Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I have recently completed my undergraduate Game Development degree at Abertay university, during which I managed to explore a variety of game systems, programming languages and frameworks. Additionally, before the end of my studies, I was hired as an Intern by Rockstar Games where I was able to exercise and develop my knowledge on gameplay programming.
Why d3t?
d3t was an obvious choice when deciding where to start my career. Their portfolio of world-famous games combined with the multiple “Best Places to Work” awards depict a well operating company which I am proud to be joining.
Moreover, from constant interaction with d3t’s industry professionals, I will be able to expand my skillset and further explore the world of AAA programming.
What do you love about games?
Ever since my 7th birthday, when my parents bought me a Gameboy, I have been captivated by video games. I find that there is always a game for every occasion, from playing a horror game with friends at parties, to relaxing while admiring an open-world RPG’s graphics for hours. The infinite number of possibilities and experiences is what makes playing and creating video games such a magical process.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I am currently playing Hogwarts Legacy which is one of the most beautiful and engaging games I have ever experienced. I usually enjoy open-world and puzzle platforming games, however, occasional play-throughs of the horror Dark Pictures Anthology with my friends are always fun too.
My favourite game however has always been Minecraft, since it combines everything I love about games into a single creative environment. I have been playing Minecraft longer than any other game and will never be able to forget all the fun memories I have had on it.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
The first hobby I ever had was music; beginning with the violin in elementary school, continuing with the guitar in high school and recently starting piano lessons during the final year of my degree.
Additionally, I really enjoy acting. I have been attending drama classes during my free time in school and have taken part in multiple productions. For the past 2 years, I was also elected as the president of my university’s drama society which provided a fun distraction during the stressful assessment periods.
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I’ve come from a creative background having started out in architecture and interior design. However, due to the pandemic I stumbled across the games industry, and since doing so I haven’t looked back.
I’ve spent the last 3 years working mainly with AAA studios on art projects and I’m excited to now continue this journey with d3t.
Why d3t?
Simply, the team here is amazing! I have had the privilege of meeting several members of the studio, both at GDC/Develop and at the summer social, where I was made to feel so welcome!
d3t is extremely dedicated to helping clients build the best titles, and the quality and calibre of the projects the team works on speaks for itself.
What do you love about games?
I feel very lucky to have found working in the games industry through chance. The industry is both inviting and inclusive, and full of creative and passionate people.
Working alongside such talented teams is extremely rewarding, and I get to contribute to this by finding and bringing in these exciting projects for the studio.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
Given that I’m joining d3t, I thought it would make sense to start by playing some of the top titles that the team had worked on. Starting with Hogwarts Legacy and Assetto Corsa Competizione.
Typically, I tend to play FPS, TPS or racing games. Historically my most played game would be Overwatch, having had a brief hiatus, I have recently picked this back up.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I am borderline obsessed with vintage watches; we now have too many books for the coffee table. Besides the books, I love hunting for vintage gems at any opportunity, travelling with the job allows me to indulge this!
This year I completed my first marathon and I’m hoping to keep this fitness up and check an item of the bucket list in 2024, climbing Kilimanjaro.
In my spare time, I love nothing more than getting out into the countryside, walking/hiking with my girlfriend and our dog Angus.
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I’ve recently graduated from Edge Hill University where I was studying Games Programming. During my time there I enjoyed learning the Unity game engine as well as taking part in a game jam, which was extremely fun but also incredibly tiring!
Before university I also held a factory job for nine years, where I was responsible for working on machines, driving forklifts, and carrying out hygiene audits.
Having never coded before going to university it was different to what I was used to and was also quite a challenge. However, after speaking to Phil Owen from d3t after he visited our university in the second year, I just knew I had to apply for the course as I was excited by possibilities and opportunities that lay ahead.
Why d3t?
Once I applied to university, I started looking at potential employers and what I’d need to do to get noticed. I found d3t rather early on and from the moment I saw their portfolio of games I knew d3t was the place I wanted to work.
