Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
Before joining d3t, I studied Animation at the University of Dundee, where I undertook a variety of different roles during my four years there. However, I ended up specialising in 3D Animation and Rigging, whilst also learning coding in my spare time.
Why d3t?
I value companies with excellent work cultures, and here at d3t, right from the get-go I was made to feel very welcome and saw just how friendly everyone is. Plus having the opportunity to progress professionally alongside working on a range of diverse and distinct projects at such a reputable company known for quality, is why my first professional role couldn’t have been anywhere else but d3t.
What do you love about games?
Every time I play a game, it’s like I enter a different world – a world where I am the protagonist.
However, I’d say the thing that I love the most about games, and also what makes them different from other media, is the fact that you get to make choices and control your character. Because of that, you don’t just play a game, you experience it.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
Some of my favourite games are, Stronghold (Crusaders), The Dark Pictures Anthology games which I play together with my best friends, and I enjoy playing pretty much any FPS game. But my absolute favourite game has to be Minecraft which I’ve been playing since I was 12 and have so many memories with.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
Other than video games, I love playing the piano, and listening to music. I’ve been a scout all my life and I’m also a big football fan, especially of my local team, AEK Larnaca.
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I’ve been animating professionally for nearly 25 years with a diverse career working in games, film, commercials, Kids TV, and also teaching animation at degree-level.
I had always wanted to be an Animator since I was a kid and I consider myself very fortunate that I’ve been able to build and sustain a career as one.
Why d3t?
I’ve only ever heard good things about d3t from friends and ex-colleagues, so I jumped at the chance to apply when I saw a recent advert for an Animation role. Straight from the off I got really good vibes when I met members of the team at the interview, and I now genuinely can’t wait to get stuck into some exciting new projects.
What do you love about games?
I love the story-telling capabilities of games. The ability to get totally immersed in a story or a character’s journey. Games like Red Dead Redemption are my favourite, as I love games that are set in a specific period of history that you can explore in minute detail.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
My favourite game is (like me) quite old, it’s “Wonderboy: The Dragon’s Trap” on the Sega Master System. It was the first game that I played right the way through to the end and I still love it, to the point that I bought and played through the recent Steam re-make. As a Dad of 4, I haven’t had much time to play large campaign games recently, so I tend to play things like Mario-Kart with the kids.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I don’t know about fun-facts, but I’m an early riser to work out and I’m a P1 level student of Krav Maga which I’ve been studying for the last four years. My favourite film is Return of the Jedi, and my favourite band is Guns’n’Roses.
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
Most of my previous work experience has been in customer services, retail, and pharmaceuticals, where I have worked as both a Pharmacy Dispenser and Pharmacist Assistant, alongside working in a variety of Admin roles that have seen me deal with many different types of customers, clients, and patients in numerous scenarios and situations.
Why d3t?
d3t have already shown the welcoming environment and friendly atmosphere that they project, and having that type of space around me really enables me to put 100% of myself into my work allowing me to become someone that people can depend and rely on.
What do you love about games?
The thing that I love most about games is being told a story and also the immersion. Especially when a game pulls you in and makes you feel like your actions actually affect the world around you – this for me makes them extremely hard to turn off.
However, I also like games that are strategy-based where you need to plan out your decisions in order to succeed. I also like this genre of game because each time you play you are faced with a different challenge, which keeps it varied and exciting!
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I am currently playing Disgaea 5, Persona 5, and Pokémon Sword. However, my favourite game series of all time is any Final Fantasy, and if I was forced to pick my favourite from that series it would have to be Final Fantasy IX.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
Besides the normal hobbies like reading, drawing, and attempting to be a plant mum. I can play the saxophone and have an unhealthy obsession with both Family Guy and every Studio Ghibli film.
I studied Mathematics at university from 2015-2018, and while I loved the subject, I’d never quite settled on even a vague career path throughout the latter stages of my academic years. It in fact wasn’t until some months after my final year, during a period in which I leant heavily into one of the typical student stereotypes of spending all my free time playing games, that I realised my love for the medium could be combined with the great enjoyment I discovered for programming during the few optional modules I’d taken. As such, I could therefore point myself in the direction of the games industry.
Maths wasn’t the most obvious choice of degree for this career, but it is often the case with the STEM subjects that any one of them can lead to a future involving any other, so maths does more than enough groundwork to get someone going in a programming heavy role. All that then remained was to demonstrate to employers that I had the capability and enthusiasm, and to find that first position that would get my foot in the door.
