Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review – Peter Akrill (Travellers’ Tales, Codemasters)

Peter Akrill is an experienced programmer currently working at the Codemasters studio in Guilford. After graduating from University back in 2005 (receiving a First in Maths + Computer Software and Development), Peter moved to Travellers’ Tales where he worked in production management on titles such as Bionicle Heroes, LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones. After deciding he wanted a change, Peter later moved to Codemasters to pursue his strongest area in the industry, programming.

Peter came back to the University of Bolton today to give advice on getting into the industry, how to survive when in industry and what items should be considered for our online portfolio. I attended this lecture today and found Peter to be a very interesting and entertaining character, giving some fantastic inside advice on how a game company operates and how to work long hours while still living a healthy lifestyle.

Peter began by stating the companies he’d previously worked for and what titles he’d worked on. Currently, Peter and his team are working on an upcoming First Person Shooter title named ‘Bodycount', a spiritual successor to the ‘entirely destructible environments’ shooter on the PS2 and Xbox, Black. After watching trailers for Bodycount at the time of E3 this year and after seeing it make Gamasutra headlines from time to time, it was very interesting to hear what Peter had to say about the team working with it and what his roles (gameplay programmer) involve.

Moving on from what games he has worked on, Peter went into more depth about how Travellers’ Tales and Codemasters operate; listing what toolsets and languages programmers at both companies work with. While programming is not my area of profession, if I wish to be a designer it’s always good to know how other areas of the team work, know how they feel towards designers and what programs and languages they use. Peter mentioned that his personal gripe with designers was that they usually have a tendency to change things half way through a project, asking for something programmers had previously worked on to be altered or removed entirely. Peter requested we always try and keep to the design documents as much as possible to save programmers and artists extra work; something I’ll definitely keep in mind for the future.

Following this, Peter listed lots of different areas of a games design team and stated their roles and what software they use. Obviously, programming was Peter’s strong point here- though it still remained very interesting to hear his views on all of the different areas of a team. Find below Peter’s information given for designers;

Designer;
- Has the overall vision of the project.   
- The ‘go to’ person for features.             
- The main cause of frustration! (for programmers.)

Finally, to end the lecture Peter gave some advice on staying healthy while working within industry. As programmers and designers generally tend to spend a lot of time in the office both day and night, it’s important not to slip into the habit of buying takeaways every night and to keep both a healthy body and mind. Peter suggested taking ‘rest days’ when needed and if any overtime is performed on free will, make sure to do the fun stuff while out of work hours. It’s also good to keep healthy snacks around desk areas, such as either fruit or nuts.

I felt the lecture today was both informative and fun, with seeming both a generally nice guy and a hard worker both in and out of industry hours. The most important quote I’d like to take away from the lecture would be the following;

“Remember, if you implement a feature badly people will notice. If you don’t implement a feature at all, no-one will know. Make sure features are polished before adding in more!”

http://www.ponderingpete.co.uk

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - David Bramhall, Vicky Rowley (Sony Evolution Studios)

Two key members of the Sony owned development company Evolution Studios attended the University today as part of the final year Games Business module. David Bramhall, a designer / Q&A veteran who has previously graduated from Bolton University and Vicky Rowley, a HR specialist, both performed a presentation covering such items as; what jobs are available at Sony, how the company is structured, their roles / experiences within the industry and what can be done to help students improve both CV's and Portfolios.

I attended this lecture and felt that the talk covered lots of useful information on how we're able to get into the industry, with David sharing his story, the problems he faced and how he dealt with the situation. Alongside this, we were also given some good insight into one of the biggest first party development companies on the market, a very exciting opportunity for anybody interested in the industry.

David began speaking about his journey through the industry, his first position being a Q&A tester at Sony on the WRC series, then moving to Travellers Tales and working on LEGO Indiana Jones II alongside Arthur Parsons before eventually moving back to Sony again and working on upcoming PS3 title, Motorstorm: Apocalypse. David's challenges and positions in the industry were very similar as to what I wish for mine to be, making his talk on past experiences both interesting and relevant.

After this, David went on to speak about company structure and the roles of several different departments; Coders, Art, Design, Animation, Producers and Q&A. Both him and Vicky both stressed how important it is to understand that each of these areas are split up into many different roles (for example, Design having Game Directors, Lead Designers, Designers, AI Riggers, Level Scripters, Interface Designers and Level Designers.) Each individual should know what role within industry they're aiming for, such as mine being that of Designer (and maybe even one day, Lead Designer!)

Next, the 'requirements' of a designer and Q&A tester were given, something I hope to keep in mind throughout both applying for a job and when in industry;

Designer;
- Ability to communicate on a good level.
- Excellent writing skills.
- Broad technical knowledge.
- Can willingly take criticism.
- Excellent knowledge of games.
- Good presentation skills.
- Is passionate about their work.