Throughout my time at university, I kept an eye on the d3t website as they continued to add bigger games to their growing portfolio. After getting in touch with them, I was invited down to the studio in the summer before starting my final year to have a look around, and I loved every second of it, especially the culture that they had instilled.
What do you love about games?
Is it a bit much to say ‘everything’? I just love how some games allow you to escape to far off fantasy lands, killing some goblins as a sorcerer. Or how they can make you feel like a professional racing driver in a race simulator. Or the challenge of working out a puzzle that is for a so called 8 -10-year-old.
Before learning how to programme games it never crossed my mind how certain game mechanics worked. But now after studying and seeing it for myself, it amazes me what’s possible within games. I’ve even got to the stage where I’m playing a new game and just wonder to myself ‘I’d love to know how they’ve coded this’.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I’m currently writing this while also playing Baldurs Gate 3!!!
I’m quite a varied gamer and love all sorts of genres from action and adventure, to sport and racing. Probably my favourite game of all time is The Witcher 3 – I’ve lost so much time exploring the world. After that I’d probably go with sim racing games like Assetto Corsa Competizione, as I’ve got quite a beasty sim at home!
However, now Baldurs Gate 3 is out, I have a feeling that will quickly take top spot!
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
As you might be able to tell from my favourite game, a big hobby of mine is playing Dungeons & Dragons. I DM for a group of my friends and we meet up every two weeks to have a game.
Apart from that I love Formula 1, chess, rock climbing, taking my dog out for a walk, and a recent hobby I’m loving at the moment is go karting.
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
I am a recent BSC Hons Computer Game Programming graduate from Edge Hill University, where I received a 2:1 qualification after studying for six years.
Why d3t?
d3t is a very welcoming and warm company, and ever since I met some of the team at my university, they have been extremely helpful and incredibly interesting. They have also supported me by mentoring me in my final year of university.
I am really happy to now be part of the studio as everyone makes you feel like not only a teammate but as if you were part of a family. 😊
What do you love about games?
I love the different genres of games and how they work. However, the thing I love the most is how creative you can be when making games and the graphics. Games allow me to play with my friends across the world and have fun!
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I’m currently playing Minecraft, Honkai Star Rail and Dead Island 2. I enjoy these games for different reasons, but the main ones are the action, story, and the creativity you get when building and the adrenaline you get whilst playing.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I currently create digital art that I sell, I also cosplay characters, attend comic cons, and am currently learning Japanese. I am also a black belt in karate.
How long have you been in the industry? Eight years
How long have you been with d3t? Eight years
What was the first game that you worked on? Shenmue I & II HD
How did your career begin?
I previously worked in IT for ten years before deciding to go to university and retrain to work in the games industry. I have always been passionate about games going back to the days of the Commodore Amiga, Atari systems and early PC gaming. To pursue this change, I attended the University of Hull and studied a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, followed by a master’s degree focused on 3D graphics. I always loved the creativity and satisfaction that programming visuals in games gives you and decided that this was the field that I wanted to specialise in.
What do you do day-to-day in your role?
Graphics programming work can be quite varied depending on the project you are on. You tend to work on lower-level systems, closer to the engine side than some other disciplines, which lends itself well for looking at performance and optimisations of various kinds. You also make use of various graphics debugging tools for troubleshooting issues and highlighting bottlenecks.
You’ll work with various rendering API’s (such as DirectX12) where implementation is split between two different domains. Firstly, the CPU side where you are programming the renderer to create and manage the various graphical resources and systems that will ultimately interface and issue commands to the GPU hardware. Then, you have the GPU itself, where you are programming the rendering pipeline stages via shaders. Shader programming can be challenging to debug, hence the importance of being familiar with the graphics tools that can aid you. Shaders also tend to draw on more specific areas of graphics theory such as lighting, image manipulation, sampling and the nuances of GPU hardware required to optimise performance. Sometimes I could be working purely on the renderer API, or alternatively writing shaders for lighting, post-FX and other techniques which often borders on a more technical art level at times.
