Guest Lecturer: Peter Akrill (Travellers Tales + Codemasters)

Peter graduated from the University of Bolton in 2005, finishing the Software Development course with a very respectable first. Since then he has had a lot of industry experience starting with Travellers Tales where he worked on Lego Star Wars II and Lego Indiana Jones II. After getting a few titles out he had worked on. He then moved to Codemasters (Guildford) for a radicle lifestyle change where aimed to work as a programmer (a position the industry is calling out for people). He also changed his diet which he would later explain the importance of in the presentation.

He brought a very point to my attention when judging if an animation was up to standard or not. He said instead of looking at the animated object when it's moving, look at it when you aren't supposed to look at it and see how the animator deals with stationary characters. 

He is working on Codemasters' "Bodycount", their shot at making a First Person Shooter and the spiritual successor to "Black". Although his visit was aimed to benefit the programmers the most, he had some very useful slides such as the game development cycle interpreted as all the departments working together to make a cup of tea. The most beneficial section was his "survival guide to the games industry" for all departments.

Surviving in the Industry:

• It's not easy
• Long hours
• Game ALWAYS doesn't live up to the designers expectation
• High levels of stress
• Expect mismanagement and Frustration at times

Avoid burning out:

• Work within allocated budgets
• When doing overtime, try to work on the FUN things - within reason
• Have rest days (even if the say you can't)
• Having a bad day? TAKE A REST and come back to it
• Dont be afraid to ask questions
• KNOW how to delegate
• Some cope with the crunch better than others

Staying Healthy

• Have healthy snacks in range - better work fuel
• Avoid take aways
• Exercise early in the day
• Unplug and Switch off at night, avoid TV
• KEEP A SOCIAL LIFE

As a whole the lecture was very beneficial. It was very nice to see the attention he paid to keeping a healthy life in both diet, exercise and socialising. I too recently lost weight after a life style change so it's nice to know I'm on the right track. The survival guide has laid to rest any nervousness I had before the modual started.

Guest Lecturer: David Bramhall, Vicky Rowley (Sony Evolution Studios)

Today's talk was conducted by two members from two different areas of Evolution Studios; David Bramhall (Experienced Q&A now Designer) and Vicky Rowley (Human Resources). David has worked in the industry for a while and has been lucky enough to experience working for two very recognised games companies (Travellers Tales and Sony Evolution Studios) and has worked on a range of titles such as WRC and Lego Indiana Jones II.

Currently working on Motorstorm's third installment "Apocalypse", he has been in the industry 5 years so his advice would be useful; as well as him also being a University of Bolton graduate. He followed up with how various department are split up into sub-departments such as there being more than one type of designer.

My Targeted Career Path in Departments

Q&A Testing > Jnr Designer > Snr Designer > Design Lead > Producer

Develoment Cycle for a "AAA Title"

High Level Concept > Prototype > Pre-Production > Production > 

>Alpha Phase > Beta Phase > Gold Master > Shelf

They both also enforced Nicholas Rathbone's warning about using agencies as a path into the industry and stated the same reason why to be cautious. Applying direct seems to be the best way in which to get hired. David mentioning that friends already at a company increases employment chances; he himself got one of his jobs the same way. Some bullet points on HOW to prepare for an interview ranging from before and during:

• Always remember to RELAX
• Eye contact and a smile is always a bonus
• Expect competency or situation questions so....
• DO YOUR HOMEWORK be prepared to answer and ASK questions
• Display enthusiasm, show them your passion
• Sell your best qualities
• ............Be yourself.

To wrap up Vicky mentioned the benefits of joining a major company like sony. Positives such as: Pension, Health/Income/Life Insurance, Discount, Complimentary Gifts from the company and stock are all offered to employees.

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Guest Lecturer: Thomas Hulvershorn (I-Play, Oberon Media)

Although I-Play is a worldly recognised company for the games they make, I was still very much looking forward to their talk today. They conduct a large amount of testing and speaking to us today was Thomas Hulvershorn who is a lead tester at I-Play (owned by Oberon Media). He currently works with social networking applications and manages team milestones in order to ensure the games are tested thoroughly before release.

Due to other testing commitments, I was unable to conduct the testing for I-Play so I was very keen to see the different types of testing conducted as well as his opinion on the social networking market. He opened with different testing types carried on a variety of I-Play's games. He continued to define the various types:

      -Black Box Testing
      -White Box Testing
      -Functional and Non-Functional Testing
      -Regression Testing
      -Re-testing

A lot of what he spoke about related to two aspects of my team project work with a milestone of testing upon myself and the team. Another aspect that related to team project was the mention of project methodologies such as Agile and Scrumm, which is something we as a team looked into. He moved onto Facebook games and how they "were services, not games" and how they have a long way to grow as a gaming platform.