Q&A Tester;
- Strong writing ability.
- Learns from the best.
- Proactive and passionate.
- Can identify the games problems / areas correctly.

The average life cycle of a game was described next along with the various stages of development. David explained, as you'd expect, the life cycle of a game varies depending on both the title and the studio creating it.

For the final part of the presentation, Vicky spoke about how to contact game development studios in regards to jobs and what they'd expect to see along with the application. CV's and Cover letters were discussed, with CV's being three pages maximum and being specifically tailored to each role applied for in the industry. The cover letter is to be one page maximum and compliments the CV, starting with an interesting opening line and containing information on why the job position / company excites you along with facts about yourself.

Interviews were the last topic of discussion, with Vicky going talking about how interviewee's should dress and what they should bring along to the meeting. As with the Codemasters guest lecture, the importance of doing research into the company beforehand and having questions prepared was heavily mentioned.

I very much enjoyed the presentation today and felt it was a fantastic insight into the studio and how they operate. Going by David's previous experience and due to the close links between the company and Bolton University, it's highly likely I'll find myself applying at Evolution Studios in the future and I very much look forward to doing so.

http://www.evos.net/

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Thomas Hulvershorn (I-Play, Oberon Media)

Thomas Hulvershorn is a lead game tester at Oberon Media owned company, I-Play. Working with downloadable PC titles such as Womens Murder Club 4 and social networking applications such as BubbleTown, Thomas manages project milestones and works as part of a very close knit team to help add final touches to I-Play's games and get them released on time.


Thomas recently attended the University of Bolton to give a guest lecture on his current role in the industry, what it entails, the benefits it creates and how post-graduates are able to get into it. After previously working alongside Thomas by doing some voluntary testing on I-Play's latest title, Dream Day Wedding, I felt the talk would be relevant to my interests and hoped to learn even more about a role I'm most likely going to be looking to pursue nearer to the end of my time at University.

Thomas began the lecture speaking about the sort of downloadable PC titles that I-Play create and how they go about testing them. Different types of 'test lingo' were mentioned, with Thomas explaining the meanings of Functional Testing / Non-Functional Testing, Black Box Testing / White Box, Testing and Regression Testing / Re-Testing. An overview of Thomas' teams project methodologies was also given, with I-Play using a mix of both Agile and SCRUMM, similarly as to with we handle our Team Project work.

Facebook games was the next topic of discussion, with Thomas giving his views on how they've both affected the industry and how he feels his company can further make use of them. Two interesting quotes given by Thomas on this subject were; "Facebook games are services, not games!" and "Facebook games are like an infection, and their testing process is completely different than with normal games." I found his insight into Facebook games very interesting and definitely agree it's a fantastic opportunity to further expand the games market.

Further detail was given into testing processes, with the Funnel Analysis process and the BCS / ISTBQ being explained. Funnel analysis was interesting, displaying the amount of users who install a title on Facebook up until the users who go through with micro-transactions. Thomas gave some rough figures, stating on average around 10% of people who install a game on Facebook will actually play further than the first level. Some insight into how I-Play handle risk assessment and time management was given next, processes that were all too familiar to me after working with two team project modules at University.

Overall, I thought the lecture with Thomas gave much useful information on both social networking games and the role of a games tester. I hope to further aid I-Play and volunteer once again as a student tester when needed.
 

http://www.iplay.com/index.aspx?GEO=ROTW

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Bruce Fitter (University of Bolton)

Bruce Fitter is a web designer / artist and general business enthusiast currently lecturing at the University of Bolton. With plenty of experience in many different business fields, Bruce has much advice to give and many stories to tell regarding his previous endeavors in the games industry, film industry- and pretty much everything else.

After an unfortunate twenty minute delay at the beginning of the lecture leaving students thinking it had been cancelled, Bruce turned up and proceeded to talk about his business experiences. Immense detail was given regarding what jobs he's covered, how he's handled his money and what contacts he's made, to name a few. It all seemed quite interesting, with Bruce taking opportunity after opportunity and openly sharing his experiences along with his opinions.

While defiantly not the path I wish to go down, Bruce spoke about setting up your own business and what it entails. The definitions of several different business types were given ( Sole Trader, Limited Company and Partnership) were given along with what differences they have. Business Plans were mentioned, harking back to Cameron Thompson's guest lecture a couple of weeks before. Bruce explained that a Business Plan can serve a variety of purposes, showing how your company works, what your business is doing and where it is going.

We were also given an insight into different types of finance, with definitions given for finance sources such as loans, grants, family & friends, banks, profit & loss, balance sheets, cash flow, business angels and venture capitalists.

