Louis Castle CEO of InstantAction and TorquePowered speaks to GameCareers.BIZ
Mon, 26 Jul 2010Are you passionate about the latest and greatest web-gaming technology? Lou’s company has over 100 staff in three arms: TorquePowered.com, which sells Torque game engines. InstantAction.com, which publishes 3D games in browsers and Our Game Studio, which creates games for InstantAction and beyond.The company is constantly on the look-out for new talent in game development, engine marketing, and online project management. They hire both experts in the field and promising up-and-comers who are ready to create high quality games and engines. David Smith of Game Careers caught up with Lou at the Develop conference in Brighton, UK. Lou’s tip is “no matter what you do have some amount of editorializing that you have to do to your portfolio. I really encourage that less is more, pick your absolute best stuff, pick as few things as you possibly can that will really show your talent and abilities. When you go into an interview, go in open minded because every culture and company is different, having recruited both at Westwood and EA which have very different cultures. I see way too many times people are trying to include everything and are very methodical about approaching a job. The most important question I ask when people are coming in is what’s your future look like? Where do you want to be in a couple years and how does your personal aspiration fit in with the company and what kind of positions that company is looking to fill. Going back to why we are a great place to work, one thing we are committed deeply to is growing people and their careers and helping them move up to the next level. It has allowed me to work with some fantastic people and keep working with great talents that grow in the industry.”
Nils-Holger Henning, CCO of Bigpoint talks expansion with GameCareers.BIZ
Fri, 23 Jul 2010Successful developer and publisher of browser-based computer games Bigpoint GmbH was among the finalists at this year’s “Develop Industry Excellence Awards”. Bigpoint was nominated in the categories of Publishing Hero and Technical Innovation. Nils-Holger Henning, CCO of Bigpoint spoke to David Smth of GameCareers.BIZ about the expansion of the company. For advice on jobs at Bigpoint, Nils Holger says “To get a job in our company first of all, I think the most important thing, is creativity and of course you must have the ability to achieve something and to touch new ground. What we saw inside the company is very often you are only fixed to a very small limited space of working and you will see a lot of different areas, how games are created, how games are advertised, all of this together in the company which is developing so fast. You must be very creative, very flexible and very open for new inventions.”
David Helgason CEO of Unity Technologies speaks to GameCareeers.BIZ
Thu, 22 Jul 2010An entrepreneur, visionary, and ex-programmer, David’s job is to lead the team making Unity, Unity Pro, Asset Server, iPhone and iPhone Pro to stardom, while making sure that each step is taken with love and care. In the past David founded and participated in startups in fields such as news and community integration, music distribution, and consulting. David serves on the boards of several games and technology startups and a day after the interview with David Smith of Game Careers picked up the Develop Magazine’s coveted Grand Prix Award and Technical Innovation Award at the Develop Conference. Based in Denmark, Lithuania, the UK and USA, his advice on those looking to work for Unity: “First, be super good at the technical bits. Second, have a real commitment to the possibilities of good technology made simple. We really want people to take care of the user and have a humble attitude. That is the most important beyond of course the raw skills.”
Interactive Selection hire dedicated French recruiter for French games market.
Wed, 21 Jul 2010
Interactive Selection announce today that Lylia Seddiki has joined the global games recruiter to give a dedicated service to its clients in France and French speaking Canada. Lylia has excellent experience in adult education so will be good at teaching us all on how to get the very best jobs in France and elsewhere. “It has been a long time ambition of mine to provide a better service to our clients in France,” said David Smith, Managing Director. “We have been placing job seekers in France for over 10 years but we want to do much more. There are very few dedicated, professional games recruiters in France. The country has not been well served by the recruitment profession in the past. We hope that Lylia will show both job seekers and the best developers in France what benefits a specialist games recruiter will bring to them.” Lylia can be contacted directly by email on lylia at interactiveselection dot com
UK Government Minister gives support to Women in Games Jobs initiative
Fri, 16 Jul 2010
A very successful networking lunch and conference took place in Brighton yesterday at the Develop conference with over 70 women attending to hear Sheri Graner-Ray give an inspirational keynote address. The conference started with David Smith reading out a message from Lynne Featherstone MP, Minister for Equalities. In the letter the Minister warned the industry that its long time domination by men needed to change. “Companies that can’t see the value that women bring to the workplace are extremely short-sighted as they lose out on talent and skills of half the population. They risk being uncompetitive in a very fast-moving world by not being able to choose from all available employees.”
The full statement is reproduced below.
“With the likes of Lara Croft, Jill Valentine and Alyx Vance well established on the nation’s consoles there are no shortage of female characters in videogames, but behind the scenes things have for too long been dominated by men – perhaps explaining why the likes of Miss Croft look the way they do!
“This is a problem not just for women who want to work in gaming and girls who are given unrealistic expectations about how they should look. It’s a problem for the industry as a whole, as organisations filled with people who look the same, sound the same and have the same life experiences can all too easily end up thinking the same.
“Diverse organisations reflect their customers better, are likely to understand them better and offer better products and services as a result. Companies that can’t see the value that women bring to the workplace are extremely short-sighted as they lose out on talent and skills of half the population.
“They risk being uncompetitive in a very fast-moving world by not being able to chose from all available employees. Equality is as good for businesses as it is for women and society.
“As a government we’re working hard to support women in the workplace, for example looking at making the right to request flexible working available to all and introducing a system of shared parental leave. But this is not something the government can do alone – we need the private sector to do its bit as well.
“That’s why I was so pleased to hear about this conference, and I’m really sorry that I’m not able to be there personally. I’m glad you’re also considering what more can be done and I look forward to hearing your conclusions. Best wishes for a successful conference.”
More reports from the lunch and conference will follow at Women in Games Jobs.
Game Careers will be at Develop Conference 2010 in Brighton UK
Sat, 10 Jul 2010
Game Careers. BIZ has so far scheduled over 20 interviews some of the games industry’s leading figures at Brighton during the Develop Conference 13-15 July 2010. If you are interested in attending, there is still time to register at Develop 2010. Look out for all these great interviews coming on line in the weeks ahead. There will be great tips on getting jobs with some of the world’s leading companies – something for everyone!
75 of Europe’s leading women in games expected for WiG Conference at Develop.
Thu, 01 Jul 2010
If you missed the announcement last week, Interactive Selection would like to invite you to the Women in Games Day Networking Lunch and afterwards the WIG Conference at Develop 2010 on Thursday, July 15 2010 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole. Women in Games Jobs has secured an additional allocation for free tickets and we expect a great turnout. This is the only event of its kind to take place in Europe in 2010.
Women in Games Jobs is organiser of the lunch and negotiated 45 free tickets for the conference which is sponsored by Interactive Selection. These tickets are going fast. 34 have said they are definitely attending and a further 15 have said they are interested. We are so far expecting women from Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Ukraine, Romania, France as well as the UK. Taken together with women who have registered with the conference organisers, we hope to have 75 of Europe’s leading women in games in the one conference room.
There are only a limited number of places which are being offered to women in games on a first come, first serve basis. This event is by invitation only so you will need to pre-register. To pre-register please let David Smith know so that he can reserve you a free ticket.
Ngan Nguyen is appointed Editor of Women in Games Jobs
Fri, 25 Jun 2010
I am pleased to announce that Ngan Nguyen has agreed to join Women in Games Job as Editor and that she will regularly be writing articles for their thousands of visitors. Ngan was for 2 years the London Correspondent for GamingAngels, the place Girl Gamers go to read about video game news, reviews, comics, tech and anime. GamingAngels has the largest female gaming community in the world. She will be using her considerable journalistic skills to help promote the games industry as a serious career for women. One of her first tasks will be reporting on Europe’s upcoming Women in Games conference in Brighton, UK on 15 July. Women in Games Jobs has secured an additional allocation for free tickets and we expect a great turnout.
David Smith pictured at UK’s Recruitment Consultant magazine awards
Mon, 21 Jun 2010
Professionalism and performance shone though in the inaugural Recruitment Consultant Industry Awards event held at the Grace bar in Soho, London on 3 June. David Smith of Interactive Selection was invited and represented the games industry in this multi sector awards ceremony. David is pictured in the results issue of the magazine with Alison Henderson, Press Officer of the REC and fellow Elite MD, Anthony Cox.
Interactive Selection launch Networking Lunch on Women in Games Day at Develop.
Thu, 17 Jun 2010
No such thing as a free lunch? There is for members of the Women in Games Jobs group going to Europe’s pre-eminent WIG Conference! Interactive Selection is inviting women in games to a Networking Lunch and afterwards the WIG Conference at Develop 2010 on Thursday, July 15 2010 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton, UK.
Women in Games Jobs is organiser of the lunch and negotiated 25 free tickets for the conference which is sponsored by Interactive Selection. These tickets are going fast. We are so far expecting women from Ireland, Sweden, Netherland, Ukraine, Romania, France as well as the UK. This is the only event of its kind to take place in Europe in 2010 and we would welcome a great turnout.
The KEY NOTE Speaker is Sheri Graner Ray, Senior Designer with Schell Games. She has been in the game industry since 1989 and has worked for such companies as Electronic Arts, Origin Systems, Sony Online Entertainment and Cartoon Network. She is author of the book, ‘Gender Inclusive Game Design-Expanding the Market’ and is one of the game industry’s leading experts on gender and computer games. In 2005 she was awarded the IGDA’s Game Developer’s Choice award for her work in gender and games and she is currently serving as the chair of Women In Games International, an organization she co-founded.
There are only a limited number of places which are being offered to women in games on a first come, first served basis. This event is by invitation only so you will need to pre-register. To pre-register please let David Smith at Interactive Selection know so that a free ticket can be reserved.