You may also find yourself working closely with content and art teams to help facilitate their needs and troubleshoot various material pipeline issues. You may implement a new rendering feature into the engine, but it is the artists who may need to utilise it to achieve the desired look, so you have some role in supporting that.
What is it like working at d3t?
d3t is very friendly place to work with a great work-life balance and anti-crunch mindset which was one of the most appealing aspects for me. There were only 20 or so employees when I joined, and despite the business having grown much larger, they still manage to maintain that same friendly and accommodating atmosphere. As well as many new juniors coming into the fold, we have a good amount of industry veterans that have been around the block, and yet choose to stay and work here and I think that speaks for itself.
I worked in the office for six years or so, but then following Covid I have worked remotely from home full-time. For me, this has offered greater flexibility and d3t has provided support and the tech infrastructure enabling this to be a seamless process for the projects I’ve been involved with.
Do you have any tips for people looking to get into the games industry?
From a graphics programmer perspective, one of the key things would be having a stand-out portfolio of 3D rendering related techniques to showcase your knowledge. Rather than making a game, I would strongly recommend instead starting your own C++ engine / renderer project in your own time, utilising DirectX API (preferably 12), reading around on modern graphical techniques (e.g. forward and deferred rendering, PBR lighting and materials, normal mapping, shadow mapping, screen-space techniques and/or post-processing FX, anti-aliasing etc) and implementing these into your renderer, importantly taking the time to understand how they work fundamentally.
I also recommend getting very familiar with graphics debugging software such as PIX and RenderDoc since these really help understand what is going on behind the scenes. For me, working on my own renderer is a fun hobby too and if you enjoy this process, it’s also a good sign you’d enjoy getting into a graphics programming role which I’d definitely encourage people to do.
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?
I have completed three years at Abertay University on the Computer Games Applications Development course, where I worked primarily with C++. I have worked with numerous different API’s, including DirectX 11, SFML and Opengl, alongside the Unreal game engine.
During my spare time, I have helped develop a game for a game jam using Unity, which was very fun yet challenging as I had never worked with C# or Unity before, though a lot of the principles of programming were transferrable.
Alongside university, I also worked part-time as a Deliveroo rider, as a cyclist.
Why d3t?
I was extremely excited to join d3t as a Programming Intern after learning about it through an email from our module leader. Originally when I first saw the email, I assumed there was no chance of me getting into this internship, as all the students in Abertay had also received this email, but I decided to apply anyway, and I am very grateful to have been accepted.
After the challenging interview process, I knew that I had to choose d3t as I learned new programming knowledge from the interview, which was extremely interesting and enticed me to accept the offer. During the interview, my old programming from university was questioned with constructive criticism, making me approach it from a completely different, efficiency-focused mindset. This peek into the expert knowledge of the d3t team inspired me to join, as I know I have so much more to learn, yet I am incredibly eager to rise to this challenge.
What do you love about games?
The best part about video games to me is the ability to be completely immersed in an entirely different world. The mechanics, narrative, graphics, audio and more, all come together to create this unique experience that is completely different from any other form of media.
Also, I love that games range from being extremely relaxing to highly competitive, allowing anyone to have access to and enjoy this amazing hobby.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
My favourite game series must be Spyro, as I used to play a few of them on the Wii and PlayStation as a kid. The recent remastered games have also been amazing, as they have brought back lots of positive memories.
A game I am currently playing is Project Zomboid, an indie zombie-survival game that specialises in realism. The game has an impressively immersive world, as a single bite from a zombie ends the entire run.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I love socialising and hanging out with people, especially whilst playing board games. I have quite a sizeable collection of them, including classics such as Dune and Betrayal at House on the Hill. I am also a WW2 Tank history fan, as I used to play a lot of the games such as “WarThunder” and “World of Tanks” when I was younger.
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have been recognised as a GamesIndustry.biz Best Place to Work for 2022!
The award highlights the best games studios to work for in the UK, and 2022 marks the fourth consecutive year in a row that d3t has won the award and the fifth time in our history.
