Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Robin Silcock Chats About Her Career As A Game Designer
Interviewers note:
I had the pleasure of interviewing Robin Silcock about how she got into games art and design and what a typical day for a game designer would be.
When did you become interested in games art and design?
My first gaming experiences were playing Tony Hawk skating and Golden Eye with my brother at an early age. We have an 8 year age-gap and video games were a much-loved bridge between us at what can be very different ages (picture a 7 year old with a 15 year old), and they still are today! I became more interested in them as media when I attended an open day at NUA, and heard Marie-Claire speak on their artistic and cultural potential, and from then on I was hooked on the topic.
What qualifications did you get?
I graduated this summer with a First Class BA (Hons) in Games Art and Design from NUA.
Are you a gamer or an artist first?
That's a hard question to answer as my degree successfully blurred those lines for me, but I would say at my heart I am a lover of games. I do not play them in a conventional way however, and that is where I think the artist and designer in me shines through. I for example like to explore in the opposite direction of wherever the game is encouraging me to go in order to find out what might be hidden, or spend a good 10 minutes examining an ornate window frame or rock formation to see how it was made, often right in the middle of a game-sequence.
Are you a programmer as well as a games designer?
Sadly programming does not come naturally to me, but I am trying to learn all I can, and at least develop a good understanding of programming for games (even if I am never able to 'write' code) so that when I am working with a team, I understand their potential and their constraints.
Is there a particular area of game design that appeals to you most?
I am fascinated by how virtual worlds in games can create new experiences for people. They develop keen attachments to characters from a game, or a place in a game. Virtual tourism through gaming is another interesting topic, supported by the pain-stakingly re-created historical worlds seen the Assassin's Creed series. I remember virtually visiting the Colosseum, and then visiting it in person the following year - picking out features I had learnt from the game, and comparing the versions of it I knew.
Another personal intrigue of games for me is their potential for re-creating memories and experiences virtually. For my final degree project I re-created my childhood kitchen from memory and a few reference photographs, filling the virtual space with emotionally-charged objects such as my childhood teddy bear, and my childhood drawings decorating the space, having scanned them into my computer to use.
Some people say that to be a game designer you must have a love for video games, is this true?
I would say that the industry demands passion in what you do. You cannot be a ‘kind of interested’ person, and do well at your job in the games industry. That is not to say that you have to be passionate about games specifically in order to be a good games-designer. Many students of architecture, film, animation, psychology and more find a passion in interactive design and games design for various backgrounds, and ultimately, you should want a varied group of people contributing to a game’s design to make it really something special.
What is a typical work environment like for a game designer?
The work environment for a games designer or artist varies vastly depending on the size of the company that they join. Each company has its own office-culture, and if you join a small company you could well be doing more than one role within the development team. In a much larger company, you could be providing one very specific part of a much larger process.
What is a typical day for a game designer?
My advice would be to research the company you would be thinking of joining as much as you can, check out their company site, see where their employees have worked previously, and get in touch with them if you can to see what their ‘working day’ is like.
When I was studying, I contacted a lot of artists and designers to ask them about the realities of their roles, and I received some excellent replies - I would thoroughly recommend reaching out on Twitter or Linked In to find out more.
Your Linkedin profile says that you’re a co-organiser for the Norfolk Indie Game Developers, can you explain what that is.
I work with Alastair Aitchison in helping organise and support the local Norfolk Community of Game Developers. We try to arrange social and networking events for the group as often as we can to help with the exchange of ideas, skills and support, and organised the Norwich Gaming Festival last year in order to help generate more press and support of the industry in this area.
Your Linkedin profile also mentions that you organise the Norwich Gaming Festival Would you recommend potential games designers going along to it?
I most certainly would! The Norwich gaming festival is very much for everyone and anyone who has an interest in games. Last year we had a great range of talks, workshops and activities for those interested in writing for games, audio and music for games, language localisation, board game design, game development, and much more. We hope to encourage those with a passion for games as well as those who might not ordinarily consider games as either a career or even a pass-time, and allow us to present the vast and diverse realities of how games are created.
The Norwich Gaming Festival began with The Forum Trust wishing to expand their already successful Retro Arcade event. They approached and invited Norfolk Indie Game Developers to help them put on an amazing event to help champion the local digital creative industry. Without their support the festival would not be the celebration it is today.
Do you foresee more of a need for game designers in the future?
The games industry is now larger by the film industry by quite a margin, and I expect it only to grow and diversify in the years to come. Games will become more integrated into our daily routines, and the principals of games design, and user-experience design will in turn become more in demand by companies and industries outside that of the games industry. (So, the short answer is, yes!)
Robin what’s you number one most valuable tip to all would be game designers?
I actually have 3 tips (I hope that’s alright!) 1) Attend every networking event, conference, talk, convention possible to meet as many people as possible. 2) Your online presence is key - get yourself on Twitter and keep it reasonably professional, get yourself on Linked and make sure you follow up networking events with a healthy boost in your connections! And 3) Read as much as you can on games design, on art, science, narrative and drama, and read from different perspectives and opinions on games. People often think that ‘research for games designers is just playing games’, in reality it should almost be the opposite! ‘Rules of Play’ by Salen and Zimmerman is a great place to start, but is not for the light-hearted! ‘Reality is Broken’ by Jane McGonigal discusses very interesting ideas and case-studies on how games can change our lives, and our culture. And one final book-suggestion would be ‘The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses’ by Jesse Schell - all should be widely available online.
You can look at some of the games that Robin has worked on here
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Robin Silcock
In:
- Gaming