Professional Skills for the Digital Age The Ultimate Guide to Success in the Game Industry & Life

Anne Chilldon was born and raised Florida and entered the game industry in November 2007 working her way up to Lead Game Designer at Gorilla Systems Inc. She has been at Volition Inc in Champaign, Illinois since June 2010 as a Game Designer.

 

 

Game Credits:

 

Saints Row: The Third – Level Designer

All Star Cheer Squad 2 – Lead Game Designer

The Clique: Diss and Makeup – Consultant

Cake Mania: Up in the Mix Wii – Lead Game Designer

All Star Cheer Squad DS – Associate Game Designer

All Star Cheer Squad Wii – Associate Game Designer

Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Clue Bender Society – Game Designer

 

 

Describe what you do at your job.

 

I’m a designer. My job consists of coming up with various parts of the game, from levels and systems, to the various things you can do in the world. I also work with other disciplines on improving the tools that we use. I work with other disciplines to make sure that what goes into the game follows with the design and get feedback and ideas from everyone on the team to make those features better.

 

How important of a role has networking played in your career and your start in the industry?

 

Networking has played a pretty decent sized role in my career. While there is always the finding out about new job opportunities, I have also learned a lot about my discipline and other disciplines as well as different studio cultures. For example, I learned about how one studio, where someone I know works at, deals with a certain issue that comes up a lot during development. I took what I knew and modified it so that it fit with the company that I was working at during that time, and submitted a proposal for a change to how our company dealt with that issue. My proposal was accepted and it changed how the entire company did development for the better.

 

How important is networking to you now that you have gained employment in the industry? Is it something you still do?

 

It is something I still do to a degree. Because of the location of my current employer, there aren’t a lot of local events and I don’t go to conferences as much as I used to. A lot of my networking is done online now. I try to keep up with the people that I have met previously through facebook and twitter. I also follow along on a lot of different mailing lists for special interest groups within the industry.

 

How did you juggle the responsibilities of school work and networking both while preparing for your career in gaming?

 

I knew that no matter how much networking I did, that ultimately it would be my skill set that would end up getting me a job, so school work always came before networking. Networking when I was in school was primarily limited to events and conferences. I would spend some time in between classes to send short emails to people I had met at an event or conference that weren’t part of school. There is a lot to be said for networking just within your classes. Getting to know your classmates and teachers really does help you out a lot. These are the people who have been with you since the beginning and they can be some of the longest lasting relationships that you may have in the industry.

 

What things did you do while a student to help give yourself an advantage in the job market?

 

I knew what my strengths and weaknesses were and I knew what I was really passionate about. I have found that this comes through in everything you do, whether it is in an interview or talking to someone you just met over drinks. This also makes people remember you over someone who isn’t sure what they really want to do.

 

How do you stay current with industry news and trends now that your work 40-50 hours a week?

 

A lot is through social media. If I’m playing a game for fun and not research, my friends are the biggest influence on what I’m going to play. I try to keep up with various blogs and news sites that I follow, though that can fall to the waist side during crunch times. I’m also a member of various special interest group mailing lists that share links to articles relevant to those groups. At my current company, there are newsgroups set up for anyone in the company to share an article or website that has interesting information for other people. For the most part, anything that shows up on facebook, my email, or the newsgroups I will more than likely see and read it, other than that it depends on my schedule at the time.

 

What is your best advice for those just starting their degrees in game development? What can they be doing while in school to best prepare for their careers?

 

I think the most important thing is to know your passions and follow them. I went to school to be a programmer and realized quickly I wasn’t passionate about programming but was passionate about design, and more specifically certain parts of design. I spent my days at school learning about programming and other parts of design, but spent my free time focusing on what I was passionate about. When meeting people in the industry, my passion for those certain aspects leaked into the conversation. It’s always fun to meet someone who is as passionate about something as you are.Networking is great, and you will hear a lot about how networking is required to get a job. Really, your ability to do the job is what will get you a job, networking will help get you the interview. But being able to talk to someone about something you are truly passionate about, that will stick out in people’s head and make them remember you.

 

What is it you love most about your jobs?

 

There really is something to be said about waking up in the morning excited to go to work. Very few people can claim that, and I am one of the few who can. My favorite part of my job is when we have figured out how we want something to go and I can get into the editor and script out the sequence. There is something magical about seeing something that had previously only existed in your head, and being able to show others exactly what you were talking about. It is my favorite part of the entire development process, when you can finally play something that you have previously only talked about.

 

Now that you are in the industry people want to network with you. How do you like to be approached? What captures your attention?

 

I think the main thing is to approach someone the way you would want to be approached. While not everyone will agree with it, it is what is natural to you and that means more than anything. Personally, I like meeting people through mentoring programs or when students ask if they can ask me questions for a school project. That is how I meet a lot of newcomers to the industry. We have people send general queries to the company asking if there is anyone who would be willing to answer questions. As long as I’m able to help without it interfering with my work, I will answer questions and such. If it is a really busy time, I will sometimes pass since it isn’t fair to the person asking questions if I can’t get to them in a reasonable about of time.As for what captures my attention, it all goes back to passion. When you are passionate about something it comes through in everything you do. I am much more likely to remember a person who is so passionate about a topic that they left a long standing impression than I am going to remember someone who just said things that they thought other people wanted to hear. I don’t particularly care if someone agrees with me, or shares the same interest as me on something, but if they get really excited and animated about something, even if it is something I normally find boring, their excitement is contagious and I will be drawn in. That is what will capture my attention.

 

What are the top 5 qualities, characteristics or skills you look for in a new hire?

 

Passion – see all comments above

Ability to think outside the box

Ability to see the big picture

Works well with a team

Shows willingness to learn new skills

 

How has working in the industry changed your perception of what you thought it would be like when you began your education?

 

I think every major stepping stone in my career has changed my perception of the industry. From school to each job, my views changed. When I was in school I never imagined it could be as wonderful as it is at my current place of employment.

 

What are the most rewarding aspects of working in the industry?

 

I think the ability to watch a game become a game and see people enjoy it is the most rewarding aspect. I remember the first major time I really saw this. A cheerleading game that I had worked on had been out for almost a year when I went to a local school to participate in their National Teach-In to tell middle-schoolers about what I do for a living. I was asked to list the games I had worked on and when I got to the cheerleading game, a girl in the second row piped up and started going on and on about how much she liked the game and what different trophies she had won inside the game. It was the first time I had met anyone who had played the game and it was possibly the most rewarding moment of my career.