Rob Precious of middleware technology developer Geomerics talks to Game Careers .BIZ
Wed, 01 Sep 2010Rob Precious met David Smith from Game Careers at the Develop conference in Brighton, UK. Rob is Geomerics Vice President of Sales bringing years of middleware expertise, drawing on positions with companies such as Criterion to drive and develop global sales for Enlighten, Geomerics’ revolutionary real-time lighting technology. His advice for job seekers looking to work at Geomerics: “With Geomerics don’t be scared about what I said about PhDs, it is by far not the only criteria we are looking for. We want a mix of people with all of the skills that we need. That is some deep rooted in academia but then we need highly practical people who have game industry know how, people who have console know how. I would urge people not to be scared by that fact or that the technology is kind of the holy grail of lighting in the industry right now, but not to be put off by that. It is really just putting one foot in front of the other and making things better every day. That is the kind of people that we are looking for.” Geomerics is a client of Interactive Selection.
Ricky Haggett of Brit micro developer HoneySlug speaks to Game Careers .BIZ
Sat, 28 Aug 2010Ricky Haggett CEO of HoneySlug met David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers .BIZ at the Develop conference in Brighton 2010. Honeyslug are a small, North London dev studio who make interesting, original little titles across a number of platforms. Ricky started Honeyslug in 2008 with fellow Morpheme alumni Mark Inman and Nat Marco. In 18 months they’ve created a number of premium web and iPhone games, a budget PC game called My Pet Dinosaur, and Kahoots – a launch title for Sony’s PSP Minis channel. If you like the cut of their jib, whether it’s about current titles, press, video game jobs or work for hire, why not contact Ricky.
His advice to job seekers: “I can only really talk about my end of the industry which is a much smaller scale and team. I would say there’s never been a better time to get into making games. The amounts of tools out there like game maker, flash, and unity; there are tons of tools that make it very easy east for people to get into making games. And there is a whole world of communities out there to support so if you check out website such as indiegames.com. There are plenty of places to go to find people who can help out an get you started making games.”
Serbian finds life changing gaming job in Finland thanks to Interactive Selection
Fri, 13 Aug 2010
A further example of the reach of global recruiter, Interactive Selection. A Serbian server programmer has just saved the project of a client in Helsinki, Finland. All thanks to Howard Dee and the Interactive team in London UK. How many UK recruiters do you know who firstly has multiple clients in Finland and secondly can attract the right candidate with the right skill-set from outside the EEC?
James Brooksby of Kuju studio Double Six speaks to Game Careers .BIZ
Fri, 06 Aug 2010As a graduate with a Masters Degree specialising in Business James joined Kuju in 1995. He was quickly promoted to Project Manager for titles such as Terracide, Halcyon Sun followed by a number of important prototypes and technology experiments that led to several signed titles. He moved on to become Executive Producer, most notably leading the critically acclaimed Fire Warrior (PS2/PC/PS2Online). He was then Studio Head of Kuju’s Surrey studio, responsible for sales, forming strategies and preparing for the next generation, as well as overseeing Dark Messiah of Might and Magic multiplayer and Dungeons and Dragons: Tactics. He then “span-off” a new studio, “doublesix”, whilst delivering the critically acclaimed and award winning Geometry Wars: Galaxies. James is now leading doublesix into the bold and exciting new world of digital distribution, creating “small” and fun games more like the way they used to be made. James met with David Smith from Game Gareers at the recent Develop conference in Brighton. His tips for working at a devloper like Kuju: “Obviously, the big thing we are always looking for is talented people and don’t worry so much about what tour qualifications have been. A case in point is myself, I qualified as an engineer but went on to do art and came in through my artistic talents. So people coming in with talent that we can see and is demonstrable so make sure you do something that we can see, that is visible; it is harder for some disciplines than others. Even game designers can download certain packages or buy packages that will allow them to demonstrate their skills. You’ve got packages you can get a hold of and make some level, artists have a portfolio, and programmers can come in and be we can test their skills. But you really need to have raw talent. It’s not necessarily the courses you did at university, the main thing about university is that you finish your course, get to the end and show you can stick it out. If we get people that dropped out halfway through how do I know you are going to make it to the end of the game, and that is really important. Realistically demonstratable talent and we’ll know what we are looking for when you come.”
Guillaume de Fondaumière of Heavy Rain studio Quantic Dream with David Smith
Thu, 05 Aug 2010In 2003, Guillaume de Fondaumière joined the video game development company Quantic Dream as Chief Operating Officer. He currently is co-CEO with David Cage, the founder and creative figure of Quantic Dream, CFO and executive producer of Fahrenheit, and Heavy Rain. He was elected President of the French video game trade body Association des Producteurs d’Oeuvres Multimédia (APOM) (today Syndicat National du Jeu Vidéo or SNJV) in April 2005 and was re-elected in June 2006 for two years. He has been appointed Chairman of the European Games Developer Federation. Guillaume met with David Smith from Interactive Selection at the recent Develop Conference in Brighton, UK. His tip for joining Quantic Dream: ” We are interested in candidates that are really specialist, that own something very special, very specific that really want to develop there know how at the highest level, so that is the first thing. The second advice is play our games. Try to understand what you can bring to the studio. We are a relatively demanding group whenever we ask a candidate to come to the company we ask a lot of questions about themselves, how they would see themselves in our organisation. I would recommend them to be prepared to “pass the test” but also be themselves. It is very important for us to have people that are genuine we want to see they are passionate about what they do. We want to make sure they can really fit into an international team that is really striving for the best game.”