While not the most relevant lecture considering I do not wish to get too much into the business side of games or set up my own company, I enjoyed the lecture and it's always good to receive advice from an industry veteran.


http://www.bolton.ac.uk/

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Nick Rathbone (Codemasters)

Nicholas Rathbone is an experienced games designer (in Car Handling) and is currently working at a Codemasters studio in the UK. Once graduated from the University of Bolton back in 2008, Nick found his first position in the industry at Climax Studios where he found himself working Wii title, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

Nick recently returned to the University of Bolton to give a guest lecture on becoming a games designer, discussing what work to expect, how development studios operate and also the steps he took to get into the position he is now. I saw this as a fantastic opportunity to further learn about my profession so happily attended.

I found the lecture to be extremely useful in that I could relate what Nick was saying to myself, being currently in the position he was two years ago. Ideas of what developers are expecting to see in terms of CV's, cover letters and portfolios were given alongside tips on what the best methods of creating them are. Nick backed up some items Arthur Parsons mentioned in an earlier lecture, discussing how to make CV's unique and how it can help attract a designers attention.

We were also given an insight into how a graduate secures a place in industry, how to manage any financial problems we may encounter and also what studios to contact and by what means. Nick spoke on the topic of interviews and how to handle the immense pressure some studios put graduate designers under, requiring interviewee's to think up game mechanics and plan out level designs in short amounts of time.

I feel the most important piece of information to remember from the lecture was to always be prepared. If I'm going to contact a studio and apply for any position, always research the studio and its heads, then send a copy of my CV, a unique cover letter, a link to my website and my portfolio on disk.

After the lecture I managed to get some one on one time with Nick to discuss the course and my portfolio / CV. Nick gave some good feedback on both, mentioning what I could alter and improve. This led to a complete overhaul of my CV, of which can be found in the downloads section on my website.

I very much enjoyed the lecture with Codemasters and felt some valuable information was given regarding the possible routes graduates can take to secure a place in the industry.

http://www.codemasters.com/?territory=EnglishUK

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Cameron Thompson (Angels Den)

 

Cameron Thompson is one of the heads at Angels Den, a website set up to help aspiring entrepreneurs meet up with keen business investors. The website, as described by Cameron, acts in a similar manner to a dating agency, helping two people come together in order to set up a business and market a product.

Cameron took time out of his schedule working at Angels Den today to give a lecture at the University of Bolton, which I attended.

The lecture focussed heavily on how to go about setting up your own business, with some fantastic advice given on how to deal with potential investors and what paths to take financially. Cameron spoke about Angel Investors and what appeals to them, suggesting that students research any potential investors backgrounds and studying their likes / dislikes before meeting up.

More advice was given on what to do when pitching an idea to investors, being told to always speak about the truth and to talk in a manner investors can understand- not being too technical. The 'touchy feely' parts of a business proposal were also discussed, with Cameron speaking about several items investors usually enquire about and why such questions are asked (for example; where you live, if you have any family, et cetera.)

I felt the lecture today consisted of lots of useful advice and quite a few items of interest (such as how to speak to potential investors) I should keep in mind for use in future endeavours.

http://www.angelsden.co.uk

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Arthur Parsons (Travellers' Tales)

Arthur Parsons is an experienced Games Designer at Travellers Tales, designing and working on such titles as Muppet RaceMania, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and most recently, LEGO Harry Potter. As a part of TT Games effort to become more involved with junior and graduate designers, the University had set up a guest lecture with Arthur in order to give final year students an idea of how a design team operates and to also give advice on how to secure a place in the industry.

I attended this lecture and felt the talk not only included some vital advice on how to deal with interviews and portfolios, but it was also very exciting to hear an experienced designer give his take on both game graduates and the industry as a whole.

Advice was given on what to expect once post-graduates enter the industry, covering the roles of Designers, Programmers, Artists and Sound Engineers. An important item of discussion to keep in mind was that potential employees need to be realistic with their way of thinking- you may not necessarily end up working on your dream game, though by acting sensibly and loving the brand, its good experience and youll constantly learn new skills.

It was once again mentioned that Q&A is a fantastic way of starting off in industry, with Parsons sharing his own story as a games tester and how it lead him to where he is today. Advice was also given that students should act keen when it comes to the industry, contacting developers and requesting if its possible to tour the studio. Not only would this be an interesting trip to take, but also would be good to include on CVs as it gives us a first-hand look at how a design team operates.

Talk was also made on the subject of releasing titles on time and cutting content, with Parsons making us aware of the sometimes difficult partnership with publishers.

I felt the talk today was very motivating and I look forward to any further guest lectures the University has lined up.


http://www.ttgames.com/