However, what makes this award more special for us is that it is voted for primarily by our team, with 75% of a studios score coming from an anonymous employee survey and the final 25% via an in-depth company questionnaire.
Speaking on the announcement, our Head of Studio, Richard Badger, said: “I am delighted that we at d3t have not only been announced as one the best games studios in the UK to work for, but also that this is the fifth time that we have received the award – 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and now 2022.
“Since d3t was founded in 2010, we have grown from strength to strength, not only on the scale and complexity of the games that we work on, but also in the size of our team, which now stands at 141 strong. But with this growth, we have made sure that we have continued to keep our culture at the forefront of what we do.
“To this end we are continuing to improve and advance ourselves, whether its investing into our studio, increasing our team’s benefits, or adapting our policies and practices to ensure that the needs of our people are met. We do this because we care about everyone, and without their talent, and passion for all things games, we simply would not be where we are today – so a huge thank you to every one of them. It takes everyone to make a great place to work, and this award is an award that is for every single member of our team.”
The winners of the coveted MCV/Develop 30 Under 30 awards were announced recently at a star-studded event in London.
The awards which set out to showcase 30 of the most talented individuals under the age of 30 working within the games industry, identifies those that have not only worked in the industry for some years, but those that have also demonstrated excellence and progression during that time too.
With more nominations received than ever before for a place on the cohort, we are delighted to announce that our very own Associate Programmer, Stuart Pentelow has been recognised as one of this year’s winners.
Stuart, who is a strong advocate for helping and mentoring those who aspire to work in the industry, has formed close ties with Abertay University in Dundee, where he has helped spearhead d3t’s support and team involvement in assisting with the Professional Project module. This support sees d3t provide an open-ended brief for students to work on, and at the end of the mentorship programme they then keep their own IP rights to the work. You can take a look at some of the past work with Abertay University here.
Speaking on Stuart’s win, Head of Engineering at d3t, Phil Owen, said: “Stuart’s programming skills have developed steadily and effectively since joining d3t from university and he has contributed greatly to the projects he has worked on. Everyone at d3t is extremely proud of Stuart’s well-deserved achievement. Going forward I hope that his development as a Programmer continues to go from strength to strength and that he takes great confidence from being one of MCV/Develop’s 30 under 30. Very well-done Stuart!”
Stuart, also spoke on his recent win, saying: “I am incredibly pleased to be one of MCV Develop’s 30 Under 30 Cohort for the year of 2022.
“Visiting London and networking with a wide range of incredibly talented games industry professionals at the IRL event was an experience that I don’t think I’ll be able to forget for a good while!
“I can’t thank my friends and my fantastic colleagues at d3t enough for encouraging me and pushing me forward for this award, so a massive thank you to you all.”
You can take a look at the full MCV/Develop 30 Under 30 cohort for 2022 here
The peer-voted industry excellence Develop Awards are all about the game dev community, and celebrating the creative excellence of the game makers behind the best games of the previous 12 months.
Taking place in Brighton at the Hilton Metropole Hotel. d3t won in recognition of its work on both Alan Wake Remastered with Remedy Entertainment, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy with Eidos Montreal.
Speaking on the win, Head of Studio, Richard Badger, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have been recognised by our peers for our creative excellence on both Alan Wake Remastered and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
“I’d like to pay tribute to both Remedy Entertainment and Eidos Montreal, for entrusting us with their projects, and to our team whose passion, hard work, and talent has and continues to enable us to work on the world’s greatest games.
“I have worked in many teams over my long career within the games industry, but this d3t team is without doubt the best team that I have been a part of, so a massive thank you to each and every one of them.”
This award marks the second one in a week for d3t, after also being announced as a GamesIndustry.biz Best Place to Work for 2022 – for the fourth consecutive time, and for the fifth time in its history.
Speaking on the announcement, our Head of Studio, Richard Badger, said: “I am delighted that we at d3t have not only been announced as one the best games studios in the UK to work for, but also that this is the fifth time that we have received the award – 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and now 2022.
d3t are delighted to announce that we have been recognised as the