I did the first two by making a portfolio of little game-mechanic demo scenes in the Unity Engine. Given that I’d made the decision so late, it took some months to get the portfolio to a point where it might be considered impressive, as well as get used to the format of the industry’s programming tests and interviews.
However, eventually my job hunt put d3t on my radar, which covered the third of those criteria.
The benefits and flexibility d3t offered far outshone the other half a dozen companies I’d invested my efforts in, and when the interview came it felt more like a friendly chat about our mutual interests rather than an actual interview. I knew then I’d found the place I really wanted to work at, and it was a very happy present indeed when I received my offer email on Christmas Eve 2019.
What do you do day-to-day?
I value my quality time in the afternoon and evening, so, thanks to our flexible hours and working from home, my workday starts at 8 and finishes at 4-4:30. The start of the morning typically involves checking emails and ongoing tasks, and ensuring that I have an idea of what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day, before then taking part in the morning stand ups – one with the client on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one daily with our internal team, both around 10 o’clock. During these meetings we raise any work items and issues we’ll be tackling in the immediate future, usually with a healthy amount of banter!
Then it’s time to buckle down and get that feature up and running, or that God-awful bug fixed. I take advantage of working from home again by constantly moving around my flat; sometimes working at the desk, sometimes on the sofa using the laptop in the literal sense, and on cold mornings I might even be found snug under a duvet with a hot chocolate. Alas, there are hot summer days where I wish I had a garden or I long for the comfort of an office’s air conditioning, but in my opinion the comforts of home vastly increase work satisfaction and productivity, although I recognise plenty of people feel differently – all-the-more reason to enjoy the luxury of choice!
My actual area of work at present is Cinematic Tooling. In other words, I and a few of others on the team help to create the editor that allows all the artistic wizards (heaven knows how they do what they do) to build their gorgeous cut scenes and scripted interactions. Now that I think about it, we’re enabling talented people to perform wonderous magics using instruments of our design and craft, so you might as well call me Ollivander.
The other thing that comes up daily are code reviews – sharing and discussing a programming solution with a colleague to avoid any mistakes or oversights – and planning meetings, which sound boring on the surface but if you ask me, being part of conversations about how to go about building a game is borderline thrilling. For the project I work on (and I’m sure many others in the studio), our d3t team feels like a natural extension of the client’s, and it is a very comfortable relationship in which members of their team feel just as much like close colleagues as members of ours do to theirs.
Collectively the people I’ve worked with and learned from are an incredible bunch. That combined with all of d3t’s achievements makes me unbelievably proud to work here.
Do you have any tips for people looking to get into the games industry?
My experience, and I’m sure that of many others too, demonstrates that this industry can be a bit of an endurance run to break into.
If you are smart and have foresight (unlike me), then by the time you want to start applying for positions you’ll be ready to tackle everything the application process throws at you. If you’re more like me and took forever working out what you wanted to do for a career, then be prepared to feel a little out of your depth for a short time. The key is to demonstrate your skill and passion, persevere if you don’t meet success straight away (financially, a part-time or short-term job isn’t the worst thing to have in this case), and like in any employment, make sure you find a workplace as suited for you as you are suited for it. For me that place was d3t and it took me well over a year to find it, but it was well worth it.
We are hiring
Stay tuned for more spotlight features coming soon. In the meantime, if you’re feeling inspired and want to join our team, check out our vacancies page!
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
For the past 14 years I have worked in my family’s Chinese takeaway, however, during this time I have always aspired to enter the games industry. Then in May 2022, my parents decided to retire, and this presented me with an ideal opportunity to pursue my ambition and with that I have been self-teaching myself about the role of a QA Tester, and am delighted to take my first step in the industry at d3t.
Why d3t?
I’ve heard only good things about d3t and its working culture, plus they seem to genuinely care about growing the skills of their staff and looking after them. Also, they get to work with a range of amazing IPs – one of the main things I cannot wait to get involved with.
What do you love about games?
The main thing that I love about games, is that playing them allows me to both relax and also experience a challenge. They also offer a fully immersive experience like no other medium.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I am currently playing God of War Ragnarök and am really enjoying the story behind the game – the quality of the narrative surprised me for an action title.
