website is at http://www.designersnotebook.com. His advice to games designers looking to join the industry as a first job:
“Cultivate an interest in everything. Absolutely everything and anything is useful to a games designer, whether its history, architecture, literature, art, computer programming is a useful skill even for a game designer (you don’t have to be a hardcore one), the ability to draw is a useful skill for a games designer. Learn to think, and play a lot of games… to see how they work, take them apart and think about them. Nowadays it is difficult to get a job at a large company without a college/university degree. A university degree will really help you. There are good ones and bad ones, you need to do some research to see where you are going to go. If you don’t have a university degree, a lot of companies will put your CV in the bin.”
His advice on choosing a university course: “The breadth of the program is good, if it concentrates only on programming its not a great place for a games designer to be. If it concentrates only on Art/animation then its not that good a place for a games designer to be. its better to be in a place that offers all the talents that game development requires because that way you can sample a little of each.” See the full clip here:
Another #altdevblogaday post
28
10
I was going to write another short article about the Raspberry Pi computer and some of the work I’m doing on writing a children’s manual for it. That will have to wait for 15 days, because…
…, I’d promised a friend of mine that I’d post some thoughts of his about lazy game design. The debate I hope it will open will undoubtedly improve the creativity in video games in coming years.
Have a read at:
http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/10/27/game-design-b-minus-should-try-harder/
Seb Canniff, Development Director for Sony in London talks to Game Careers at Develop in Brighton
27
10
Seb Caniff, Development Director for the London Studios of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, talks to David Smith of Game Careers and Interactive Selection at Develop in Brighton. Seb manages and guides the production discipline in the studio, as well as developing and tracking the overall studio budgets, schedules and staffing plans. This covers projects such as SingStar, EyePet, EyeToy, Digital Comics, Playstation Move franchises, as well as a number of unannounced titles.
His career in games began at Argonaut Games Plc. where he produced the first two Harry Potter games and various other titles including I-Ninja. Seb joined London Studio early in 2005 to help with the completion of Gangs of London on PSP. He has since worked on the Getaway and EyeToy Franchises and now has a full-time, cross-studio role. In his 10+ years in games, he has produced more than 10 games, which have sold more than 10 million units in total.
Prior to doing the good, honest work of making games, Seb was involved in various entrepreneurial activities, from being a record producer/club promoter and DJ, to labouring on building sites. He studied Medicine in London and has a Psychology degree from Bristol University. He makes the most of his spare time with his wife and 4 children. His advice for people thinking of applying for a production job in a company like Sony:
“For production, your CV should be immaculate…if you can’t produce a clear and coherent, and well laid out CV you won’t get past that stage. In terms of a Producer, we would particularly look for someone with a desire to get things done, a completer finisher type person. Someone with a desire to drive efficiency and make things better. A good communicator…there was big study where they found 70% of a project’s success is down to the communication skills of the project manager, and only 30% is down to their ability to write a schedule or fill out excel spreadsheets etc. Communication is very important, so the interview is very important.” See the full clip here:
Kareem Ettouney, Art Director at Media Molecule in Guildford talks to Game Careers
24
10
Kareem Ettouney, Art Director at Media Molecule in Guildford talks to David Smith of Game Careers and Interactive Selection at the Develop Conference in Brighton. Egyptian by birth, Kareem’s work displays exotic cultural influences which make it truly distinctive. The breadth and scope of Kareem’s work reflects his diverse background in interior, graphic, theatre and film set design. Kareem’s eclectic creativity found its home when he joined Lionhead Studios in 2002, where he quickly established himself as the lead concept artist. Whilst at Lionhead, he became firm friends with Mark Healey and Alex Evans and worked with them on the cult hit Rag Doll Kung Fu. When Mark and Alex left Lionhead in 2006 to form Media Molecule, Kareem was their first and natural choice to join them as a co-founder. Kareem has been absolutely instrumental in the iconic look of Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet franchise. His advice on getting into the games industry:
“Be unique – we see a lot of CVs but the people we would like to meet are the people who show their won uniqueness, who are not shy. They are not trying to hide their uniqueness by being some generic own sort of… trying to satisfy everybody, just satisfy yourself and present yourself to the maximum capacity you can. Also, we really appreciate all the extra work that someone would do…if you have a showreel or a test, its nice to feel that the person didn’t only follow the brief, they have their own brief that is much more impressive than the one they were given. We all use the jobs to express ourselves and do our thing, its very important that that comes across. We love individuals and that’s the thing that makes them stand out.” See the full clip here: