Name: Nicholas Ward-Foxton
Job title: Audio Programmer
Location: Cambridge Studio

How and when did you join the company?

I joined the company in August 2007 shortly after graduating from Uni, a CV overhaul, 2 interviews and here I am!

What does your role involve?

I am the link between the game and the sound designers. I listen to what sound designers want… Laugh, tell them what they can have and try to make it happen.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

A willingness to learn and a realization that the learning only really starts when you join this industry is the main skill. Taking advice from the people around you that have experience is the best way to get started in the industry. Being arrogant, ignorant or lazy will get you nowhere. 

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Try to know as much about audio as you do programming and vice versa and try to learn lots about both! Most university courses seem either to focus on audio or programming and there are very few you can learn in detail about both. I would personally stay clear of bespoke gaming courses and go for a solid degree from a good university instead.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

I AM LEGEND

What would be your 'desert island' game?

Solitaire on Windows 95

Name: Shaun Rutland
Job title: Producer
Location: London Studio

How and when did you join the company?

I joined London Studios in 2006 just before the launch of PLAYSTATION®3. Prior to that I worked at Lionhead Studios for over 2 years on the Fable franchise. Before game development I worked for 6 years in online production at a digital agency specialising in producing e-commerce websites e.g. Marks & Spencer, Halifax etc.

What does your role involve?

My role is largely focused on working with the team to get things done and resolving anything which is holding them back from achieving this. A good day is a productive and motivated team. I do my best to create an environment for our creative teams to develop their ideas from concepts into full scale projects as quickly and easily as possible.

On a daily basis, I work very closely with the creative, technical and art directors to help shape their vision from a budget, time and resource perspective, whilst the whole team shares responsibility for creating the highest quality game experience my main responsibilities are about getting the project done on time and within budget, balancing these priorities with the ambitions from the creative/game director. My day always starts with 10 minute meetings with our project sub teams and then I follow up on dealing with the project blockers. On a weekly and monthly basis I'm always looking at the longer term plans and reassessing what our leadership team wants for the project. I frequently report to the studio director on project status. 

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

A passion for working with highly creative and smart people who can be challenging when it comes to balancing ideas and creativity with project deadlines! Its vital therefore to be a people person and to be able to build relationships with the team, learning and soaking up the activities of a multitude of disciplines and spending a lot of time listening to people and paying attention to how the teams work.

Creatively, you can offer ideas as can anyone in the team, but the main focus of this role is to daily trouble shoot, manage hundreds of tasks and you should be someone that gets a great sense of satisfaction from planning and organising and making your peers lives easier to get things done. It will help to have learnt how to chair large groups to make decisions about subjects you might not fully understand.

Having a good understanding of creative processes that are used in product design and similar industries is useful. A love and passion for games is not essential but is definitely a benefit.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Study traditional project management methodologies as well as agile and lean management. Have an understanding of business management and what makes organisations tick. Have a keen interest in people management and productivity ideas. Get some work experience as a production assistant or project runner in any creative industry and this will get you exposed to projects. There are many opportunities out there to get good some experience.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

Puzzle Problem Solving

Name: Duncan Smith
Job title: Music Supervisor
Location: London Studio

How and when did you join the company?

I joined in November '07. I was previously at a music PR company and was approached by a friend at SCEE when they were looking to expand the music licensing team.

What does your role involve?

I work on the A&R and acquisition of music for all titles developed by SCEE, such as the Motorstorm series, Heavy Rain, Little Big Planet, WipEout, Gran Turismo and SingStar / SingStore. This involves licensing existing music, getting exclusive new tracks / remixes made for a game, and working with composers on bespoke soundtracks. I also license music for the advertisements that run alongside these games.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

The most important thing is to have a passion for, and extensive knowledge of, music. Across all genres. Although it's great to synch a song you love it's also important to develop the ability to look at a track objectively when deciding whether it works for a specific brief. Also invaluable are the contacts & relationships that I've built up with labels, artists, managers, publishers etc during my years working in the music industry. Oh, and good diplomacy / negotiating skills when trying to keep both the artist (& their team) happy, whilst delivering the game producer what they want!