My favourite game however, would be Final Fantasy X, because the character models and environments were such a huge improvement on the PS2, compared to the PS1 games of the Final Fantasy series at that time. The story was also entertaining throughout, and it had a few mini games and side-quests that I still remember to this day.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I’m a huge fan of Formula1 and also love making/drinking Bubble Tea!
Please detail a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I started my career in the game industry around 15 years ago as 3D Artist, however, after a few years of doing 3D art, I realised that I liked the UI aspect of game development more and decided to therefore transition over to UI art – since taking this decision I haven’t looked back!
Why d3t?
I was immediately drawn to the opportunity of being part of studio that works a wide range of projects, whilst also working with and learning from a lot of amazingly talented people.
What do you love about games?
What I love about games the most is the unique way in which games tell a story – this is what hooks me. Don’t get me wrong, I do love other mediums, but what sets games apart is that they offer a sense of immersion unlike anything else in my opinion.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
Shadow of the Colossus is my favourite game of all time, however, the game that I’ve put the most time into is definitely Pokémon Go.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I love spending time with my son, we are always making things, exploring and going to theme parks!
Originally I was testing for another company and d3t were contracted to fix the bugs I found. I attracted d3t’s eye with bugs like one in which the repro involved having to lick the phone screen! I was very proud of that one.
After this I was made a Contractor for d3t and worked with them in their original building right near the ship canal. My main job with them was as a Tester, working on many different titles. Of course, back then we used to make industrial/commercial software alongside the games, so over the years I have tested some very weird stuff. For instance, we once made a smart handle for an industrial powder dispenser.
I was then given my first design contract for Lemmings Touch on the PSVita. During this I got to design a bunch of levels for a game I used to adore which was fantastic!
After some time, d3t gave me a full-time contract, which saw me progress to the position of QA Manager.
I then left for a couple of years to pursue a job in education but was thankful to then return once more to the studio in a role that I had always wanted – Designer.
One thing that I have always admired about d3t is the way that it treats its employees. The care taken has been evident right from the very start. As someone who has worked in many varied jobs over the years (Chef, Service Staff, Background Actor, University Lecturer, Warehousing, Building, Martial Arts Instruction, Promotions, Call Centres, Offices – to name a few) I can tell you that the standard here is miles above any other employer that I’ve ever seen. Working for d3t has been the best job I’ve ever had. They let me be me and don’t mind when I act the fool or make a lot of noise. Something I like to do often!
What do you do day-to-day?
My usual day has me liaising with my colleagues and the client to determine their needs. I create designs and then create the materials I need to explain the idea to others. Usually, I will then present the designs to the client and will work with them until they are happy with the proposal, so that we can then move towards implementation.
Currently the project that I am working on has given me lots of room to come up with ideas and experiment, which as a designer is quite literally the best thing.
Recently I have also been able to go and visit some Colleges and Universities such as Futureworks in Manchester and Stoke University’s GradEx competition, where I have been fortunate to speak and pass on wisdom to the next generation of game developers.
Also, since d3t has now installed a BBQ in the studio’s garden, I have been quite regularly bringing in food to cook at dinner times, which is very cool!
Do you have any tips for people looking to get into the games industry?
Many. I have a thirst for helping students prepare themselves as in my experience, I have often felt that the courses I attended were very much lacking. Thankfully nowadays there seems to be a much better range of courses available but the standard of entry is constantly creeping upwards.
Portfolio, portfolio, portfolio. Pretty much any department now will hire a person based on the strength of their portfolio. This is quite easy for Artists obviously and even Programmers but, for Designers, it can be much more difficult.
My advice for Designers is to create some designs for an existing game – preferably choose a game that your target studio makes. Design a new level/character/mechanic to go with the game. For this you should justify why you chose the aspect that you did. If it is a character for example, what does this character add to the game and how does it balance against the others.
If you were making a new character for Street Fighter for example, what does the character have that the others don’t? How does this character fit into the line-up? Do its attributes feel correct for the game?
If you are making a new arena for a PvP game – what does your arena bring to the table? How does it fit with the other levels? How are you focusing the play into the areas you want?
Finally, the games industry likes it when people are active outside of work/their studies. So, it is important that you ask yourself, what have I created recently, as studios will want to see work that you have created recently not from a few years back during your course.
We are hiring
Stay tuned for more spotlight features coming soon. In the meantime, if you’re feeling inspired and want to join our team, check out our vacancies page!
