Want to develop games for XBOX, Playstation & Nintendo?
Carl Dalton, Creative Director of Brain in a jar, an independent software developing company answers our questions about how he got started within the industry...
1) How did you get started in this industry?
I'm an industry 'old timer' having started my career at Psygnosis back in 1995. I had studied film and television production at college; there were no games design courses then, and everybody that got into games came from a different background. While at college a group of us discovered Deluxe Paint, Imagine 3D and Real 3D in the college computer labs (a room filled with about a dozen Amiga 4000 computers - networked and everything)! A few of us had Amiga 500s at home and the revelation hit us that we could actually make games for ourselves. It was just before the launch of the original Playstation and the new 'Edge' magazine was full of articles about the 3D revolution that was about to happen. All thoughts of getting into movie special effects were dropped and making 3D models and animation became the new obsession.
Having finished college I applied to just about every games company in the UK, my number one choice being a company called 'Virtuality' that made virtual reality arcade games. I got knocked back by pretty much everyone; even back then 'getting in' was hard.
My girlfriend was taking life drawing lessons at a local college and met an artist from Psygnosis there. He invited me to go and see the studio. Soon after I was lucky enough to get an interview for an artist position on a game called 'Sentient' for the Playstation and the rest is history! Many years later I own and run Brain in a Jar, we've been going for fifteen years now. We are a 'micro developer' (there's only eight of us) and I still love every minute . As it happens I might get to do virtual reality after all, as we recently backed the very successful 'Oculus Rift' project (a virtual reality headset) on Kickstarter and will get our development kits soon.
2) What games have you developed? projects you have worked on ?
Over the years I have worked on over twenty games, most of them racing related in one way or another. The most famous games I've been involved in are Need for Speed: Underground, Formula One, Indycar Series, Driver SanFrancisco and most recently we have worked on NASCAR and WatchDogs.
3) Whats your favourite thing about working in the industry?
My favourite thing about the industry is that it is always changing, always new, always exciting. It's almost like getting paid to do a hobby (except the running a business part, which is actually real 'work').
4) What advice would you give to young people who wanted to get started in the sector?
My advice is 'be passionate about it'. Games is one of those businesses that needs and thrives on passionate, driven people. It's not really a job, it's a way of life. Play games, dissect them, figure them out, enjoy them, love them and then make them. No idea is a bad idea until someone has played it (then.. it might turn out to be a bad idea! But then again, it could be the greatest new idea ever)! Without the totally insane 'Parappa the Rapper' there would have been no 'Guitar Hero'... ... and be a programmer... we need more programmers!
Website: http://www.braininajar.co.uk/aboutus.html
