Thomas Hulvershorn: I-Play, Oberon Media

Position: Lead Game Tester
Worked on: Women’s Murder Club 4, Bubble Town

Thomas’s lecture focused on the testing side of the game development process. He explained what the tester’s job is, and how they go about testing games. As Q&A is the most common first job of students leaving university, the advice and explanations he gave were very helpful.

He also talked about Facebook games and how they functioned, particularly about how they attract customers and keep them playing. I found this very interesting, as getting customers to buy your game is pretty much the reason for the industry.

Nick Rathbone: Codemasters

Position: Games Designer
Worked on: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Nick Rathbone, a University of Bolton graduate of 2008, gave us an interesting lecture on getting into the industry and what to expect from our first jobs, as well as continuing in the industry.

Nick started with an introduction of his time in the games industry. He started at Climax Studios, working on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, before moving to Codemasters UK.

Since Nick was in our position only two years ago, the advice he gave was very helpful in regards to writing our CVs and making our portfolios, and he gave examples on how to get our CVS to stand out. He also told us what to expect from interviews, how that studios may put us under pressure and give us tasks to accomplish, to see how we perform under pressure. What was most important is to research the studio, and alter my CV and cover letter to appeal to them.