I have been playing games since I was old enough to hold a mega drive controller and had wanted to work in the games industry ever since I realised you can make a career out of it. After College I studied for a degree in Computer Game Art, and for a time I worked as a self-employed 3D Artist. However, things didn’t work out how I had planned, and I job hopped for a while.
Prior to getting the job at d3t, I had been working as a Project Coordinator in the financial tech industry. I found that I really enjoyed this type of work but the dream of working in the games industry never went away. I then looked to transition the project planning skills I had picked up over to video games.
After interviewing for d3t and then being offered the role, it was understatement to say that I was over the moon. I joined as an Associate Producer and have since progressed to a Producer role this year. I have been at d3t over a year now and every day is a blast. It’s been a long journey to get here, but I know I’m just getting started.
What do you do day-to-day?
Every day always brings something new to deal with, but a typical day will look something like this.
I start the day off catching up on emails/DM messages / JIRA tickets updates, and going through anything from the day before from either the dev team or a client.
I then host the daily stand-up for the project I’m on to determine what everyone is working on that day, along with helping to work through solutions with them if they are blocked on anything or if there are any additional issues to resolve.
The rest of the day is then usually split up between; task creation and management, client meetings, sprint planning, report writing, risk register management for d3t as well as ensuring the various departments are working and communicating effectively with each other and with our clients.
My favourite thing about this job is constantly being in a room full of exceptionally talented individuals and learning from them.
Do you have any tips for people looking to get into the games industry?
I didn’t end up having a typical route into the games industry and it took me much longer to get into it than I had originally planned.
If you are just starting out it can be demoralising if you don’t see progress immediately, but if it’s something you are passionate about wanting to do, keep working at it. The more you know about the industry and can demonstrate in your CV and interviews the better. Make sure to research the specific roles and studios you want to apply for, if you can, reach out and speak with dev’s in the role you want to move into on sites like LinkedIn.
For a production role there is no one size fits all solution and there are multiple different types of production roles depending on what the company needs, but it typically helps to be easily approachable as well as having a good foundational knowledge of the key software’s such as Jira/Confluence/Trello/Miro/Excel. Being familiar with common Project Management methodologies for games and software development such as Agile is also useful too.
We are hiring
Stay tuned for more spotlight features coming soon. In the meantime, if you’re feeling inspired and want to join our team, check out our vacancies page!
Over the past year a lot has happened at d3t, and as we turn 11 years’ old, we have marked the occasion by summarising our key achievements into 11 bullet points – take a look!
Our teams have worked on four games that have launched over the past year, these are: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Alan Wake Remastered, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
We have also been delighted to welcome 40 new members to the d3t team – welcome all!
19 of our amazing team have been recognised as our Employees of the Quarter – congratulations all you absolutely rock!
Our teams have once again been able to attend some of the industry’s best gaming events – GDC, Nordic Games, Develop, along with XDS in the not-too-distant future.
We ran our fifth Wellbeing Week focusing on promoting a healthy body and mind amongst our team – look herefor more information on this.
We were lucky enough to be able to throw an in-person Christmas party for our team, which including a private bowling alley, arcade games, karaoke booth, and of course a free bar and food!
At our first ever attempt, we were recognised by the Mind Index and given a Bronze Award for our work on promoting positive mental health within the workplace.
We have just completed the renovation of our top floor in our studio, to create a modern, comfortable, and innovative space for our teams to create in.
Plus, we have our very own d3t wedding taking place between two of our amazing employees – keep a look out for more on this soon!
And…
Because last year marked our tenth birthday, we wanted to mark the occasion by throwing a party to remember, including having Tibetan Street Food, Handmade Pizza’s, Waffles, Milkshakes, Fairground games, oh and of course Alpaca’s!
However, as we have now turned 11, we were keen to make sure that the celebrations echoed that of last year. Which is why our 11th bullet point is for the summer event that we’ll be throwing not only for our team, but also for their families to enjoy at a private party and experience around Chester Zoo – keep a look out for the pictures of this on our social media channels soon!
All that we can say though is what a year it’s been, and with 2022/23 continuing to provide us with some exciting developments, we look forward to sharing these with you soon!
Until then, why not take a look at our list of vacancies hereso that you can be a part of our next chapter!
Take a look at some of things we got up to over the past year!
