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.