Tales from the Industry #1: “Getting My Foot in the Door at Virgin Games”
By William Anderson
AwakenGames.com – Tales from the Industry Series
Behind the Scenes: Virgin Games
I won’t sugarcoat it, getting your foot in the door at a game studio is never easy, especially when you’ve never worked in the industry before and don’t have a college degree in computer science (which was all the buzz back in the ’80s and ’90s).
But I was determined to make my dream of working in game development a reality. Spending every day building a full demo game wasn’t realistic at the time, I was holding down a full-time job as an auto mechanic. So instead, I came home each night and worked on a paper-based game design called The Wizard’s Eye.
It was a massive design document, filled with a detailed storyline, character descriptions, gameplay flowcharts, and level layouts. Once I had it in a presentable state, I mailed it off to Virgin Games in Irvine, California.
I didn’t choose Virgin for any particular reason, other than the fact that it was near where I lived. I had already approached Interplay, another local studio, but the job interview I had there was… let’s just say, strange. (That’s a story for another day.)
About two weeks after I mailed off The Wizard’s Eye, I got a letter back inviting me to come in for an interview.
I was nervous. I didn’t own proper business attire, and my girlfriend at the time insisted I needed to dress professionally, “Don’t expect people to be walking around in blue jeans and T-shirts,” she warned.
So I showed up for the interview wearing my best outfit, only to be greeted by Stephen Clarke-Willson, the studio director… in jeans and a T-shirt. 😄
Thankfully, Stephen was incredibly friendly and immediately put me at ease. But then I noticed something strange during the interview: behind his desk, sitting on the floor, was my giant Wizard’s Eye design bible.
Stephen told me he wasn’t interested in developing The Wizard’s Eye. Instead, he was looking for a designer to work on a new platform game based on the 7-Up mascot: Cool Spot.
I told him I had no experience designing a platformer, but he pointed to my design binder and said,
“Anyone who can put together something this detailed can design a platform game.”
I left the interview excited… and puzzled. Had I just interviewed for a job I wasn’t qualified for? Would they actually hire me?
Two weeks later, an offer letter arrived in the mail.
And just like that, the great adventure began.