Professional Skills for the Digital Age The Ultimate Guide to Success in the Game Industry & Life
Grant Shonkwiler
Producer, Epic Games
Raleigh, North Carolina
Blog: www.gshonk.wordpress.com
I’ve been making games since I was 12 years old when I thought I could design a game for Sony to top Pokemon; the game was entitled Pokemon Killer, it never came to market. After high school I went to Full Sail University where I got a Bachelors degree in Game Design and Development. Right out of school I started working as a programmer for Megatouch Games, a casual game studio in Philadelphia. After a year I became a designer at the company, eventually ending up as Lead Designer shipping 50+ titles at the company. While in Philly, I helped run the IGDA chapter, as well as co-founding VGI Philly and Philly Game Dev. I then accepted a job as a Technical Producer at id Software in Dallas. Where I helped finish up Rage, and am currently working on the next big thing. I also help run the Dallas Chapter of the IGDA as well as GameDevDrinkUp. I’m also a rugby nut, so if you see a guy at a game conference with a rugby jersey on, that is probably me. Read more here!
March, 2014
February, 2014
January, 2014
Anne Chilldon
Game Designer, Volition
Champaign, Illinois
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. Read more here!
Elbert Perez
Technical Producer, Microsoft Game Studios
Seattle, Washington
Website: www.occasionalgamer.com
April, 2014
June, 2014
Nicholas Lance
Game Designer, Naughty Dog
Santa Monica, California
For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to make games. My passion for games lead me to pursue Game Design in both undergraduate and graduate studies. In school, I pushed to learn as much as possible about theories of game design. This lead to a variety of projects exploring various aspects of game design. After graduation, I pursued a career in video games. Starting as a Producer, I quickly found myself longing for the creative freedom I had experienced during my college years. After a year and a half in the industry and a variety of games shipped, I made the move to design and have never looked back. I now work as a Design Scripter for Naughty Dog, where I put my technical design background to use crafting unique experiences for gamers.
August, 2014
Honorary Nerds