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Have an insatiable appetite for checking new music (good or bad you need to know what's happening!). Go to as many gigs and do as much networking as you can - you never know when your contacts could come in useful. A working knowledge of video games is also useful, but more important is your music (& music industry) knowledge.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

Average at best!

What would be your 'desert island' game?

"Little Big Planet" - for the endless possibilities.

Name: Emily Howe
Job title: Development Services Supervisor
Location: London Studio

How and when did you join the company?

I applied for my position through an agency. I saw the job description online and immediately knew it was right for me. I have been with SCEE for 18 months now.

What does your role involve?

I love to organise, which is perfect as this job role requires just that. One day I could be arranging travel for a team, the next, I could be putting together an event for a game release or a private business meal followed by ordering merchandising or in-house catering for internal meetings. I love the fact that my job provides me with such variety.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

Previous managerial experience is required as I supervise our studio’s Reception Administrator and Office Services Assistant. It is important to be able to prioritise and meet tight deadlines.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Communication is key. You need to be able to build a solid working rapport with internal departments and externals suppliers. It’s a great way to meet lots of new people.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

... erm... exceptionally magnificently basic!

What would be your 'desert island' game?

It's a close call between "Buzz" and "SingStar"... I think "Buzz", as it challenges the mind and would help to keep me sane. Besides, if I had to share the island, I don't think I would be doing myself any favours with my singing.

Name: Andy Robinson
Job title: Video Editor
Location: Liverpool Studio

How and when did you join the company?

After spending the first nine years of my career working at post production companies in Manchester and London, I joined SCEE in March 2006.

Starting on the Singstar team and then joining the Creative Services Group in April 2008.

What does your role involve?

My role involves producing video content for use in a variety of situations. From game trailers, in game video and behind the scenes documentaries, to videos for 'green light' and management presentations.

Basically if anybody needs a video or video content, then it will come through me and the video production team.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

No skill, just blind luck. I still have flashbacks to the disaster that was my second interview.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Keeping up to date creatively and technically are the two key areas for me. Looking at the work of post production houses, directors and motion graphic designers helps keep your work fresh and gives you something to aspire to.

Having an understanding of the technology behind video production helps give others a confidence that you will deliver the right results and will ultimately improve your performance as an editor.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

Over Enthusiastic Singstar

What would be your 'desert island' game?

"Sensible Soccer"

Name: Alan McDermott
Job title: Audio Manager
Location: Evolution Studio

How and when did you join the company?

I was originally the audio manager for Evolution Studios which was bought by SCEE in 2007/8

What does your role involve?

My role involves being ultimately responsible for all audio for all titles produced within the studio group north west. This includes Evolution, Studio Liverpool and bigBIG. On a day to day basis, I work in sound design, Music supervision (basically picking thelicensed tracks that go into our games), developing tools that are geared towards making audio implementation more intuitive for the sound designers, the management of external agencies, and writing briefs for outsourcers, among various other possibilities!

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

A love for games! Thats pretty much about all you need to get into the games industry. That and the ability to become an elitist about the subject of games when talking to anyone not in the games industry.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Audio is a particularly tough area to break into. Experience often being the overriding factor as to whether you get a foot int he door or not. If you're just starting out, make sure you have a really good showreel together, bearing in mind that often the easiest way to prove your abilities in sound are to take something recognizable, such as a movie trailer or clip from a movie, remove all sound and replace it with your own. The more original you can make something sound, the more impressive it's going to be. Just putting a load of sound effects and some songs on a showreel won't get you very far. Replacing the sound in the trailer for The Lord of the Rings with your own sound demonstrates the ability to take something and improve on it whilst showing that you have a good understanding of what certain media require from sound.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words ...

I own j00!

What would be your 'desert island' game?

"Mass Effect"

Name: Kevin Mason
Location: London Studio
Job title: Principal Designer working on SingStar

How and when did you join the company? 