Andy Robson of Develop award winning QA firm Testology speaks to Game Careers
Tue, 03 Aug 2010Andy Robson has been working in QA and test in the video games industry since 1994 when he joined Bullfrog Productions and ran the department as Head of Testing, working closely with Peter Molyneux. In 1998 he followed Molyneux to work at the newly formed Lionhead Studios as the Head of Testing. During this time, Andy has worked on over 30 AAA titles spanning all platforms. David Smith from Interactive Selection met with Andy at the recent Develop Conference in Brighton, UK. Andy’s advice to prospective teters: ” “I would say the biggest challenge is getting into the industry. Testing is a good way to get a foot into the door. A lot of people think that road isn’t viable, but is a massive way into the industry. We like to give people an opportunity as there is a lot of untapped talent out there that play a lot of games in their bedrooms and in their lounges at home that don’t know they have got the skill set suited to this industry. At Testology, that is what we are really great at is giving people opportunities to get into the industry whether they have experience or not. Most of the best people come from not having any experience so we are willing to see anyone or anybody.”
Is your games recruiter commited to the recruitment or the games industry?
Tue, 03 Aug 2010
Would you prefer to trust your career to a professional recruitment consultant that does not mind which industry he works in or a recruiter that considers himself only to be working in the games industry (and ahead of the recruitment industry)? There is a way to tell! Look up the recruiter on the social media site LinkedIn and see what the recruiter has down as his primary industry? Does he (or she) consider his industry as “computer games” or “staffing and recruiting”? Interactive Selection has the best of professional recruiters but every single consultant is committed to working for the good of the games industry, not the staffing and recruiting industry. There is a difference.
Ali Bergstrom-Allen Production Head for Sony PlayStation Home speaks to WiG Jobs
Sat, 31 Jul 2010Ali Bergstrom-Allen, Head of Production for Sony PlayStation Home, met with Antonia Cullum of Women in Games Jobs at the Develop conference in Brighton. Her advice to those seeking a job in the games industry. “The games industry is massive with lots of different sides to it – production, marketing, pr, music etc so don’t just go for the obvious roles if you are not sure. Investigate as much as you can in all the levels of what you could possibly do. Once you are in, get in at a low level, get on as many training courses as you can. If you are getting in as an Assistant Producer, offer to take notes at every meeting, even if it is not in your immediate area, as you learn so much by doing this. If you don’t know what they are talking about, write it down and ask them later. That’s how I learnt. It is the only way you can learn by being in there and asking.” And apologies to Ali that technical issues have given her hair the green tinge.
Louis Castle CEO of InstantAction and TorquePowered speaks to GameCareers.BIZ
Mon, 26 Jul 2010Are you passionate about the latest and greatest web-gaming technology? Lou’s company has over 100 staff in three arms: TorquePowered.com, which sells Torque game engines. InstantAction.com, which publishes 3D games in browsers and Our Game Studio, which creates games for InstantAction and beyond.The company is constantly on the look-out for new talent in game development, engine marketing, and online project management. They hire both experts in the field and promising up-and-comers who are ready to create high quality games and engines. David Smith of Game Careers caught up with Lou at the Develop conference in Brighton, UK. Lou’s tip is “no matter what you do have some amount of editorializing that you have to do to your portfolio. I really encourage that less is more, pick your absolute best stuff, pick as few things as you possibly can that will really show your talent and abilities. When you go into an interview, go in open minded because every culture and company is different, having recruited both at Westwood and EA which have very different cultures. I see way too many times people are trying to include everything and are very methodical about approaching a job. The most important question I ask when people are coming in is what’s your future look like? Where do you want to be in a couple years and how does your personal aspiration fit in with the company and what kind of positions that company is looking to fill. Going back to why we are a great place to work, one thing we are committed deeply to is growing people and their careers and helping them move up to the next level. It has allowed me to work with some fantastic people and keep working with great talents that grow in the industry.”
Nils-Holger Henning, CCO of Bigpoint talks expansion with GameCareers.BIZ
Fri, 23 Jul 2010Successful developer and publisher of browser-based computer games Bigpoint GmbH was among the finalists at this year’s “Develop Industry Excellence Awards”. Bigpoint was nominated in the categories of Publishing Hero and Technical Innovation. Nils-Holger Henning, CCO of Bigpoint spoke to David Smth of GameCareers.BIZ about the expansion of the company. For advice on jobs at Bigpoint, Nils Holger says “To get a job in our company first of all, I think the most important thing, is creativity and of course you must have the ability to achieve something and to touch new ground. What we saw inside the company is very often you are only fixed to a very small limited space of working and you will see a lot of different areas, how games are created, how games are advertised, all of this together in the company which is developing so fast. You must be very creative, very flexible and very open for new inventions.”