Concluding on the lecture, a lot of it was very familiar to me due to the work I'm currently doing. I identified with it and took a lot things into consideration as testing is the first step on a path to a design role.

Guest Lecturer: Nicholas Rathbone (Codemasters)

A successful graduate from the University of Bolton. He is now currently a games designer for Codemasters UK, specialising in the creation of driving games, he has a very respectable career path so far. He has previously worked on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and is now a designer on the Colin McRae games. With such a good work C.V. and being a graduate from the university he was now guest speaking at, the advice he shared with the class proved to be invaluable for preparing to go into the industry.

As assumed the lecture was very informative for me considering I finish in January, he told us crucial tips on how to stand out with our job applications. He stated the importance for the C.V.'s quality and always reminded us that it was our "sales pitch" to the employers. Things like cover letters accompanying the C.V. when applying for a position; were really good pointers that gives the applicants a chance to express a desire to work there. In the C.V. we were told to show relevant experience in the position applied for; as well as to not to waffle to much and drown out any important information.

Nick warned against the dangers of applying through some agencies as he mentioned that some can send your C.V. to irrelevant positions or take a percentage of your salary; the best way is to go direct to a company. After getting recognised comes the interview, with a combination of positivity and advanced preparation an interview can be a breeze. We were informed to "be prepared to be tested" by interviewers as the want to know what makes you tick and why you think you'd be good for the company, ultimately sell yourself. Having prepared questions after the interview is another bonus to aiding a successful application

I identified with him a lot when he was at University studying along with balancing a job which is my current situation at the moment. During the Q/A session I asked him about the difficulty along with the benefits as my aim is to save up so I can afford to move to a preferred job. That was also his plan and how he managed to get his first job which was a critical confidence boost.

Overall a lot of food for thought given to the entire class, we were told to be individual in everything we do as uniqueness gets recognised which has made me re think my website plan and start a fresh based on what was said today

Guest Lecturer: Cameron Thompson (Angel's Den)

Cameron Thompson is a business Angel for "Angels Den". Angel's Den is a website dedicated to aiding young or aspiring people who would like to become successful entrepreneurs. Angels Den is a medium that helps investors and entrepreneurs find each other so they can do business if they suit each others requirements for doing business.

Although the lecture wasn't entirely relative to Games Design, he brought a lot of elements to my attention in case I want to start my own games company later on in my career or even fresh out of university. He firstly spoke about where to secure finance and the best place to get a good investors; depending on our preferred business direction.

Different Sources of Finance: 

    -Public sector (jobs given and has a healthy economy),

    -Banks (hard to secure funding) 

    -Business Angel/Venture Capital (investors, business experience and their own money)

In approaching these different financial sources, they're traditionally secured by having a very successful pitch to the potential investor. He gave a lot of good pointers for when it comes to making a successful pitch such as:

    -Get their attention quickly

    -Avoid technical talk

    -Condense down the business information so you don't lost their focus

    -Trust your instinct

    -BE 100% HONEST

Overall it was a lot more beneficial than I originally suspected. He always made sure that we were aware that the investors are ultimately investing in OURSELVES as much as they also invest in the business. I can understand the reason for his talk as parts of the industry is branching out into smaller companies creating the Indie Games Scene which is populated with games graduates.

Guest Lecturer: Arthur Parsons (Travellers Tales)

Arthur Parsons is a Senior Designer at Travellers Tales and has a lot of experience when it comes to developing computer games. The list of games he has worked on starts from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and progressively gets better to titles such as Lego Harry Potter. Since he has been with TT (Travellers Tales), the company has gained more and more recognition with every game release and showed it in his lecture. He now works more with the fresh talent coming into the industry and advising young aspiring designers like myself on the industry.

His relaxed attitude came as a shock to a lot of the students and the way he casually walked into the room, sat down and cut straight to the chase, informing students on anything they asked about relating to the industry.

The feedback given from him gave me more of an idea of where to start and where to aim in the industry. He also spoke about the department structure of TT ranging from Production right down to Q&A testing. Listening to Arthur has made me extend my aims to the industry as I'd like to look more into Production or Marketing in games, after reaching a design role.

He gave crucial advice on how to deal with applying for a position in a company and what to look out for, referring to the importance of C.V's, Cover letters and most importantly; how the work portfolio is delivered.

Overall a very beneficial lecture from somebody who's experience and knowledge eased a lot of my own and the class's nervousness. So far this is a very good start to the Guest Lecturers for this module.