You can listen to the interview at
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1030916-train2game-student-talks-to-mark-kingdon-on-t2g-student-radio
or read the transcript below:
Hello, I am here with Jonny Robinson from Milton Keynes, how you doing Jonny?
I’m doing very well thanks how is yourself?
I’m very good thank you, Could you tell me what course you’re on?
I’m on the Games designer course.
What is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life?
Winning the Gadget Show, that was quite cool, the Make Something Unreal Live 2012. Pretty exciting times with Epic!
What is your reason for getting in to the gaming industry and how will the gaming industry, change your life?
I wanted to get in the gaming industry when I was very young, it’s one of those things that I explain a lot to my friends that when I was young I used to put the gaming industry on a pedestal. You know you kind of worship it, you want it so bad but then you realise, I don’t know if I can do that so you kind of dismiss it for years. I then saw this course advertised in the news paper and I thought, you know what – I’ll give it a shot, it’s an online course I can do it in my own spare time and when I actually did the course I felt a lot more confident in myself. I felt I should share my experience with people so I did a lot of Train2Game promoting for the design course because it helped me a lot with my confidence and so really I would say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made so far.
After you earn your Train2Game diploma, what would be your greatest ambition in the industry?
Obviously get a full time job. I am also working with my team, the Commando Kiwi team, on a new project. I’ll chuck that out there as well, it’s the first time I’ve mentioned it. We are going to put something up on our Facebook very soon. We made a game for the Gadget Show which was “The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain” on the iOS and now we are taking a further step into the industry with the Unreal Engine, as that’s what we won at the Gadget Show. I can’t really say to much but we are on the fronts of making this new game.
What platform is the game going to be on?
At the moment we are going to stick to our current market and go with iOS but there has been hints with the team for Steam as well.
What genre is it going to be?
That’s stuff I am keeping reserved, I will let you know the scoop when I am ready to release the information.
What is your story, what are the past experiences that have shaped your life to who you are today?
Being where I am at the right time I suppose and just keep on striving for success, keep your head up and just keep going. I wouldn’t say anything has altered me, I would just say it’s the path I have been led on, you know, by destiny or whatever you want to call it but so far, if it is so called destiny, it has led me down a fine route, I have met some really interesting people.
I also know you have a blog to help fledgling designers get in to the industry, what inspired you to start that?
I have been doing video diaries for a long time and I know there are a lot of blogs out there like Gamasutra, they make some really incredible articles. I realised that there are not many from a student point of view that’s actually been in the industry and tasted that addiction as I like to call it. You know once your in the industry you kind of feel like an over whelming sense of adrenaline and I just feel like if I need to keep blurting my mind out there to people saying you need to get in this industry, it’s amazing! I’m doing whatever I can as it’s not programming or art its more design and it is a very niche market. I can guarantee you, you ask any designer and you say, what does it mean to be a game designer? What skill sets do you have? Every designer will tell you something completely different and that’s what I am trying to get across in my blogs. You have to be really open minded to be a designer and really blend your key skills to the actual studio themselves.
That leads me quite nicely on to my last point, what advice would you give to someone looking to get in to the games industry?
First of all, attend Game Jams, that’s the first one. I know Train2Game just did one with Microsoft and I attended one last year that was with Epic. The second I would recommend is trying to talk to people in the community, go on the Train2Game Forums and just generally create games. No one ever says in the industry who have you worked for, they say what experience have you got?
If people want to read more about it, where can people find your blog?
My website is www.ironcore1.wordpress,com
Thank you very much Jonny and keep us updated on all things Commando Kiwi
No problem, thank you very much for your time Mark, Ta-ra!
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