I joined Sony as a tester in our QA department in October 1996. A mate of mine asked me if I wanted a job testing video games for Sony's new console. At the time I thought it would be a short-lived job as I couldn't imagine the PlayStation® would be a success. 13 years later, I'm happy to concede that I may have been wrong.

What does your role involve?

As a designer, I'm tasked with creating new concepts for features and explaining how those features will work so they can be implemented into the game. This involves describing the game rules, screen lay-out, navigation and menu flow. I'm also in charge of a team of designers, so I have to set them work and review what they've done.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

To start as a tester I needed enthusiasm, attention to detail and a willingness to work a lot of overtime. Nowadays, if I wanted to start my career as a designer I would need a degree in game design, enthusiasm, attention to detail, problem solving, good communication skills, creativity and a fair amount of diplomacy. Luckily, the industry's attitude to the work / life balance has changed and that means I don't have much overtime any more.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Play lots of games and analyse them. Work out where a game works and where it fails and why. If you can break a game down into its' constituent parts and describe how each part works, you'll have an idea of what a designer has to do - they have to describe how each aspect of their design works. Additionally, make sure you understand the appeal of games to different audiences. Many people try to enter the industry to make games that would appeal only to themselves. The designer's role is to represent the needs of the audience and their games should appeal to that audience.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

... Awesome at games.

What would be your 'desert island' game?

"SingStar" would actually make a great 'desert island' game. I'd get new songs from the SingStore and I'd upload a video to My SingStar Online asking someone to come and rescue me.

Name: Iki Ikram
Job title:  Senior VFX Artist, Killzone 2
Location: London Studio

How and when did you join the company? 

I joined Psygnosis in 1996 which later became Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

What does your role involve?

My role is an unusual one as I work across most projects in the studio and some externally.  My main role is to create the visual effects in the game. Things such as dust, smoke, fire, explosions, weather effects, sparkles etc.  The polish in the game if you like.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

Well I started a long time ago when you needed to be an all round artist that was able to model, Texture, Animate and even work on the design of the game.  However, today you need to specialise in a particular field.  A VFX artist should have a knowledge of scripting, be able to use an industry standard package such as Maya, Softimage or 3DS Max.  Be able to work in a team with tight deadlines, problem solve and they must be able to understand and produce work for many different styles, be adaptable.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

With any form of CG work I would strongly advise that they set themselves small projects and show that they fully understand that particular skill and how to execute it.  You've got to bring a bit of yourself into your work.  If you're going to show some Fire and Smoke then go beyond the average fire and smoke demo and do something extraordinary to show off your style.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that always go that bit further.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

Cheat Cheat Cheat

What would be your 'desert island' game?

Killzone2, cause I worked on it :o)

Name: Michael Mumbauer
Job title: Senior Manager of Visual Arts Group
Location: San Diego, US

How and when did you join the company?

I joined Sony PlayStation® in November of 2007. I'd spent 5 years prior working for Sony Pictures Imageworks when I jumped over the fence and haven't looked back. As an avid gamer I was thrilled with the opportunity to return to games and work on all the videogames I love to play in my spare time.

What does your role involve?

I manage an art studio with a variety of offerings including Animation, Motion Capture, Cinematics and more. I'm the Leader and the envangelist for the group. My role is to ensure that everything we do is always at the highest possible quality for Sony PlayStation®. I also make sure that we are always exploring new artistic frontiers and technical development's so that we can help our developers maintain the highest visual standard in games.

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

Passion. Is that a skill? Drawing, Animation, and Communication.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Be creative in your approach. If something your doing isn't yielding the results you want then change your approach. Also maintain focus and find a special skill that will differentiate you from other artists.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words

Need more time.

What would be your 'desert island' game?

Grand Theft Auto 4 on playstation 3, of course. It's a great reminder of home. I can get those terrible street dogs anytime I get hungry or jump out of a helicopter onto the empire state building. I'm in a NY state of mind. Of course, the best part is I get to hang out in New York without all the horrible weather. That I don't miss.