Future perfect CV

James Kitcher

4 Corsham Close

Birdcage farm

Plymouth

PL6 6BU

Telephone: 01752 790617

E-mail: jameskitcher6@gmail.com

Personal Statement

I am an enthusiastic and professional games designer with a passion for writing for games.  I have gained experience in this field during my time working for lion head Studios.  Whilst working I have collaborated in the development of several games, including "fable, the journey."  I have never let my disability affect my creative output.

Qualifications

·         BA (Hons) design for games first-class

·         FD design for games

·         ND interactive media and games design

Experience

·         I worked for lion head Studios as a script writer.

·         I had an article published in games magazine.

·         I published a short story in a publication.

·         I published a book called "narrative for games."

Employment

·         I worked for lion head Studios as a script writer.

·         I worked briefly for a games magazine.

Achievements

·         2016 Micro award for best short story

·         2017 narrative for games award

·         2011 Radio Presentation course

Interests

·         I make maps in the unreal development kit in my spare time.

·         I write games for pen and paper RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons.

·         I write short stories in my spare time.

References

·       Available on request

Covering letter

This letter is a response to a script writer job found here: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/jobs/interactive-selection/south-east/england/uk-and-europe/talented-script-writer-award-winning-studio--id61244

4 Corsham Close

PL6 6BU

Birdcage Farm

Plymouth

Devon

5/04/2013

LONDON HEAD OFFICE 

Interactive Selection

44 Coombe Lane

2nd Floor

Raynes Park

London SW20 0LA

Dear Ms Eckersley

In response to your job advertisement on the games industry website, please consider my CV for videogame script writer that I have enclosed.

I have always had a great interest in narrative and storytelling in videogames, especially from games such as Mass effect, ratchet and clank and dishonoured.  I have recently worked on the story for Lion head Studios’ fable: the journey which has been released recently.  I became very interested in videogame narrative during my studying at Plymouth College of arts that I have graduated from within BA in games design.  I have had experience in writing after publishing many short stories in popular publications such as the readers' digest.

Using my intuition and punctuality I will be a great asset to the company you are advertising for.  I have a great knowledge of literary genres and character and narrative development along with expertise in character dialogue and delivery.  I believe that I have good directorial skills to help deliver the best performance from voice actors in the recording sessions.  I am a perfectionist in my work, which means I will scour my work for any punctuation errors and anomalies and on top of that I have excellent people and management abilities so I will try my best to fit in and hopefully become an invaluable asset to the company.

I strongly believe that I will be a great addition to this job and I would love a chance to prove my worth to the company with an interview.  I am very flexible so I will be available for an interview at any time that you find comfortable.

I hope to hear from you again soon.

Yours Sincerely

James Kitcher.

Linkdin

This is my recently created Linkdin profile that can be useful in the games design field.

Work based learning

For this project i have been looking into the game industry and at what sector i am skilled in.

When i was searching for game industry jobs i came across an article called "Game industry jobs: ten tips for graduates". As the title suggests it offers advice to graduates about getting jobs in games, advice such as being selective about what work you show employers from your portfolio, being good at displaying and presenting presentations and get honest, sometimes blunt feedback from people who are not your family. There was also obvious but still useful information like knowing the company you are applying to, show you are a good team player and work on your core skills.

I came across another article talking about work place tips. It talked about pushing yourself forward, listening and contributing ideas and to be helpful and flexible in the possible workplace.

From my findings the games industry is structured around development, publishing, distributing and hardware manufacturers. The publishers help in bringing games to the market, they also specialise in marketing, PR, sales and manufacturing. The development consists of all the creative power of the people responsible for the games creation. The developers pitch the game to a publisher in hopes it might get funded or published. The distributors are responsible for the shipment and retail of games, the publishers pass the finished game to the main distributor to be stored, then if the publisher receives more orders from other distributors they will inform the main one who will allow the secondary distributors to deliver it to retail. Finally, the hardware manufacturers help in the process of supporting PC and console platforms for the games on sale.

I would like to work on the creative side of games design, most preferably in writing for games. I found out that having experience in writing for publications such as magazines, books and even websites and blogs can help new writers get noticed. Games writing is different because you have to take into account player reactions and choice, dialogue trees, both branching and linear. Programming also has its uses here but is usually not required. A game writer needs to seamlessly interweave narrative with gameplay to create an immersive experience for the player.

From my findings it seems that OPM Recruitment has the most postings for games industry jobs but they are mostly offering programming jobs rather than creative ones. Amiqus offers more designer and artist jobs.

The major game companies in the UK are Lionhead studios, Team 17 and Codemasters. Lionhead are famous thanks to games like Fable and Black & White, Team 17 are known for Worms and Alien Breed while Codemasters are renowned for Overlord and Dirt. Lionhead has a variety of permanent job roles advertised for different aspects of game design but the contracts section is advertising a UI design and a lead writer job for a 12 month period. This role is relevant to my research. Team 17 offers a lead artist and flash game developer position but i am not interested. I tried to find jobs on the Codemasters site but they are updating their job section.

In my search i discovered TwoFour. They are a television producer and digital agency all in one. They produce factual, features and entertainment shows and help in designing websites for the BBC, managing online TV channels for Volkswagen and Audi and many other projects. Because this a media company it will be useful for me as it is a creative line of work. Twofour have won best indie production company in 2010 and ranked 2nd in the broadcast magazine's true indie survey in 2012.

http://www.edge-online.com/get%20into%20games/game-industry-jobs-ten-work-placement-tips/

http://www.edge-online.com/get-into-games/game-industry-jobs-ten-tips-graduates/
http://www.obscure.co.uk/articles-2/industry-overview/

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