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STAFF PROFILE: JUSTIN, GAME DESIGNER
What is your background?
I've had a varied background, starting with University and training to be a teacher. After a couple of years' actual teaching I made a fresh start spraying cars for Toyota. Four years later I applied for a job here at Rare. I thought I could put the all the wasted time I spent playing games to some use.
After three years working in the Testing department (and submitting some game ideas that seemed great in my head but made other people shake their heads and sigh) I was put onto a small project in a design role. I'm still designing but the little project has grown much larger.
How did you get to work at Rare?
I applied and got a rejection letter. So I kept applying until they called me in to tell me face-to-face to stop sending letters, then I dazzled them with my charm. Actually that story doesn't seem very convincing now I've written it down.
What do you do day to day?
My days are pretty varied. I spend time writing documentation, explaining to the team how I think the game should work. I play the game and tell engineers when things are not quite as they should be. Sometimes I spend time fixing bugs (simple things that any small child could fix). Apart from this I field a variety of questions about all aspects of the game. Mainly from engineers who've read the wonderful documents I’ve created and found it’s all written in a confusing language only loosely based on English. I also attend the various meetings with people who want to help us get the game onto shelves. Last but by far the scariest part of the job, I seem to be responsible for demonstrating the game to other people (not on the team).
What is it like to work at Rare?
I personally think Rare is a great place to work. The people I work with every day are cheerful and interested in their work. The site is in the middle of some lovely countryside so I can look out of my office window and see squirrels fighting crows for food, and other natural phenomena (that could be considered distractions if I wasn’t so hard working and dedicated). The atmosphere is quite casual, when you are given work it’s your responsibility to see that it’s done. Working in a team means that someone is always waiting for you to complete some work so it’s easy to stay busy. |
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